Buy Now...
click image to enlarge
It is designed for landscape use and is 14x8.5cm when being used out of car the weight becomes important and without any fittings attached that is 177grams.
The viewable screen is 11x6.3cm and is rather reflective so in out of car use needs to be shielded on a sunny day.
While this is intended for in car use I always do some of my tests walking, on buses and even on trains. The reason for the last two is that you can concentrate on the screen something you should never do when driving. You get a lot of information that may or may not be readily available in documentation. Here I found a big minus in that the battery only lasted for a maximum of 80 minutes when not plugged in, I got round this by having a battery charger such as the recently reviewed item from TK-Link with me for the times I needed directions when out and about in a large town and of course not driving.
There is a single on/off button on the back for the times when not on power and you get only one low battery warning around two minutes before the battery dies.
I was pleasantly surprised on initial setup indoors that after a couple of minutes it found sufficient satelites to program a route.
The main screen shows your position accurately with just two details at the base of the touch screen speed and arrival time. To the left of speed is the back button and to the right of arrival are three horizontal lines that take you to a choices screen.
Pressing the back button takes you to a screen that has a large magnifying glass (where to) and a stick pin (view map) with small icons for Stop, Apps, Volume and Settings below these. All the choices and options are easily changed.
In use you are warned of both static and mobile speed cameras as well as speed limits and I am pleased to say it correctly lists one local dual carriageway as 40MPH on one side with no houses and 30MPH on the other with house something most recent sat navs have not got correctly.
The voice is clear and pleasant unlike some that are rather brusque. Instructions are shown on the screen in 10th of a mile by default and what to do at the next junction/roundabout etc. are clear and easy to read.
There is a special cable provided to attach to the windscreen to give you traffic alerts and this service is FREE for the life of the device as are most map updates.
You can easily connect via Bluetooth to other devices like SmartPhones.
For me the clarity of screen and ease of setting up the device are big plus points, the lack of battery life out of a car is a minus.
The Garmin nuvi 2599 is available from the first link below for £139.99 with free delivery.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KREXNM6?ie=UTF8&tag=gadge0a-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634
!!
