Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been using Nuvis for years. Was very excited to get the new form factor Nuvi so I could give my well-worn 765 to my graduating daughter. Received my fancy new device and put it directly into service on a trip to NYC--my first time there after all these years of exploring the rest of the country. Made it through the northward routes of PA into Jersey, and then found myself at one of the famous "Jersey jughandle" intersections and unsure which lane to take for the direction I wanted to go. And the moment I stopped, I looked at my beautiful new Garmin to find out my next move. And right on top of the map was a damn Red Lobster ad, hiding the info I needed. Couldn't make it go away, couldn't see my map underneath. Let loose a stream of profanity. Then the light turned green, I began to move, the ad went away and I found I needed to be in another lane, but my moment in traffic to plan the lane change had passed. Garmin takes the only safe moment to check your map away from you--the moment you are stopped. So the only times you can check your map are when you are in motion and should have your eyes on the road. Who is the genius that came up with this garbage? I knew this problem was going to be bad in NYC traffic. But this POS had me steaming before I even entered the city. Inside the Lincoln Tunnel, once again hoping for lane info to get to my hotel, up comes a great big ad, WHILE THE CAR IS IN MOTION, obscuring the directions I paid my $450 plus tax to have. I damn near caused an accident with the "tourist slowdown" needed to find the right lane in time to get there. Once in the city, this thing was the very definition of useless, with ads obscuring the map every time I was at a standstill and able to look at it. When I realized I was going to be more of a problem to surrounding traffic with this thing than without it, I put it in my suitcase and went to electronics alley and got the cheapest Tom Tom on the shelf--$79. The Tom Tom outperformed this POS Garmin in every respect. If you must have the latest and greatest advertising-delivery technology, you can bid on mine on ebay. UPDATE FEB 11, 2011: Response poster Kevin looks to have solved it--the ads are the trade-off for 'free' traffic data. If I'd gone into the menus and turned traffic off, apparently the ads would have been turned off too. Living in the Balt-Wash area, I'm jaded as to the traffic functions of Nuvi units anyway--3/4 of the time they route you over to the BW parkway for massive delays on the 95. I take the 95 anyway if I'm going to the north side of D.C., and the massive delays the instrument prophesies rarely materialize. More often I get stuck on the BW Parkway and the Anacostia, where the brilliant Garmin device is routing me and everybody else who has one. So I've pretty much stuck to the 95 and had better luck in the past year or so. I've firmed up my ego by practicing my skills at saying 'no' to a female voice issuing commands. First I was answering her with unprintables, then I just smiled and said 'yes, dear,' while ignoring her and continuing my chosen route. Now that advertiser-supported traffic is the norm for Garmin, if I should buy another Nuvi I'll just remember to switch the feature off. It seems to have limited utility anyway. So, potential Nuvi buyers: if the ads get in your way, pull over, go into the menus, and turn off the traffic update feature. Then I think you won't have any more problems with gigantic banner ads obscuring your maps.