Garmin nüvi 1390/1390T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
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The NUVI1390T 4.3″ Ultra Thin GPS Navigator features a widescreen ultra slim design (approximately 25% thinner than previous models), enhanced user interface, ecoRoute, public transit mode and text-to-speech. The n vi 1390T offers pedestrian navigation capability enabled through optional CityXplorer maps. CityXplorer maps are available for select tourist destinations in North America and Europe and can easily be downloaded directly to the n vi. The nuvi’s enhanced user interface features improved graphics and a new slide control for menu operation, while ecoRoute suggests fuel-efficient routes to save drivers money and fuel. Also, Garmin’s new public transit mode allows you to navigate using buses, tramway, metro and suburban rail systems. Steer clear of traffic with nuvi’s traffic receiver by receiving alerts about traffic delays and road construction that lie ahead on your route. Junction view – View realistic images of upcoming junctions where available Map data is provided by NAVTEQ Bluetooth wireless technology, enables hands-free calling with a compatible phone ecoRoute – Drivers can view suggestions for fuel-efficient navigation, conserving both money and fuel Speed limit indicator – unit displays speed limits for most major roads Public transit – Navigate using buses, tramway, metro and suburban rail systems with optional CityXplorer content. Download at garmin website. Where Am I? feature – Find closest hospitals, police stations, gas stations, nearest address, intersection and coordinates Bright 4.3 diagonal color display; 480 x 272 pixels; WQVGA TFT display with white backlight Trip computer records mileage, max speed, total time Built-in travel kit includes picture viewer, world clock, currency and measurement converters and calculator MicroSD memory card slot Offers 3-D mapping, or 2-D overhead view Dimensions – 4.8W x 2.9H x 0.6D; Weight – 5.7 ounces Built-in lithium-
Features
- Widescreen ultra-slim GPS design with 4.3-inch WQVGA touchscreen display; interface features improved graphics and a new slide control for menu operation
- Pre-loaded with City Navigtor NT maps for North America, including more than 6 million points of interest
- Bluetooth wireless technology enables hands-free calling with a compatible phone; included traffic receiver provides North America traffic information
- Public transit mode allows you to navigate using buses, tramway, metro, and suburban rail systems; Pedestrian navigation capability enabled through optional CityXplorer maps
- NOTE: Model number on the box is 1390T because the traffic receiver is included; however, the model number on the device itself is 1390 as the “T” in 1390T refers to the additional component
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 1 x 3 x 5 inches
- Weight: 0 pounds
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.
STILL GETS LOST
The map is not up-to-date, even though it is the latest version. The unit still tries to make me take a street that has been closed off for a year. I reported this to Garmin and they say it will be checked out and possibly changed in the next update. It also has trouble getting back on route after, say a stop at a restuarant. It sometimes says to “turn right/left”, when that actually is the opposite direction that you should go. Also, the traffic icon is great, but I have no way of knowing where or when it is going to pop up. It was great travelling in Florida, but since leaving Georgia and heading back north it has not shown itself again. Is there a way to have it tell you that there is no traffic signal available? How about a map showing where they are active?
The Bluetooth hookup only works for one phone call, then it causes my phone to reset and I lose the connection with the 1350T. Garmin help desk didn’t have any solutions to suggest. They only recommended that I call my phone carrier and see if they could figure it out. I have bluetooth connections to a number of channels with my phone with no problems. I feel there are some issues with the 1350T and my phone, which is a Palm Centro.
I sold my Garmin Nuvi 350 thinking that the 1350T would be a great improvement. So far, I think I should have kept my old one. It did as good a job as the 1350T.
Not really happy with this unit…….
love it!!!
I RESEARCHED THE GARMIN GPS BEFORE I BOUGHT, I WANTED A GARMIN, BECAUSE MY LAST GPS WAS A GARMIN, AND I REALLY LIKED IT. WE DECIDED TO UPGRADE WHEN WE REPLACED THE ONE THAT WAS STOLEN. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY GARMIN NUVI 1390T. IT HAS A LOUD ENOUGH SPEAKER THAT MY HARD OF HEARING HUSBAND CAN HEAR IT, AND IT STORES MY ELECTRONIC PICTURES TO SHOW OFF WHEN I AM ON MY TRIPS. SO FAR I HAVE ONLY USED IT ON SHORT TRIPS, BUT AM PLANNING TO DRIVE TO NY TO SEE MY DAUGHTER, AND IT WILL HELP US TO GET THERE WITHOUT MAKING UNNESSARY SIDE TRIPS ALONG THE WAY!!! THE SELLER EVEN PROVIDED ME WITH A NICE CASE TO STORE IT AND MY CORDS IN. I HAVE HOOKED IT TO MY COMPUTER TO CHANGE MY CAR INTO A TRACTOR FOR WHEN MY HUSBAND DRIVES, AND A CUTE LITTLE YELLOW CAR FOR WHEN I AM DRIVING. PAM
Died but replaced
I bought this product for a trip to the Ozarks. The unit died on the way home. Worked for a six hour trip down and about four and a half hours back. Amazon customer service was very good. I called in Sunday when I got home and explained what happened and they sent me an RA for the old unit and sent me a new product. Have not used the one yet, hope when I do need it again it works better then the first.
A Good System But Room For Improvement
This is my second GPS from Garmin. Both have been for automobile use. The first was a Garmin StreetPilot 2610, which I have had for about 8 years. While not completely dead yet, after roasting under 8 summer suns and freezing through 8 cold winters, it has finally started to present intermittent screen display problems. Not wanting to get caught without a working GPS, I purchased this unit. I originally was leaning toward the 1350T, but opted for the 1390T instead because the price included 4 map upgrades per year for the life of the unit, and since I tend to really get my money’s worth of use from these things, the price difference for me was a great deal over spending money for each upgrade separately.
I’ve had the 1390T Nuvi for a little over a month now. In that time, most of my traveling about has been in my local area, with only a couple of trips out of the area. During the time I have had the 1390T, I have identified several positive and negative observations about it. These are presented in no particular order of importance.
Positive Comments:
1. After initial acquisition, satellite reacquisition is very, very fast.
2. The intersection view showing the highway signs and the proper lanes to be in is very useful when traveling on highways you are not familiar with. Just be aware that you won’t see this screen unless the highway has multiple lanes that fork in different directions. This view is not displayed for standard cloverleaf exists.
3. Screen resolution on the Nuvi is great. It is bright, clean, crisp, and easily viewed in full daylight. Button functions, for the most part, are obvious and operate smoothly. Audio quality is excellent with good volume control.
4. The map can be displayed as a standard 2-D map or as a 3-D map, and you can switch between them at will. Which you use as your primary map display will depend on your preferences after experimenting with each.
5. I like the fact that the USB connector port is on the back of the unit, rather than on the mount.
While the general functioning of the Nuvi appears to be excellent, I do have a few
Negative Comments:
1. When indoors and plugged into a wall outlet with no satellite reception, the 1390T will not allow me access to its functions EVEN when the correct password is entered.
2. Documentation for my toaster oven is better than that which is available for the Nuvi. To put it plainly, the Nuvi documentation, which has to be downloaded separately from Garmin’s web site, is almost worthless. I somehow made a change to the display that wasn’t in the owner’s manual and could not reverse that accidental change without doing a system restore to factory settings. That really pissed me off.
3. When I touch the top of the screen to display the intersection where I am to turn, the display only remains visible for between 3 and 4 seconds. That is not enough time to really be certain you have seen what you wanted to see. It should be displayed automatically when I approach the intersection and should remain visible until I press a return button of some kind, or until after I have executed the turn or the cloverleaf exit.
4. No map scale is displayed continuously. Some times it is displayed, and sometimes it isn’t displayed, and when it is displayed, the font size is too small to be of much use. Since I often refer to the map scale, I would like to see it continuously displayed in a font size to make it easily recognizable.
5. When following a route, the 3-D map has a habit of zooming in on every intersection I travel through, even though no turn is indicated. I find this annoying. If I want to zoom in on those areas, I would prefer to do it manually.
6. When I go off route, this unit will recompute a new route. But – if I have moved to a road that is not on the current map, the unit will simply tell me to return to the marked route. It gives no indication of where that marked route might be or what direction I should drive in to get back to it. That’s not so bad in an area I know something about, or if I am not too far off the route, but outside of my area and way off route, it could be a bit problem.
I have not tried to use the geocaching capability of this unit, so I can’t comment on the internal compass or on the accuracy of the altimeter. Neither have I tried to use the bluetooth capability. I would also be remiss if I did not point out that the unit I have shut itself off once while it was calculating a new route and would not restart for 30 minutes. It may have been caused my the fact that the software was interrupted by sunrise initiated screen display change just as the computation was being initiated. The only way I could get the unit back up was to hold down the power button for about 15-20 seconds before releasing it, a solution that I could not find in the owner’s manual, but it seemed to me that there had to be a reboot capability. The unit also refused on one occassion to display the roads on the map until I did a reboot. That really sucks.
While the 1390T is more attractive than my StreetPilot 2610, I think the 2610 was more stable and had functions that behaved a little bit better than the corresponding functions in this new 1390T. I like the Nuvi 1390T, but for all the reasons stated here, I can only give this unit a 3-star rating.
Pretty close to what I wanted.
I got the Garmin Nuvi 1390T GPA with a Garmin portable “bean bag” friction mount (which works awesome by the way!!) as a birthday present a few weeks ago. So, far I’m pretty happy with everything. It’s fairly easy to set up and use. It comes with 1 free map update. It has easily directed me right to the addresses that I enter. The 4.3″ screen size works well for me -when the sun hits the screen it is hard to see but, I guess that’s to be expected. The speakers and volume seem ok to me. There are a lot of downloadable vehicles for the Nuvi. I also bought the enhanced pedestrian city map for Boston $8.99 from [...] -I haven’t actually used it yet but from playing around with it -it looks like it will work out just fine.
The only thing I don’t like is the traffic feature. I wish I could make that go away and just have a regular GPS w/no traffic feature. All I’ve seen the traffic feature do is display tiny ads and state the obvious. When I’m sitting in traffic I am well aware of it and I don’t need the GPS to confirm that I’m sitting in traffic. Maybe it helps some people out but, I really don’t see the point of it.