US company Garmin has a pedigree of producing seriously good in-car satellite navigation devices, like the Nuvi 770. Packed with features, like real-time navigation and European maps, the company’s new flagship the nuvi 1690 is targetting the LIVE services on devices like the TomTom GO940, as well as the Navigon 8410 Navigator.
With a rubberised back and smooth contours, the Nuvi is incredibly well built, it’s entirely button free, with a microSD card slot for additional maps.
Route planning
Locking onto a signal quickly, search by address or POI. An option to select the middle of the street would have been useful, if you’re not sure of the house number you have to select one randomly. Maps are easy to follow on the 4.7in (480×372) screen, with clear, well-timed voice instruction and Lane Assist and Junction View, although at one junction it thought we’d veered off onto on an adjacent road. This blip aside, the 1690 is very accurate.
In comparison to the MioNavman Spirt V505, there are a huge range of customisation options. Take the map – here you can change the amount of detail, the view and even the car, alternatively choose between fastest, shortest, Eco and off-road routing options. Bluetooth allows hands-free calling. The sheer volume of options can be overwhelming at first, as can a menu system that lacks the simplicity of rivals, but it just takes time to get used to where the huge range of features are.
Live services
The highlight of the 1690 is real-time ‘nuLink’ services, including the incredibly useful: Traffic, Google Local Search, weather and (in particular) fuel prices, with a list of petrol stations, prices and distances in the vicinity. Flight Status lets you check departures for a comprehensive selection of airlines from UK airports, which is useful for business travellers and jet setters. Like TomTom Live, it works via sim, so can be used in 17 countries. The free 12-month subscription is incredibly generous compared to the one month TomTom gives you and a snip at £70 a year.
Garmin introduced Ecoroute in late 2009. Enter the type of fuel, how much it cost and the MPG information, it then tells you how much the overall journey cost, so you can plan the most fuel efficient route. Hook up the nuvi to a computer to download a fuel report and view your fuel use. It’s a useful feature for anyone who drives regularly.
There’s very little to fault with the nuvi 1690, it’s perhaps not as user-friendly as rivals, but makes up for it with the sheer quantity of features. For regular drivers it’s well worth a look.
