Garmin Nuvi 1690 review
The Garmin Nuvi 1690 shares a lot of the features found on the recently reviewed Nuvi 1370T, including a 4.3in screen, text-to-speech conversion (which enables the extender to announce street names), Bluetooth phone connectivity, and lane assistance with junction view (so you will notice simulated highway signs).The 1690 is slightly thicker contributing to half an ounce heavier than the 1370T, however; and in contrast to the 1370T, it offers multisegment routing with route optimization.
Navigating with all the Garmin Nuvi 1690 mirrored the feeling we've had compared to other Nuvi GPS devices. The 1690 generated good routes with no surprises, and its text-to-speech feature worked as you expected.
GPS/Satnav reviews
Lane improve junction view provided a specific visual for the highway exit tests. The Bluetooth phone interface paired easily which has a LG LX9900 phone and worked well like a speakerphone. I was disappointed which the Bluetooth interface - like the ones in other devices in Garmin's Nuvi 200 and Nuvi 1000 product series, but unlike the approaches inside the company's Nuvi 700 and Nuvi 800 series - couldn't investigate contacts and call history with the phone. We got expected the greater Bluetooth interface to the premium-priced Garmin Nuvi 1690.
Recption menus structure about the Garmin Nuvi 1690 was in essence just like that on other Nuvis, though on the 1690 various connected NuLink services are sprinkled through the menus. These services are, in most cases, logically located in the appropriate menus.
One example is, the connected services within the tools menu are Flight Status, Weather, Ciao, and Currency. Under flight status, you can even examine flight numbers and search arrivals or departures. Checking weather offers the present day's forecast in your current location along with a five-day forecast. The device also provides current conditions choosing York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles; nevertheless , you can't specify other locations. Ciao aggregates multiple location-centric web sites like GyPSii and Buddy Beacon. Finally, the foreign currency exchange function updates fx rates daily, so you'll also have the latest information.
Garmin lists NuLink's other connected services beneath the familiar The best places to menu. The first screen offers Google Local internet search together option and White pages as another. With White pages you can lookup an unknown number by name as well as placement otherwise you can enter a phone number, as well as Garmin Nuvi 1690 do a lookup - quite a convenient feature. From the results screen, start navigation or (when you've got paired the extender which has a Bluetooth-capable phone) call the phone number.
Google Local provides online admission to same 13 POI categories taught in Sights icon. You should utilize Google Near search nearby, in a very different city, in a very recent destination, in a favourite destination, or - when you've got an energetic route - along your overall route; those are identical options you could have while using the POI database. It is somewhere the connected services may be better integrated: Have you thought to combine the searches? When we're searching for a POI, and we don't care whether or not this arrives in the internal POI database or with the Google Live connection.
The Where To menu lists such other NuLink services as fuel prices, movie times, and events in your area. You can search for nearby fuel prices for unleaded, midgrade, premium, or diesel. The seemed accurate around my sampling, but you can't search for the lowest priced fuel price besides by scrolling throughout the list.
The movie times option ought to allow you to search by movie title or theater reputation for a certain date not more than 5 days down the road. (The movie search is simply for nearby theatres.) In our tests, however, each time we experimented with check out theatres or movie titles on the four-day period, the Garmin Nuvi 1690 issued an oversight message stating that the server was busy or that we weren't connected. (There we were connected.) We advised Garmin from the glitch, that's lijkely to be fixed prior to product ships to retailers.
NuLink would be the data conduit for live traffic. It alerted me to nearby traffic delays and showed the expected rush-hour delays into Manhattan. While you would with all the Navteq live traffic on other Nuvi T models, you'll occasionally see pop-up advertisements for nearby POIs.