Garmin’s Nuvi GPS device is getting better at tying into your phone, if you can live with the additional expense.
The Nuvi links to a phone through the Smartphone Link app. The app has been available for Android since last year, and is now also available for the iPhone.
The app is free and adds several features, some that improve on the standard functions of the Nuvi. A good example is the local search on the GPS, which was unable to find a particular Federal Express office near me. Using the app, which is powered by Google, I found the office and used Address Sharing to send the coordinates to the Garmin. You can also send addresses directly from your phone’s contacts to your GPS.
It has other capabilities. The basic weather feature gives a seven-day forecast for your location or others. The Dynamic Parking feature not only locates nearby parking lots, but gives you pricing, and in some cases, the maximum-allowed vehicle height.
The Last Mile feature marks your phone’s GPS with the location of your car when the ignition is turned off. I found this to be a little buggy. My map image disappeared (it did save the location, though), and while it can get you in the vicinity of your car, it may not be as close as the correct row. Also, it doesn’t record altitude, so if you are in a multistory lot you could end up in the right row on the wrong level.
In addition, MyGarmin Messaging will alert you when there are new maps to download, provided you register for the service online. Advanced Weather ($5) adds color-coded alerts and animated weather radar. It may give you an idea of storms that are moving toward you, and you can check it using phone apps like Weather HD, which has a free edition.
PhotoLive Traffic Cameras ($5) lets you see images from traffic cameras on the Garmin, although they aren’t really quite “live,” in that they are static images. It makes it hard to tell whether heavy traffic is moving briskly at 45 m.p.h. or creeping along at 15 m.p.h.
The most expensive add-on is Real-Time Traffic information ($20), which delivers frequently updated Navteq traffic information to the GPS. This is already built in to the top-of-the-line Nuvi 3597LMTHD that I tested, but not on the lower Advanced Series Nuvis.
You can see similar traffic information on your phone free from Google Maps, which may be no better or worse than Navteq’s offering. People have told me of avoiding congestion thanks to traffic alerts, but I have never once been saved from a traffic jam by one. In fact, while testing the Nuvi, I sat staring at the red brake lights of cars stopped on I-95 while the Nuvi screen read, “No traffic reported ahead.” Garmin looked into it, and said an alert had been broadcast, but a faulty tower may have kept me from receiving it.
My suggestion is to start with the free app for now. Then, unless your demand for tidiness requires that all of your services are integrated in a single device, rely on free apps that offer alternatives to the Garmin pay services. In time, I expect Garmin will iron out the wrinkles.