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Reviewed By: Kevin9823 on 3/27/2008 7:31:38 PM

Overall ratings: 9.9 out of 10

Pros:
Great Screen, Great Directions

Cons:
Needs to speak up more on long trips

Comment:
Ok, here it is the review that you need to read on the Garmin Nuvi 5000. I recently took the Nuvi 5000 on an 800+ mile trip (round trip) from Buffalo, NY to Philadelphia, PA. It was very good but not perfect. First the directions were great! It calculated a route that was fast and direct. I checked it against Mapquest when I got home and the routes I traveled on my trip were identical between the two. The screen size was a major help when navigating the fast pace of the major interstates in Philly. I could NOT imagine trying to look at a 4.3 inch screen (or a 3.5 inch for that matter!) while everybody is traveling at least 80mph on interstate I-95. POI’s database was good and found almost everything I was looking for. MSN Direct was very useful. It told me about traffic and gas prices along my route(s). I like the way you can find the cheapest gas prices when you need gas. MSN Direct was VERY accurate with traffic, gas, move times, ect. Now the bad: Garmin needs to create a system update that makes the Nuvi 5000 speak your up and coming turns more often. For example, I would make a turn onto the interstate and the Garmin would say “turn right onto exit 152 in 45miles. Then the Nuvi will not speak again until you are 0 .8 miles from your turn. I guess that is not bad if traffic is light, but if it is heavy then look out. You might miss your next turn especially if you have to cross over three or four lanes of traffic. I think that this would be a simple fix if Garmin heard the cries from many. ***Oh, I almost forgot-CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On my trip I had to go through a tunnel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I just knew that I would briefly loose my satellite signal and I was ok with that because it should come back once I was out of the tunnel. Guess what, I DID NOT LOOSE MY SATILITE SIGNAL. The Garmin Nuvi 5000 tracked my position all the way through the tunnel. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t ask me how because I thought that this GPS did not have the “dead reckoning” feature. But I did notice that there were a lot of new features in the GPS after I did the latest system update for free online. For example, the “detour” function has changed for the better. Now when you tap the detour button it brings up a list of choices for detouring. It now allows you to pick how much of the route you want to detour (like ½, 2, or 5 miles) or you can exclude some or all the roads in the route. Bottom line, if you are looking for a good light weight GPS with a big bright colorful screen, good accurate directions, and a lot of useful features then this unit is for you. If Garmin fixes the above complaint then this thing would be PERFECT.