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Wayne, will CleanMPG be doing any reviews/previews of this ultra thin line of Garmin units? http://www.jr.com/garmin/pe/GAR_NUVI3790T/

A good start would be a direct link to a *manual* at Garmin's
site, which I can't find. I wouldn't buy a Nuvi (http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/random/nuvi.html) without being
able to see if they've fixed some of the overall product-line
problems beforehand.
.
_H*

Hi Keen4Green:

Maybe someday but I am bad about getting these reviews out...

Al:
I quickly found that my old windows-based Mapsource won't talk to this unit, which didn't surprise me a whole lot but reflects the typical short cycle of what the GPS world laughingly calls communications "standards". When the Nuvi is plugged into a USB port it immediately goes into "mass-storage" mode and renders itself otherwise completely unusable, and when the USB drive is ejected on the computer the Nuvi reboots and then goes right back *into* mass-storage mode if you don't unplug it quickly enough. What rocket scientist came up with that operational model? At least power off or do something to hold the finished state of the session the user just requested to end until the cable is actually unplugged. The Quest, although it doesn't do USB-storage mode, stays fully operational with the rest of the interface available whether it's talking to a PC or not. This is NOT one cue Garmin should have taken from some of the digital camera makers, and can only lead to problems because as people get annoyed with this and try to work around it, they're going to wind up yanking the connection to a USB file system that was attached READ/WRITE before it's fully synced and dismounted -- eventually screwing it up in some way and ending up with a non-bootable unit.

Ironically, the 12V car power cable also plugs into the teeny USB connector on the back of the unit, but does *not* make it go into mass-storage mode. I wonder what the exact electrical difference is?
That is the most frustrating thing about the NUVI's and it is in their top of the line (former anyway) 1690 and 1690T's. The USB PC based cable causes it to lock up unless your quick and the std. 12V cigarette adapter/ power cable allows it to work just fine.

With the 5" screen, the 1690 has more room for real estate and has elevation data as well as speed, distance ahead to the next turn, direction of the turn and the name of that street to turn on… And one other that I really appreciate. That is Lane Assist. When traveling in a very dense urban area, being in the proper lane for a turn is paramount. I have accidently completed loops in NY City with lesser OEM Automobile NAVI units (Toyota Denso and BMW’s whoever) without this important feature that is now a mainstay with the most of Garmin's middle and higher end products. I am taking the NUVI (NUVI means it has a Linux based back end vs. the crap Windows CE OS behind the non-NUVI Garmin’s) across the country on the WR250X project bike in a few months and we’ll get a much better feel for it than I have today.

Good Luck

Wayne