Garmin Nuvi 2548LMT-D (from Halfords only) Initial review

[BigJohnD]

I've had several SatNavs over the years, and as my hardware running the excellent IGO8 was becoming less reliable, I decided to buy a new SatNav. I eventually decided on Garmin Nuvi after reading many reviews.

I've been using it for a couple of months and here's my view. I think I've included many things that I wanted to know but couldn't find out.

The initial connection to the PC for registration &c, was followed by a 2Gb+ update. Fortunately I have a speedy internet link, but it still took about 45 minutes. Beware if your link is not 8Mbit/s or faster.

No user manual was supplied. This is downloadable from Garmin.

Traffic info works, but is clearly dependent on the quality of info available. Details of two local major road works were seemingly not available.

FOR:
Easy to fit to windscreen
Easy connection to and detection by PC.
Quick switch on and locking onto satellites.
Good menus for setting most straightforward destinations
Generally speedy and responsive.
Micro SD card slot.
Links to Garmin's "Base Camp" for personalising destinations and POIs, which appear under Favourites.
"Base Camp" easily imports locations from Google Earth.
The default view showing every single restaurant and other POIs can be switched off.
Voice reproduction of street names will make you laugh, e.g. Clydesdale becomes Clidd-is-dale, Mellington becomes M'-ling-ton, &c.
Switching off the car's ignition switches off the device.
Battery life seems good.
Arrival time seems to become earlier during the journey, suggesting better than average progress.

AGAINST:
Long thick power cable - also acts as aerial for traffic info.
Map display/route not as clear cut as it could be. A better colour scheme would help.
Auto zoom could be better, zooming in closer at junctions. (It may be adjustable, but I've not found the option)
3D view takes some getting used to, the range displayed is hard to work out as it keeps changing.
Limited data display. It's not possible to show distance to travel and arrival time simultaneously, though a touch will produce another screen with it all on. (If I'm wrong, please tell me how to do it.)
Options for routes are poor - "fastest" or "shortest". It really should have "easy" and "economical" as well.
Only the next manoeuvre is displayed. Where two manoeuvres are close together, it's too easy to be wrongly positioned for the second one as there is no advance info.
At junctions and roundabouts, the road name is often shown without the road number, and so instructions do not align with the sign post. (e.g. "Take the third exit, London Road" rather than "Take the third exit, A6")
The abbreviation for "mile" is odd, with the "M" above the "i" (or is it "l").
The countdown to a junction is in tenths of a mile. Hundreds of yards would be better.
The warning for a speed check zone is a nuisance as the text covers the whole top line, hiding the details of the next manoeuvre.
The images of motorway exits &c are generic and not much use. I'd like to switch them off.
SatNav to PC USB port cable very short.

Overall I'm disappointed. The package was not as good as I'd expected, though it does do the job. The kit has a fast processor and lots of internal data space, but the software falls short and I'm sure it wouldn't take much to significantly improve it - the processing power is there.

Your comments welcome!
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Garmin Nuvi 2548LMT-D
Mio C320 Western Europe

[sussamb]

I think you may need to experiment some more. As a long term Garmin user I've just updated from a 1490 to a 2508 and am very pleased with it. I'll try and answer some of your queries/concerns.

I find the traffic cable thin compared to the 1490 one, but then I have a model with the traffic receiver in the satnav, is yours different?

I have autozoom switched off. Like you I'm not too happy with the default settings. On the 1490 you could set it the way you want, I've suggested to Garmin that be included in a software update

There are 4 data fields available so you should be able to do what you want, see here



To get that view hit the 3bar icon lower right and select Trip Data

Announcements of road numbers versus road names is better than it used to be, and getting better with each map update. Not so long ago (less than a year?) my 1490 hardly ever announced road numbers, now I see many more of them.

I don't have any issue with the 3D view as I don't use it

I'm happy with tenths of a mile, guess this is just a personal preference.

I only get the speed zone warning across the whole screen if there is no turn shown. If there is a turn it doesn't go the whole way across, so unsure why yours does

My junction images are photo realistic ones, and match exactly including signage. Yours should be too AFAIK

Yes, the USB cable is very short, I use the longer one from my 1490. Why Garmin shortened it I don't know, guess it saves some money?

The last software update was in September, I suspect there'll be another one shortly.


HTH

[BigJohnD]

My views have softened a bit after more usage. I'm getting used to it though I'd prefer a better colour scheme.

[Kremmen]

I agree about the latest colour scheme. I find it looks 'wishy-washy' compared to the vivid colours of previous.

Maybe it's a scheme borne from testing in all kinds of brightness conditions?
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DashCam:
Viofo A119 V3

[sussamb]

[BigJohnD]

Your picture looks marginally better than mine, with a better blue sign, more accurately reflecting the sign on the motorway.

However the moving images of lanes I see appear to be generic from a library. Many do not match, having the wrong number of lanes or incorrect layout.

I have:
Software Ver: 3.80
GPS Firmware Ver: 3.03.04
Maps: Western Europe 2014.03
"No updates available"

I'll see if I can capture a screenshot.

(This link shows what I was used to on IGO8 http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/igo-amigo-review-f5165.php Scroll down a little over halfway.)
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Garmin Nuvi 2548LMT-D
Mio C320 Western Europe

[sussamb]

Well I've looked at your link and can't see any junction views?

Having also looked at the various 'lane assist' views there's little difference between them and what I get. I suspect it's simply 'what you're used to'

[BigJohnD]

Sorry, there's no images of junctions. It's that the signs are much better, that's all. They're very accurate images of the roads signs, appearing on the screen in gantry layout.

I'm finding Garmin's images of the junctions not sufficiently accurate, so I rely on the signs instead. In fact, I'd be happy to disable Garmin's lane pictures as they're unreliable IMO.

Hopefully they'll be more accurate in the next update - particularly from North Wales/Chester/Merseyside/Warrington (A55/M53/M56/M57/M58/M62/M6) across Manchester (M60/M602/M62) to Leeds and the M1.
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Garmin Nuvi 2548LMT-D
Mio C320 Western Europe

[sussamb]

If you want to disable them just delete the jcv file/folder in the .system folder.

Down south they appear very accurate ... maybe the camera man hasn't reached 'up north' yet

[BigJohnD]

Cheers, I'll try that.
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Garmin Nuvi 2548LMT-D
Mio C320 Western Europe

[M8TJT]

[BigJohnD]

[BigJohnD]

I drove the best part of 200 miles today on the M53, M56, M6, M62 and M60.

Around 7 out of 10 junction images were correct. The ones on the M6 were spot on. The ones on the M60 were more or less correct, but outside that, several were clearly wrong, not even the correct number of lanes.

It's possible the junction layouts have been modified since the images were created but one image showed 4 lanes were there three and another 5 were there were 4.

Hopefully the Garmin camera man will be out and about soon.

And I do find "take the 2nd exit: Halifax Road" not as helpful as "take the 2nd exit: A640", which is what is displayed on the approach to roundabout.

Nevertheless, we arrived at the correct place on time, which can't be bad.

[Border_Collie]

BigJohnD. Your biggest problem is having been spoilt with iGO. Now you've deserted us it looks like there is only M8TJT and myself left with the best sat nav system.
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Formerly known as Lost_Property
And NO that's NOT me in the Avatar.

[M8TJT]

I've got a sneaky suspicion that AliOnHols is an iGO man as well, but can't be sure

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