A Note About Me

I am self-admitted GPS fanatic.  I have been for years.  I remember my first rental car when the Hertz Neverlost system was first rolled out.  When I learned that this was actually a rebranded Magellan system that consumers could buy I was elated - until I found out the cost.  The technology was reminiscent of cellular bag phones.  There was a huge "black box" that had to be hidden away somewhere with multiple cables running to the head unit.  And then I found Garmin and their StreetPilot III and I've never looked back.  Oh how fun those days were - when full map coverage meant a combination of City Navigator and MetroGuide and you hoped like hell that those two products matched up at their boundaries.  I remember a route from Des Moines to Madison, WI where the GPS told me the electronics equivalent of "you can't get there from here."   We've come a long way since those days!

Here is my GPS experience since then:

Nav experience: Garmin SP III, SP 2710, SP 2730, Garmin i5, Garmin c330, Garmin 760, Garmin 885T, Dash Navigation, TeleNav for Sprint, TomTom 740 Live, CoPilot Live v8, Navigon for Android, Navigon for iPad, ALK CoPilot Premium, Google Navigation, Waze, Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT w/ Garmin Smartphone Link.

I've actually owned and used all of those devices - some for hundreds of miles, some for thousands, many for tens of thousands.  In every case either the technology moved on, or I moved on from the technology (the i5? Wow was that painful!).  Each product's story is different - why I bought it and why it ran out of favor with me.

And now I found myself with the Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT w/ Smartphone Link.  It is, without a doubt, the single best overall navigation experience I've had.  The Nuvi 3490LMT by itself is not.  I let that product stay on store shelves for a long time, until the day that Garmin announced Smartphone Link.  Once it was announced (it's announcement was a surprise to me), I was at Best Buy within 2 hours with a 3490LMT in hand.  A month ago I would have been the first to tell you that there is no role for a $399 PND in a $299 smartphone world.  Smartphone Link proved me wrong.

I have an order placed for the 3590LMT as well.  I look forward to its ship date.  And when it arrives, my wife will enjoy a very nice 3490LMT product while I will take over the 3590LMT as my main GPS device.

Garmin has nailed it with the Smartphone Link app, initial problems aside, and I look forward to many miles of enjoyment.