Customer Ratings & Reviews

I have owned many Garmin GPS's over the years and this is without question the best I have ever owned. Love the magnetic mount. The screen is truly HD and the features are outstanding. If in doubt, go for it. You will not be disappointed. You get what you pay for!

Garmin products are well known and are of the upmost quality. This unit is no exception. The display is a great size, very clear, and the the data on highways and roads is great. The voice command works good and is easy to use. Great product overall.

In a nutshell, this is the most impressive PND that Garmin has crafted. I won't review the entire unit, as there are many good, thorough reviews on the web now. That said, I wanted to share my experience with the traffic feature, as it is a subject of much discussion and I have owned the unit for about one month now. My job is travel-based, and I drive about 18 - 20,000 miles a year for work purposes. I have owned four Garmin GPSs - StreetPilot c550, nuvi 760, nuvi 3790, and now the nuvi 3597. In addition, I've been able to play with other Garmin nuvi models that were purchased for other family members, so I'm fairly familiar with the PND evolution, at least as far as Garmin is concerned. Having most recently owned the nuvi 3790 which had the "basic" traffic functon, I was looking forward to upgrading to HD traffic along with the ability to connect the nuvi to my iPhone 4S using the SmartLink app. I live in Michigan, and there are generally only two areas where traffic coverage is provided via radio waves - metro Detroit area/southeast Michigan and metro Grand Rapids area/west Michigan. I travel through the Grand Rapids area on a regular basis and have been able to acquire an HD signal each time I pass through (you can identify that you are receiving the HD signal by pressing the menu button in the lower right hand corner of the screen and looking for the HD symbol inside the traffic icon). When the signal is received, the information that is provided is much more detailed than the standard traffic information. This includes info such as a lane closure, a disabled vehicle, construction, or moderate/heavy congestion. The GPS will automatically add minutes to the expected arrival time to account for these issues accordingly. The extra information can be very useful. Obviously though, this all depends on receiving a traffic signal, which may vary by time of day or day of the week. Some traffic warning information is announced by the GPS, while a small window will also slide out from the right-hand side of the screen displaying additional details about the upcoming incident, including distance to the incident and alternate route availability, if any. As I do not live in an area that is covered by the HD radio traffic network, I opted to purchase the LiveTraffic service through the SmartLink app for my iPhone 4S. From what I have read, the difference between the HD traffic and the LiveTraffic is the maximum frequency in which updates can occur (HD - 30 seconds, Live - 2 minutes) . The LiveTraffic coverage area is much more extensive than the HD coverage area, so I can now get relevant traffic information on my 15 minute commute home. The down side to purchasing the LiveTraffic service is that it always takes priority over the HD traffic system, even when an HD signal is being received. One of the selling points of the nuvi 3597 is the GTM60 HD traffic receiver. But if you are using the SmartLink app, HD traffic notifications will be disabled and the additional cost of the receiver (that is included in the $340 unit price) is wasted. Of course the SmartLink app can be disabled in areas where the HD signal is received, but in doing so you'll also give up the Advanced Weather notification feature and Live Cams (if purchased; these are separate in-app purchases from LiveTraffic) as well as some other cool search and send features of the SmartLink app. So at this time, at least as far as I can tell, it is an "either/or" proposition as far as the traffic services are concerned. Hopefully, a "smart toggle" ability can be added in a future firmware update so that drivers can take advantage of the higher frequency notifications of the HD traffic system while still using the SmartLink app for other useful travel information. I haven't taken the GPS out of Michigan yet, so I can't speak for other areas of the country as far as the HD traffic signal is concerned. But when receiving the HD signal (or using LiveTraffic), I have been impressed by the detail in the traffic messages. Either service is a definite upgrade from past traffic services, in my opinion.

I have had a few different garmin gps units, and simply this is the best one out there!! Easy to use, clear screen, and up to date maps!! I am using it here in mexcio, and even down here in playa del carmen, it works great...

I haven't purchased a new Garmin for 4 years and was pleasantly surprised by all the improvements. Awesome screen, great voice command/control and even the Bluetooth was better than older model that I owned.

I have read many others reviews. I picked this one because it has a high definition display touch screen that works like smartphone. I can also detach the unit and lock it up in the glove comparment without removing the charge cable and the holding unit on my car dash. It was on sale that fit my budget. The screen size is the right size for my Honda Accord. I am glad I didn't pick the 7 inch display model that would block my view. This GPS is not perfect. I updated it before I took a trip to Fort Myers florida. One time it took me in a cicle but close enough to my destination in Fort Myers. When i put in an address in Pine Island it cannot find it. I ended up using my IPhone Gps to get me there.

Best gps available on the market today. I don't care how much this cost because the quality of this gps is amazing. It's user friendly and smart looking like an iPhone. It worked amazingly during my trip to ny and to fl. Please don't buy any other gps until you try this one. I would recommend a carrying case for it. If you want the full in depth review, please turn to you tube to watch. Best buy rocks.

Garmin 3597LMTHD is a great upgrade/investment from my old Garmin GPS!. With HD screen and a lot more selections/options...I have 'no fear' of "getting lost" anymore!. My family are so jealous!!!.

I dropped my old Garmin and cracked the screen and even though it still works fine the display glass has some small cracks, so I decided to upgrade to a new Garmin. I chose the 3597LMTHD 5 because I wanted to continue with an LED screen. This is a top of the line Garmin GPS and it is very good. Has a crystal clear display day and night. I haven't figured out how to display eta, elevation, distance and speed all at once like on the old model and the voice menu has substantially less choices when choosing an English accent. Overall 5 stars

Excellent product! It's reliable, responsive, accurate. It has great 5-inch screen, bluetooth, voice commands and HD traffic! This unit is great if you drive in large metropolitan areas where exits are closely together and confusing. The traffic updates are very helpful and can save you a lot of time! The graphics and features on the device are brilliant.

Instant "on" - love it. Power cord connects to base, not the GPS...this is very nice when you need to remove the GPS from the base. Voice command is excellent and hands-free. "School Zone" alert took me by surprise the first time, but nice added feature. Great graphics. Suction cup base not adequate...falls off the window multiple times daily. "Look-up" GUI is less intuitive than previous versions and grabs way too many options. Overall drastically improved vs. earlier versions and worth the money in my opinion.

This replaced a Garmin 765T. The display is large with high resolution and good detail. Lifetime Maps and Traffic are included, but at the price point they should be. Startup time is quicker than my old unit and satellite acquisition seems faster as well. I am not crazy about the windshield magnetic mount for the GPS, but it appears to function with no issues and the magnet is strong. Menus are arranged differently than previous units, and while there may be more features, you seem to have to drill further down to get there. For new addresses you enter number and street and the unit tries to find a match based on where you are currently. Seems to work great if your destination is in the same state or nearby. Going outside the immediate geography requires more menu navigation and keying. It would be simpler to just manually input the state, city on the main screen. Voice commands are a nice feature, but so far my hit rate is less than 50%. It might be vehicle/road noise, but it frequently picks up something other than the command or location I requested. My smartphone voice commands are much better implemented. Overall I am pleased with the unit, but the price, extra menu navigation, and less than perfect voice command function kept it from getting 5 stars.

This GPS is easy to use, accurate, and comes with free map updates and real time traffic. It is hard to beat for the price.

This is a phenomenal GPS, and has all the features needed to get your to your destination. This GPS is worth the price!!!!!

More than thin and lightweight, it's display is bright and crisp. Easy to read day or night. the 'ASSIST' with lane choice on busy highway intersections and the "TRAFFIC" notices increase my safety and travel time. And, i have yet to be routed down a single lane cow pasture to get 'shortest distance' to destination. Learn the features, reap the rewards. (Hey, all the Garmin products are good, but this one is the best I've used. Feature heavy, its a great value for the $$)

This is the best GPS I have had the pleasure of using! Pleasure? Yes, pleasure! The screen is crisp and quick to update when I don't follow directions; so far, it has had me in the correct lanes through Dallas, Fort Worth and all over Houston; the map has streets which aren't found on mapquest; setup was a breeze (basically turn it on!); it has found much faster routes through traffic after advising of delays! The only "issue" is with the posted speed limits but that's not its fault (GPS shows 70 mph when speed limit is 75)...it does catch EVERY school zone I drive through and alerts (it just doesn't know when they are active so that's a little annoying)...I didn't plan to spend this much for a GPS but it was worth every penny the first time I used it and got through DFW metro area in rush hour traffic without the stress of trying to guess which lane I needed!!!

First off the magnetic clip is awesome. Snaps the Navi into place and wont move until you remove it. No need to plug or unplug it has a back facing charge contact. Traffic is on point. Does lose signal once in a while but it won't effect you. Speech recognition is not for quick talkers. But if you take time to pronounce with spaces in between, it's great. Everything else well its a Garmin so it's better at everything that has to do with navigation.

Overall an awesome addition to my work tools. I sell in homes and need to find addresses everyday. Using the unit is simplicity itself. In fact, the owners manual is available online @ Garmin Express but I have not needed to access it at all. It shows real views of off-ramps (pics) coming up and makes it clear which lane to be in long before you need to exit. Updating is easy and Garmin Express offers many additional cars,voices and avatars for free! In short, this unit (I have had 3 mos now) has been a greater asset than I expected.Glad I spent a little more and got just what i wanted.(Prestige series) The cord attatches to the stand and unit magnetically "jumps" onto the stand, centering itself almost without giving it a second thought when you get close.Slightly tug the face and it pulls off for storage just as quick. Bluetooth built in gives me hands free calling as well!

This is a very great product. Originally, it was not preset to read street names which made me not to like it initially. But after I was able to find where to set it, it then started reading the street names. And one of the cool new features is that it will tell you to stay on one or two of the right or left lanes (as the case may be.) So even if you do not know whether the exit lane is one or two, it will highlight it for you in pink color and then tell you to stay on one or one of the two lanes before you get there. That was cool.

The best GPS one can have. It is very accurate and I like its live traffic which is dead accurate. The best part is its magnetic base.