Customer Ratings & Reviews

Was difficult to figure out at first. Doesn't take directions to a road. Have to have an actual fire number to get direction, unless you want the center of a city. My old Navigon would lead me to a road, without a fire number. Where I travel, there are no fire numbers or else they are not recognized (dirt, mountain, abandoned, logging roads). So that's definitely a negative. Also, if you disable the sounds, the alerts still come on the screen, which can be negative if you're glancing at it to see what road is coming next, as the warning covers that up. Certain intersections have more than a 2 way crossroads, and it's important to know what the road name is. The search tool is a bit off. If you use the 4square search it might show up, but won't show up in the regular or trip planner search. Sometimes places that show up in the trip advisor search won't show up in the trip planner search. It gets frustrating. If you have a good half hour to search for 5 different spots it's fine. But if you need to search for something quick, good luck. I used it recently on my 2 week adventure down into the Ozarks of Arkansas & Ouachitas in Oklahoma. Many times it would tell me to turn a direction on a road that wasn't there, and looked like it had never been there, or else the "road" was literally someone's driveway. It served it's purpose, a bit quicker in locating my location than my old Navigon (from 2007!) (which I still have to use in order to get places this "updated" version won't take me. It does it's job, and once I semi figured it out, or enough so that I could work a route in, It was okay. I ended up making a trip only starting point and ending point, because when I would put in coordinates, it would just say coordinates, so I would have no idea where, or which, place I was actually headed. Going into the mountains, it would be nice if it would have allowed coordinates to be labeled, or at least would have said "town of X" instead of just seeing "coordinates" 20 times in a row on my trip planner. Sometimes I needed to cut certain coordinates because of flooding, and I would end up needing to make a whole new route/trip, because the machine wouldn't be specific as to exacatly which coordinates where which. Once I had put the coordinates in there, I"m not going to dog ear my atlas page anymore. Ended up being a huge frustrating headache. Workable, but only if you're very vague and have more time than should be necessary. Did have exemplary graphics, and totally dug that I got to "choose" my vehicle icon. I recommend a stylus for use, as if you use your finger, it takes much longer and there are many more mistakes and mispellings. I also liked how sometimes it would give you auto fill in options. But unlike my Navigon, it didn't come up with a screen for all the options for a certain spelling. I know I need to explore more with it and maybe I'll find the hidden tricks, but very unlikely as I relied on this for 2 weeks. Also works where there is literally no phone service, and deep in the mountains which is a plus. I don't think I lost GPS signal once.

Used it in Toronto for holiday. Usual usage in TX. Good response in finding routes and all landmarks. Great to know I can update the map all the time. Size is not too small for viewing and not too large for taking it on a vacation. Much more reliable than using your smartphone's map guidance. For this price, it is a steal. Especially if you're the type who rent a NAV as well when you are renting a car. Get the same NAV that the rental car companies charge you for $20 a day. Those NAV have old maps and are useless anyway.

Works great. Get me to where I need to go. Easy to set up. Looks very nice in car.

The GPS is easy to use and get map updates, it always gets me to where I want to go.

Worth the price if you are looking for just a well executed GPS without bells and whistles. I use the base model without options such as the traffic etc... Great for use overseas if you do not want to deal with data roaming charges on smart phone.

This is a nice GPS for car navigation. The map and the audio instructions are both very clear. Also, I like that it stores my home address. Thus to navigate to home, I just push one button.

This is a basic GPS if you looking for Bluetooth and all the extras buy the upgraded one. It still tells you if you don't pass the speed limit and it tells you where the red light cameras are. Battery life is not that good

Purchased as a replacement of a previous Garmin GPS. My wife is impressed with this device. The device is easy to use. Directions are clear and accurate.

We have only used it for one trip, to Quebec, worked very well and we had no problems once my navigator (wife) got the feel for how things worked. A good upgrade from our ten year old Garmin (which still operates well but no map updates)

Lovely guide, largely accurate. Most issues I have are likely user error. Would have enjoyed more voice options but that's not a big deal. Overall great product.

It is a very good GPS very accurate and simple to use. If you need a GPS that simple to use without all the added gadget the Garmin 51 is the one and the price is reasonable.

Keeps defaulting to a Florida zip code for Home area. It doesn't save my changes to the Home area.

Works great Good features Does what it says it will do.

so far so good.... getting used to this new one is fun since it has a lot more than my old one !! It was a Christmas present.

Have purchased several Garmin’s, Easy to program service routes, easy for drivers to use. Battery life seems to be lasting for the guys.

Did not have an alert for going over the speed limit (5 MPH). Also did not have option to display both time of arrival and miles to destination on the active map route. Required too much interface to find ingormation while driving.

This was a Christmas gift for my wife as she learns to navigate our new home city and state. She couldn't be more pleased! Our Garmin-Drive 51 LM 5" GPS is user-friendly, easy to read and has great adjustable volume. Highly recommend.

Worked just fine. Used it for our trip up north, Easy to program .

i bought this unit for my wife, because she doesn't like the GPS that was built into her new car. Garmen has always worked well for me, and i won't buy any other GPS.

This is a really good GPS. Second Garmin GPS I have bought. Wanted this one because it’s for all of the US and Canada. Not just the eastern half of the US.