Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

You are headed towards a wise choice for GPS unit! In my view, for people who travel in/through cities regularly, the 2699 is the "sweet spot" for a high value GPS; i.e., one that has a big enough screen and the most useful features, without going completely over the top on every possible bell & whistle. (***UPDATE*** That is arguably still the case, even still the case now that the 2016 models are out -- see the bottom of this review for more info on the 2016 options.) For people who live in rural and suburban areas and do not road trip to/through cities often, the HD Traffic option will do nothing extra, so the 2689, if less expensive, is probably the sweet spot (although also keep in mind that the 2689 vs. 2699 price difference often seems to get pretty narrow anyway, in which case, then go with the 2699.) From many trials in various rental cars and other places over the years, I have found Garmin GPS units to be much better than the alternative GPS brands out there, even though none of them are perfect. I have been very happy with with my 2699, and I learned a lot about GPS units in making that decision that could be of value to other buyers. I should note that I bought my Nuvi 2699 device with my own money, with no remuneration from Garmin or anyone else for this GPS unit (or any GPS units, for that matter, to date.) *** MY BOTTOM LINE RECOMMENDATION*** The 2699 is a great model, and it has worked out well for me (the 2699, the 2689, and the 2789 are almost the same, and are all excellent; I think the bigger screen size is a lot better, but the 2599 and 2589 are functionally the same otherwise, and can also be recommended.) I ended up with this model after after returning a truly terrible 2013 model version (the 2598, which is basically the same as the 2X97 models; the 2699 is leaps & bounds better than those), as well as after owning a fairly frustrating 2012 Garmin for years. It is not that any of these are completely frustration free – the voice activation / voice command functions, while completely essential, is still not fully evolved on any GPS units made by any company that I know of. But these Garmin 2014/15 models seem to be way better than the existing alternatives. They improve driving safety in countless ways, which is a top priority for me as a parent, and as a lover of road tripping. *** IF YOU ARE STILL CONSIDERING OTHER MODELS, TRY NOT TO LOSE THESE FEATURES (that the 2699 happily has!) *** 1) BUY A MODEL FROM THE 2014 OR LATER MODEL LINES (or later): The 2014/2015 models are vastly better than their predecessors. See the Garmin.com website for models listed by years. The Nuvi 2X89 and 2X99 models are both from the 2014/15 model line. By this logic, do NOT get the 2598, 2597, 2797, and 2798 models, which are all from 2013. 2) GET VOICE-ACTIVATED NAVIGATION: aka, "Voice Command". I consider this to be essential in a GPS device. It is illegal now in many states to use touch screen devices while driving. The writing is on the wall that everyone will need to have voice functionality on GPS units in the near future. Don’t waste your money (and safety) on any GPS unit that cannot be voice controlled. I found that most GPS brands other than Garmin do not have voice commend (indeed, check carefully: only some models of Garmin have voice functionality) (DON’T GET: if you want voice functionality, that rules out the 2639 model, as well as all the all of the models with two-digit numbers and a few other four-digit numbers, so check on it for any model) 3) GET A MODEL WITH "PINCH-TO-ZOOM": “Pinch-to-zoom” functionality is a vast improvement, allowing you to move the screen more fluidly with your fingers as needed. It is definitely a feature worth having, as it will minimize frustration with your unit considerably. 4) GET A 6” or 7” SCREEN, if you can. I found the 5” displays to be too hard to zoom and expand, and to visually process quickly. Since clarity = safety when driving, the larger screen size made a huge difference to me. Typing is much easier, too, when manual entry is required (DON’T GET: if you want the bigger screen size, that rules out the 2589, or anything else with a “5” as the second digit in a four digit sequence) 5) “SPEED TRAP ALERT” (ok, my name…but that is basically what it is): a nice, but not essential feature, is that the unit beeps once – subtle, but sufficient -- when the speed limit on a road drops. Having recently gotten a speeding ticket in that exact situation, I love that! Now, that said, it isn’t perfect. I have learned over time that all Garmins get some of the speed limits wrong on some roads, so I have learned that I can’t count on it to know how fast I should be going. This unit has picked up most of the speed changes I have made, but not all. But it is better to have it than not. (note: the newer DriveSmart line offers additional options for this -- i.e., setting different types of beeps, etc. -- but the 2699 has the basic feature, which is all that is necessary.) 6) HD TRAFFIC WILL ONLY WORK FOR SOME PEOPLE. If you drive in cities, consider getting a model with HD lifetime traffic. In rural areas it doesn’t seem to do anything. But remember that it can still prove to be valuable as an option for road trips and travel. Check the coverage maps at Garmin.com to see if it will do anything for you. 7) (You will also want LM, which is Lifetime Map updates, but all of the models with Voice Command functionality seem to be included in units with voice navigation capabilities in the last few years by default.) 8) (You will also want “Garmin Real Directions voices” as they are vastly better than voices without them. It is the difference between being told a problematic “take a right, then take the next right” versus the much-more-useful “take a right at Elm Street, then take the next right on Maple Street.” The capacity for the real directions now seems to be included with most of the Garmin units with voice navigation capabilities in the last few years.) If you want to save money, you could potentially skip the bluetooth, backup cam, 7" camera (vs. 6", which is great), etc. Those mostly seem like extras and potentially optional to me, but they depend almost entirely on your personal needs and your price sensitivity. I should add that I thought that maybe adding a backup camera would be a nice feature so I looked into the nuviCam LMTHD. But once I learned what was involved, I realized I wasn’t about to spend a lot extra for the cam unit, and then even more than that to have it installed. If I really wanted a backup cam that much, I could just buy a separate backup cam and have it installed at any point, probably for less. ***** WHAT GARMIN COULD DO BETTER for even these otherwise-great units ***** - The newer Garmins have a feature that I hate: it gives you a non-voice controlled liability waiver screen when it starts up, which makes you manually push an "Agree" button on the screen if you want the unit to work right away… in order to (very ironically) tell you to be safe. - The start up on the 2699, while considerably faster overall than my 2012 unit was, is still a bit slower than I would like (…which makes the extra liability screen all the more irritating…) - The Voice Command function on Garmin units keeps getting better (i.e. in terms of it understanding your request the first time), and is pretty darn impressive at this point. That said, it still sometimes refuses to recognize places verbally that it immediately recognizes when it is typed in. While it only happens about 1 out of every 8 or so requests, it can still be quite frustrating, especially if you do not have someone available to type it in for you safely while you are driving. - The Garmin website is infuriatingly buggy for updates, etc. There never ceases to be some kind of problem when I have to log into that websites. It makes me feel like I have traveled back to 1990s internet. - My delightfully geeky family always delighted in the additional voices I could pay extra for that used to be available on the Garmin website (i.e. Yoda, Darth Vader, Bert & Ernit, Wallace and Gromit, etc.) I spent a lot on them, at $15 a pop, and would have spent more! But they disappeared entirely from the website during the summer of 2015 – gone – poof! We still have them on our current Garmin, fortunately, but I really hope they bring them back (…better yet, with “Real Directions” functionality, as we realistically can’t use them for even semi-complicated trips without that functionality anyway.) *** SO WHY SPEND $$$ on A GPS INSTEAD OF USING A SMARTPHONE? (safety, phone battery, etc.) *** As long as GPS units are still being made, I will buy one instead of using my smart phone for that function. Why I feel that way: - My safety, and that of my family, is a top priority. Having good reliable directions that are clearly (and loudly) announced to you via voice is an essential safety issue (vs. using maps, apps you have to read, etc.) Spending a little money on that, like I do for cars with important safety features, is worth it to me. - Safety while driving depends to a great extent upon the simplicity and clarity of any device with which you interact. GPS units are made for one primary function, and the best units let you access that function with a minimum of “layers” to peel back before you can do that. Smart phones require multiple steps to get to the GPS function, which is less safe while driving. - Incoming calls and text messages can interfere with your GPS directions - Unless you reliably plug in your phone every time you get into your car, you will run through enormous amounts of battery power when you use it for spoken directions. **** Even if you buy one of these excellent GPS units, which are the best I could find on the market today, be forewarned that is it sure to frustrate you sometimes. Most of the time it will work, but sometime you will give up and pull over and just manually type in the darn address. But you will be safer for having it, and it will give you confidence that you can get to where you want to go efficiently. Plus, as a bonus, you won’t ever find that your phone is out of juice because you forgot to plug it in when using it for directions (!) **************** MARCH 2016 UPDATE: The 2016 Garmin automotive GPS units were just released, so this is a heads up that you might want to check them out before you make your decision (…although many shoppers will still rationally decide to go with a less expensive 2015 model.) The DriveSmart LMT (50, 60, 70, varying only by screen size) are the 2016 version of the Nuvi 2589, 2689, 2789 models. The DriveLuxe 50LMTHD is the only HD Traffic model at this point (it is only available in 5” screen, and is the new version of the Nuvi 2599 LMTHD; there is no longer a 2699 or 2799 equivalent). The “Garmin Drive” (i.e. not “DriveSmart”) models should be avoided, as they do not have voice navigation. See my review of the DriveSmart 60 that I bought (with my own money, at full price) for a description of the relatively few new bells & whistles it offers. It is an good unit, but a bit pricey relative to the 2015 models, especially given the modest nature of the improvements. However, I ended up concluding that I liked my 2699 better than the DriveSmart in some key ways, and the price of the DriveSmart line is considerably higher, so I ended up returning the DriveSmart in the end. MY GARMIN 2016 DRIVESMART 60 REVIEW, so you can compare the 2014/15 vs 2016 top-tier model line differences: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2LLHZMRO6MHEP/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm ********************************************************** **** Good luck to you & happy travels! **** **********************************************************