I recently switched from a BMW Navigator IV (Zumo 660) to a Zumo 595 via the 396, here are my thoughts based on a 1500km (1000 mile) trip.
As with most things it is not easy to say it is good / bad. There are a number of things which Garmin have done nicely, and others where you say "Why?"
Preamble why I switched & chose the 595. My Navigator IV was starting to show signs of stress & old age. Very slow to find satellites, map during routing suddenly disappears etc. It also started to have trouble in playing music, at that point it was time to jump ship. I selected the 396 on the basis that it was the latest Garmin, had a similar screen size and could play music. The Bluetooth function worked wonderfully, it was able to connect to the smartphone & (aging) headset without issues. However I had a number of issues with it, and the dealer switched it for the 595.
My initial reaction is - it is big. The screen display is nice, it finds the satellites very quickly, and the routing is not too bad. The menu structure is reasonable, although it would have been nice to be able to detour with just a two buttons. (The 660/Nav IV was able to do this.) There are a number of map themes which will suit most people, although I wish they had made the roads a little wider - it is difficult to see some of the roads at times due to their width.
Thoughts
It is very easy to focus on the negative points of an item, and give the impression that it is bad. However I am happy with it, it does what it should be doing correctly: namely finding where you are, where you want to go, and how to get there.
There are some bad points I noticed. Whereas the 396 Bluetooth function worked without issue, the 595 does have issues. I have unpaired the smartphone as it caused the connection to the headset to be dropped on a regular basis. It still drops, but at a significantly lesser rate. This could be that I am using a Sena SMH10 device which is 5-6 years old and using an old Bluetooth version, or it could be Garmin not doing Bluetooth very well!
The autozoom function is as bad as ever, and why they have not made it hard coded I will never know. It was working sort of, and using the old trick of adjusting the zoom while on the move on the two settings, I was able to temporarily adjust it. Now it sulks and does not want to zoom. This happened after I arrived in the UK, perhaps the switch from KMpH to MPH confused it. Perhaps I will hit reset and start from scratch again.
The music player is reasonable, so far it remembers which song I left stopped at, and plays from the beginning. Garmin claims that it can handle 1000 songs, (the 660 / Nav IV could handle 2000 songs) I have placed on an SD card 1300 songs. So far it has shown none of the instabilities that the Nav IV had shown. The only issue is the dropping of the Bluetooth connection, most of the time it reconnects quickly so you can press play and enjoy the music.
Favourites no longer have the Basecamp icons transferred, they all obtain a nice friendly heart. This makes life interesting when you have a number of favourites close by, and are looking for the different favourite to all the friends.
Profiles are transferred from Basecamp though, as well as the Travel details, arrival time, stay etc. This makes keeping an eye on what you planned and the reality much easier. The downside is that although placing the routes on the device are listed alphabetically, when imported they are listed in an almost random manner. I would only import a couple of planned routes each day, and delete them when I have completed that segment of the journey.
The POI's are extensive, although not always accurate. I was looking for a cash machine, in the Telford area (between Telford & RAF Cosford) I needed to go East, so I did not want to travel West. A couple of the listed machines did not show any sign of their ever being a bank there. I knew this issue was with the Petrol Stations, but it now apparently includes other POI's as well. You have been warned!
The choice of routing is reasonable, and the ETA seemed to consistent with the traffic conditions.
Take care when mounting the beast. Although the mount looks like a 660 mount - it isn't. The mount has been supersized to hold this giant of a GPS. As a result of it being mounted on the dashboard bar, I am unable to turn the 595 too far forward and avoid some of the glare from the sun.
The last negative thing I will say about it, is you need to buy a case. It does not automatically come with a case. The hard case from Garmin was on back order fro about 5 weeks, and the soft case I ordered did not seem strong enough to protect it while in the glove compartment. I compromised by buying a BMW case. It was slightly more expensive than the Garmin one, but it was available immediately.
I am very happy with it, it does what I need of it to do, I am glad I moved up from the Nav IV/660.
I have now corrected that oversight and I will see if it makes a difference. (It did! I think this counts as a IDTenT error -ID10T)
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. However I can't complain that the machine doesn't realise that I want the autozoom to work!
