Garmin nüvi 1690 4.3-Inch Portable Bluetooth Navigator with nüLink! Services
The Garmin 1690 GPS navigator–with Bluetooth and included Traffic Receiver–features an enhanced user interface, ecoRoute, public transit mode, and text-to-speech. Plus, pedestrian navigation capability is enabled through optional CityXplorer maps, which are available for select tourist destinations in North America and Europe and can be downloaded easily directly to the nüvi. The device’s enhanced user interface features improved graphics and a slide control for menu operation, while ecoRoute suggests fuel-efficient routes to save drivers money and fuel. Also, Garmin’s public transit mode allows you to navigate using buses, tramway, metro, and suburban rail systems. Pre-loaded with City Navigator North America NT. An ultra-thin GPS navigator with great Garmin features like CityXplorer and ecoRoute. Click here for an interactive demo Bluetooth Wireless Technology The 1690 enables calling with a compatible phone, giving you a completely hands-free mobile phone ex … >>> Save Money at Amazon.com
I purchase alot of navigation devices, so I was excited about the 1690 as there was much hype with this unit. The nuvi 1690 is Garmin’s current top of the line model. It features the new Garmin nuLink service which includes things like traffic, weather, gas prices, movie times, etc. It’s really good if you like that kind of stuff. It’s basically a much better version of MSN Direct if you’ve ever used that service.
I have a nuvi 1490t and 765t as well, so I’m going to make comparisons of the units. First thing I must say is that this unit acquires a satelite signal FAST. I’m talking less than 10 seconds fast. I remember with my old nuvi 350 I used to have to sit in my car and wait a few minutes for the unit to get a signal, not with this 1690. The same can be said with the 1490t as far as fast satelite acquisition. With the 1690 however, I can actually get a signal inside of my house without standing directly by the window, which is the first device that can do that in my experiences. I would imagine it’s good in a city with tall buildings like NYC with this kind of signal strength though I haven’t tested there. As far as navigation, it navigates as well as any other Garmin device so no changes there. Directions are very accurate and re-route calculations if you miss a turn are quick. Text-to-speech is excellent as well and is very accurate and clear with pronunciation of street names. Something Garmin has done with the newer software in all of their new units is increased the size of the text in the green bar when you’re navigating. This is great because the text in that green bar used to be too small to make out sometimes while you were driving. The size and thickness of the font of the arrival time (which can be changed to another category) and speed indicator have also been increased. The speed indicator font now turns red whenever you go above the speed limit. I’ve noticed that the little speed limit signs are also now on practically all roads and not just highways. They are also extremely accurate and update as soon as I pass the real speed limit sign I kid you not. Another thing to note with the 1690 is you now have an option to change the screen layout. You can have it where the map screen itself is smaller and a list of four categories (three choosable, can’t change speed indicator) are to the right of the approximately 3.5″ sized map screen (ie. Arrival Time, Direction, Distance to Destination, etc.) You can now also flick your finger on the screen like an iphone to navigate the menus instead of pressing the up/down arrow which is neat. Some have complained about the responsiveness of the keyboard, however, I feel it’s the same as all the previous nuvi models I’ve owned. When I press a key it gets immediately entered though there have been a couple rare times it has taken a second to register. Nothing serious though, it’s very useable. Also, the map screen redraw rate during a route is fast, so the car on the screen moves along nice and smooth like both the 765t and 1490t (and unlike the nuvi 350, 660, etc. which hops along instead of glides).
The screen on the 1690 in terms of quality is exactly like the screen on the 765t. This is a bit of a disappointment for me because the screen on the 1490t is far superior to every other nuvi model. The 1490t’s screen is of course larger (5″ instead of 4.3″ like on the 1690). The 1490t’s screen is a much better screen because not only are colors more vivid, but viewing angles are MUCH better. I was hoping the 1690 would have the same screen, but in a 4.3″ version. Not the case. I uploaded a couple of screen shots of a 1490t and 1690 side-by-side so you can see the comparison in screen size.
The speaker in the 1690 is the same as the one in the 1490t which is a big plus because that speaker is LOUD. The 1690 and 1490t models have better speakers than any other previous nuvi model. If you have the volume turned up to 100% it’s actually TOO loud. Highway driving with windows down would be the only probable scenario for 100%. So much credit to Garmin for including a great speaker.
The nuLink services are good if you’re into that kind of stuff. Traffic is one of the big features included. Garmin includes a 2-year subscription to the service which is $5 a month thereafter I believe. Now WHY they still have the little popup ads present like in all their other “free lifetime traffic” models I have no idea. These ads for varoius companies that pay Garmin will pop up on your screen from time to time, like if your vehicle is stopped at a traffic light or you’re searching for a POI. Problem is there’s really no way to permanently get rid of the ads (which annoy me greatly, but some others don’t seem to have an issue with them). Weather is nice as you can view up to a 7-day forecast in your current location or another location you can manually choose. The White Pages feature is great as well as you can look up a person by first and last name and drive directly to their address on file. It uses the data connection of the unit to get the info, so it’ll be up to date since it’s accessing the Internet. Google Local Search is an excellent nuLink feature. It basically makes your POI database 10 times larger and always up to date since it accesses the Internet for it’s data. It’s separate from the internal POI database, so you would choose one or the other to search for POI. The Gas Prices search is good as well as you can search whatever area you’re in for the lowest gas prices. In my experiences it’s been very accurate (gets the data from customers’ credit card receipts) and will show you under the price it displays the last time it was updated… ie. Today, Yesterday, 3 Days ago, etc. It usually says Today or Yesterday the times I’ve used it.
Traffic on this unit is GREAT. I say great because all the other units with free traffic are horrible because they’re constantly feeding inaccurate traffic data to the unit via the integrated FM receiver. With the 1690 it uses at&t’s data network for nuLink, so traffic data is MUCH more accurate and can be delivered to the unit much faster making it more up to the minute. I did a real-time side by side comparison of the 1690’s traffic data and the 1490t’s free traffic. Think they’d be identical because they both use Navteq traffic? Think again. I searched for all traffic incidents nearby my current location. I’m not exhaggerating when I say the 1690 brought up double the amount of incidents that the 1490t brought up. Just to test it out I drove to the closest traffic incident nearby and sure enough it was there. The 1490t didn’t even acknowledge it existed. Also, there were times where they’d both have the same traffic incident, but different data (ie. 3 min delay as opposed to 10 min delay). I drove to a common incident as well to see which one was more accurate. Again, the 1690 was more accurate. I assume it’s because the 1490t still had older data that hadn’t yet been updated. That gives you an idea of how much better traffic on the 1690 is compared to all other Garmin models. AT&T’s EDGE data network seems to be everywhere as well, so chances are if your at&t cell phone has reception, so will the internal receiver of the 1690. I have MSN Direct on my 765t which I believe works good… when it wants to work. Problem is… it never works. It takes forever to download data and reception is horrible in alot of places with MSN Direct. Not at all the case with the 1690 and at&t’s network. In addition to having great coverage, it downloads data fast which is great. Once the device is powered on (and has cellular network reception), you’ll have all the updated traffic info in no more than a few minutes. I really like the whole “connected” idea when it comes to traffic.
The border around the unit is about the same width as the 1490t, despite being a smaller unit. It’s also thicker than the 1490t. I suppose that’s because they had to fit the cellular radio module with sim card inside the unit. The black border is a piano black finish and a fingerprint magnet. The rear of the unit has a rubberized finish. The cradle mount is good because it’s powered… meaning you plug the power directly into the cradle and simply insert/remove the device. The 1490t doesn’t have this kind of dock… it requires you to plug the cable directly into the unit for power.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the 1690. I just hope they make a 5″ version soon because I love the screen size of my 1490t so much. If I had to choose, however, it’d be the 1690 because of the Garmin nuLink service which is without a doubt a great and useful feature. Perhaps everyone won’t have the same great experience that I’ve had thus far with this unit, but it’s worth the risk in my opinion.
The Garmin product line is old enough at this point that this GPS has most of the features you need and works. But:
First there is quality control. My first unit went back because it would continuously drop wireless data communications. The first and second unit have screen flicker. Turns out (per Garmin on 10/28) ‘[screen flicker] is part of an issue we’ve seen with some of the earlier devices that were manufactured. This has been fixed in the devices that have left us since then. The only way to fix that is to get that in for an RMA.’ So the second unit is going back too; we’ll see what the third unit brings… (Update: Unit #3 had a pixel stuck on green – we’ll see what unit #4 will bring….) In addition, there are bugs that should have been caught with rudimentary testing (the wireless signal strength meter shows 5 bars whatever the signal strength; device reboots when routing around traffic) or proofreading (documentation confuses GPS and wireless signal). Oh and the 1690 hasn’t even been entered as a line item in the support database.
Second there are customer support policies. If you’ve received two units that are defective; both because of manufacturing/QC issues, Garmin expects *YOU* to pay for the return, and then ‘The turn around time should be between 10-14 days from the time we receive the device.’ Come on! Ever heard of “sorry, we screwed up, the recall is on us”? Or failing that, how about advance replacement?
Third there is Garmin’s product support. It used to be the best in the GPS world. It has turned into a diabolical shambles of people that barely understand the product walking you through level 1 scripts (reboot, reinstall, reset) … and when they’re done with that they start again at the beginning.
This is a particular issue with this device because, as a connected device, you will suffer from bugs and performance problems, some of them real-time, introduced by Garmin, Google, Navteq (traffic services), Navteqs (maps) and the AT&T wireless network. Let me give you an example. There is construction two miles from where I am. It shows up on the traffic site operated by Navteq. It doesn’t show up on the unit. This could be a problem with the network, a problem with the Navteq traffic service, a problem with the firmware (what is it supposed to display?), perhaps a map problem, a contractual problem (is traffic data throttled to conserve bandwidth?), or interactions between all of the above. Having tried unsuccessfully to resolve a similar issue with Garmin on the 775 (when my GPS failed to indicate that the entire city of Pittsurgh was closed down due to the G20 gathering) I know there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of getting this resolved. It does seem that there is a little more traffic information on this device than on the FM services, but that isn’t saying much.
Fourth, the battery is not user replaceable. The claim of “4 hours battery life” on this page turns to “up to 3 hours” in the manual, and under normal use will quickly turn to “30 minutes maximum”. This is a problem because it makes the unit’s pedestrian mode useless.
Finally, if you opt out of receiving advertisements, traffic services won’t work any more. As you will be paying for those in two year’s time (assuming the battery hasn’t died by then), that’s unreasonable. And unless you give Garmin wholesale rights to your location data, none of the location based stuff will work. This is about as unreasonable as Facebook claiming ownership rights to anything posted on their site.
Having said all that, I do find the 1690 a pretty cool gadget. The implementation has some rough edges but that will likely improve over time. If you want something that just works, you’re better off waiting for a few months; as a non-essential early adopter’s toy it would be great – if Garmin got its act together.
This is just a typical Garmin unit, I like Garmin better than most of the other companies primarily for how they handle points of interest. I was disappointed the Google option is a separate search not integrated into the primary search but the Google search was useful and I could have seen using this as the default POI search tool, if I was going to keep the unit. Tom Tom did this same which I don’t get, it would have made more sense to combine the integrated items with the Google search, but I an not a programmer and don’t know the challenges with accomplishing this.
The reason I really do not like this item and I am returning it, is because of the pop ups for advertisements. This item was over $400 which is a premium to pay for a GPS, I don’t mind paying for a yearly service agreement and becuase this is only a two year subscription that comes with the unit I am paying for it. I just don’t expect to get pop ups for local businesses , not only is it unaceptable but it is a distraction and it is unsafe. For example: I chose the option to show the closest hospitals, now you would assume if I am looking for a hospital it would be an urgent issue. I got a little blue pop up banner Target – Check out this week’s deal on-the-go. This same pop up showed up on a few other occasions while I had the regular navigation map up as well. This is the reason I am giving it such a low rating and returning it.