16 Best Voice Recognition Gps (2022 Updated)

I really like it. It’s small and tells you the basics of what you need to know. Elegant design. Long life battery easily getting me 2 full rounds. Accurate save for the isolated anomalies that seem to be associated with golf gps devices.

I struggle a bit doing the ‘swipe’ to get yardage to front or back. I just double click instead and get both front and back yardages, but mostly just go by yardage to center and quickly calculate from there depending on where the pin is located.

This device does allow you to concentrate on your golf rather than the device. I;ve found that it does take some while to find the course, but once it does, it seems to lock in well. I;ve found that it wont find the course at all if I have it clipped to my belt.

Sometimes I dont wear a hat, so i clip it to the front of my golf shirt by the buttons. The clip is strong and holds very well. The magnetic ball marker is a nice touch.

My wife bought this for me for my b’day. First time I used it I was lucky enough to get to play at a course where a PGA tour event is held each year and it gave me the correct distance on every hole just the wrong hole number.

I kept resetting and it would never set to the correct hole. (It said #1 was #10 and #2 was #12 etc. Gave front nine as back nine and back nine as front nine) I then used it two days later on another course and it was dead on.

No problems at all. I think that there was just something to do with the first outing being the course that it was and not the unit itself. I would recommenced it. It was with in a yard or two of a scoped yardage device every time.

It was quiet enough not to bother anyone around me as well. In fact my playing partners started listening to it for yardages or asking me what it said. I had about 30% of battery life left after each round.

IMO it’s a great product for the amateur golfer. Instructions tell you to turn on early to find the course as it takes about 5 minutes. It will alert you when the course is found.

TheVC300 concept is great for the average golfer but !!!. I am now on my 3rd VC300. The first two lost their GPS capability in 9-12 months. The 3rd just arrived with the rain guard missing from the charging port You will love the simplicity and that may justify repeated purchases.

The VC300 speeds up play relative to using a viewfinder but their longevity is disappointing.

First off, I screwed up – I should have been more diligent, when at first I tried the unit and it didn’t work I should have sent it back right away. But I was told what to do to fix it and I never got back to it.

But the advice I had was wrong. DO NOT make the same mistake I did. For the money you pay for this device, you shouldn’t have these type of issues. I have followed the manual and told to repeat the process again and then to try the ‘special’ charge it for 1 hour and disconnect it, and then do this for 5 more times.

I’ve done the charge numerous time but not for just an hour – it never held a charge from day one. I was told it could take a few hours, I said I’ve charged it for a few days. But I have now done charge 5x for one hour and not surprisingly, the special technique did not help.

Two comments from the service expert that bothered me are: we get this problem all the time with these, try the 5x on/off charging method and it will work. …. ” If this problem occurs all the time – we should not have an issue with garmin honoring the return or replacing things.

2nd comment: when you fully charge the battery, the battery should say 53 to 100% (or full). My response, so Garmin considers a brand new battery that can only charge up to 53% as being good???? I asked – how many hours life is that (did not know was the answer).

The manual and service expert said I had to download the software for it to charge. I did that when I first got it and then again recently – that didn’t work. Recommendation: do not buy, if you do, immediately check the system out and don’t accept a weak charge, personally, I think relying on a battery with know issues is not good when you plan on being out in the woods for a week and not knowing if you are going to be able to charge it the next day or the battery runs out after a few hours in the mountains.

The device itself is great. Instruction manual is terrible and some functions take multiple steps when it should be much less. I guess I am used to the thoughtful user interface of an iPhone. This is very different and more clunky.

Also the Text function that was promoted in advertising never mentioned it is only 13 characters. I would return these if the store would take them back.

The combination of a GPS for bush walking as well as the ability to communicate via UHF radio is fantastic. You can set the transmit power to a low level if who your talking to is close by. this conserves battery life.

USB charging means you can take a power bank with you to keep bot your phone and your GPS charged.

Just like the Alexa dot or echo, setup was very very easy. As long as you have a decent smartphone it will stay connected. Set up the garmin app ‘speak’ and let it run in the background, and everytime I start my car everything reconnects within a few seconds.

If I was playing music through it will continue where it left off. Basically you have Alexa in the car. Alexa won’t make calls, although the manual says it’s capable. The mic works well even when it’s somewhat noisy in the car.

Love how small it is. The video it produces is very clear, though I haven’t reviewed any segments from nighttime or rainy driving. Two sort of big problems. This negative brought down my rating. You CAN’T speak an address for navigation.

You pre program addresses and only three. Like home, work, and other. I can ask alexa to ask garmin to find an intersection or a business or a city center for long distance. But you can’t ask it for 123 Main St, you have to go to the app and I’m not about to fiddle with that when I am driving.

For me that is a failing that needs to be fixed. Probably on purpose by Garmin since the really would like you to buy one of their $400 units with a screen. At least I have google maps and navigation where I can just ask to go to an address.

If you are an Uber driver or adelivery person this is not for you for navigation. The ‘Verb’ program used to view live streaming from the camera, it has worked for me just twice. Otherwise it just won’t find the speak.

Shame it is a clunky app, but I really don’t need it. If I need to review something, I can pop out the sd card.

I already have a Garmin dashcam so I didn’t need another, so I got the basic Garmin Speak. It’s great to be able to just ask out loud for the weather, the time, directions, etc. I can even turn off or on the security lights and the smart plugs we have at home.

But it’s not perfect. It won’t let me send verbal messages like Google Assistant will. It won’t connect to my vehicle’s radio via bluetooth, it has to go through my phone, reducing the flexibility. The speaker is a little tinny sounding but generally easy to hear.

It was easy to set up and install. I’m still learning what all this version of Alexa can and can’t do. I would have given it 3. 5 stars if I could have done half stars. But since not, I felt it deserved a 4 star more than a 3 star.

I like having it and would recommend it. But there is some room for improvement.

I been so spoiled and enjoy the use of Echo Dot for alot of smart home devices at home, and hoping to extend the ease while i m on the wheels and give this a try. Pro, it looks very neat, and do respond some command as echo dot, e.

g. checking if the front door is locked by August, ask Wemo to turn light on/off, turn nest to certain temperature. The design is very sleek and stylish, and screen rotate for different mounting position.

it also provide ETA to destination, speed limits warning, and simple turn by turn direction. CONS: it does not act as bluetooth speaker to receive call, it only route to certain points of interests, with numerous choices before start routing (e.

g. restaurant nears me, a specific street address to route to. it only store THREE favorite address, Home, Work and School, it doesn’t give options to store more locations that often visit. lastly, it needs to say “Alexa, as Garmin to negative”.

Will try to list Pro and Cons at least for me. Pro: nice designed, small, combined dash cam with Navigation, with parking cable you can enable parking recording, Alexa works best, magnetic mount, led circle blinks green upon turn or exit approach, easy to install.

Cons: only online Garmin maps, which can not be displayed on CarPlay nor Android Auto, camera angle not so wide, some loud chime or bell sound when approach exit or turn would be helpful. This device leaving mixed feeling.

Nice idea but some points are missing.

Having owned a few Garmins before, this is definitely a premium unit: voice control, smart-phone like touch screen. Unit is relatively stable (only a few crashes in the last year), Garmin just released unit software upgrade (so they are still actively maintaining it).

About the screen: although it is clear and bright, it gets hard to see at a certain glare angle. Being touch screen, smudges are a new fact of life. You can use the unit for phone calls, but audio quality is low (can be selectively disabled).

Being a large unit, the battery lasts only for a few minutes. In this day and age, you really want to buy a GPS that has life time maps (LM in model number): these show up few times a year. Traffic receiver (T in model number) works, but no where as good as Google Maps or Waze.

HD traffic is only relevant if you live in the area with coverage. Unit can be linked with internet-connected smart phone via Bluetooth and Garmin app, but with limited usefulness: it shows weather, but not gas prices, can add new POIs, but cannot modify route.

For some reason, Garmin does not clearly mention that to take route planning to another level, you want to use Garmin Basecamp (free). Probably the biggest problem with the unit is quality of navigation: comparing it with an old TomTom and smart-phone navigation, this unit attempts to be creative usually in a bad way.

You will presumably still arrive where you are going, but you might end up taking few detours / minor roads.

The 6 inch, in my opinion is just the right size. 5 is just barely larger than my phone, and 7 just takes up too much room on the dash or windshield. the HD on this 2699 is very nice. The auto split screen when approaching an exit is also nice.

The voice commands are helpful, but don’t always expect the Garmin to underhand what you say. You still may have to type in some destinations. All in all, I’m pleased with this unit, as it provides a bit more info and reliability than simple using Google maps on my phone to navigate.

GPS acquisition with a REAL nav unit is so much better than the phone.

I was skeptical about purchasing this refurbished Garmin but when it arrived, it was just like a brand new product! Very satisfied. The only complaint I have is on Garmin’s Traffic feature which doesn’t have anything to do with being refurbished.

The coverage for this traffic feature seems to be VERY limited and is something I would definitely not recommend unless you live in one of the coverage areas, check Garmin’s site. Also, initially I thought the 6 inch screen might be a little big but now that I have it, I do appreciate it’s size in my Sienna van.

I was pleased with the Garmin DriveSmart 65. I haven’t experienced the problems described in some other reviews. True, it did take a long time to initially update the software and data, over night even through a wired network connection, but this is not an ongoing issue.

In use, the unit performs well. It boots up and acquires signal quickly, the directions are accurate and quickly recalculate upon diverging from the planned route, the screen is easy to read, the audio is clear, and it was easy to attach to the windshield with the included mounting pieces.

So far, the suction cup has not come loose (and can be a little difficult to remove), but the weather has not been hot, so potential problems with the unit falling off cannot be entirely ruled out; fortunately, aftermarket alternatives are easily available.

It is easy to enter new addresses, but the procedure took a little while to figure out at first. A downside of the address list is that it cannot be sorted alphabetically, except perhaps by deleting and re-entering everything in alpha order, because it remains in the order the addresses were entered.

When entering addresses with the unit not plugged into power, the charge lasted about an hour. The USB cable is a little disappointing, with an outdated USB 2 type B mini connection at the unit end, and the socket placement on the rear of the unit pretty much requires that the cable be plugged in before being mounted on the windshield attachment.

The operating cable is about 68″ long, including the cigarette lighter plug end. A shorter cable, with a USB type A plug at the other end for attaching to a PC or phone charger, is about 14″ long. The outdated technology here may contribute to the long update times.

One thing that surprised me was how light the unit is for its size, lighter than my rather small phone. Others have complained about the plastic construction, but this contributes to the light weight, and the light weight puts less strain on the windshield attachments.

It’s not at all flimsy. Finally, the unit is a little awkward to store or transport because the mounting components do not fold flat. Given updated USB technology, a clearer user interface for entering addresses, a sortable address list, and more compact attachment pieces, the unit would support a 5-star rating.

For the same price, of course.

Awesome voice activation, no issues with bluetooth pairing, simple and the app works wonderfully with it! Updated super easy and still has plenty of space if you ever wanted to buy foreign maps to add to it.

Pure simple maps, GPS is standalone, Traffic updates (with app), speed/speeding warning (can disable), Time of arrival, delays, quick rerouting to alternate routes, hands free bluetooth speaker/mic to answer calls.

Voice activated map selection, previous routes, go home option, can save locations, and recent locations, as well as add them ahead of time. Did i metion the easy clear to use voice activation, so that you never have to take your hands off the wheel or eyes off the road.

Can my phone do the same, probably, but do i have to worry about my phone overheating in the sun on the dashboard, definitely. Not with this baby, stays cool and in place, auto shutdown feature when power cable is no longer providing power and this becomes the best thing on my dash.

I do have to mention that there is a very similar model for slightly more that contains some Alexa features, this is not not the same one. Also, add a backup cam for only 150 more, wireless, no messy cables that uses replaceable AA batteries.

I defintely see it in my future.

Very good product with a few wrinkles: Voice recognition is not great. Several street names were incorrect on each of several trips, making it difficult to navigate in urban/suburban environments. The streets were NOT new.

Getting trip guidance to stop with voice commands was unsuccessful. Check your settings in detail, as time permits. For example, if you miss a turn, unless you have u-turns allowed, you won’t be informed by the GPS.

It will just silently assume you are driving without a destination mode. OK Garmin will not respond, when you give it an OK for an alert popup window message. I still haven’t found a voice command to stop guidance.

The display and sound are both dimmer at max than my previous garmin nuvi 1450. Otherwise, the larger screen and not having to stop and park to change a destination, etc are very useful. Cant see evidence yet for traffic alerts without tapping alexa.

The enclosed power cable doesn’t have the big “bubble” on it, though the plug is very large and may contain the traffic antenna that was on my garmin nuvi 1450 GPS. The added screen details for restaurants, gas, etc.

are helpful. The ability to voice command the next rest area, parks, etc. is very helpful. The battery life for walk-around use is way too short even with a fully charged battery. Haven’t found a way to replace the batteries.

I have just opened the package and, apart from some useless little drawings which I could not follow, there were no instructions! I am well educated and intelligent enough to follow instructions but I am not experienced with technology.

I therefore could not even begin to use this device! It’s a lot of money to pay for something which I cannot even switch on! I have wrapped it up ready to return and will go back to following a map which is very simple and straightforward and has worked for the last 70 years for me.

If QVC are listening, there is no point in putting on an expert to tell us how simple it all is if we are not experts as well! Please can we have clear instructions to follow even if it is on QVC website.

I have to admit I feel quite angry that this has happened as I’m not the only customer unused to technology. More postage!!.

This is by far hands down the best Garmin I’ve ever purchased. I’m still learning all the things this unit can do. It can give you real-time weather radar through the Garmin Link app. This is $5 bucks a month, but for driving safety, I think $5 bucks is a small price to pay to see what the weather holds in store up ahead.

It’s easy to pull the SD CARD and transfer my trips and the data from a day or week of driving to my computer. DO NOT LET THE TERM REFURB STOP YOU from purchasing this unit. It came in a brand new box that was labeled with the words refurb on the box.

All the cables we’re new it had a screen film to protect the screen and looked brand new when I pulled it out of the box. I have not had any issues with this unit so far! It also makes me want to. drive more just to see everything it can do.

My mind was blown when I first used it and realized how accurate down to the tenth of a mile. I highly recommend this item to anyone wanting a new Garmin GPS mobile unit don’t waste a thousand dollars for what you can get this unit for.

Great product Great Price. Just download and connect the Garmin Smart Link to your GPS and turn it on to get live traffic and as I said before live weather with radar. I guarantee you this is the best purchase you’ll make for the price and you’llbe perfectly satisfied you made it for a REFURB GPS updated with all the new stuff preloaded you’ll pay a thousand dollars for! I give this until 10 stars.

********** (I may do a follow up in a month or so when I’ve had time to sit down and go through every feature this GPS has. Until then don’t let this unit slip away from you. If you’re on the fence then if say get off and get the refurb.

Garmin was great about adding new cables new features and a new mount for this unit. Youll never know it was a refurbished GPS!.

Got this to replace a previous device as it looked a bargain as a special value item. Downloaded the app to my computer to update the maps and followed the on-screen instructions. Connected the satnav to my computer with the supplied lead and tried several times to download the map updates but kept getting an error message stating the device was not recognised so no updates were received.

The start-up screen then froze and the device would not turn off. The screen eventually went blank so I started the whole process once again but got the error message again so I gave up. I sent it back today for a refund and will go back to using my previous device which although basic and several years old and lacking many of the fancy features the Garmin had, at least it works and gets map updates.

I am very disappointed the Garmin did not work as I’m sure some of the features would have been very useful to me.

After 10 years with the Garmin nüvi 3490LMT, I decided to upgrade to the newer DriveSmart 66. The nüvi 3490 did everything I wanted, but sometimes connecting to a satellite was slow and the mini USB plug was starting to have some issues.

It is a bit loose and doesn’t always connect. The DriveSmart didn’t appear to have any special features over the nüvi, but I figured in ten years there had to be some internal improvements. From the specs I could see that there were some things that were definitely a downgrade.

Most significant was the battery life. Only one hour for the DriveSmart as opposed to the nüvi’s 4 hours. The size was also significantly larger on the DriveSmart. I was fine with the larger screen size, but the thickness of the device was now twice that of the nüvi,.

7 inches as opposed to. 35 inches. The new unit is over ½ inch thick. You would think with all the additional space in the case they could improve or retain battery life. On the positive side, in a side by side comparison, the DriveSmart does find satellites quicker, usually in under a minute.

Indoors, the nüvi usually has problems connecting to a satellite. The DriveSmart is slow to connect indoors too, but is still faster than the nüvi and usually connects. That is the one noticeable positive for the DriveSmart.

Now the negatives and the reason I am keeping the nüvi. We travel a lot. I mean everywhere around the world. I have nearly every map Garmin or third party vendor maps (when a Garmin map isn’t available like Japan) available.

I have all the maps on a micro SDXC card. The card works perfectly in the nüvi. In the DriveSmart, the same card causes a pop up message that the maps cannot be unlocked. Then another message that the maps are corrupt and cannot be used.

The exact same card works in the nüvi without any issues. The individual cards all work fine in the DriveSmart, just not the combined maps. They are all in one folder. The instructions say I can load multiple maps on the DriveSmart, but it must be done differently than the nüvi.

So, there is some kind of backward compatibility issues. Because it is a GPS, we use the unit as a clock for the local time. It’s a very useful feature if you travel overseas a lot as we do. On the nüvi, there is a world clock app with multiple time zones plus an alarm clock app that uses the local time.

Neither app is available on the DriveSmart. I don’t know why they would remove such a valuable feature. Now we have to carry around a travel alarm clock and need to figure out the local time wherever we are.

I know the unit gives the local time on the splash screen, but we like to know the time in several time zones, especially home or destinations, when travelling overseas. Not real convenient for us. The nüvi had quite a few other apps we used like a calculator, unit converter, and last spot where we had been.

It is supposed to be for where you parked your car, but we used it a lot to mark where a meeting place (on tours) for leaving or to take us back to a reference point. These apps are no longer on the DriveSmart.

On startup, there must be a lot of things happening in the background on the newer DriveSmart. It takes longer to get to the main selection menu than the nüvi. It isn’t a significant amount of time, but it is noticeable.

One booted up, it is fine. But completing the startup routine is definitely slower with the DriveSmart. We do a lot of walking when overseas. The larger size of the new DriveSmart makes it a bit bulkier to carry.

The nüvi easily fit into my shirt pocket or into a small internal pouch on my sling bag. The newer DriveSmart does not fit as well in either. Also, with the limited battery life, I now have to carry an external power pack to ensure it doesn’t die and leave us stranded in an unfamiliar area.

So, the DriveSmart is bigger, bulkier, has very limited battery life and I now have to carry an additional item (power pack) that is heavier than the GPS. The nüvi had a pedestrian mode. Normally this isn’t an issue and we have used the nüvi in automotive mode while walking.

But sometimes, there were alternative routes given for the pedestrian mode that weren’t available for an automobile. These were usually trails and pedestrian only areas. It was a nice feature, especially in Europe where there are a lot of back alleyways and stairs available.

The way the DriveSmart mounts to the mounting clip is now very inconvenient. With the nüvi, I just aligned the bottom pins with the clip, do some minor adjustment and it clipped in. Very easy and fast.

The DriveSmart has a circular hole in the middle of the device on the back that you have to position on the mating mounting clip. I have never mounted it correctly on the first try and usually have to take the mount down so I can see how to properly align it.

In the car, I just put the GPS on the seat or center console so it isn’t an issue. But at home, I use the mount and it is a real pain to try and get it on the mount. Other minor complaints. The on/off switch is now a button on the back of the unit.

Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer it to be on the top or side of the device. I seem to always be trying to find that button. The Garmin 5 Inch and 6 Inch Universal Carrying Case available for the DriveSmart is huge, about 1 ½ inches larger than the GPS unit top to bottom and side to side.

That really makes the unit inconvenient to carry while walking. I like using the case just for screen protection and an added layer. The nüvi had a Garmin ‘envelop’ slide in case that fit perfectly and was just a bit larger than the GPS, maybe ¼ inch top to bottom and 1/8 inch side to side.

Much thinner and obtrusive. That has been my experience with the Garmin DriveSmart 66. I am keeping it because of the faster satellite acquisition. For travel, I will stick to the nüvi for now. It just has more useful features, like a world clock and pedestrian mode.

Battery life is a serious concern for us too. Having to always have it plugged in for driving is a minor irritation, but I can deal with that. It’s the app and mobile issues that I feel need to be addressed before it becomes my go to device for travel.

The battery will not last. Barely a year old (outside of warranty) it will last around 8-10 holes then get worse. Search for yourself on the net and you will find many that have the same issue. Don’t waste your money as you will be frustrated and disappointed.

The company will also be of no help unless you pay for a repair. New electronics shouldn’t have to be repaired for a cost and likely the repair will not last very long either. Obviously I am not happy with the device or the company and am out $90.

When it did work (the first few games) it did work pretty well but I didn’t use the voice since it talked frequently in a quiet atmosphere. And I might understand the low battery quality if I did use the voice.

The Voice X is exactly as described – it provides lots of info for the golfer and has worked well in my limited amount of time using it so far. I hit a few glitches getting the thing fired up initially by following the online User Manual.

My device arrived with zero battery life available so I plugged it into my PC to get it charged up. While charging, I thought it odd that the display showed it was plugged into a wall charger, not a PC.

After fooling around with it for a while, I figured out that the Voice X needs to be powered on for the display to show connectivity. My bad. I guess. Once it got a decent amount of juice built up, the Manual goes on to describe downloading the GB Manager to your computer, setting up an account, applying any available software updates, and registering the device.

I contacted their Customer Support number as I was having some issues getting through that process – things werent happening as described in the directions. The customer support guy said to just skip all that stuff as the device already comes with all the necessary updates.

So in the big scheme of things, I guess it wasnt too bad to get through but the directions could have been a little more explicit about what to do and what wasnt necessary to do. Up and running, its a bighelp out on the course!!.

Great price for the golfer; it is a must! This device is accurate and easy to use. The price is great for all you get. Put on your belt or on your cap and at the touch of a button you get instant distance to the target and it’s accurate.

Checked it with the golf cart GPS and they were almost identical +or- a yard or two.

My last Garmin was getting old and having some problems, so it was time for an update. This Garmin 65 is bigger (2 inches diagonally) than my older Garmin, which makes the details and print just a little bigger, and that really makes it easy to quickly see where I need to go.

Love the voice input! Garmin recognizes my words exceptionally well. I just say, “OK Garmin,” and she asks me what I want to do. I say, “Saved Places,” or I say, “Go home. ” If it’s saved places, then I say the name of the place.

Then she says, “Do you want to Navigate to. (the place)” and I say, “Yes. ” This makes changing your destination so much safer! I know I’ve clicked on the promise to refrain from using Garmin while driving, but honestly I’ve done it many times.

I turn down the radio when giving voice input, of course. If you download the app, and turn on Bluetooth on your phone, you will get highly accurate traffic updates, which I love. My only concern is that the unit tends to get very warm when being used while plugged in.

I highly recommend this, it’s the best Garmin yet.

We purchased this Garmin while it was on sale 3 1/2 weeks before going on a trip out west. It comes with NO manual with basic instructions. We hooked it into our computer, registered it, and tried to download programming.

It did NOTHING. After a while, we decided it must have to be charged first and plugged it into the car for charging. Finally, it would download from the computer. Later, we were going to try it out in the car, driving locally, before the trip.

Upon plugging it into the car, all it would do is show the “Garmin” logo. Tapping on it did nothing. It seemed stuck. We backed the car out of the garage, since we figured it might not be getting signals.

Still nothing. After unplugging & replugging several times and spending 1 1/2 hours, we decided it must need more programming on the computer. So, back to the computer and trying some more downloading.

It seemed to be okay, but when we plugged it back into the car, it did the same thing. Too late to return it. it was past the 14 days for returning to Best Buy. It was 21 days. We took it on our trip, but when we plugged it in, it took 15 to 20 min.

to get “unstuck,” (it just showed the logo “Garmin”) so we wouldn’t get any service on it that was useful. On a couple of occasions, we could finally get it to the point where we could put in a location and get the driving GPS.

However, if we had to stop to eat or get gas, we’d be back to the same problem. We finally gave up on using it and used cellphones. It is worthless. We’ll be trashing it or donating it.

Bought this to replace an older Garmin unit. I like some of the functionality of the older one better. The shortcuts has some fixed selections that I’ll probably never use and can’t get rid of (Foursquare, and history).

The selection for “city” is no longer easy to find. I like the bigger screen but the colours seem faded out. While I’ve only had it for a few weeks, overall except, for the larger screen I’m not impressed with the “improvements” that were made.

We upgraded to this device from a 15 year old Garmin Nuvi, and it’s definitely an improvement in terms of features. For instance, it gives you a choice of routes, and you can even easily edit a route to go exactly where you want.

The features are user-friendly and easy to learn. The only drawback is one that all Garmin devices have, which is the maps not always being accurate. An example: we put in a restaurant destination (in a strip mall) and our new device didn’t know the correct place to turn into the parking area; it wanted to take us up the street a bit and then make a U-turn.

They do provide free map updates a couple of times a year, so sometimes these types of errors get fixed. Overall, very pleased with our new device. And it says a lot that our 15 year old device is still working (just didn’t have all the features that the new one has).

Routing algorithm is Ok but God forbid you miss a turn or exit, it will most likely ask you to make a U-Turn somewhere. on a semi truck. and I have selected to avoid U-Turns but it still offers them.

Many freeways ang major highways have incorrect speed limits. yes I have everything up to date. Speaking of updates, when I bought it I checked and installed all updates. It’s been a month since then and no new updates have been released in a month.

The charging cable has to be unplugged everytime you want to remove the GPS from the mount. I can see the port going bad in maybe one year. The charging could be done through spring contacts inside the mount.

Not happy.

After recently changing job paths I decided I was going to get a new garmin and went with an OTR for the reason I started driving these trucks. I have only had one gps in the past and still have my old antique garmin (Nubi 350) that I will just leave in the car and since it is not an OTR it would most likely get me into trouble.

So I bought this new one and have grown to like it quickly. Went with a 7inch screen as it was already bigger then what I was used to and wasn’t as big as an iPad. The thing works smoothly and I expect to get many years of use from it.

Device is useful when doing OTR trucking. Local trucking it’s not as useful. Seems to never know what direction I am going. Always needs software updates and map updates. When device is unplugged from charger it only holds charge for about 10 minutes.

Would recommend another product.

Nice GPS but needs some updated maps. Our property is along the Red River in NE TX. Half the time I’m riding in UTV it slows me to be in the river.

Its surprisingly good about numbers of languages you can choose from including Japanese. Its map of Japan is so poor that I have to get one on my own to start with. I havent tried it on field yet so I hope its working out there.

super graphics with the birdseye that comes with it. good value with the 100.00 off sale would not give full price.

After two years I still love this watch. It is a great “watch” that also lets me receive notifications. It does many of the other fitness tracker type things as well. I has physical buttons (not touch screen) so you can use it when you’ve got gloves on or doing something physical where the sweat on your hands/fingers make operating touchscreens difficult.

It also has a basic LCD type display so the battery lasts A LONG TIME. I get 10-14 days with everything on except for SpO2 running — on a single charge – which was the major benefit for me — I don’t want to have to charge by watch nightly.

If you bring it down to “battery saver mode” (so kinda just a normal watch mode) – as someone who works outdoors, the watch will basically work indefinitely because of its solar panel. So in general their markets is 100% accurate after over 2 years of testing.

If you turn on SpO2 I think I get maybe 4-7 days of battery life. I just don’t use that feature much. The only complaint that I have with this watch — which is known by Garmin and they keep trying to fix it with this series of watches — is the barometric sensor.

It is both in a bad location and I think has some software issues. As a result you’ll get inaccurate “flights climbed” statistics (I’ll get a notice saying I’ve gone up 10 flights of stairs today, when I know my elevation change has been maybe 3 flights.

This also results in an inaccurate altitude (but always within say 100 feet plus or minus — and for my work that is ‘close enough’). Also also incorrect “storm alert” because it thinks the barometric pressure has dropped a lot when it really hasn’t.

If very accurate altitude or flights climbed is important to you – be sure to look into the many reviews, articles, and even documentation on their offical website for details. But since those specific things don’t matter to me, its a non-issue and likely is for many others.

Bought the blue version of the Instinct Solar. I come from as a long time Fitbit watch owner and a more recent Apple Watch owner. My original Fitbit is the Fitbit Versa (1st generation), which is square shaped and fairly simple tech.

It provided what I needed, which were steps, date and time, water proof for common usage. It allowed me around 3 days’ worth of battery life. It is square shaped. It was free from work, otherwise, it would not have been my first choice for a watch.

I bought my wife an Apple Watch Series 6 to wear, but after several months she stopped wearing it and went back to her own Fitbit watch. She explained she was tired of having to recharge the Apple Watch every day.

She preferred her Fitbit watch that lasted 6 days before a recharge. I took the Apple Watch thinking I would make better use out of it as a techie, but I also ran into the issue of it required a recharge every day or every 1.

5 days at most. It was not recommended by Apple to be worn while showering even though if you go swimming Apple states that is acceptable. I literally was afraid of looking at the Apple Watch Series 6 due to the battery drain.

The inconvenience of having to remember to charge the watch before I sleep to monitor my sleep, remembering to take the watch off before jumping into the shower, and multiple other issues just wore me down too.

The sleep data for Apple Watch Series 6 is nothing close to Fitbit sleep data and anything more advanced, you have to buy from third party app developers. I could not find anything free that was similar to Fitbit and especially not something where you could just pay a one time fee.

I preferred a circle shaped watch anyways. I did some research on what was available out there that would not cost an arm and leg to purchase but had all the bells and whistle. My criteria were: – Long battery life.

– Steps count, heart rate, sleep monitoring. – Some kind of GPS feature. – Not super expensive, but not a cheap throw-away watch either. – Can take a little bit beating but doesn’t have to be military grade ruggedness.

– Circle watch and looks good (obviously). I know that “smartwatches” will not last as long as a non-smartwatch, unless the battery replacement is simple, LCD screen will last for a long time, etc. This Garmin Instinct Solar seems to fit all my wishes at this price range.

The battery life is crazy good, I mean enable everything including the pulse ox and you should get at least a week+ worth of battery life easily. This is with the watch not absorbing any sunlight at all.

It has a simple GPS, nothing fancy, but I bike ride and will be using an external dedicated GPS device for routes. I just want something for casual hiking and biking, nothing serious. I can wear this to sleep, the sleep data mimics close to Fitbit’s details.

Really nice and it’s built-in to the watch, you do not have to make a separate purchase. I do not know how accurate ANY of the watches’ heart rate are, but wearing the Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Garmin working out, the rates show to be within 15 beats of each other.

Take that for what its worth, I don’t need the accuracy for any critical medical monitoring conditions. I read that external heart rate monitor strap would make the readings accurate, so I am considering to get that should I need it later (5K/10K running, etc).

There’s a lot of other features from this watch that I have not yet used, so that is just a bonus goodie for me. I have used Garmin to connect to Strava, the data recorded is great and as expected (same with Apple Watch and Fitbit), no complaints there.

I wear this watch showering, sleeping and everything in between. The recharge of the watch is fast too, if I am standing around working, I plug in the watch and I think within 30 minutes I can get a full charge from 50% (I never really paid attention how long it takes to fully charge).

There’s got to be something not that great about this watch, you ask? Otherwise, why the 4 stars instead of 5 stars? Yes, the PULSE OX feature is a bit flaky. At night, it seems to measure the oxygen level all over the range.

As log as 80, and as high as 100. I wore the Apple Watch Series 6 and my wife’s Fitbit Luxe, they all had above 90 range. Now, one thing I am starting to realize is how you need to wear the Garmin Instinct Solar and online research also confirms.

You have to wear the watch higher on the wrist, it cannot be loose. When you sleep, just slide it up the wrist and make sure it’s tightly pressed against your skin. I need a few more sample nights to test, but I had one night where it was 85 or higher, the next night it was 90 or higher.

I’ll sleep on it a few more nights and then see, but looks hopeful now that I have the watch tightened a bit more against the skin. If you measure the Pulse Ox manually, it is always 95 or higher, this is as expected.

Overall, highly recommended watch. I would buy again!.

I bought this watch to replace an old 735XT which was no longer doing a good job of measuring my open water swims. The GPS would just crap out and freeze and stop measuring my distance. That watch was almost 10 years old so I figured it was just worn out.

So I spend time researching on the Garmin site which watches can measure open water swimming. I ended up spending at least $100 more than I would have specifically to get this functionality. Unfortunately, I discovered that the problem I had with my old watch wasn’t just about it being worn out — the same problem exists in my brand new Garmin Instinct Solar.

I bought it before the current markdown, so I paid over $400 for a watch that cannot measure one of the activities I bought it to measure. Meanwhile, my friends are swimming in more attractive Apple watches — sure their battery life sucks, but I CAN’T EVEN MEASURE MY SWIMS.

Unfortunately, I am past the return date (bought it two months ago). I received a reply from Garmin Support with questions like: “Are you utilizing the built-in “Open Swim” activity? Is the watch above the water when you begin the activity?” They also sent a link to a list of recommendations including: “Wear the watch in a swim cap.

” Finally, this is the third Garmin I have owned — I had a 735XT and a Vivosmart — and by far the least attractive.