Garmin nüvi 1390LMT 4.3-Inch Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigator with Lifetime Map & Traffic Updates

by Garmin

Product Features

• Sunlight-readable, 4.3-inch backlit TFT color touchscreen display with 480 x 272 WQVGA pixel resolution
• Preloaded City Navigator NT North America (U.S. and Canada)
• Free lifetime map and traffic updates for the most up-to-date maps, POIs, and navigation info, along with constantly updated traffic information
• Advanced navigation features including voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions, lane assist with junction view, fuel-saving ecoRoute
• Integrated Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker for hands-free calling,Battery life: up to 4 hours

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Product Description

Amazon.com

nüvi 1390LMT packs big features--including free Lifetime Maps and Traffic--into a slim design. This thin navigator also comes with lane assist with junction view, pedestrian navigation options, hands-free calling and ecoRoute to calculate a more fuel-efficient route.

The nüvi 1390LMT packs big features into a slim design.

Traffic information is updated constantly, and map updates are available up to 4 times a year, with no subscription, fees, or expiration dates.

Travel tools include JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more.

EcoRoute calculates the most fuel-efficient route, tracks fuel usage and more.

Affordable, Widescreen GPS Vavigator With Lifetime Map and Traffic Updates

Includes Free Lifetime Map and Traffic Updates
With free Lifetime Map and Traffic updates, you always have the most up-to-date maps, points of interest and navigation information available at your fingertips. Traffic information is updated constantly, and map updates are available for download up to 4 times a year. Both features are ready to go, right out of the box, with no subscription or update fees and no expiration dates.

Know the Lane Before It's Too Late
No more guessing which lane you need to be in to make an upcoming turn. Lane assist with junction view guides you to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit, making unfamiliar intersections and exits easy to navigate. It realistically displays road signs and junctions on your route along with arrows that indicate the proper lane for navigation. Lane assist with junction view is available in select metropolitan cities.

Navigate City Transit
With its enhanced pedestrian navigation capabilities, nüvi 1390LMT is the perfect travel companion for getting around town. Download optional cityXplorer content to help you navigate city public transit. Know where to walk, where to catch the bus, subway, tram or other transportation, and how long it will take to get there. nüvi 1390LMT easily fits in your pocket or purse. cityXplorer maps are available for select cities throughout North America and Europe. And with prices as low as $9.99, you'll have money left over to spend in the big city.

See More
With nüvi 1390LMT's widescreen display, you'll always get the big picture. View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant color. Its sunlight-readable, 4.3-inch (10.92 cm) display is easy to read, from any direction.

Get Turn-by-Turn Directions
nüvi 1390LMT's intuitive interface greets you with two simple questions: "Where To?" and "View Map." Touch the color screen to easily look up addresses and services and get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination. It comes preloaded with detailed City Navigator NT street maps, nearly 6 million points of interest (POIs), 2-D or 3-D maps and the speed limit for most major roads. Its digital elevation maps show you shaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. With the 1390LMT's enhanced user interface, you can slide your finger to conveniently scroll between screens. You also can upload custom points of interest (POIs). And with HotFix satellite prediction, nüvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.

Make Hands-free Calls
For hands-free calling, nüvi 1390LMT integrates Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker. Just pair it with your compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free through the 1390LMT while staying focused on the road. Simply dial numbers with nüvi's touchscreen keypad to make a call. To answer calls, just tap the screen and speak into its built-in microphone. Enjoy convenient one-touch dialing for contacts and points of interest.

Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 1390LMT saves you gas and money with ecoRoute--a green feature that calculates the most fuel-efficient route, tracks fuel usage and more. The 1390LMT includes many travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. With its "Where Am I?" emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations. The 1390LMT features Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature, and is compatible with our free Garmin Garage where you can download custom voices and vehicles. Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in microSD cards.

What's in the Box

nüvi 1390; Preloaded City Navigator NT North America (U.S, Canada); Lifetime Maps and Traffic; FM Traffic Receiver With Vehicle Power Cable; Vehicle Suction Cup Mount; USB Cable; Dashboard Disc; Quick Start Manual

Product Description

This Garmin 1390LMT Nuvi GPS features free Lifetime Maps and Traffic. This thin navigator also comes with lane assist with junction view, pedestrian navigation options, hands-free calling and ecoRoute™ to calculate a more fuel-efficient route. A widescreen display, you'll always get the big picture. View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant color. Its sunlight-readable, 4.3" (10.92 cm) display is easy to read, from any direction.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

793 of 819 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars It's a mixed bag but overall is pretty good November 9, 2010

By M. Erb HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Amazon Verified Purchase

12/10/2010 Addendum: Alert - I bought a second nuvi 1390LMT and that one started giving me pop-up warnings after it turned on. Two different pop-ups were observed. 1. "This accessory is not supported" 2. "XM is not supported." Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the USB power plug and USB plug receptacle on the nuvi were severely corroded. They had come that way from the factory and I had not noticed the defect during installation. I called Garmin and they advised me to return the device to Amazon for replacement, which I have done. Got to love Amazon for their excellent return policy. Also have to question Garmin quality control to let something like this slip through. I have posted an image of the corroded plug and receptacle in the customer images area. Now back to my original review.....

In a nutshell, the 1390LMT performed reasonably well. It has features that I will never use or will use infrequently at best, like Bluetooth and EcoRoute. The "Where am I?" feature is very useful. The initial satellite acquisition took a couple minutes which is normal. Subsequent satellite acquisition was pretty quick after the initial acquisition. I like that I will never have to pay for another map update. For the rest of the story, read on...

I bought the 1390LMT as an upgrade to my aging StreetPilot c340 Garmin StreetPilot c340 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator. I actually have no issues with my c340... it is a solid, basic GPS that usually gets me where I want to go. I say usually because the maps are now 3 years old and it sometimes doesn't know about new streets and such. Plus, as most GPS's will occasionally do, you sometimes get directed to non-existent locations. Someday I'll tell you the story of being guided to Home Depot only to find that I had "arrived" but all I saw was a big open field with a bunch of mooing cows but no Home Depot. Another time I was told to turn left into a parking lot and once that happened I was stuck in an endless loop of mis-direction by the Garmin. Most hardened GPS users will have similar tales... being told to turn left when the display indicates a right turn and things of this nature.

In any case, I was not willing to pay the high price for a map upgrade for my old and comparatively large & clunky c340 so I began to search for a replacement. I looked at and read a mind-numbing number of reviews for Magellan, TomTom and Garmin GPS's. Since I had had relatively good luck with my Garmin c340 (I'll tell you about my misadventure with the nuvi 1300 later on in this review) I took a look at the bewildering product mix of GPS's that Garmin produces. Each series of Garmin GPS has between 2 to 8 variations. For instance the 1300 series includes the nuvi 1300, 1300LM, 1350, 1350T, 1350LMT, 1370T, 1390T and 1390LMT. That's a lot of choices and that is just for the 1300 series. You've also got the 205 series, 500 series, 705 series, 1200 series, 1400 series, 1600 series, 2200 series, 2300 series, 3700 series representing about 45 differing GPS devices.

Let me help you if you are as lost as I was... the "T" stands for Traffic. "L" stands for Lifetime. "M" stands for Maps, "W" stands for Widescreen and so forth. So a 1300T gives you lifetime Traffic updates whereas a 1350LMT will give you lifetime maps -and- traffic updates. And within each model you will get varying amounts of other features like Bluetooth, the speaking of street names, photo navigation, MP3 player, 3D terrain view and such. Then you've got 2.8" displays, 4.3" displays and 5" displays. You will also have to decide what maps you want included with your GPS... do you want or need Canada and Mexico? If so, make sure the model you choose has those installed by default. Or you could add them later I think by purchasing the map you need but of course that will entail spending more money. It can literally take years off your life trying to decipher all this and decide on a GPS that is most appropriate for you.

My take on this is to get the most basic GPS you can deal with. 4.3" screen is probably the best size for most people and cars. Truckers may want the 5" screen. Traffic updates don't work in rural areas and many small cities. Even in big cities, traffic updates are of dubious value (many people complain about this feature.) Do you really need an mp3 player in your GPS? Probably not. Do you really care about "EcoRoute"? Probably not. "Lane Assist" sounds really helpful, and it is when and where it works, but it doesn't work everywhere so it's not as helpful as it sounds.

It's not easy picking a GPS. But I chose the 1390LMT contrary to my advice to you. It has a lot of feature bloat. Many of the features I will not use and quite honestly, all -I- really want a GPS to do is get me to my destination as accurately as possible.

As it happens, I have both my c340 and the 1390LMT installed in my car so I can evaluate their performance simultaneously, side by side. It's quite strange because sometimes they are both talking and saying exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Other times, like announcing upcoming turns, the 1390LMT will speak up first... sometimes by just a couple seconds, other times it announces the next turn as the last thing it says after announcing a previous turn... for instance it will say "Turn left on Main Street then turn right in 1 miles." Whereas the c340 will say "Turn left on Main street" and after a while it will say "Turn right in point-three miles." I can't figure it out but usually the 1390LMT gives more detailed instructions and generally does so with a bit more advance notice, which is greatly appreciated, especially at highway speeds.

I did notice that the screen icons and menus have changed somewhat between the c340 and the 1390LMT. Similar in many ways but just different enough that if you are familiar with the old layout, the new layout will frustrate you a bit until you un-learn the old way of navigating the menus/screens. One thing that really frustrates me is that "Spell Name" for a location requires an additional screen touch. With the c340 I'd just have to touch "Where To?" and then "Name Search" but with the 1390LMT I have to touch "Where To?", then "Points of Interest" -then- "Spell Name." One extra button push may not seem like a lot, but it is if you are not used to it.

I briefly owned a nuvi 1300 about a year ago and due to terrible touchscreen responsiveness, I returned it. I'm very happy to report that that is no longer an issue with the newer devices. Apparently a firmware/software update a few months ago addressed that and other issues. The touchscreen on the 1390LMT is quite responsive and accurate.

The volume and sound quality of the 1390LMT is decent enough although the c340 had a fuller sound whereas the 1390LMT has a scratchier, more treble sound. I did not notice any distortion that some people have reported at 100% volume.

Screen brightness is good and the screen can be seen pretty well even in bright light although it does wash out a little. The screen also does a pretty good job in the glare department, reducing it to a manageable level.

What I like the most is the "Where am I?" feature. When you click that button on-screen, it shows you your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations. You can also then save that locations as a favorite. Very handy.

What I like the least is when you arrive at your destination, the nuvi does not always say what side of the street it is on. As a comparison my c340 would say, "Arriving at Home, on left."

The Bluetooth works but it's not the best quality sound. I prefer my Plantronics bluetooth headset Plantronics Voyager 510 Bluetooth Headset [Retail Packaging]. But in a pinch (like when my headset battery dies) this will work. I had no issues pairing my phone to the nuvi.

If you are looking for your first time GPS, this -might- be a good choice, but you could save money by getting the more basic 1300LM which gives you the lifetime maps updates and dispenses with many of the non-essential "features." On the other hand, if you liVe in a large metropolitan area and you think the Traffic feature would be beneficial, then get one of the models that have that features.

I could probably write a lot more but I've probably bored you enough by now. I like the 1390LMT overall but don't and won't use many of the features so I should have opted for the 1300LM which would have provided me the main function of getting me where I need to go and lifetime maps which is important and will save me lots of money in the long run.

Inexplicably, the nuvi 1390LMT sometimes routes me crazily. For instance I was .1 mile from an expressway that would have taken me to my destination the fastest, but the GPS routed me on local roads... the same distance but would have taken much longer. I made sure that the settings were for "Fastest" not "Shortest" so I can't explain this bizarre behavior. It happens frequently so I just go how I know to go and the Garmin will then "recalculate" the route and the second time is usually the right route (or the route that I think is the best.)

I'd recommend getting the Garmin Portable Friction Mount as it will make hiding your GPS much easier when you are in parking garages and other places where GPS theft is a likelihood. The suction-mount rarely works well in the long-run. Read more ›

115 of 121 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Best GPS December 12, 2010

By Big Frog

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is my third GPS, and the best.

Pros:
1. It is super fast acuqiring signal.
2. It is very sensitive to your car movement, allowing fast route correction alert and other turning alert.
3. The route algorithm is excellet. It actually give me better route in areas that I am very familiar with.
4. Very intuitive user interface. You do not need manual.
5. Text to speech is excellent, very smooth, just like real speech.
6. It does tell you your destination is on right or left when you arrive. Very nice!
7. The buildin bluetooth is very good. The voice is clear and loud. The other side can hear me clearly everytime. Much better than my current Jabra bluetooth unit, which goes to dumpster now. :-)
8. 4.3 inch screen is perfect. I returned a 5 inch GPS couple months ago, just because it is too big and blocks my sight.
9. Touch sreen is easy to use. Very responsive.
10. "Where Am I" is great feature. I used it to find fuel station once when I ran out of gas and it did well.
11. The line assistance works. It really helps. I am surprised that this kind of info is even available in local driving.

Cons:
1. There are ads popping up. Not very annoying (just one line on your right up corner, and only when the car stops (say, in front of a red light). But it is still a big con and the biggest one.
2. The map updating requires installing new software on your computer. It took more than 1 hour to finish the whole process.
3. Hard to overview your overall route. You have to use zoom out button to see your overall route, which is not very convenient.
4. The map interface display limited info. For example, you have to select one of the following to be displayed: your estimated arrval time, you remaining distance to your destination, etc. I usually want these infos listed.
5. No battery indicator.
6. Self-start everytime when I start driving. (someone may put it in the pros category, but I do not like this idea.)
7. I have to press some stupid button everytime before starting to use the unit, saying I understand some terms blah, blah. Very annoying.

Pending:
1. I have not seen how the traffic info helps yet. Maybe I can see it when there is a big accident on the way. But I feel it should work given that it accurately tells me there is no traffic when there is really no traffic :-)

I gave 5 star just because I really love it though the cons list is not short :-)

Update (12/15/2010): The traffic function works like a charm. It actually routed me in a different way (about 2 miles longer than my normal route) in my way home after work when I took off early and there was heavy traffic. The new route saved me about 20 minutes in a 40-60 minutes drive as I knew how long it normally takes just by following my normal route. The route is selected based on accurate estimation on delays in each routes. The delay minutes for the selected route is shown on the map and is updated in real time. The feature really really works. I feel very happy I bought this unit with traffic update.

Update (12/27/2010): I found an issue during extensive use of the unit. When somebody calls in, the unit may reboot itself automatically. It happens for about 1/3 of incoming calls (I have not figured out the pattern when/why an income call trigers reboot. Outgoing call has no such issue. I think it is a serious bug and I therefore downgrade my rating from 5 to 4.

Update (01/23/2011): I found a way to solve some of newly discovered issues. One day, the unit lost its voice. The bluetooth stopped working as well. I pressed the power buttom for 10 seconds. And then turn it on. The issue was resolved, though I have to set up my bluetooth from my phone again. Another issue is that the traffic coverage is not so great. For example, in Reno, NV, there is no traffic info.

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Adds while driving. November 24, 2010

By Papa Carlo

Amazon Verified Purchase

I got this GPS from another store. Out of the box I noticed it had two stuck pixels. This might be not a big deal but it is very visible when driving at night and is kind of annoying.
The more important issue that just struck me is popup ads on the screen. Every time you start driving you see them. They can pop up even when you stop on the red light. When you start driving the popups go away ater few minutes, but isn't starting moving on intersection when the light switches to green requires double attention on the road ?
I find these ads obtrusive and I would rather pay or get rid of the traffic feature that causes this.
I am not a lawyer but it could be these ads are actually illegal. For example California Vehicle Code §2890 (West 2004) specifically states that any display visible to the driver is illegal, with a few exceptions including global positioning display. However an ad popping on the GPS screen is not a part of positioning process.

So to make the story shorter here are the highlights. Don't take me wrong. The GPS is still among the best out there. But here is what I would like to get improved:

1. Popup ads. A big minus!
2.If you know the road do not rely on the GPS to give you a better route. I noticed that the routing is not always optimal. Sometimes it is just anecdotal. It takes you off a freeway, directs to another one, then leads through some back roads and will return close to the original freeway. The time lost is 5 minutes on a 15 minutes route. Note this is at night with no traffic whatsoever.
3.Traffic feature is not that reliable. Sometimes it reports traffic when there is literally no a single car on the road. I suspect the above mentioned mis-routing could be caused by this.
4. Reported speed limits are 5 miles lower or higher than the actual one in about 50%.

Edit: After using it for a couple of months I had to return it. The audio would go on and off randomly, the unit would reboot sometimes at the most critical moments while I was driving.
I found my old Nuvi 680 unit with the broken screen, bought the screen on e-bay for $10 and installed on my old unit. It works much better than the new one. No reboots, no audion problems, nothing.