[Royalott]

I have almost 2000 miles on my 2011 now and love it!!! Except for the GPS map. I think it really sucks. The detail is horrible, my view and for what it costs it ought to be the state of the art, even a satellite view. My 200 dollar Nuvi has much better maps, again in my view. If I zoom close it gives me the streets but if I move out a couple clicks the map is blank, until I to out so far that the map it useless.

I am really disappointed with it and wish I had stuck with my Nuvi. I was really hoping for something better than this

 

[DavidPJ]

I'm really disappointed to hear that. We'll have our Terrain this week and I also ordered the NAV. I also have a Garmin Nuvi 255 and love it. The only reason I bought the NAV is because this is my wife's Terrain, and she probably would have problems using a non-factory GPS. If it was for me, I would have continued using the Garmin.

 

[Royalott]

I'm really disappointed to hear that. We'll have our Terrain this week and I also ordered the NAV. I also have a Garmin Nuvi 255 and love it. The only reason I bought the NAV is because this is my wife's Terrain, and she probably would have problems using a non-factory GPS. If it was for me, I would have continued using the Garmin.

It is very easy to use and in conjunction with OnStar she will never be lost, not for long anyway. My beef is with the lack of detail in the maps. They are usable but for the money I was expecting more than my hand held I use for Geocaching.

 

[GARYD]

I've have 2 Harley units, both made by Garmin. Both have half the screen size as the Terrains. I think they are all graet units. When you say it doesn't have enought detail, what exactly do you mean? I have as much detail on the Terrains GPS as I do on my other units. Are you saying streets are missing? Not on any of my units. Every street I know of is in there. So are all the train tracks, lakes, rivers etc. All restaurants, hospitals, gas stations, shopping centers are all in there. What details are you lacking????
I don't know of a single GPS unit that has a satellite view.
As I zoom out on all my GPS units, streets start to dissapear from the smallest street to the largest. I've never had a completely blank screen though.
Maybe you have a defective unit.
I was in my boss's Lexus a couple months ago and from what I remember, his didn't look any different then mine.

 

[Royalott]

I've have 2 Harley units, both made by Garmin. Both have half the screen size as the Terrains. I think they are all greatMushrooms Demystified units. When you say it doesn't have enough detail, what exactly do you mean? I have as much detail on the Terrains GPS as I do on my other units. Are you saying streets are missing? Not on any of my units. Every street I know of is in there. So are all the train tracks, lakes, rivers etc. All restaurants, hospitals, gas stations, shopping centers are all in there. What details are you lacking????
I don't know of a single GPS unit that has a satellite view.
As I zoom out on all my GPS units, streets start to disapear from the smallest street to the largest. I've never had a completely blank screen though.
Maybe you have a defective unit.
I was in my boss's Lexus a couple months ago and from what I remember, his didn't look any different then mine.

I understand about the streets disappearing when you zoom out but with this unit they do not disappear incrementally but in big jumps. I zoom out and when the streets go I have huge blank areas, I can not even tell where I am until I zoom out enough to see half my county. I do live in the sticks, northern Michigan but my hand held Garmin GPS60 gives me better detail. What I mean by detail is when the small streets fade out the other ones show. This thing, at least in my area, jumps from street view to absolutely nothing for one or two clicks and then have the big highways like I-75 and such. It is much less than I expected for the huge investment. Just my take on it

 

[Jimmy-b]

I have a Garmin 265WT for the Motorhome and the Terrain's GPS is as good if not better when you get to know how to use the features.

 

[GARYD]

Royalott, run-don't walk to the dealer --- you have a defective unit. No GPS unit should have blank areas for more than a couple seconds no matter what scale you are in.

 

[Terrain]

^ It depends on your location. I am quite impressed with the maps for my region of Canada but if I travel 'up north' I sometimes get basically a white screen if I zoom right in. Seems the system sorts classification of the road and doesn't show very minor sideroads when zoomed in. This is in very rural settings though.

Where are you located?

 

[crownkid]

You guys are scaring me! I really, really wanted the Nav and ordered it on my Terrain. My TPW is next week so obviously I cannot go back to change anything!
I hope it is all I expect it to be. (do what I need it to do)
On that note though, I am planning on buying (updating my present unit) the soon to be released, Garmin 2360LMT. I am getting the Garmin because of the lifetime maps and traffic and because I am not always traveling in my car. I like a backup portable unit. I checked the cost of purchasing the XM traffic and the Garmin one time cost is not much more than purchasing traffic subscriptions or purchasing map updates.
I travel A LOT! So, if the NAV will get me from point A to point B without any problems and get me through major cities without heartburn, I will be well pleased!
So, that's my story and I'm stickin to it! LOL

 

[GARYD]

Then you have nothing to worry about.

 

[inphoenix]

I'm in an odd spot as I have a Traverse LTZ and the Nox. The nav in the Traverse is good, but not better than my Garmin 1490 T. The screen is a little larger but I think it's not realistic to expect the factory nav to be much better than something like a middle level or better Garmin. Since the upgrades are cheap I'll always have a portable unit like the 1490 T (it's just a little easier to work with) which makes the unit in the Traverse a really nice radio display. The Bluetooth is better in the factory configuration (Nox w/o factory nav, or Traverse with it) than what the Garmin does for my IPhone. Just my 2 cents.

 

[GARYD]

I think that putting Bluetooth with a GPS unit should be against the law....that's right I'm completely against having a cell phone in a car. I can't wait until there is a federal law against it. That will only happen when some politicians family member gets killed.
Had a good friend get killed by a jerk yapping on a cell phone t-bone him at an intersection. I just don't know why people can't wait a few %$#**** minutes to make a call. I realize a salesman has to make calls while they're driving (their family will die of starvation if they don't). It's a wonder how salesmen made a living before cell phones. I also realize that there are emergencies, but I bet that is only one tenth of one percent.

Off my soapbox.

 

[inphoenix]

I "live " on the road with my job. I see your point which is why I only use my phone hands free. I voice dial, (the IPhone is a great tool) and the phone sits in a cubby hole while I drive. I don't have to be able to see the phone to do everything I need to. At that rate, being on the phone is no worse than listening to the radio or eating while driving (which can be WAY worse for some people) In the past when I split between having the phone in my hand and being hands free I noticed a difference which is why I work the way I do now. Many people cannot "handle" their phones and drive. I choose not to 100% of the time.

 

[DavidPJ]

We picked up our Terrain today and although we had little exposure to it, I think the NAV works well. I don't think it displays street names as much as other NAVs I've used unless you zoom in deeply. It seems to be up to date with streets and it got us to our house without a problem while some NAVs still have a problem finding us. The femal voice is clear and friendly, but I think it's a little odd the way the voice changes slightly when the street name is said.

 

[fireman591]

I hear ya. The nav units in the cars today are way too expensive dinosours. The portable ones keep coming out with new and exciting features every year. I could not justify spending thousands of dollars on old technology that will really be old in 5 years. Take it to the dealer if it is not working right. For the big bucks you spent for Nav it should work right.

 

[GARYD]

GPS units really don't get old. The major roads are still there. My old Harley GPS was 6 years old and still got me wherever I wanted to go.
And major POI's changed very little if at all.
I bought lifetime updates for my new Harley unit for $79 so it will never be obsolete and I get 4 updates a year for life.

 

[georgi55]

GPS units really don't get old. The major roads are still there. My old Harley GPS was 6 years old and still got me wherever I wanted to go.
And major POI's changed very little if at all.
I bought lifetime updates for my new Harley unit for $79 so it will never be obsolete and I get 4 updates a year for life.

YOu must not live in Northern Virginia, here roads change daily. An out of the box GPS is usually missing streets/interchagnes that used to be intersections, etc.

 

[fireman591]

GPS units really don't get old. The major roads are still there. My old Harley GPS was 6 years old and still got me wherever I wanted to go.
And major POI's changed very little if at all.
I bought lifetime updates for my new Harley unit for $79 so it will never be obsolete and I get 4 updates a year for life.

I am sure it still works fine but heck every year the electronics people always out do themselves. The resolution and satillite views are awesome with the new ones. The size is also coming down. Garmin has a few models out that are super thin with large screens. I might buy one of those and velcro it to a flat spot on the IP. Mine has bluetooth,mp3 player and FM transmitter. Those work great in my old tech cars (2005 Vue and 99 vette). The battery life sucks so you have to plug them in.

 

[Z_Ghost]

OK this made me want a TomTom.

TomTom offers Looney Tunes voices for GPS navigators
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/09/tomtom-offers-looney-tunes-voices-for-gps-navigators-bugs-bunny-daffy-duck-sylvester-pepe-le-pew.html

I would so have Bugs on it.

 

[georgi55]

OK this made me want a TomTom.

TomTom offers Looney Tunes voices for GPS navigators
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/09/tomtom-offers-looney-tunes-voices-for-gps-navigators-bugs-bunny-daffy-duck-sylvester-pepe-le-pew.html

I would so have Bugs on it.

Just a waring, when you use those voices it does not speak street names, just tells you to turn right, etc. Only a few voice choices are available that speak street names