Features:

  • Foursquare - Search millions of additional new and popular restaurants, shops and more with Foursquare
  • Garmin Real Directions - Garmin Real Directions guides like a friend using landmarks and traffic lights
  • Direct Access - Simplifies navigating to select complex destinations, like malls and airports
  • Backup Camera Compatible - Take the worry out of reversing with the BC 30 Wireless Backup Camera (sold separately)
  • Free lifetime Map updates
No brainer, the best.

I got this to replace my nearly 10 year old Garmin StretPilot 2720 (which amazingly is still being sold used by some sellers). The Garmin StreetPilot 2720 was a top of the line unit back in 2006 and I was pleased to find that the "cutting edge" tech of 2006 is now in the "low end" Nuvi series of modern models. Amazing that a sub $200 GPS does way more than a $1000+ 9 year old GPS could do. For those wondering, YES there are still reasons to own a standalone, dedicated GPS in 2015. Those reasons include (1) Smartphone battery drainage. The GPS on a smartphone tends to drain it, then you have to have a cable running to your lap or a windshield mount and I find it a big pain in the you know what. (2) You don't need cellular coverage, or more importantly DATA coverage. This isn't a problem if you never leave New York City or San Francisco, but for those of us who live out in the country or do field service of some sort and travel all over (big cities and small towns), there are still places where my phone can't get 3G or can't find any data connection. You do not need data to use your "real" GPS. This is the biggest reason I have a real GPS in 2015. Nothing worse than not being able to use Google Maps because you have no data signal. (3) It more easily saves all of my favorites which is nice when I have over 100 customers I store in the unit. I went ahead with the 6" screen but a 5" model (57LMT) would be the same but smaller. I also went with the lifetime maps and traffic. The traffic feature runs off of the antenna which is the power cord itself (no external antenna used). It seems to work well but not as fast as crowd sourced traffic such as Waze. The directions are very accurate and if you hook it up to a PC and download Garmin Express you can get alternate voices and vehicles. If you don't mind dragging and dropping files directly into the file system of the unit there are sites with HUNDREDS of custom vehicles which is cool, but I won't go into that process here. I love the school zone warnings and the light shade of red the speed display shows if you are exceeding the posted speed limit. Like any other data there are rare times that the speed limit in the GPS doesn't match the actual speed limit if it has been adjusted in the past few years. The new turn by turn directions work well especially with the supported voices that do the "real speech" thing, it may say "turn left at traffic light" or "turn left before the CVS" which is nice. Of course the built in voices do Text To Speech and will say things like "In half a mile, turn left on Miller street". The volume adjusts to very loud, which is nice if you've got the radio cranked and the window down. The screen CAN be a tad bit hard to read compared to my old 3.7" Garmin StreetPilot 2720, but just a small turn to the left or right will fix it. I went ahead and sprung for the beanbag dash. I never liked windshield mounts and my old Garmin 2720 only had a beanbag which was nice to move car to car. The extra $15 or so dollars was worth it. The unit has tons of points of interest such as restaurants and gas stations. The "Where To" screen is also customization in terms of icon placement and the items on there! For example I added a shortcut to the "Fast Food" section in addition to the standard restaurant icon as I frequent those the most (hey, don't judge me). I was able to export my old 2720 favorites to a program call MapSource from Garmin, but that program couldn't see the new GPS, so I exported the MapSource database and installed a program called BaseCamp by Garmin. I was able to open the database file in BaseCamp and drag my favorites into the new GPS. THEN I installed Garmin Express which is the current software and from there you can backup your favorites to a single file. This thing acquires Satellites in a fraction of the time it took my old GPS. The only two things I found that I wish I could change would be (1) having a north indicator (red arrow or letter N with a pointer) on the screen at all times. My old GPS had this. There is a field in the bottom right that you can use it for, but that leads me to (2) only being able to display one extra data type. In the bottom right you can display arrival time, time left to destination, driving direction etc, but not more than one. I would gladly sacrifice a bit more screen space (of which there is plenty) to be able to display two fields. But overall its not a big issue. I would highly recommend this to anyone who still wants a "real" GPS.

Best GPS so far

I have used Google maps which is really great - but chews up the data bucket on our cell phone and drop outs on long trips. Had the Mag#####ian back in the old days which took us for several unexpected but exicting "detours", like turn left here and end up on a logging trial across the Cascade Mountain range pulling a 28ft RV, it worked but was outdated and not supported anymore. The Garmin is awesome, automatically changes screens when you get o that "100 foot wide highway sign with a dozen exits listed "and the Garmin shows you a 3 D model of which lane to be in and which merging lane you want! Awesome because 65% of our travels was frustrating because the "Navigator" (wife) did not like navigating, always seemed to cause some 'marital issues' when we missed an exit, but with Garmin - never get offended and always spot on, very easy to update and does great for road work, detours, and road conditions. Thanks Garmin for saving our marriage!.

very helpful

I'm in a cat rescue group in a small Texas town. I was having trouble getting out of Austin after delivering some baby kittens to Austin Pets Alive Neonatal Unit one Friday evening at rush hour and didn't have a clue how to get home. I was using a GPS function on my cell phone and it ran the phone battery down, plus it quit working in certain areas. I got home to Deep East Texas at midnight, to a worried husband. The next transport trip, I borrowed a friend's Garmin, an older model. I thanked her the next day, saying if it hadn't been for the Garmin, I'd likely still be lost in Austin. My husband urged me to order one from Amazon and said it was an early birthday gift. My friend said the new models had free updates on maps. I find my new Garmin very helpful. We took a vacation two weeks ago and had to drive through the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I need to print the user manual (we are old-school baby boomers) and I'm still learning how to use this device. Not knowing how to use it may have caused some trouble. I set it for taking us on a route not including toll roads. Texas' toll road systems have exploded. Garmin took us almost to Denton through the DFW area. My husband said that was about an hour added to our trip. He knows North Texas well and it was frustrating when Garmin took us home through that area without heading down 175. We finally turned it off and he found a route to get us home more directly. So yeah, learning more about my device and preferences etc. will prevent such situations. But for my needs in transporting little kitty cats to a better rescue destination and then getting home safely, I am pleased as punch. Well worth every penny!!!

Great Garmin Edition - Love it!

We had a Garmin for years that served us well, but I think someone dropped it and the screen became distorted. I shopped around a little and found this one and so glad I did. This one was fantastic right out of the box. It was all set up, I plugged it into my laptop and it pulled in information from our other Garmin and I didn't even need to re-enter my favorite locations. Plus this one has some new updated features which I can appreciate. I used it to go out to a rural area, I had no idea where I was some of the time, but the Garmin stayed on and true and got me to my destination. I was in a remote area with limited service, but this little machine did a great job. I would highly recommend this version, it was $99, that was less than in stores like Best Buy.

Great right out of the box.

Bought this as a 2nd for another vehicle,all ready had Gamin Nuvi older model.I actually ordered the wrong one,because I wanted the LM model but hit base by mistake.Was too late to cancel because I paid extra for two day shipping and had all ready shipped out.Could return it,but I'm happy with it,so I'll keep it.Many more features and far better updated than my old Nuvi which can't actually be updated anymore(so it says).Said five inch on the box,but it's 6 inch so a plus for me.Only dislike I have so far about it is the screen is gray at night and my other one switches from gray to white at night.No complaints so far,we'l see if this one holds up for over six years as my other one has.Price was good compared to all other sellers online and retail.I live way out in the country down dirt roads,eight miles away from the nearest gas station another four into town,registers every road and has been spot on verbally on directions as well.The voice does seriously mispronounce words but I can live with that so long as it gets me where i need to go.This is a good buy and would recommend.

100% satisfied and this can be also a good quality and ...

Yesterday,I used it for the first time and drove to meet with a friend in China Town. When I got home,parked, turned the key off I though to myself "how could I drive and get places without it'? Very simple to use ! It is operated by satellite not a cell phone tower so in the middle of nowhere you still will be able to get help. Please,If you purchase it and used it,register and download maps updates in order to function it correctly. After you register,every three months you will get notifications in your e-mails for "free" map uploads. I purchased it with the "portable friction mount" and "basics hard carrying case". 100% satisfied and this can be also a good quality and useful present for someone. Happy and safe driving :-)

No regrets, this Nuvi 57LMT 5-inch is the perfect balance between low price and all features I really need

No regrets on this, should have bought it sooner. To me it's common sense to spend the money up front to get the lifetime updates for map and traffic. Without that, you're just not getting the whole thing, It's convenent to download the software in my desktop PC and connect the Garmin device via the provided cable --- not problems with immediate recognition and communication with the web site, for the automatic map update. User's seem to often forget to do this, but should once or twice a year. Also in the site you can report map corrections. For exmple I told them the street by my house is one-way. I decided to make one enhancement. Mounting on the top of my dashboad, I got some velcro, and installed it neatly on the suction cup of the mounty bracket and on my dashboard. For me that works better than just the suction cup. The velcro grips it with more security and reliability, and I suppose you could also do this for windshield mounting. ------ For one trip it took me in the narrow and scary minimal roads through a state park, rather scary, dark, etc. To correct that when I go back there, it has a NEAT feature where you can indicate boundaries on the map for an area you want to avoid going into --- very cool --- so then it automatically takes you around --- keeping you from enter the area you designated as the "no go" area.

Gets Me Where I Want to Go

It gets me where I want to go! What more can I say? Directions are clear, and I appreciate the way the Nuvi warns me about getting into the correct lanes so that I can make subsequent turns. The photos featuring upcoming obstacles or confusing corners is also very helpful.

Great!

I bought this after returning another brand that needed too many steps to get it going. I am too busy and uninterested to want to read pages of instructions in poorly translated English. I need simplicity, and the Garmin proved to be just that. I have tested it out on some local runs to see how it works and it works a treat, even when I choose different routes than given by the Garmin - which I do because I use roads in better condition than I might otherwise. It picks up where I am and takes it from there. The directions are clear and you can alter the volume - I have a Wrangler which is very noisy, so I need the volume up. I rent cars for any long trips I take and I do this several times a year or more. Renting GPS with the car costs almost as much as this Garmin, so it is well worth the money for me. Plus, I will feel more secure in areas around the city that I'm not familiar with. I wouldn't mind being able to choose a different voice, but the voice on this is very clear and not annoying - it would just be fun to be able to pick the voice which tells me where to go. All in all, this does perfectly what it needs to do and it is very simple to look for hotels, restaurants etc. as you need. Love it, and wish I'd bought one a long time ago.

Above expectations.

This unit is more than I expected. It warned us of an accident that took place on the road 20 miles ahead of us while driving at night and on the return trip it warned us of an interstate closure because of a severe accident, then directed us on an alternative route to not get stuck in traffic. Awesome!

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