Garmin 590lm review
 

After several months and thousands of miles - and despite making a determined effort at trying to overcome the many niggles the EU version unit had 'out-of-the-box' - the 590LM was a disappointment. Here are a few of the major points…

Positives: Good, solid bit of kit; excellent touch screen; display layout pretty good; menu system OK too; well-designed mount/QR; good music player; can (with difficulty) custom colour maps; fast; some very useful forums.

Negatives: screen is difficult to see on sunny days (this is a major problem and there’s no cure); installed map display choices are limited both in number and variation; voice directions' verbosity (amount of info) is fixed; bit slow for route recalculation in cities; selecting the option to get a voice warning when you stray off route disables automatic route re-calculation (in a city this makes it pointless); no audio 're-calculating route' warning; music volume is only adequate; volume adjust disabled when Bluetooth connected (in fact some very useful functions are disabled depending what’s connected and what the unit’s connected to). I can add to that shortlist Garmin Help are 'very slow to stop'.

Now this is all very negative so I should stress that I really wanted the 590LM to work and went to a lot of trouble making enquiries, reading manuals, changing settings and above all 'testing, testing, testing'. But, all-in-all, the 590LM is merely adequate for motorcycle navigation, not brilliant. And it should be, given the price tag. My feeling is that many bikers (and car drivers too) just accept, as we all did with video players of old, that sat navs don’t work that well by design. Just compare how much better equivalent mobiles and tablets are.

Comparisons: I’ve used IGo Primo software on cheap tablets over a number of years. Leaving the hardware aside IGo Primo software is at least equivalent to, and in some areas better than, Garmin’s. If ever it’s offered installed on hardware as good as Garmin’s I’d junk the 590LM without hesitation.

Ratings:

Hardware: 8/10
Software: 5/10
Value: 2/10

That doesn't sound too good, then! I'm sure I've seen some sort of shroud that fits on the top of the device - this didn't work either? I agree that, for the price, this should be an excellent bit of kit! Do you have any experience of the 390? I'm getting to the point where I need to replace my old 550, and these two where the lead favourites. Perhaps Tom Tom might be better? The new rider satnav seems useful?

I'm quite surprised to hear you say that. I have had a 590 for about 6 months now, and find the legibility of the screen to be absolutely awesome on sunny days - in fact, the brighter the sunlight, the easier it is to view the screen. The screen technology in the 590 is very different than any prior Garmin navigator, and was selected specifically for motorcycles.

Have you tried, perhaps, adjusting the angle at which you view it, or perhaps moving it to a different location on your bike? I've posted a picture below of where I mounted it on my bike - this photo was taken on a bright clear day, with the sun behind me, shining directly on the device.

Otherwise, I generally agree with you, I do miss being able to control some of the functions that we have lost control over, and I think Garmin is getting a little greedy asking $800 for it.

Michael

http://i979.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps03643a01.jpg

I bought a sunshade made for a slimmer 5" satnav, adapted it and use it most of the time. This improved things, especially in bright sunlight. I'll post some photos.

Sorry, I've not used the 390 but I can say that the bigger screen of the 590 is a big plus. 5" is a good compromise - much bigger and it'd probably get in the way.

I guess we'll have to agree to differ. With a sunshade fitted and the sun off the screen it's not too bad but way short of being as good as the better tablets and mobiles.

I used to use a £45 Chinese-made sat nav on the bike; although it's not quite as good as the 590 you have to put them side-by-side to see the difference. For the money, I expected the 590 display to be a distinct improvement.

The bottom line is the 590 is - like most motorbike satnavs - vastly over-priced.

Thanks.

For me, you've re-affirmed my current practice of using a garmin nuvi when I happen to want to use "point and shoot" navigation.
(with a plastic bag cover if it should happen to rain, but those fancy plastic-faced-bolt-on-the-handlebars-bags might be worthy).

I paid about £30 for it, second hand, quite a few years ago complete with European garmin maps, so if it does happen to die some day, just :mchappy: