Well done Garmin!

Even with its relatively high price of still around 280 EUR pierces the Garmin 3597 out from the crowd of navigation devices offered. I have therefore long wrestled with me and tested with the Becker 50 Pro and the TomTom Go 500 alternatives. In June the decision was made, not least because of the excellent TomTom Traffic and the approximately 100 EUR lower costs, in favor of the 500. Go Unripe software and the fact that even two months after publication is no current map version was still loaded (as opposed to the old series) gave the Garmin another chance. And that, as it turned out, absolutely rightly. It turns on the devices tested as the currently most complete navigation device is, thus justifying its cost. But: There is (unsurprisingly) not perfect.

For device:

That device has a flat aluminum casing and has a on / off switch on the back.
Garmin uses the 3597 (at last and so far only there) to an active magnetic holder. This is strong enough to hold Navi while driving without shaking in place and allows an easy removal of the device. In the holder Another speaker is integrated, which is the sound quality heard conducive.

The large capacitive glass display supports multi-touch and triggers sharp with 800x480 pixels. Unfortunately prone to reflections, but what is with the nature of things and can be compensated with a corresponding protective film. The Navi also has an automatic alignment (horizontal and vertical).

The included power cable has been criticized in reviews often. It is indeed more rigid and perhaps thicker than that of the Beckers / TomTom. However, I had as yet no problems laying LAN cable. By the way the included wire antenna is optional if reception is poor and not required to receive the TMC data.

The presentation is on via split screen with a very helpful photorealistic lane guidance in the right pane. For me personally, the default revolving POIs overkill, which is why I have turned off the map.

As usual with the older series, has also the 3597 at the bottom of a "cockpit" display that provides information about speed and time. The speed indicator located at the bottom left is fix. Underlying this is the on-board computer with all of its functions. The display on the bottom right is variable (eg residual kilometers, time, etc.), but allows only one entry. The simultaneous display of remaining kilometers and time is therefore no longer possible.

The first GPS reception is within seconds. Unfortunately I had initially on motorways is a discrepancy between announcement / display and actual position notice of a few meters, which was already noted in other reviews. With a software update from the beginning of September it was much better, but every now and then the maximum speed 50km / h is shown to me on the highway, as the device mentioned me on a parallel street. When positioning the TomTom put on my trips to be better.

Route guidance is local guide sometimes not always comprehensible. Experimenting with the connection settings helped further. As a result, I use a portfolio of metro and highway driving now different settings (shortest and fastest route). Becker and TomTom were my driving habits without additional adjustments, however, closer.

The device has an automatic zoom at which however the ghosts with us depending on the driver. On the one hand it facilitates the orientation, on the other hand is so much movement in the map.

A voice prompt will come well-measured, sufficiently loud and mostly clear. Here Garmin has "made compared to its predecessor a big jump The 3597 navigates not only street names but also on relevant waypoints (eg, turn left at the lights in the ...." With the new Real Voice - Garmin called Real Directions) what saved me before failure trips. If you accidentally leave the assigned route is calculated immediately re. Where possible, the Garmin takes you quickly back to the original route or calculate a new part. The unhelpful "Please contact" thus omitted.

Voice control has also been further developed and is now more usable. The most necessary commands are available and are amazingly well recognized (depending on the noise in the passenger compartment). However, the result in address search is occasional odd. If in doubt, briefly mute the radio and try again.

The status indicator of upcoming traffic delays I have learned to love even the old TomTom 825. Garmin has now followed suit and displays the expected delay length and the time savings a possible alternative route.

The Garmin traffic (ex TMC Pro) did his work during my trips at least satisfactory on highways. In addition to roads usually not or only rarely covered. However, this corresponds to the general TMC problems. More recent traffic information (Traffic Live) with higher coverage provides the 3597 via a Smartphone Link (App), which is available for iOS and Android. The required coupling with my iPhone 4s went smoothly. However, live traffic proposes additional costs of around 25 EUR / year to book. Whether the faster and therefore more current information on the traffic situation are worth the extra price, everyone should decide for themselves and probably depends also on how often you use your navigation system. As good as they are, I am currently still encounter traffic.

Next you should, depending on the contract, keeping also possible roaming charges abroad in the eye. For the future, I would hope that Garmin free use of live traffic, as happened during the competition (new TomTom Go series), integrated into the package.

The smartphone-Link offers additional fee-based services such as mobile cameras for safety cameras and weather, which I only partially use. The speed cameras are not error-free, but better warned once too often, caught as evil.

The Bluetooth hands-free can be seen more than expedient and comes naturally not reach the quality of stand-alone solutions.

Conclusion:

The Garmin 3597 is a chic base and technically strong navigation device that best meets my needs. Although it is sufficient only to 4 stars due to the above-mentioned "blemish", I can absolutely recommend it compared!