Customer Ratings & Reviews

Looking for a portable GPS device for car, traveling, etc. Researched and went with Garmin Drive Smart 61. Extremely easy setup and device has worked very well. Voice command system good but not great. Otherwise a very solid GPS device for the money.

This is my first GPS. I have used it for a few months now and find it great. I love the size of the screen. I really like the voice command. The real time traffic is a great help. Very simple to use.

The unit has nice size screen, its easy to update on wifi connection ,voice command is a nice option but it is a limited . also like the tabs that can be opened and closed on main screen while still seeing map.

My very first stand alone navigation unit and I love it! This Unit has bright, large; detailed display and up to date maps! What more can you ask for you say?! It even warns me to slow down; because I was speeding! This Unit is easy to use and does everything, even checks my messages from my phone; since it's Bluetooth capable. Thanks Garmin and Best Buy for providing me with something practical and that works!!

I desperately required a gps here in jersey because there is no time left to learn to navigate these foreign street and highways. the garmin has been accurate and always redirects you and it feels like you are driving with a friendly and intelligent person besides you who makes sure you know where you are going. I am more confident now in jersey driving. it does not stop the name calling by huge truck drivers but what it does do is try very hard to find the place you going to even in the voice command which can be very funny when it does not understand your language too well. af

I recommend it if you don't have Bluetooth in the vehicle. Voice command & the other features are nice. The screen is large.

Large display, easy to use, and very accurately monitors position, speed, speed limits, fuel stations, restaurants, etc. Takes me right to the destination with ease. Linked up with my phone and displays texts and emails! Have owned 2 other GPS systems, this Garmin is by FAR the best one.

This is the best gps I have owned so far, the screen is big and clear, easy to operate and very accurate.

I order this on line so I would not have to shop on Black Friday weekend it came on Friday. But it would not changer right and after I updated the maps it wanted to do it again and again I was not happy so I had to go to the store and return it for a new one. It was very easy to return and get a new. But that was the reason I bought it on line so I did not have to go to the store. Ok got the new one up and running like a dream LOVE IT. I WOULD TELL ANYONE TO BUY ONE! LOVE THE VOICE command as I have a Boston accent and it has no troubles understanding me at all. One thing I do not understand as I up dated the maps and I when to Portland Maine and try to take me twice down one-way streets I would think that at 2017 up-to-date should not do that,that’s why I got a new one as my old one was out of date and I was going to a place that had been there for a very long time. So as you know you can’t always follow the way Garmin tells you but I still love it ! you will not be disappointed if you buy one it’s great I’m so impressed I talked to it all the time and show everybody when they get in my car with me

We purchased this unit before traveling to Costa Rica and bought the South America Map from Garmin online to complete the setup. Worked beautifully. We would have been so lost in Costa Rica as the infrastructure there for street signs and so on is very poor. Traveled the country with piece of mind provided by this unit, in the cities and countryside. This stand alone unit did not require cell phone service to operate and in fact was very current with information, etc. Lifetime updates for the maps is just a bonus. Started using it for domestic travel and it total restores my faith in stand alone devices. Bonus, it displays my text messages on the screen and the Voice Command to find places and details on the unit functions better than Alexa, Siri, or Google! Thanks Garmin! You've made our lives on the road and travels much easier and more relaxed.

Gps works great. Nice size screen. Voice command is great when wanting to add a stop while driving still.

This is my first Garmin. I've used TomTom GPS for years. I thought I'd try out the Garmin since I've heard some good things about Garmin. I purchased this GPS on sale during the 2017 holidays for right under $200. I purchased it for highway or road trip travel, so I haven't use the traffic feature. The screen size is bigger than I expected but I love the huge screen. Easy to learn how to use. Turn by turn feature is good, good customization. Travel related apps on GPS is a nice feature. Level of sound is good, WiFi feature is very convenient for updates. Battery life needs improvement. Battery charges kinda slow. Map updates is a bit slow too. Had trouble updating maps the first time over WiFi. Overall, so far I'm satisfied with my purchase of this GPS.

I love the larger display and voice directions. Sometimes the display can be confusing when you have an exit off an exit (freeway exit, then another quick freeway exit, for instance). It doesn’t switch soon enough to your next step and then you have passed your “second” exit. An overall display of your trip would be nice too, similar to Apple or Google maps, but usually I just pull up my destination on my phone to see how it is trying to take me. I wish it allowed you to simply touch and drag to modify your route (again like maps on your phone) The initial install/update was not easy to do as the Garmin Express software was anything BUT express or easy. I am hoping my future updates happen quicker now that I did the first install of the software. I know it says you can connect to your phone for up-to-date information but I feel if I was going to use my phones for info or even data, I would just use my phone for navigation too. It’s not practical. Lastly, it would be nice to have a soft cloth storage bag to put it in when it is not in use. I don’t want to invite a break in by leaving it hooked up on my dash or windshield so having a soft cloth bag to clean and store it would be amazing. With all that being said, it sounds like I hate this thing. I don’t! I just want my negatives to be known so you can decide if you can live with them. This Garmin has saved me hours of hunting for addresses, houses and routes from city to city and state to state as I travel in the wake of storms for my company. (I work In insurance as a Catastrophe Adjuster)

Despite my initial impression, this has completely won me over. Wanted to try a dedicated GPS again. Been using Waze for a couple of years and thought I would go back to a Garmin GPS. Interface is still similar to years ago (and that's a GOOD thing!). It was like finding an old favorite shirt - fit nice, super comfy, already broken in. At first I was skeptical - but once I downloaded the SmartLink app on my iPhone, it really completed the experience. Super easy to navigate, weather, traffic, voice commands to look up points of interest (gas, food, etc...). Two things that Waze doesn't do, that this Garmin does... weather and when you look up "Starbucks" or "Food", it gives you results based on distance and it has a small arrow pointing in the direction that the place is!!!!! Waze is always thinking I should turn around and drive back 3 exits to get a cup of coffee....how about the nearest coffee shop IN FRONT OF ME! Thank you Garmin (by the way, Garmin has been doing this for at least 10 years). 5 stars. I paid the $5 for the app that gives you weather radar over your map/route, which I cannot believe is not available on a smartphone. Oh, and it lets you initiate and end phone calls, will access your contacts (if you choose to allow it) - it will even display and read text messages to you! It's really a nice overall package. The Voice Command feature is easy to use. I have very little trouble with it - super intuitive. It's nice to not wear my battery out with navigation on my phone - not to mention a bigger, dedicated screen. Two thumbs up. I still love Waze, but Garmin is in first place and gets used 95% of the time!

this is the third Garmin I have purchased for my car It is also the Best Garmin I have ever seen almost 7 inches wide it makes all objects and streets easier to read, This is the first time I got one with Bluetooth capabilities. I feel much safer using voice commands to search for locations or making voice activated phone calls. 5 star purchase!!!

The 6 inch screen is so nice compared to the smaller screened gps. I like how it shows me what my next turn will look like ahead which helps a lot with getting off at exits where there is more than one together when traveling across the United states! I use my Garmin weekly for travel for work and also for vacation travels as well and have not had any issues and the free map upgrades is a huge bonus and so easy to install! The screen is easy to navigate and I also like how easy it is to add a stop to my route when I am already on the road! My husband even uses this gps and he is not very good with technology and has no issues using this gps and he really likes the larger size screen while we are driving!

What I like: split screens when getting closed to freeway exit or entrance, map has lifetime updates, big screen, voice quality is nice, Bluetooth connected to phone for traffic update, WiFi for map update, microsd expansion slot, quick power up from off, voice command feature. What missing: voice command feature does not recognize place names, need to buy separate traffic receiver cable at 1/4 of the unit cost (used to come for free with some older models), battery is quite bad (last only about two 45-min trips) so required to be hooked up all the time, the provided charge/power cable seems to give bad charging message, battery indicator stays red when indicating full charge which is weird, need to tether to phone via Bluetooth to receive real time traffic which defeat the purpose of having the unit itself without relying having cell signals (one can have navigation apps on phone with lifetime map updates and real time traffic updates without having to pay for this Garmin) Overall, I like it though it would need a few long trips to prove it's worth the money.

ThisGarmin - DriveSmart 61 LMT-S 6.95" GPS is a great unit. I love the turn by turn instructions and the 7" screen is fantastic. The unit is very accurate and gives clear instructions. The voice command is a fantastic addition to the unit. I did not care for the $270 I paid and less when the unit came out with an $80 discount the very next week. I guess that's life, huh?

I bought this GPS right before leaving on a road trip from Northwest Indiana to North Carolina. My husband & I have drove to NC about 10 times, this GPS found the fastest route, we got there the quickest ever. It shows when gas stations, rest areas, restaurants & ATMs are coming up. It was a great buy!

This GPS was easy to setup, granted it took 2 hours to update the software and maps, but once that was done it ready to be used. I have been using it for about a week now as I prepare for a 14.5 hour road trip here in the next month and this GPS has done a great job so far of routing me to the correct destination without to any incidents and I love the ability to get text messages on the screen (which because of its screen size the text messages do not interfere with the map at all and the GPS handles things very smoothly). The directions of how to get to a place are very clear and loud. The GPS does a great job of telling me with enough time of upcoming turns, exits, merges, or junctions that I need to make. I love the GPS now the reason why I gave it 4 stars was because the mount the GPS comes with scares me a little with how flimsy it appears (I will most definitely be purchasing a sturdier mount for my road trip), but that is the only downside that I have noticed. Oh as a side note I have been using the GPS mostly in a city to go to places I know how to get to (to make sure it can get me there), and purposely making mistakes (missing turns) to see how it handles rerouting which it did all of that beautifully.