Garmin nüvi 1390/1390T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic & Lifetime Map Updates
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Nuvi 1390T Bundle
Features
- Features a Lifetime Map Update Gift Card
- Twenty-five percent slimmer than other nüvis, you can take the ultra-thin 1390T anywhere.
- No more guessing which lane you need to be in to make an upcoming turn.
- For hands-free calling, nüvi 1390T integrates Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker
- Steer clear of traffic with nüvi 1390T’s integrated FM traffic receiver and free lifetime traffic updates.
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 5 x 3 x 5 inches
- Weight: 51 pounds
Don’t buy the Nuvi 1390T
I bought this Garmin 1390T after much research and noticed these few negative reviews, but noticed more positive and bought one. I loved the Nuvi during the first few weeks around town in NW Ohio and invested several hours in downloading all of the newest firmware, maps, and other other neat stuff from the Garmin site. HOWEVER, on my first extended trip (to Canada – above Minnesota) a 1,000 mile trip one way. The unit died in Wisconsin, about half way to my destination and in the middle of nowhere as far as my personal experience with the area and highways goes.
The unit froze on the map, leaving the impression you are doing fine. Luckily I noticed before my next intersection or I would have really been lost. When I repowered, it just flashed Garmin…Garmin…Garmin and never booted up. After having my daughter at home call the Garmin customer service, after 45 minutes of hold time, they acted like this is something unheard of (see the many other bad reviews here with this exact same problem). They said I should return the unit. Nice, I’m in the middle of the wilderness still 400 miles from my destination and all I need to do is ship this back to the Amazon web site! Hey Garmin … HOW ABOUT EXCHANGING IT AT ANOTHER OF THE HUNDREDS OF YOUR RETAILERS I AM PASSING ON THE ROAD?!?
After rereading the other reviews here who encountered this problem and had the same reoccurrence with replacement units from Garmin, I am NOT exchanging this for another 1390T. AGarmin nüvi 1390/1390T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Trafficnd I strongly recommend you do not buy one. I may buy another Garmin model, but after the customer service experience and the lack of real help while I was lost on the road (the whole reason I purchased a GPS in the first place) I am not sure.
Garmin can do better
As others have stated: You’ll be lucky to get 6 months of use out of it before it has to be sent back for the “endless reboot” fault. The speaker is not designed to handle the volume this unit is capable of, it distorts past 70% volume. The processor is underpowered. Screen refresh is like a slide show, searches for POIs take forever. This is my first Garmin GPS for on the road, my others have been for hiking/boating. I know they can make a better product than this.
WARNING – a piece of trash
I purchased 2 of these, and within 1 week one unit froze. I contacted Amazon and they were very helpful, and sent a replacement. Meanwhile, the second unit from the original purchase froze and like the first…the only thing on the screen is Garmin. Nothing loads. It flickers only. There is no getting past this. The unit Amazon sent to replace the first one has started having issues whereby it shuts off at will. It did restart…but I am concerned about the quality now of this item based on the first two purchases. Also, the Bluetooth is poor quality. It’s very difficult to hear the person you are talking to. If the volume is turned up too loudly there is great distortion. All in all, there has to be something better on the market. Past Garmins have done quite well for me.
Freezes up
Recently bought the Garmin Nuvi 1390t. After 3 weeks it froze up on loading maps. Has been stuck for a week. We have tried every recommendation from Garmin with no luck. During our search, we found a blog where there were 7 out of 91 other people that were having the same issue. No resolution yet. Will be sending it back.
Buyers beware!
We have been a Garmin user for over 5 years and within these 5 years we have gotten different model and loved it. Unfortunately this particular model that we bought gave us nothing but trouble. We were very excited about the new features it provides. After using it for about 3 weeks this model all of sudden froze and will not load the map. We end up returning this model and exchange for the same thing and again after 3 days this particular model will not load the map and in fact kept rebooting itself. Again we thought this perhaps is a fluke, went back and exchange for another same model. Sadly, this one yet died again and the map will not load. The merchant we purchase the item from suggest us to call Garmin and to my disappointment after sitting for half hour wait their customer service was beyond horrible, not professional and rude. Because of this experience we will not be purchasing another Garmin.
Excellent GPS with Great Interface & Excellent Guidance
We’ve used several GPS units and this is by far our favorite.
Hilights:
The interface is simple, intuitive and easy to use.
The guidance is clear and very well illustrated
The route calculations are MUCH better than others we’ve tried (like the one built into our new Acura)
The map view also displays your current speed and the speed limit… NICE!
The map view also shows which lanes you should be in for the next exit, freeway merge, etc… very helpful and surprisingly accurate.
Bluetooth integration means you can use it with your phone as a speakerphone/hands free device.
I really don’t have anything negative to say about this… it’s a fantastic GPS, and the price on Amazon beat out BestBuy on sale…
Garmin 1390T review
I have another Garmin and thought I’d update my wife to a supposed top of the line unit. Well, the GPS is fine except for the Points of Interest portion of the unit. Unlike other GPs’s this one does NOT show you the POI’s as you are moving on your destination screen. It may show a few that you have loaded yourself but it does NOT show all the POI’s like other units. It’s ok but if you wanna eat or get gas or shop you are S.O.L. with this GPS.
Mike
This is one great GPS for the price. The unit is so intuitive! So easy to use right out of the box, although I do recommend downloading the actual operating manual from Garmin since this unit does sooooooo much more than listed in the quick start manual found inside the box. This GPS has worked flawlessly since it arrived! My only complaint is I have “not” seen the “Junction View” feature work since I got the 1390t. Thinking my unit was defective I emailed Garmin tech support (which by the way is great) and they told me that the “Junction View” feature will not show every single juction, but only works on large and complicated juctions on various highways. The product description does not say that! Otherwise I love this GPS. I don’t understand this either, but Amazon.com seems to have lowered the price of this unit almost daily since I purchased it.
Audible
I purchased this device as I saw Amazon has an [...] special with this GPS. This device does not work with Audible. Why would Amazon include an Audible special? It is still there as I write this review. I love audiobooks and wanted to listen to my audiobooks with this device.
Anyways that is my fault for not researching further. This GPS is easy to set up and very easy to use. It is not worth the 200 dollars and I am curious why it is so expensive. The bluetooth works but is difficult to use in loud cars. The lane assist DOES NOT work. I am always in the wrong lane. Perhaps this is just an issue with where I live in the Notheast but this feature does not work.
My main problem makes this GPS useless for me. This GPS always gives me the worst route, through cities. Google maps does not do this but this GPS will always take me on the shortest route through a city and not on a highway around the city. This adds so much time to my commute. I am very upset. I do not have much money and am unable to buy a new GPS.
Well designed device
I had this GPS for 2 weeks so far:
This GPS is designed to be simple to use. It’s fast to acquire its location and use is obvious enough to be very easy.
Pros:
- Voice is loud and clear. You can make your own voice set by downloading an application from Garmin. The application makes you say each voice component and creates a voice that you can upload to the 1390T.
- Better (than other GPSs I’ve seen) job at showing what’s relevant on the map. On other units, it annoys to see half of a name of a street or not to see the names of the streets you are about to cross.
- Lane assist is great! It tells you on which lane you should be.
- Traffic info. This is free-ish. You may not pay for the feature with money but you will get adds that appear when the car is stopped. This adds are not very annoying, but I would prefer not to have them, yet somehow that service has to be paid for.
Cons or things I would change:
- When selecting a place to go, it should not be necessary to hit a GO button again. If the user already selected the place to go, why the need to confirm?
- The Favorite places should also be accessible in the menu without going through Categories. It would be simpler.
Garbage
Consistently freezes and resets. When it resets the monitor is set to the lowest brightness levels and you can not tell the unit is on. You have to take the unit to a dark space to adjust the screen. I tried a software upgrade and now the unit just flashes the Garmin logo and will do nothing. I have owned a lot of GPSs with a few aggravations in each one. The Nuvi is the worst. I literally threw this unit out the window, just to get rid of it.
software continual reboot
I have had 2 1390T within a period of less than 2 weeks with the same problem — it continual reboots to the Garmin splash screen and there is no fix (according to Garmin). I have tried a soft & hard reboot — nothing. I now must decide whether to try this model for a 3rd time in 2 weeks or get a different model!
I thought I could trust it
I bought this GPS a month ago and I tested every function immediately. Everything looked fine. So I gave the old Garmin( Nuvi 200) to someone else, thinking I wouldn’t need that at all, since I have this much advanced one. Then I took the GPS for a long drive to another state. That was a nice day, no rain or snow. I put the GPS on the dashboard with the power (traffic) cord hooked on. But it was only good for a few minutes and then the GPS said “no signal”. I thought that must be that d– satellite, couldn’t be my GPS. I turned it off and on. Still the same. I started to miss the old one. I have never had that problem before. Now I had to find the way by myself. The roads looked the same to me on a high way, as a city mouse. I yelled to the cell phone, asking directions from the people I was going to meet and stopped several times on the high way. I was thinking I might have to check in a motel or something if I still could not find the right way. At this time, after one hour I departed, the GPS was normal with signals. I corssed my fingers ” Don’t stop, at least let me get there. You can sleep when I am back home”. The GPS answered my prayer, was normal but was totally silent, no speech or announcement at all. Don’t know why. And it reported every incoming call as “unknown”.
Excellent, Very Pleased
I had this GPS for 8 days, it is absolutely fantastic. I am a kind of guy who do tons of research before I buy any gadget. I try my friends’s product and reach a good conclusion before I spend my dollars. I was considering the 765, 785 and 855 models. This absolutely surpass them all. It is slim. has all the features I want including lane assist which I find very useful. Bluetooth works like a champ and pairs each time I turn it on with my Blackberry 8520. Very easy to use, nice graphics. Nothing to complain about except a very minor thing that it takes a long time to search the database if you don’t spell what you are looking for the way it is in the database, like if you spell macdonald and the database has macdonald’s, it will not find it, it doesn’t have smart search but it is not a biggy.
Works for me!
I had a little old Garmin before so this was easy to pick up and use. Powered up and worked fine. Just like my old one, sometimes it finds the satellite fast and sometimes takes longer. I did read you should not start until it finds it, and it can find it easier because you are not moving.
It was missing a McDOnald’s that’s been there a while. Maybe I used the wrong town. I agree that sometimes it’s best to start your route the way YOU KNOW is the best way, and let it take it from there. I figure that if once in a while it takes you the longer way, that’s ok because sooner or later you will get there. With NO Gps you might not!
I live in the South Jersey area, near Camden and Philadelphia. I am pleased to report that JUNCTION VIEW is operable here. I knew where I was going this weekend, but wanted to try it out. It’s really cool to see an image of the overhead road signs on the gps. If I was unfamiliar with these junctions it would DEFINITELY have helped (they are a little confusing-ex: coming over Ben Franklin Bridge to Vine can be confusing-if you’re from Philly you know what I mean!). That is the reason I chose this model over some others.
Haven’t found the screen that gives me all my trip info on one screen (miles to, est time of arrival, avg speed, etc) on my old one I just hit one button. I may be missing the obvious here so I’ll do some reading. There are some good websites walking you through the whole thing
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Didn’t try the lifetime traffic yet…no traffic at 8 am Sunday when I was on the highway! Didn’t update map yet, will do that on day 58 or so to get the latest version. I don’t think you need lifetime maps. They can’t change THAT much and I’ll want a new toy in 4 years or so. For now I’ll use the roads it knows about and on long distance trips I bring a fairly current Atlas just in case. Sometimes it’s nice to see the big picture and maybe toss in an impromptu side trip.
Didn’t try bluetooth yet. I don’t expect much from it, but it might be nice to have. Overall, good unit.
Very good overall
Overall a very good product.
Pet Peeves: My old Garmin Nuvi had a feature that provided for a “ping” sound just prior to a voice prompt coming on – that seems to be absent from the new version (unless I simply cannot find a setting to turn that on) – this was always helpful in getting your attention for a voice prompt.
Road names instead of route numbers – I still fail to understand why they continue to use road and street names instead of route numbers when giving directions (and I’m talking about state and US route numbers). It is common to have intersections and roads without the street name shown on any signs, but the state and US route numbers are always there and are always consistent. Often a state or US route number will change names several times, even within a single county, so I really don’t understand why they don’t just use the route numbers, or at least include the route numbers – this is probably my biggest problem with the Garmins, and it seems like such an obvious, and easily fixable, drawback (maybe other brands have this flaw as well, I don’t know).
Folks! This GPS unit is indeed very nice
I purchased this from BestBuy and I use it primarily on my motorcycle. It has Bluetooth and I have it paired with my helmet speakers. I used the suction mount to mount this onto the plastic display under the handle bar. I display is large enough and you can see it clearly even in direct sun light. I haven’t used all of the features yet but from what I am seeing so far, no problems.
My only complaint is that the battery seems to die suddenly without any warning. Sometime the battery icon disappears and sometime it appears. However, as long as I fully charge the battery before starting my trip, the battery lasts for about 3 hours which is enough for most trips.
I like how the charging port is a standard USB port so you can any USB cable to charge this or in my case, I use my USB iGo tip that I use for my phone.
I got the freeze
Well, I read all the reviews and they didn’t lie. First time out my GPS froze on me and I had a hard time even turning it off and restarting it, and then had to reenter the info. I see so many reviews with this problem. IS Garmin doing anything about it? I’ve only had it a few days and I”m trying to decide whether to keep it. My older 750 has slightly lost its mind, but it works most of the time and it doesn’t freeze. I like that the new one names the streets and may keep it for that reason, but there is some disappointment here and it may turn out to be a mistake.
Good Product & easy to use
Works great right out of the box. Only disappointment is with the Points of Interest. Just for practice we have been using is around our home town and there have been several well established businesses (some as long as 7 years) that are not in the database. Garmin does not seem to provide a way for users to input businesses that are completely missing from the database. Makes me wonder how many things will not be found in unfamiliar cities that we visit!
Very pleased with Garmin Nuvi 1390T
I have never had a GPS before, but felt it was time to join the 21st Century. The unit was backordered but we received it in time, about a month ago, for a trip to rural central Virginia for a house-warming. I tried it first on a trip to the dump, and it wanted me to go across county, rather than via the beltway, the way I usually go. I figured I knew better and was already a bit disappointed until I ran into slow traffic on the beltway, taking longer than the suggested route. On the return trip, the calculated route was via the beltway, but there were no backups in that direction, so it was definitely the fastest.
BTW, I downloaded the female Australian voice, very pleasing, and soon found that there is somewhat of a cult following for the use of this voice on GPS’s (I don’t know if it exclusively a Garmin feature). My son asked me if I had downloaded it, and the husband of a friend of my wife looked a bit sheepish when my wife mentioned it. He was also it. I don’y usually assign names to inanimate objects, but our Nuvi is now referred to as “Sheila”.
Within a few days my son took the Nuvi on a school field trip to Arizona for a week, and was thrilled with the accuracy of the directions and the ease of finding points of interest, such as pizza parlors and bathrooms. My wife and I have used it several times and find it very intuitive, as well as accurate. My only reservation is that updating maps through the website is cumbersome and time-consuming, but I’ll only be doing it four times a year so I can live with it.
I had to call customer service one time because my coumpter wasn’t “sseing” the Nuvi, which is actually a Windows XP plug-and-play problem. The rep help me fix this, and when I told him what model I had, he said that was the one he would buy, also. No call for buyer’s remorse here. I highly recommend the Garmin Nuvi 1390T.