LOWEST NAVIGATOR Digital Guides UK and WEST Europe area, Garmin Nuvi £129.99 GBP

Russell Said :
Just to make it clear this review is for the Garmin nuvi 2599LMT-D.

First of all if you do decide to buy this model I would recommend you also put a micro SD card in your basket too. The reason for that is there is only just under 800mb of free internal storage on the Nuvi out of the box, I bought a 16GB ScanDisc Ultra. When I received the unit I downloaded the Garman Express software from the Garmin site which you use to register your Nuvi and to check for updates. After registration it reported there was a firmware and a map update plus a few other small updates, which amounted to 7 updates in all. I selected the option to update all and the whole process took just over 2 hours. It installed the maps on my SD card and when finished I looked in the tools section of the Garmin Express software which reported 97% of internal storage was being used, this is why I recommend you buy a Micro SD card too.

Although I have only had the unit a short time I must say I have not experienced any of the issues reported by some other reviewers. Namely the unit randomly switching off or rebooting and not being able to use the traffic without having a Blutooth link to my phone, or by buying the Garmin Traffic power cable. To make one thing clear, if you buy the 2599LMT-D or any other model having LMT-D at the end of the model number, it means the unit comes complete with life time maps and traffic and the -D means it receives the traffic reports via DAB. All the models having -D at the end have the digital receiver built into the unit, there is no need to buy anything else. For traffic to work you must have the supplied in car charger / power lead plugged into the Garmin and the accessory socket in your car. The lead acts as the areal and it must be powered; you'll know if it is as there is a power LED on the plug which lights when power is being passed through it. Most modern cars pass power through the accessory point with the ignition in '0' position. When you have done this you will have access to the options under Traffic in the settings menu. It is important to note that as it receives traffic info via DAB, if you are in a DAB black spot, or where DAB reception is not stable, or in some cases there is bad weather (overcast sky and heavy rain) the unit may not be able to receive the traffic info and the options under traffic will not be accessible. It may also say traffic received via bluetooth Smart Link if you have paired your phone and have the Garmin Smart Link on your phone when it cannot receive the traffic via DAB. Also before it works properly it has to register and activate your free traffic account which can take a while to happen, 20 - 30 minutes of continuous stable DAB reception. When using the Garmin in the car you will need to use the charger / power cable anyway. Despite Garmin's claims the internal battery when fully charged will only get you 45 minutes to an hour up the road before running flat.... Read more