Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm writing this detailed review in hopes of helping someone with their sanity in choosing the best Garmin gps for their needs. I've owned a Nuvi 500 for years and it was finally time to upgrade to a bigger 5 inch screen. This is a review of the Garmin 2595LMT, a middle of the road 5 inch vehicle gps. Stating that because Amazon tends to lump reviews for multiple unit numbers together which royally confuses shoppers thinking they are reading reviews for one unit but it's actually for another. You've probably been to Garmin's website trying to compare various gps units, or here on this site, in which case you've probably pulled out some of your hair trying to make sense of the model confusion. It's been that way for years with Garmin, they like to add (or remove) a feature or two from a unit then relabel it as a totally new model number. Garmin, if you are reading this, you put out superior units but for the love of all things holy STOP THE MODEL NUMBER CONFUSION and stop giving new names to common features. I wish Garmin would offer an a la cart service where the customer can choose exactly the features they want loaded onto their unit instead of trying to figure out the miniscule difference between the models. It really is a maddening shopping experience comparing model features and the value and age of each. Back to the review. To clarify, LM after the model number means the unit comes with Lifetime Maps (free map updates via garmins website, nice feature). The T means the unit comes with the traffic receiver (and free basic traffic reporting), the traffic receiver is usually built into the powered cigarette lighter adapter, or in series 2 models of this unit it will be built into the unit itself. Please note that this unit does not come with HD TRAFFIC (formerly known as 3d Digital Traffic), if you see an HD after a garmin model number it DOESN'T mean it's a High Definition display, rather HD just refers to the type of traffic reporting. HD traffic is more advanced and reports conditions every 30 seconds instead of every few minutes, an HD receiver can be bought separately (the GTM 60). This 2595LMT unit IS COMPATIBLE with HD traffic if you want to spend the extra 70 dollars on the HD receiver. I didn't because I don't think it's worth it. Traffic reporting only works in major city areas, and isn't nearly as accurate as free Google traffic or even the free Waze phone app traffic. Point being, don't buy a gps unit just for traffic jam reporting. The models I compared before settling on this 2595LMT are: The 2597 (newer version of the 2595 but oddly has less features), 2797 (7 inch version of the 2595, way too big unless you have a bus), 2595, 2555, 2495, 3590, 3597, 3790, 50LM (can support a geocaching hobby). Yes, the process was long and confusing after hours of research, including an hour long call to a Garmin rep who was equally confused in trying to compare model differences. The features that were most important to me in a gps were the Voice Commands (being able to speak to your gps to give it directions, lower or mute the volume, find restaurants, etc, all hands free), a Smartphone link so that it can communicate via bluetooth with my phone to provide weather services on the gps as well as being able to send a point of interest from my cellphone to the gps via bluetooth (love that feature). The traffic receiver is nice to have but until they iron out the reporting kinks, which I'm sure will come in time, it's more of a novelty. I also wanted EXIT SERVICES (aka Up Ahead in some units). If you travel major highways you'll appreciate that feature, when you are nearing exits it will show you where the nearest gas/food places are on the screen. This 2595LMT unit provided me with all those features that I wanted, at the best price since it's last years 2012 model. The only thing this unit won't do which might be important to sales people is find the OPTIMIZED ROUTE to take if you punch in a handful of destinations that you have to go to a particular day. The option is there, but it's grayed out. Otherwise you can just easily manually drag/drop the POI's in the order you want (that works fine for me). NOTE: If you are rich and don't want to bother with the confusion of the Garmin shopping experience just buy their expensive flagship 3597LMT model that has everything including the slick magnetic mount. I couldn't justify paying double what I paid for this 2595 since the 3597 really didn't add anything I needed. OUT OF THE BOX: In unpacking the unit it comes with the gps unit, car power adapter (aka traffic receiver), usb cable (annoyingly short at 15 inches), a quick start guide, and some promotions offering a free audio book and how to update your lifetime maps. If you want a real manual just download it from Garmins website. It also comes with the dashboard sticky mount thing with the typical ball thing on the end (not using that, I have a sun visor gps holder that I prefer). Though supposedly if you use the dashboard one that comes with the unit it will automatically SAVE the location of where you parked the moment you remove the unit from the holder. Unit startup -- 22 seconds or less. Nice upgrade from my old Nuvi which took more than a minute. Also love the SLEEP mode (tap power button once), and the ability to quickly get back to the main menu from anywhere by holding down the back button. Updating -- The first thing I did was use the super short usb cable to connect the gps to my computer and then to Garmins website. They first make you install a browser plugin (easy), and then to download maps you have to download their free Garmin Express software. Annoying, but overall painless. I updated the units software to the current version, and downloaded the current maps (took less than an hour on a fast connection). Easy. After all the updates as of November 2013 the unit still had 2.5 gigs of storage free. Updating, Extras -- while you are still connected to Garmin Express you might as well download some of their Extras including new voices. This unit came with a few, the English ones were American Jill and American Michelle. I really don't like a female voice telling me where to drive (hah!) so I downloaded the American Jack, British English Daniel, and Australian English Lee. Favorite is Daniel so far. Voice commands -- so far so good. Some people complain about the accuracy of the spoken commands but for me it works great. The keyword you speak to wake up the unit to accept voice commands can be modified, I call my unit James. So all I have to do is say JAMES, followed by a verbal command such as FIND _____, GO HOME, STOP ROUTE, DETOUR, VOLUME, BRIGHTNESS, VIEW MAP, etc. He's very obedient and has yet to screw up. If your car is noisy I can see where that could interfere with the unit understanding spoken commands or if you have an accent. Smartphone link -- this is a free app for your cellphone to connect to your gps via bluetooth. You can lookup a location on your phone, then hit SEND to beam it over to your gps to navigate to. Love that. Google maps on the cellphone is supposed to also be able to SEND a point of interest, but it depends what version of Google Maps you are using since it seems they either stripped out that feature or buried it in the latest version (once you find a POI, there's supposed to be a MORE button with the option to SEND-TO your device, sadly I have the latest Google maps and at the time of writing this review it doesn't offer that SEND feature anymore like the classic version did so I just use the free Garmin Smartphone Link app to search for places and beam them over to the gps via bluetooth, works well. You can also optionally pay 4.99 a month for premium Live services such as enhanced traffic and gas station finder. Dashboards -- You can select from several dashboard styles (meaning what menu style you want to see while navigating somewhere, it's the bar across that bottom that can have things such as arrival time, miles to go, elevation, direction traveled, current speed). Mentioning this because some of the units I looked at didn't offer dashboard styles. Detour -- If you are driving along and wish to avoid what's in front of you just tell your unit to Detour (voice command or push button) and it will give several options for how long you wish to detour and where. Another nice feature is the ability to avoid a specific area (you choose on the map point A and point B and it will remember to avoid it). Pedestrian view -- this unit offers Pedestrian view. So if you want to walk downtown and carry your gps you can easily navigate your surroundings. Some of the similar gps units had that feature removed for some reason. Another nice feature is that you can select landscape or portrait mode for gps display. Calculation mode -- when calculating your route, you can choose between faster time, shorter distance, less fuel, or off road. There's an optional feature you can purchase called Eco-something that will enhance your route to be most fuel efficient. Favorites -- YES this unit has Favorites, but it's renamed to Saved Locations. Searching for an address -- it will default to searching for an address in your immediate area UNLESS you tap the top right corner button (labeled Searching Near) to tell it to look in a different city or state. Makes sense after you use it, but that was a change from my old Nuvi. GPS voice -- some of the latest units offer a feature called Real Directions and Real Voice (this unit does not that have that). In units that have that feature the traditional robotic gps voice is replaced with a more naturally talking robot voice that gives (what is supposed to be) simpler directions. In those units the gps will tell you to TURN LEFT AT BOBS CAR WASH instead of the typical TURN LEFT ON XYZ STREET. Some people like that, I personally prefer being told to turn on XYZ street because businesses change names and move around so I can see that being a problem down the road. So yes, I prefer the traditional spoken style of this unit, I think it also helps you learn street names if you are in a new area. I'm not sure what else to say about this unit, it worked great out of the box, feels good, responds well to touch/drag-drop/voice, boots up quickly, and updated flawlessly. I do wish it had a longer usb cable but that's an easy fix. All of the new gps's have a low battery life of 2-4 hours so plan on it being plugged in all the time if you are actively using it (otherwise in Sleep mode it can go for a week or two). I also love that it shows a picture of what lane to be in on exits, there's nothing worse than being on a busy highway having your gps tell you to exit and not knowing which of the 5 lanes you need to be in. In summary I'm happy with this model purchase, having already owned a Nuvi I was familiar with the menuing system which hasn't changed very much in a few years. Clean and simple, the way it should be. Some people think that the gps market is dying since smartphones now have gps built in, but there's still people like me that prefer a real gps device since cellphone service is spotty unless you are in a metro area. There's nothing worse than a smartphone losing signal when you rely on it for directions. That is where a gps unit shines, plus it doesn't eat up your data plan. I hope this review was helpful and removed some of the confusion in selecting your gps unit. This is a solid middle-of-the-road choice, and you can get it at discounted prices through the holiday season since they are pushing out the latest models. Good luck and safe travels.