Garmin Drive™ 53 with Traffic, GPS Navigator, High-Resolution Touchscreen, Simple On-Screen Menus and Easy-to-See Map, Driver and Traffic Alerts

Excellent product

Automakers have all decided that everyone has a phone they would prefer to use for navigation; they're wrong. One of the distinctions between the Honda Civic Hybrid Hatchback Sport and the Sport Touring packages, for example, is that the Sport has no navigation system at all. The top-of-the-line Sport Touring really doesn't have one, either: It comes with a Google data package that would permit you to have on board navigation, but that free package only lasts for three years, at which point owners have to buy data from Google forever or have no on board navigation. May I suggest that this is all you need? It looks cool in the center console, provided you find the right cupholder accessory to hold it up (find one on Amazon that is an inner frame that permits the cupholder to still be used for holding a cup). It has lifetime updates, so in a sense it is better than the old systems which used CD-ROMs that had to be replaced periodically at sometimes considerable expense. And it works fine. There's a neat unexpected feature that sometimes shows you a photo of the actual freeway off ramp for recognition, rather than an electronic graphic. And it turns itself on and off when you power the car up and down. It would be very annoying otherwise. I wouldn't dock it a star for this, but they do need an always-on-display mute button you could hit once you know where you're going.

I previously had a Garmin Nuvi 2577 and this one is very similar except it seems faster. Otherwise, it operates very similarly. Travel ETA works well - provided you're not in an area with heavy traffic on a regular basis. Drove with this en route to LAX on a Saturday and the ETA would update back and forth on a regular basis by as much as 30 minutes. Let's not put too much of that on Garmin though. My passenger was checking similar on google maps at the same time and it was back and forth too. But FYI. Meanwhile, with my Nuvi, I would routinely load 'points of interest' (POI) using Garmin's separate loader for such things. Worked great. Problem with the Drive 53 is though that loading POI only works if you're using a Windows machine to load them. I'm mainly an Apple Mac user though. Didn't work with my macbook pro. Garmin support said try on Windows. I happen to also have an old Windows machine too so I did. That worked. Garmin needs to put the POI loading capability into Garmin Express. Why is it done with a separate app? and now only working for Windows users? My old Nuvi 2577 came with both US and European maps loaded. This one only has US maps. Bummer. To get the EU maps, that'll be another $100. Why so much more?!

You can depend on this gps. The software updates easily.

This is a really great tool! Simple to install, simple to set up, and easy to use. Plus this device picks up satellite signals better than both my vehicles’ systems. The software works reliable and I like the user friendly features available on the main screen. Very glad I bought it. Great value for a good price.

I had some grumbles with my old TomTom, so when it finally bit the dust, I was open to a new brand. Well, since TomTom and Magellan no longer make car GPSs, Garmin is our only choice now, anyway. The most important function for any GPS is to navigate. This one very frequently loses its satellite connection. The map freezes, and a banner says Lost Satellite Reception or Acquiring Satellites. I've gotten to driving locally with it turned on just so I can monitor this, and it occurs randomly and stays this way for many minutes at a time. Meanwhile, I've passed 50+ potential turnoffs. Because of this problem, this device is worthless. Even while this GPS is working, while driving on an interstate, it will frequently direct me to take an exit, then re-enter the interstate at the same exit. Maybe it was two feet shorter? A Garmin GPS I used in a rental car 20 years ago did this, but I thought that Garmin would have corrected that by now--wrong. Also, this thing occasionally loses its view settings, so the perspective changes drastically, and good luck figuring out how to get it back. Even switching places with my passenger the last time this happened, it took me at least ten frustrating minutes to figure it out. Very unintuitive. So bottom line, I do not recommend this device. However, all the competition is gone. The world wants us to rely on our phones for road navigation. I could live with that if I had a cell signal in all the wilderness areas I frequent, but that doesn't work either. Our technology has gone backwards.

Device works fine, but traffic data isn't available in my area. We are in upstate NY and couldn't get traffic data in certain places. The nearest place where it works is in Albany, over 80 miles away. Drove to other small cities and it wouldn't work. Won't even show local road closures. I was in NH and VT as well and I don't think it worked there, either. Seems to only have traffic data for big cities.

Works well, upgrade from previously owned version. Handy to have Traffic capability on long trips. Lifetime map updates is a very desirable feature.