nuvi 465T - GPS navigation for trucks

Hi! Any updates on the 465T from those using it now? Good, Bad, otherwise? Looking at buying one in the next few weeks.

 

I absolutely love mine, and I has the world nav and the pc miller before

 

The reviews are mixed so far in general. Now that we have 6 weeks of usage with our drivers I'll update here with a more concise review (besides the comparison and feature chart I posted earlier.)

The interface: Very good. Easy to click buttons. Clear screen and maps. The screen will "wash out" in direct sunlight (as do the other brands of truck GPS) but the overall "look and feel of the 465T is very nice.

The maps: Excellent. Garmin uses NavTeq map data and the address data is very complete. It's isn't 100% as I have found a few addresses that it doesn't have, but overall the maps are excellent.

Route planning: Good, but not very good. It is fairly easy to plan multi-stop routes. However this model does not have the ability to automatically "optimize" your stops like higher-end Garmins or the PC Miler does. Also it is less "friendly" in what you have to do to view or reorder the route directions manually to force it to use certain roads that you want it to. But it can be done with a little practice.

Truck routing and guidance: Mixed. Clearly this unit has extensive truck "attributes" overlaid on the NavTeq maps. It will route a big truck much better than a standard "car" Garmin will. However, the truck routing is not "mature" or complete with the current rev of the 465T software as it has failed to put us on truck-legal roads on many occasions. It failed our New York City testing (which is arguably the most complex test we can give it) as well. It does of very good job of re-routing you if you miss a turn, but pay close attention to whether the road it uses is truck-legal. The bottom line on the routing is that it is "ok" at this point but drivers who don't pay attention will have it let them down in this regard upon occasion.

* a note for Canadians. Though the 465T has the same thorough maps for Canada, the truck attributes are only for the lower 48 at this time. Don't expect it to know about trucking-legal roads in Canada at this time. Rumor has it that Garmin is working to correct this on a future billable update to the maps.

BlueTooth: Mixed. This is one of the features that Garmin uses to justify the higher price of their unit. It pairs easily with your bluetooth-enabled cell phone but this feature has very little use in a semi truck because when you speak to someone through it, they will tell you that you are hard to hear and sound as if you are talking "in a wind tunnel." Also, the speaker is not loud enough to use this feature at highway speeds for you to adequately hear the caller, except in the most quiet of rigs. HOWEVER, if you are stopped it is a cool "bell and whistle" as a hand-free cell phone option, and the ability to have it automatically dial POI phone numbers is very nice.

Lane change warnings: Good. Only the Garmin has this, and it works well most of the time. It usually correctly identifies when you need to move over lanes to make your upcoming turn and that is very helpful in a big rig.

Speed limits: Mixed. It's nice that it shows use the current speed limit for the road you are on, but it only shows the car speed limit and not the truck limits in split-speed states.

Real-time traffic: Very good. Another feature that Garmin has to justify the higher price works quite well in the major cities. It is "free for life" according to Garmin but is "ad driven" in that you get ads on the screen for various businesses who have paid for that placement while you are using the real-time traffic feature. All-in-all this is feature is one of the actual more compelling reasons to choose this unit.

Mounting: Mixed. Garmin includes a "dash mount" style kit with this unit rather than a standard "windshield suction" style. Theirs requires that you place a sticky play where you want it to sit in your rig. This is helpful in states where the DOT guy may be on you about windshield-mounted devices, but makes it hard if you do not own your rig to move it to a new truck, and there have been complaints about the stability of this mount in use. They do offer a suction-style mount as an additional accessory for the 465T on their web site.

Accessories: somewhat disappointed. We wish that the 465T included an external GPS antenna for improved signal and an AC power adapter but it currently does not.

Summary: The 465T currently carries the highest price of the fast-growing market of truck GPS units, but justifies that higher price with the addition of lane-change warnings, real-time traffic alerts, and bluetooth cell phone connectivity. The interface and maps are very clean and complete, but the truck routing attributes are not fully mature yet. I feel that the 4.3" screen is adequate but could be improved by offering a 5" or 7" version. Garmin allows for manipulation of the POI's and other program aspects via an application downloadable from their site and typically posts updates (sometimes free and sometimes not) on their site which will make it easier for users to update these units as the software is improved over the competing units. For Canadian drivers, or those (like car-haulers) who need and external GPS antenna, the 465T is not the best choice.

Overall we give this current "first rev" of Garmin's entry into the trucking GPS market at 7 out of 10.

Hope that helps.

- Don

 

Thanks Don! Do you have anything on the Goodyear 500x as well?

p.s. How do you do the "Thank you" to this post?

 

I HAVE DO NOT GET IT!!!!! dont buy it if you want to customize your route or if you want to take major insterstate highways it only takes you local if it takes you anywhere safe at all and try using it on a route thats safer for your truck it will redirect you on a thousand u turns before it relents and tries take you using your own route you cant even choose what highways you want to take it tells you the only way it wants you to go.

 

I agree with you Troll Man 46. I figured out a long time ago that none of those products will ever be able to do truck specific routing reliably because the map data is at a bare minimum already 2 to 3 years old at the time it is released for sale to the public, plus the map data itself always without exception contains numerous errors, as these guys using the 465T are reporting. Thus, why throw away your hard earned money on those fancy gadgets that never work?

That is why I use and recommend Streets & Trips. Once you learn how to use it, it is simply the easiest and best product out there for trip planning and GPS navigation. Not only that, but it is by far the cheapest reliable product on the market. I mean it cost me a whopping $39.00 a year to update to the latest version.

 

I had the Garmin Nuvi 660 and upgrade to the 465T and it keeps taking me off truck routes in Queens and Brooklyn NY, and leading me eslewhere.... Thiers no updates on Garmin site. Any suggestions? I might have to go back to the 660.

 

I hate to rain on your parade dude but Garmin purchases their map data from the same exact place Microsoft purchases their map data from and that is from Navteq. Navteq maps happen to be the best maps available in the industry, and yes at the time their maps are released for sale they are at least 2 to 3 years behind. If you don't believe me look it up.

You know a lot of people will blame Microsoft or Garmin when they find inevitable mapping errors or because roads are missing, but it is not their fault because they buy their maps from companies like Navteq that supply the mapping data. Not only that but there are tons of other reasons beyond the control of the map data companies that also cause errors in the map data.

Regarding my laptop mount, when I bought it almost 5 years ago it cost me if I remember correctly a little under $40.00 at the time. I got it at mobilelaptopmounts and I believe that it still sells for around the same price today. In any event, it still is in perfect condition after almost 5 years of hard everyday use and I don't anticipate ever having to buy another laptop mount, and if I do there is no way in hell I'm going to pay $249.00 for a #### laptop mount.

As for as laptops go, I have always had laptops for many years, even before I got into trucking. As a matter of fact, I simply couldn't function without a laptop since for instance I have two mega external hard drives that are filled to the hilt with movies and television shows, plus I spend a lot of my down time on my laptop cruising the Internet with my Verizon aircard. I also do all my logging via my laptop, send in my completed trips and logs via my laptop, do all my emailing, faxing, scanning, and printing via my laptop. I simply can't live without a laptop.

Therefore, why should I or anyone else for that matter who already have laptops and are always going to have laptops no matter what spend an additional $500 or $600 for a standalone GPS unit that doesn't even do what it advertises it does and is also plagued with tons of other problems as well? When we can simply spend 39.00 and usually less for a product that simply does a far better job out of the box and that I much prefer using in any case.

Not to mention also that unlike standalone GPS units with laptops you get a panoramic view, which not only makes trip planning much easier, better, and faster, but also makes GPS navigation much better as well. In addition I can multitask with my laptop solution and do several jobs simultaneously, but with a standalone GPS unit I can't. Indeed, standalone GPS units are good for 4 wheelers and not worth a crap for trucks.

I mean if a product doesn't do what it advertises it does reliably, and you drive a commercial vehicle for a living, then why should anyone plunk down their hard earn money for junk they can't trust and play Russian Roulette with their careers?

In any event, I did the standalone GPS routine before. I didn't like it and so I gave it to my wife. I also did the Alk Co-Pilot 9 routine for a while and I can tell you from personal experience that even though there price was through the roof, their maps weren't worth crap and the trip planning was a #####, plus even though it advertised it did truck routing, it routed me down restricted route roads and roads with low clearances all the time.

As a matter of fact, I eventually found out through trial and error experimentation that you could adjust the Streets & Trips routing controls to where it would do truck routing a hell of a lot better than the $300 Alk product and on top of it the maps were much better and the product itself was not only much easier to use, but a hell of a lot faster as well.

Indeed, I always had Streets & Trips loaded on my laptop anyway since from the beginning I couldn't stand using a Motor Carrier Road Atlas because they don't have street level mapping. Plus I can't read the #### maps unless I have a magnifying glass.

The simple fact is since the vast overwhelming majority of drivers on the road today already have laptops in their trucks, then why should they spend their hard earned money for a standalone GPS unit and especially for a unit that doesn't do what it advertises it does and is also plagued with tons of other problems as well? Life is a ##### enough already, why do you want to inflict more unnecessary brain damage upon yourself?

Indeed, I like my setup a lot better. My laptop mount cost me a whopping one time fee of about $40.00 almost 5 years ago, Streets & Trips cost around $29.00 on sale and it works flawlessly without promised downloads that never fix the problems.

Anyway, I'm very glad you like the 465T since you are the first truck driver that has reported they liked it. Indeed, every driver I have talked to so for has done nothing but complain about it and warned everyone and their brothers to stay away from it. Not only that but also every review so far written by drivers that I've read on the Internet has complained about it and also reported that it is plagued with tons of problems as well. Indeed, you are the first driver so for that I've read on the Internet that reports he is thrilled with his purchase. Congratulations.

 

Yeah, there's a software update from 2.2 to 2.5 when you register your unit with the site. No map updates yet.