I have just returned my 8th copy of a Garmin Nuvi 1490T. Is there a known issue with these? I ask as I have bought all these from 2 different costco's. All have had the same issue, turn off and on repeatedly. Even after the firmware and software updates. I see the solution is to send the unit in for repair with an RMA. That is laughable, buying a product, then having to send it in for repair almost immediately. Is this affecting a certain serial number batch? If so, what serial numbers are not affected, that way I can go to Costco and buy one that I know works. Wonder if that is why they are selling them for $349.....
Hi All,
Have been having this bluetooth non connect issue ever since the free map update, about 3 weeks ago. You could get the unit to connect to the phone, then if the unit was turned off, and back on, there would be no bluetooth information, Bluetooth firmware version listed as "unknown". Rebooting the GPS again woudl allow it to again pair with the bluetooth phone. But on restart, again, all settings would be lost.
Have been away for a week and left the GPS sitting on my desk.
Now that I am back, it has not missed one single beat and connects perfectly each and every time (Not game to download new maps in case it breaks again).
So it appears Garmin are the first to engineer the "self healing" firmware for their GPS units.
First, I want to say that I have been a Garmin customer for some 13 years and every device (6 of them) I ever bought from them has worked as advertised and still work perfectly to this day. This true except for my latest Garmin, the NUVI 1490T.
I first bought one at Costco in June of this year, the first one I got was extremely erratic in its behavior and it took me all of one day to return it and get another. My second unit seemed much better at first, except for being extremely fidgety when I tried to pan the map around with my finger it worked. The oddest thing about this unit is that it will act totally different on any given day. I have been a super techie kind of guy professionally for over 30 years, currently an engineer for IBM with a very strong electronics and computer background. I have seen a lot of electronic devices in my 50 years and I am kind of stumped as to how this thing can act so differently at times. It became impossible to pan to part of the map I wanted to see at times. Other times it worked as you would expect.
Sometimes I would be driving along and seemingly at the most critical times it would "freak out" and even though I never left the predetermined course would decide to "recalculate" as I passed the critical turn I was supposed to take, costing me miles of extra driving. Then, when it hit 100% it would start all over again, and so on and so on. It had uncanny timing and seemed to do this at the most critical moments.
I was waiting for an update from Garmin when it began to reboot itself for no obvious reason, again, I only used it when I needed it and it would again leave me in a pickle as I missed my turns.
That leads me to today when I was off to Virginia and I noticed it wasn't speaking the directions. I also blew past a speed camera without the usual warning beeps as I have all the speed cameras in the USA setup in a POI file on the unit. Well see how that turns out later. I reset the unit and alas it was not gonna give me sound.
Oh, I got a new iPhone 4 last week as well as a bluetooth headset, both of which I paired to the iPhone. I would be talking on the headset and the NUVI would suddenly grab the connection and go into speakerphone mode. Yesterday it was quite funny as I was in Advance Auto Parts talking to my wife, when the line went silent. 10 seconds later she is back and asking me why I was playing rap music to her. I figured what happened... My son was in the car playing rap and the NUVI grabbed the connection and my wife was hearing him in the car. LOL. I think this is due to the NUVI's bluetooth connection being fickle and when it disconnects & reconnects the iPhone thinks I want to use it.
Anyway, I went back to Costco today and got my money back and looked to see what they had in stock, too bad it was either the 265 or the 1490T, so I got another one. If it works I will be surprised at this point. I figure I can keep returning them if they die until a new model comes up for sale at Costco.
I think Garmin scored a big lemon on this 1490T and I hope this does not become a trend. I always thought Garmin to be the leader in the GPS market and I would be sad if they just threw that away.
Well I've had mine about 3 months now (1000 miles). Today it just decided to die. It worked when I went into the store, but when I started the car the screen was blank. I unpluged it from the lighter socket and plugged it back in and screen was still blank. I then disconnected the cord and tried to power it on (it was fully charged) still blank screen. I connected it to the USB port on my PC and still no response.
I just e-mailed Garmin "Product Support". Lets see if that does anything? Looks like I'll be joining everybody else in the "Garmin nuvi 1490t shuffle".
I just bougt a new 1490LMT from Best Buy and took it on a trip from California to Tennesse. On the way back it would shut itself off, reboot and come back on. 3 minutes later it would do it again. After several shut downs it stopped doing it for a couple hours and started doing it again. When I returned it to Best Buy the guy said "I never heard of any problems with Garmin 1450's."
What a shame.:mad:
EDIT: I did not install any updates. It was right out of the box.
It appears I have stumbled onto the issue causing the lack of bluetooth connection...
If you have an SD card inserted into the Nuvi, the Bluetooth search and connect to the mobile phones becomes very very doggy. With my 8GB Micro SD inserted, the bluetooth function is absolutely disabled....
Count me in as another unhappy 1490T customer. On my second unit and the traffic doesn't work. Taking it back to Costco. I like the unit when it works, it's perfect for me, but this is just crazy!
I've had a 1490t for some time, bought it along with the EcoRouteHD and have had numerous problems with the two units connecting.
Now on my fourth Nuvi and second EcoRoute, and they have been working together for about a week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not expecting things to keep working.
Count me in as another unhappy 1490T customer. On my second unit and the traffic doesn't work. Taking it back to Costco. I like the unit when it works, it's perfect for me, but this is just crazy!
Traffic works for me, so far, (5 days), but his thing seems quite inaccurate.
