Garmin 1490 or Garmin 3790?

Help!
I am a current owner of a Garmin Streetpilot 2820 and a past owner of
a Garmin 2610. I'm looking to go to the next Garmin and I can't seem
to decide between a 1490 with the 5 inch screen and the 3790 with the
newest features. Can anyone who owns either of these two tell me if
they are happy with their model or if they would have chosen another
Garmin model.
Thanks for your input.
Mike

On 2/20/2011 8:19 AM, RedEyeMike wrote:

I don't have either of those models, but I have just entered the Nuvi
world from the StreetPilot 2610 and the differences are not minor.

1. Nuvi 2360LMT came pre-loaded with the CNNA map, so I wasn't able to
use the map in MapSource until the first free update of my Lifetime free
maps.

2. No satellite screen (unless I just haven't found it yet).

3. I chose a 2360 so I could have voice commands (like the 3790). I was
disappointed to find that zoom in and out are not voice controllable.

4. Dual orientation (2360 & 3790) doesn't seem like a feature I'll ever use.

5. The 3790 is claimed to have longer battery life. This will only
matter to you in pedestrian mode, which I haven't tried yet. A friend
who also has the 2360 says he only got 1/2 hour before he ran out of juice.

6. There are two extra-cost dashboard mounts available. One is the
bean-bag similar to what I used for my 2610. The other has a
non-slippery flexible rubber base, which works fine. My friend prefers
the bean-bag.

7. I can't comment how the lighter weight and higher resolution of the
3790 might affect users.

Dave S.

If it's like other Nuvi models, press and hold the signal strength
indicator in the upper left corner of the screen. After a few seconds
the satellite screen pops into view. Likewise, pressing and holding
the battery meter in the upper right corner may give you access to
multiple test screens.

Been talking to Garmin tech support now for nearly a year on my 3790t.
There are a significant number of issues - too many to itemize here.
As a 15+ yr Garmin customer I purchased this because it was their high
end.

What I am dealing with among other things are quite a few bad routes -
some of which were pretty stupid like making a right, then going 1/4
mile making a u-turn and going back vs making a left. Quite a few
instances where it routes me off a divided highway and then back on a
again for no reason (no traffic reason either). My biggest routing
issue has been its inability to tell the difference between a divided
highway and the feeder road next to it. If you are on a route and go
to a parallel road like a feeder road - it will continue to indicate
it is on the route road and not move you to the correct road.

Then there are problems from small nuisances like the voice reading
only part of the exit which can sometimes route you the wrong way on
an exit that y's (like I-610E/I610-W and it reads the first part only
if you need to turn right instead of left), locations like airport
terminal names which truncate so you can't tell which is which.

Then the traffic it uses at least here in Houston is inidicated wrong
in my opinion more than half the time - perhaps 80%+ wrong.

The one that really bothers me is I turn off the voice for routing,
but when my phone rings (it has bluetooth) and I answer, it will turn
the vocal routing back on and I can not hear my phone conversation. No
way to turn it off. So I have to turn off the 3790t or not use the
bluetooth.

Now this is a unit that cost twice my iphone 4 which I purchased a few
months after it. I have been told that they are working the issues (I
gave them over 20) but haven't heard from them in months.

On my current trip from Houston to Memphis, I am using it side by side
with my iphone 4 running the free mapquest app. Mapquest is missing
some things but with my $5 beat the traffic app and the free google
maps (which give me much more accurate traffic info) - I am almost to
the point of giving up some features and moving to my iphone 4 and
selling my 3790t used on ebay.

Happy to discuss more of the issues.

Joel


On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 06:19:59 -0800 (PST), RedEyeMike

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:39:54 -0600, Joel B wrote:

Ah, the classic Michigan Left... Often, this happens on a divided road
where the mapping doesn't seem to go through.


But it's *yards* shorter!


Not a problem exclusive to the 37xx. It happened with the SP, SP
Colormap, 2610, and 785 to my experience.


This I entirely agree with. The problem is so bad that they had to put
up painted boards next to roads to fill in the missing labels.


My bet is that this is less of a problem with the unit than with the
source info...


That's kind of odd. Especially since all the other unit mute the routing
when the phone is in use.


You must be magic then, since the 3790 was only announced in April of
2010, which is.... 10 months ago, maybe. And the models were to come out
Q3 of 2010, which is even less time.


I'll give you $150 for it, since it's used and (according to your post)
defective.

That'll pay for almost two months of use of your iPhone.

--
45. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible
for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I
will not draw my weapon, point it at him, say "And here is the
price for failure," then suddenly turn and kill a random underling.