Garmin Nuvi 1240 Satellite Navigation with UK & Western Europe (23 Countries)
Posted by Notcot on Sep 14, 2010 in In-Car Technology |
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Review by B. Payne for Garmin Nuvi 1240 Satellite Navigation with UK & Western Europe (23 Countries)
(3 / 5)
Rating:
I have had the Nuvi 1240 for two weeks now. It was sent from Germany but, with standard postage, arrived within three days of the Amazon order.
There is minimal documentation and no software CD in the package so expect to find yourself on the Garmin web site very soon in order to get the PDF documentation and to download the system upgrading software and maps management software.
I had some problems with the unit turning itself off when re-routing (possibly when avoiding U-turns) but this appears to have been resolved by the latest online software upgrade (v2.70) which was painless to install. A mini-USB cable is required for the software upgrade (not supplied).
The Garmin maps updater software reported that the Navteq maps were already the latest available for this model (CN Europe NT 2010.10).
Start-up is around 25 seconds. Satellite lock seemed to vary considerably but, in ideal conditions, seemed to be around 30-40 seconds from ‘on’.
Battery life is reported to be around four hours but for me it was less than three hours with lots of routing and the screen brightness at 50%.
The basic navigation from current location is very intuitive. Press the “Where to?” icon and choose a destination from Home, favourites, POI, point on map, recent locations, junction, city or coordinates.
Alternatively, press the “View map” icon and you are in a 3D-style navigation view. From here, a screen press will bring up a bird’s-eye map view and you may then select a point on the map and press “Go”. The map scrolling is done quite nicely with speed sensitivity so that a quick flick of the finger causes the map to scroll further.
Select routing for speed, time, less fuel or off-road. Optional avoidances include U-turns, motorways, tolls, ferries, car-share lanes, unpaved roads and traffic if you are using the traffic data receiver add-on. There is a simple-to-use ‘Detour’ option that seems to assume that the detour is immediately in front of you.
During turn-by-turn navigation, I found the voice prompts to be very timely for making each manoeuvre and of good quality. The feedback also speaks the names of the roads (using text-to-speech) — nice!
The display can include the current speed restriction and I found this to be helpful and the boundaries very accurate (in England and Wales anyway).
A “Where Am I?” feature is helpful if looking for petrol, emergency services, nearest junction or just the position coordinates.
The POIs that are built in are very comprehensive and were a pleasant surprise bonus.
For me, the weakness is when you want to plan a route ahead of time. If you are familiar with TomTom then you may find the presetting of a route on the Nuvi 1240 very awkward; it is necessary to go into “GPS Simulator” mode, which disables satellite reception, and then to set your location by selecting a “Where to?” point, and only then can you select a destination. This is clunky when compared to the “Advance planning” and routing by map points features on TomTom and can require a lot of scrolling and zooming of the map if you want to enter multiple waypoints in order to force a preferred route. Futhermore, you cannot save the route that you carefully constructed so you must not start another route. If only there was a way of forcing the route to change by dragging points onto other roads in the way that Google Maps allows… it can’t be that hard to implement. Add a “Save route” feature too.
Overall, I am slightly disgruntled with the Nuvi 1240. For the price it is nice to get maps for Western Europe but, in making a simple-to-use interface, I think there has been too much compromise on what I consider to be basic route-planning features. Having said that, for what it does do, it is done well.
P.S Be sure to get the software upgrade and map updates ASAP!
Review by BP1 for Garmin Nuvi 1240 Satellite Navigation with UK & Western Europe (23 Countries)
(5 / 5)
Rating:
This is my first Sat-Nav. I did some research and was looking for a model that told me the name of roads I was to turn on to. I didn’t want to spend too much and wanted something that would work well. The Ecoroute facility (which tells you the most fuel efficient route from A-B)sold it to me.
This model did what I expected and got me sucessfully through a 230 mile journey at the weekend without problem. I am very pleased with the Garmin 1240 and would recommend it to friends looking for a Sat-Nav that does the job you would expect it to.
Just to be aware… When you start the Sat-Nav for the first time after updating all the software it can take a few minutes to locate the satellites, after the second/third time it takes a few seconds.
Review by Tipsy for Garmin Nuvi 1240 Satellite Navigation with UK & Western Europe (23 Countries)
(5 / 5)
Rating:
We were looking for a replacement for our old but trusty Garmin i3 sat nav. Senior Management loves the Garmin logic and detests my Tom Tom 720 as being too temperamental (some software upgrades from TomTom have been “bug” ridden), complex and bulky. This nuvi 1200 series is thinner than the previous models and is very simple to operate. Map seems OK, but can be confused – e.g. did not recognise the lane of my brothers farm, which has been in existence for a century!
Advantages:
Bright, clear screen – easy to read
Small, slim & light – slips into pocket
Voice directions are loud and clear
Free 30 day subscription of speed cameras.
Can be used in “pedestrian” mode for walking around a town.
Disadvantage:
Not sure whether it’s possible to tell this Garmin not to route along a certain road; i.e. if the M1 is blocked, is there a facility to pre-plan a reroute?
This is a “basic” sat nav (no bluetooth or FM transmitter or mp3 player or traffic alerts) which has the advantage of a European map and it is recommended for those who like simple things in life! It’s a nice bit of kit.
Review by Rebecca Jenkins for Garmin Nuvi 1240 Satellite Navigation with UK & Western Europe (23 Countries)
(4 / 5)
Rating:
As a no-frills sat nav this performs well. Occasionally it seemed to get stuck in the depths of Snowdonia where the satellite coverage was a bit patchy but for normal use it is reliable and quick. The graphics are not fancy but clear. You can search for named stores and attractions as well as by address. The voice is clear and copes with announcing street names even in Welsh!
Review by endlessharmony for Garmin Nuvi 1240 Satellite Navigation with UK & Western Europe (23 Countries)
(5 / 5)
Rating:
Fantastic SAT Nav. Worked straight out of the box and all you need to know is a Post Code. It identifes whether you are exceeding speed limit, where speed cameras are and tells you the roadname you are turning in to. If you go the wrong way or take a slight detour then it quickly recalculates the route. For the money this is excellent and it makes a big difference if you are driving anywhere unfamiliar. I would highly recommend buying a USB lead as this quickly recharges the battery directly from your PC and means you don’t have to keep the lead plugged into the cigarette lighter for all but the longest journeys.