Garmin n vi 500 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Garmin n vi 500 3 5 Inch Portable GPS Navigator
The Garmin nuvi 500 will guide you while you drive, hike, bike or boat. Go sightseeing with geotagged images from Garmin Connect Photos or see your terrain with the digital elevation model basemap. The nuvi 500 comes preloaded with highly detailed City Navigator North America NT Lower 48 States plus topographic maps for the U.S. The preloaded map data features millions of points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and attractions. The map data is provided by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping. Geocaching, including Wherigo Platform player Built-in DEM Basemap (Digital Elevation Model) 3.5 QVGA color antiglare TFT with white Backlight Touchscreen Display – 320 x 240 Pixels User replaceable lithium-ion battery – up to 8 hours depending on use Dimensions – Width 4.21 x Height 3.35 x Depth 0.9 (10.7×8.5×2.3cm) Weight – 7.6 ounces (215 grams)
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Great choice in an all-around GPS receiver
I bought the Nuvi 500 to replace my tried-and-true Garmin StreetPilot i3.
One of my primary considerations is WATERPROOFness… my i3 has worked great on my MOTORCYCLE touring adventures, but when the rains came, it was either in the tank bag, or in a clear sandwich bag, held in place with a rubber band – not ideal.
There are motorcycle-specific GPS receivers, but they are all significantly more expensive. Frankly, I was attracted to the multi-purpose nature of this model. I’ve used it for motorcycle rides (just trial runs so far), bicycling, hiking/walking, and driving. I’m confident there are better solutions for each individual use – if you can afford a CAR GPS, and a HIKING GPS, and a MOTORCYCLING GPS, and a BOATING GPS, knock yourself out. The Nuvi 500 seems to do a very adequate job at all of that stuff.
Another feature I was looking for – and the Nuvi 500 has it – is the ability to enter a very specific ROUTE into it, and expect accurate directions. (When I’m motorcycle touring, it’s all about the JOURNEY, not the DESTINATION. I want to plan the journey, rather than leaving it to GPS-receiver silicon. I could plan my routes using the i3, but it was a matter of entering up to 50 waypoints, and then selecting each one in sequence. Now I can just tell it to “follow route Day 2,” and off we go.)
It has “modes” for automobile, bicycle, boating, and walking. (With a myriad of avatar options… when you’re hiking, you can use some little blue trudging feet to indicate your current location. Cute!) Also, with a firmware upgrade (readily available at the Garmin website) you can add “Scooter” mode. (I’m guessing they don’t have a “Motorcycle” mode for it, because they hope motorcycle riders will opt instead for the significantly-more-pricey Zumo models. But how different could “motorcycle” and “scooter” be, other than the gay factor? That’s just a joke… scooters are great!)
This model doesn’t have some of the other features found on a lot of high-end models. If you want a unit that speaks street names, or plays your MP3 tunes, or doubles as a cell phone or bluetooth… this may not be the one for you.
My only suggestion for Garmin would be – add a place to attach a lanyard/safety-tether! It would be nice, particularly when hiking, to be able to hang this around the neck, or attach it to a backpack with a carabiner. (Or to safety-strap it to the bicycle or motorcycle!)
Based on my experience, Garmin is VERY oriented toward customer service and satisfaction. They have bent over backwards to keep THIS customer happy. (That’s a nice bonus to the fact that they make an excellent product.)
5 Stars Portable GPS
I bought this GPS system for a friend who travels on business. He brought it with him when we went skiing. We found it to be easy to use, with a very clear screen. It’s completely portable which is very handy if you have more than one vehicle. The audio comments can be turned on or off. We would highly recommend this GPS system.
5 Stars Best value for an allround GPS
I puchased this unit for mountain biking as well as driving. I am happy to say that it does both very well. The mapping is great. It’s waterproof. I couldn’t be happier with the unit.
5 Stars Garmin 500 – Very Nice
The Nuvi 500 hundred works very well in the car and on the trail. The “Where Am I” function is very useful for saving the current location or for finding near by intersections and emergency services. The included topo maps are great for hiking and driving. I bought the Nuvi 500 because I like to hike and sometimes I need to drive to a coordinate instead of an address (rural locations or geocaching). The detail is amazing. If you need a multifunction GPS, I would give the Nuvi 500 a try.
4 Stars Works great for geocaching
The unit works almost flawlessly for geocaching. I found one gpx file that causes the unit to power off when you try to navigate to the cache. Garmin is aware of the problem and is working on a fix. However, this happened only once so far…but I can’t give it 5 stars until garmin resolves it.
The paperless geocaching is a nice feature. You can use other nuvis for geocaching, but this one makes it easy to view caches. Using garmin’s communicator, you can d/l caches to your unit. You then can view the cache info, such as difficulty, terrain, hints and such. The geocaches show up on your map while driving, so you can observe caches nearby.
Definitely upgrade your firmware — it fixes some bugs. Accuracy seems pretty good (depends on # of satellites available). Several times, the compass told us we were 1 ft away — and we were! Usually it gets us within 10 ft.
Works great in the car too! The 3.5″ screen seem fine. Just wish it spoke street names (and a strap to make it easy to carry when geocaching).
All in all, we’re happy with the unit.
