Garmin Nuvi 500
Written by Zoe Hellar Sunday, 19 October 2008 10:28
The Garmin nüvi 500 The Garmin nuvi 500 is a multi-purpose GPS. The device's primary outstanding feature is its car abilities. However, the nuvi 500 has decent walking, hiking, biking and boating capabilities. The Garmin nuvi measure a mere 4.2-inch x 3.3-inch x 0.9-inch depth. It weighs only 7.9-ounces. The 3.5-inch QVGA touchscreen has an excellent map and font display. The dynamic and easy menu interface is a triumph for consumers.
The nuvi 500 offers voice commands, turn by turn directions and an SD card slot and USB port. An added feature is the waterproof casing. The Garmin nuvi 500 is a pretty nice crossover GPS and well priced at less than $500
Navigate Off Road
nüvi 500 also includes preloaded U.S. topographic maps and accepts optional mapping for all of your outdoor adventures (see Maps tab for compatible maps). Conveniently plug in BlueChart® g2 Vision and Inland Lakes Vision marine maps on a microSD™ card for a great day on the water. The card slot is located inside the waterproof battery compartment, so you don't have to worry about getting it wet. With its high-sensitivity GPS receiver and HotFix™ satellite prediction, nüvi 500 locates your position quickly and precisely and maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover, deep canyons and near tall building and trees
Otehr Accessories
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 500 includes many travel tools, including world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. Show off photos of your excursions with nüvi's picture viewer. Even download geocaches and instructions from Geocaching.com straight to your unit. nüvi 500 comes preloaded with a free MAD Maps scenic road trip for Historic Route 66. Get turn-by-turn directions on motorcycle-friendly roads and insider tips for an unforgettable ride across America. It supports optional FM traffic alerts or optional MSN® Direct content. The 500 also features Garmin Lock™, an anti-theft feature, and is compatible with our free Garmin Garage, where you can download custom vehicles that show your location on the map.
Garmin Nuvi 500 Reviews
Pebuzz.com writes this abut the Garmin 500: "Overall, the Garmin nuvi 500 is an all-around good GPS device. It is revved up and ready to go almost anywhere. The battery life is good and the size and feel make it great for hands or mounting in the car. It would be nice to have a bike mounting kit included.
Some Negatives:
The Garmin nuvi 500 offers versatility and a good satellite signal. What it does lack is Bluetooth, a media player and for some ungodly reason no USB cable is included. The text to speech is another missed feature.
Interesting Features:
Nuvi 500 comes loaded with topographical maps (City Navigator NT US street maps, Puerto Rico and Hawaii) and the ability to add favorite POIs and a totally cool favorite destination icon. It also allows users to get an immediate fix on their whereabouts and keep track of their foot steps enroute. Type in an address and the route comes up within seconds. It has voice commands and turn-by-turn voice directions, but lacks text to speech capabilities. This means it won't call out the names of streets.
The topographic City Maps work best in car, biking and walking. The boating or marine maps are available in a SD card for a price. The marine maps are available from Garmin and aren't exactly cheap. If I were an avid boater in strange waters, I think I would opt for a marine only GPS with specific waterways that are updated continuously.
The Garmin nuvi 500 has a backtrack feature that allows users to recall previous routes and apply them and include notes or POIs. This is cool for trips that are routine. It also allows users to avoid construction, traffic jams and toll roads. The car feature is superior. The tools section on the device has a compass and other convenient tools for keeping notes and calculating a variety of measurements."
www.devicepedia.com writes about the Garmin 500,"What can you expect from it? To perform just as good as any other Garming navigator that is going to show you everything on the 3.5-inch removable touchscreen (320 x 242 pixels). We also loved the part that it didn’t have any moving parts. Which means it won’t break that easy, unless you put your hammer on it or smash it to the ground for a particular reason. The windshield suction cup also did a great job in keeping the new Nuvi 500 in its place.
Other than the great specs, it also has two drawbacks. The added bulk / weight and the omission of text-to-speech. If the first one is not that big unless you have to walk your way out, no text-to-speech is really something we’d appreciate on the upgraded version."
www.gpsmagazine.com put these dot points together on the Garmin Nuvi 500:
Good Points
- Waterproof (IPX7) - can be fully submerged (up to 3 feet deep) in water for up to 30 minutes
- 8 hour long battery life
- Removable, rechargeable battery
- Loud speaker
- First Garmin nüvi to show approaching turn indicator on the map (an arrow that shows the direction of the next turn)
- Includes shaded digital elevation mapping
- Includes a digital compass
- Ability to navigate to geo-tagged photographs
- Fast map panning & zooming
- Handy "Where Am I?" feature provides one-touch access to your current location and nearby emergency services
- Bright, sunlight-readable screen
- Excellent map screen is easy to read
- Top-notch routing engine
- Track log recording
- Supports multi-destination routing with route optimization (ability to sort the locations by distance)
- Good customer support.
Bad Points
- No text-to-speech; doesn't speak names of actual streets, just generic "turn left" or "turn right" instructions
- Thicker and heavier than Garmin's other 3.5-inch GPS units
- Plastic housing isn't as rugged as it could be; could scratch or crack if dropped. For frequent outdoor use, a protective cary case is probably a good idea.
- USB cable not included
- No way to exclude a specific road from the route
- Geographic Points is a nice idea, but doesn't include enough additional information about the locations to be of much value
- Searching POIs can take a long time if you search all categories
- Favorites are sorted by distance only, and cannot be sorted alphabetically
- Detour function doesn't let you specify distance or road exclusions
GPS magazine Conclusion:
Equally at home on or off the beaten path, Garmin's nüvi 500 is easily switched between driving, bicycling, walking, and, if optional marine maps are installed, boating mode. The water-proof (IPX7) nüvi 500 can be fully submerged in water for up to 30 minutes, has a removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery that provides up to 8 hours of power, and comes with City Navigator NT + Topo maps of the lower 48 States pre-installed.
When set to driving mode, the nüvi 500 is a full-fledged nüvi GPS, providing Garmin's unmatched routing and navigation capabilities in the car. If you're worried the nüvi 500 might trade functionality in exchange for the new off road and boating features, don't be: the nüvi 500 benefits from the same ease-of-use and best-of-breed routing engine as Garmin's other nüvi models. In fact, the nüvi 500 actually delivers several enhancements to the map screen, the most welcome of which are the addition of an upcoming turn indicator, and faster map redraws.
Walking, driving, and bicycling modes can all be configured to route on or off-road, and vehicle icons and map preferences can be customized for each mode.
A special Geocaching mode makes it easy to load and find caches, thanks in large part to the addition of an electronic compass screen and pre-installed topographic maps. Outdoor enthusiasts will also appreciate the TracBack capability.
Adding Garmin's optional marine maps turns the nüvi 500 into a feature-rich boating GPS, complete with depth charts, tide and current information, and additional marine points of interest.
Slightly bulkier and heavier than other 3.5-inch nüvis, the nüvi 500 isn't the most elegant design to date, and lacks text-to-speech, so it won't announce actual street names. The GPS is water-proof, but not drop proof. The plastic case looks like it could chip or scratch easily in a nüvi-vs-mother-nature encounter. Also annoying is the lack of a an included USB cable, which you'll need for loading Geocache waypoints, Whereigo cartridges, geo-coded photos, and installing software updates.
Minor areas for improvement aside, the nüvi 500 is an excellent navigator that pulls triple duty, and shows the kind of ease-of-use and refinement that has earned Garmin top position as the number 1 GPS manufacturer in America. Using the nüvi 500 is quick and responsive; there are no annoying lags or delays. The map screen is easy to read, and the included vehicle mounting hardware is simple yet effective. More than anything else, the nüvi 500 is easy to use. Menus are intuitive, and you don't need to read the instructions to use it.
The nüvi 500 can be paired with Garmin's optional FM TMC traffic receiver or MSN Direct receiver for real-time traffic capabilities, fuel prices, weather, movie listings, news, and more.
If you've been looking for a single GPS solution for the car, hiking, bicycle, and possibly boat, the nüvi 500 is the best option to date. The nüvi 500 has a suggested retail price of $499, and will be available for purchase in Q3 2008. A scooter mount is also available as an optional accessory.