Garmin DriveSmart 50 NA LMT GPS Navigator System with Lifetime Maps and Traffic, Smart Notifications, Voice Activation, and Driver Alerts

Product Specifications

• Driver alerts for increased awareness, including upcoming sharp curves, school zones, speed changes and more
• Bright 5.0-inch GPS navigator with dual-orientation, pinch-to-zoom display
• Detailed maps of North America with free lifetime¹ map updates and lifetime traffic²
• Bluetooth hands-free calling and voice-activated navigation

• Customizable smartphone notifications4 let you display calls, texts and other app alerts on your navigation screen

  Product Description

Size:5 in.  |  Product Packaging:Standard Packaging Garmin Drive Smart 50 North America LMT is an advanced GPS navigator with 5-inch pinch-to-zoom display that combines the latest in driver awareness features with Bluetooth hands-free calling, voice-activated navigation, and onscreen smart notifications (calls, texts and other app alerts) to encourage safer driving. Includes preloaded maps of North America with lifetime updates, free lifetime traffic, Active Lane Guidance and more. You’re alerted if approaching traffic jams, dangerous curves, speed zone changes, or railroad crossings. Plus, a fatigue warning even suggests a break after hours of driving, identifying potential rest areas ahead.

Product Reviews

This is a new version of the excellent Garmin nuvi 2689; however, consider getting the 2689 (or any 2X89 or 2X99) instead

—————————————————————- MY BOTTOM LINE REC —————————————————————-With heavy use & experimentation of a DriveSmart unit during the first month of its release, I came away with mixed feelings about this new Garmin DriveSmart line, after an initially positive first impression. I ultimately found that the DriveSmart GPS is not quite as good as its immediate processors in a few key ways, while making some relatively modest improvements in some handy – but arguably less important – ways. To be clear, I bought the DriveSmart 60 with my own money, at full price, and the DriveSmart 50, 60, & 70 are all identical, aside from screen size (with 5”, 6”, and 7” inch screens, respectively).The DriveSmart was a good unit, overall, and fairly impressive in some respects. But a programming glitch rendered it almost useless in my area, because it would seemed to choose routes that always avoided dirt roads here, even when that would clearly be the fastest route (even after I had toggled off unpaved roads as an avoidance). As a programming glitch, future software updates should presumably be able to fix that kind of flaw. However, more importantly, I found my ²⁰¹⁴⁄₂₀₁₅ Garmin Nuvi 2699 to be a bit easier to work with and less frustrating, largely because it understands my vocal commands more readily. Despite a few new features I really appreciated in the DriveSmarts (especially the audio indicator of lower speed limits), I ended up returning mine. Instead, I plan to get a far less expensive certified refurbished 2689 from the ²⁰¹⁴⁄₂₀₁₅ model line for our second car.The bottom line is that the DriveSmart series provides solid GPS in most respect, and there is no question that it represents a vast improvement over any Garmin from prior to the 2014 automotive GPS line, as well as constituting an improvement over most of the Garmin ²⁰¹⁴⁄₂₀₁₅ models (save for those models I mention below), as well as over all of the GPS units I have had the opportunity to try from other companies to date (very few of which have voice command functionality at all, which I consider to be essential in a GPS.)But my recommendation is to at least look into the Garmin Nuvi 2X89 models from the ²⁰¹⁴⁄₁₅ line before buying your GPS (i.e., models 2589, 2689, 2789, with the second number indicating screen size). They are the immediate predecessors to this new line, and they are considerably less expensive than the DriveSmart models. Or, if you drive in a major cities frequently, you might want to consider a 2X99 model (i.e. a 2599, 2699, or 2799, which is the same as the 2X89 model, except that it adds HD traffic, which is the main advantage of the DriveLuxe model over the DriveSmart). It only adds value in a fairly narrow list of geographic areas though (see the “traffic options” section below for more on that) so the extra money it costs would probably not be worth it for many buyers.—————————————————————————————————— WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN GPS UNITS, OVERALL ——————————————————————————————————I have owned several different car GPS units over the years. I expect that I will always have a dedicated GPS, rather than just using a phone, as I consider a reliable, dedicated, non-frustrating GPS device to be a critical road safety device and convenience. It is much safer than using a phone because GPS devices require peeling back fewer “layers” to get to key functions, which lets me keep my eyes on the road (…plus I don’t like running down my phone with energy hogging GPS functions when I inevitably forget to charge my phone in the car.)If you are trying to decide between the 2X89 models versus the DriveSmart models (and/or between the 2X99 models and the DriveLuxe model to get the HD Traffic option), see my review of my Nuvi 2699 (do an Amazon search for the 2699, and my reviews usually show up at the top).In that review, I go through the benefits of the 2X99’s (all of which apply to the 2X89s, aside from HD Traffic) in detail, relative to the less expensive and earlier options currently on the market at the time to explain why I think those models are worth the (sometimes just slight) extra cost. I wanted to help people be able to sort through the maze of ridiculously confusing options on GPS units once I had finally figured it out for myself. Among other things, I discuss:*** The benefits of the most important “must have” features in a Garmin GPS (such as Voice Command/Voice Navigation; access to Garmin Real Directions voices; the newer “pinch-to-zoom” screens; LM/Lifetime Map updates)*** The benefits of appreciated but non-essential, features (… I personally appreciate having a 6” screen, as I find the 5” screens are far harder to see quickly and type on.)*** The features I wouldn’t pay much extra for (i.e. HD Traffic for those living in the many towns without HD Traffic coverage)*** Garmin features that are needlessly confusing (in particularly, recognize that “Real Voices” are just voices that don’t sound as electronic and are NOT the same as Real Directions, which are essential, and give you actual street names rather than just go right/go left.)*** Nuvi features that I don’t use, but that others might use and appreciate (i.e. Bluetooth for hands-free mobile phone functionality).*** Options that have hidden extra costs associated with them (i.e., installation for the back up cams tends to be super expensive.)———————————————————————————————— WHAT SEEMS BETTER ABOUT THE DRIVE SMART —————————————————————————————————-*** RED LIGHT CAMERA WARNING option: I haven’t been able to try this yet, because we don’t have any red light cameras in our area. But assuming it works reasonably well and works in your area, that could be nice to have.*** MORE ADVANCED WARNING: It seems like the Drive Smart gives me more advance warning than my 2699 does about what is coming up next (i.e. you should turn right on Maple Avenue in ¹⁄₄ th of a mile…in 1/8th of a mile turn right on Maple…turn right on Maple.) It is just enough, not too much, and not annoying.*** “ADD AS NEXT STOP” OPTION: It used to be that you could only “start new route” or “add to active route” (without being able to determine where in the sequence it would be). That was often frustrating. Now you can make it “Add as next stop” which is such a great option to have, especially since that is more often than not, where I want an additional stop added.ADDITIONALLY, both the DriveSmarts and the 2699 now the “SPEED TRAP ALERT” (ok, my name…but that is basically what it is), which means the unit beeps once when the speed limit on a road drops. It is great for avoiding speed traps. It seems like you get more settings for it on the DriveSmart than on the 2699 (i.e., how many beeps, etc.) but both do have that functionality.A NOTE ON BLUETOOTH CONNECTIVITY: If you plan on using your GPS for hands-free phone use, check the reviews of other reviewers who use that function a great deal, because I do not use it myself.—————————————————————————— WHAT SEEMS WORSE ABOUT THE DRIVE SMART ——————————————————————————• MORE FRUSTRATING VOICE COMMAND RESPONSIVENESS: No GPS, even the 2X89 and 2X99 models are perfectly responsive to voice commands, and be forewarned that you will have to repeat yourself more than you want to with any GPS unit. But I found that I had to repeat myself, and clarify my directions (often having to move to typing in a fair percentage of addresses manually) at least 2x as often with the DriveSmart. By the end of the month, it got to be a joke in my family, sending everyone into fits of giggles as it misheard and wildly misinterpreted our simplest directions over, and over (…and over and over…) We did experiments on the 2699 and the DriveSmart with the same requests and the difference was clear. Still, it is important to note that the DriveSmart was still considerably better on that front than my older 2013 Garmin ever was (oh, how that infuriating that thing was!), so people upgrading from older GPS units are still likely to be thrilled with the difference. But I am unwilling to pay a premium to get more frustration, rather than less, given that my 2699 is cheaper and is better on the voice recognition front.• A GLITCH RENDERING IT UNABLE TO DEAL WITH UNPAVED ROADS: A default “avoidance” in all Garmins is to avoid unpaved roads when selecting the route. Because we have a lot of dirt roads in my area, my first move with a new GPS is always to toggle that off, so unpaved roads are no longer listed as an avoidance. On my DriveSmart, however, routes were selected that still avoided unpaved roads even after I had made that change, even when the dirt road route would be significantly shorter than the alternatives. That made the DriveSmart unit almost worse than useless to me, given where I live. That said, A) people living in cities are unlikely to experience this as a problem; B) it is unclear as to whether the issue was confined to my geographic area, or whether it is an issue more broadly; and C) as a programming issue, Garmin presumably should be able to resolve that issue in future updates. But still, it necessitated a return by me, given how I have to use my GPS units.• SOME SILLY (BUT ULTIMATELY HARMLESS) NEW OPTIONS: Some of the new options seem fairly over-the-top to me (i.e. “Driver Fatigue warnings”; give me a break, who can’t figure that out for themselves?!) And is it really essential, or even safe, to be able to see your phone’s calendar entries on your GPS screen? But it can all be toggled off easily enough, so it isn’t a problem, per se. My bigger concern / hope is that Garmin isn’t going to start cluttering up their menus in the future with oodles of extraneous options like that, because they need their menus to become simpler and less layered, rather than more option filled and complicated.————————————————————————————————– UNDERSTANDING MODEL #s & “TRAFFIC” OPTIONS ——————————————————————————————————-The crazy array of Garmin automatic GPS Model numbers, model years, and associated options are quite critical to the quality of the GPS you end up with, and are very complicated for consumers. To see which models were produced in which years, go to the (somewhat clunky, old school) Garmin site (Garmin DOT com – then choose automatic GPS). On the left bar, you will see the model years, to see the model numbers from that year (and, as mentioned earlier, you would be wise to skip any models produced prior to 2014). Also, on the Garmin site, you can toggle the “Compare” box on up to 4 different models to see their specs compared side by side. That can be quite helpful for seeing most of what you would be trading off with each model.TRAFFIC OPTIONS:One of the most confusing aspects of Garmin models & options is traffic functionality. According to the Garmin.com website, in the current configuration of the 2016 line, there are the following options regarding traffic:• The Garmin Drive LM, with no live traffic functionality at all and, most importantly, with no voice navigation (which is almost never worth the cost savings to lose) It also does not have Bluetooth for cell phone usage through the unit (if you care about that)• The Garmin Drive LMT, which has basic traffic functionality but no voice navigation (which is almost never worth the cost savings to lose). It also does not have Bluetooth for cell phone usage through the unit (if you care about that)• The DriveSmart LMT (and the “T” give you basic traffic functionality in some geographic areas, see link to the traffic section of the Garmin site below)• The DriveAssist LMT (which seems to have the same traffic options as the DriveSmart; it’s main differences seems to be that it has a front video camera)• The DriveLuxe LMTHD model, which seems to add only the high definition traffic option + a magnetic holder; it is currently sold at a fairly astounding premium, especially considering that it is only currently packaged with a 5” screen. As an alternative, it is my understanding that you have the option of getting an HD digital traffic receiver cable to upgrade a lower trim model (but I haven’t tried that, myself.)That said, many people do not get anything out of the HD traffic anyway; there are a very small number of geographic areas in the U.S. that have coverage for it, and my area was never included; however, when I bought my 2699 in 2015 though, it was only about a $40 premium to get the HD traffic rather than the 2689 without it, and I felt like that relatively modest difference was still worth it to me for road trips to cities. For coverage maps and information on the (confusing) traffic options, and which will work where you live, be sure to check the Garmin website (so a search for “traffic” in the search bar, and the traffic options page usually shows up at the top of the results.)———————————————————————————————————— TIPS FOR INITIAL SET UP ———————————————————————————————————————*** Setting my DriveSmart up was a nightmare of errors and reinstalls. Garmin’s main interface for downloads and updates is “Garmin Express,” which I described in my 2015 reviews as being like a trip in a time machine to 1990s Internet, and download issues with the Garmins do not tend to be uncommon. Some reviewers report that their initial upload was speedy and completely trouble free, while others report that it was a mess of partial uploads and error messages. I am no novice at getting GPS units up and running, plus I have the latest software on my high-end computers at home, and I still ended up in the latter situation with this unit. The set of initial downloads for the DriveSmart were a real doozy of frustration, involving multiple attempts at map reloads (which kept being partial), and two fresh reinstalls of Garmin Express on two different PCs, using a series of four separate browsers. That said, I did buy my DriveSmart the first day it was available for purchase, so it may be a glitch that something Garmin fixes at some point, especially since several other early DriveSmart reviewers have reported similar problems. And, in any case, the tech support at Garmin is unusually first rate, with serious tech professionals to talk you through any issues.*** The initial download only includes a very limited array of voices, but there are more available to you. After you have fully download all of the maps, you definitely need to download (more) English voices (or whichever languages you want). To get the full range of voices with the (all-essential) “Real Directions” option (i.e. turn left on Maple, rather than take the next left), you need to download the “English” voices under “Tools” then “Languages” on Garmin Express. Otherwise you just get one Real Directions voice, and not even the sexiest one, in my personal view :-)*** Back it up once you get everything fully loaded (…to potentially avoid more hassles later…)*** Every couple of months and before any big road trip, plug your device back into your computer to get any map updates (which includes speed limit changes, etc.) With my past Garmins, unlike the sometimes-glitchy initial map uploads, the updates have always seemed to be quite and straightforward.————————————————————————————– KEY INITIAL SETTINGS ON THE DEVICE ————————————————————————————–*** CUSTOM AVOIDANCES: Before using your device, go into settings on the device itself, and figure out which “Avoidances” you want. For example, in my area, if I don’t toggle off “unpaved roads” as an avoidance, the unit becomes a useless mess of needless redirections (…of course, as mentioned above, my DriveSmart did not seem to actually eliminate this unpaved roads in practice as an avoidance, even after I toggled it off). In your area, do you need to avoid ferries, toll roads, car pool lanes, unpaved roads, U-turns, etc.? if so, address it here from the start. Because I can promise you, there really is nothing quite like the surprise of ending in a long ferry que, when expecting to be routed across a simple bridge (!)*** ALERTS: You now get three options for how you want to hear about alerts (i.e. school zones, and now lower speed limits, red light cameras, etc.) All of the avoidances you selected will show up at the top of the screen, but for road safety reasons, you don’t want to have to continually look away from the road to see them. So pick the way it alerts you, with a nice, quick single beep (my personal preference), continuous beeps, or no beeps (note: you cannot customize the notification for each specific type of situation you select to be notified about; you get the same alert for all types of notifications.)*** VOICES: Select one of the Real Directions voices from the start (The non-Real Directions voices are useless in complicated driving situations, because you really need to hear the street names to be able to confirm that you will be making the correct choices and the correct times. Although the “Yeti” voice is fun for the kids :-)*** PRIVACY ISSUES: You have the option of toggling off the trip log and speed log, and the “send anonymous data back to Garmin” option.There are dozens of other settings, of course, most of which are the same as with the 2X89 & 2X99 models. But the options above are especially important, and tend to be way too easy to miss if you aren’t looking for them. I wish Garmin would work harder to make their options a little more intuitive – it takes some time with it to remember what is where, and there are sometimes way too many layers involved to handle while you are actually driving. But, to Garmin’s credit, they seem to at least be making baby steps in the right direction every year, which is good.————————————————————————————— RATING ——————————————————————————————–The DriveSmart is a solid GPS unit, and still better than any unit I have tried from other companies, and Garmin units from 2013 and earlier (and it is also better than the vast majority of the ²⁰¹⁴⁄₁₅ Garmin models, many of which lack key features like voice command functionality). While there are few nice features I like about the DriveSmart more than its immediate predecessors, it had a few key issues that caused me to return it.It may just be the case that Garmin released the DriveSmarts a bit prematurely, and, either way, I hope Garmin will be able improve these issues over the next couple of months. I have high hopes for the DriveSmart model line (and perhaps especially for the next Garmin model year) because with some key tweaks, it would be even better than the already-outstanding line of 2X89 & 2X99 models. However, at this juncture, the DriveSmart has too many issues to reside at a 5-star “love it” level.After a month of use, I decided to return mine, largely because of the dirt road glitch + the cost; my 2699 is fine, and if I need another unit, I will get a 2689 or another 2699. Especially given the fairly considerably price differences involved, it seems wise to at least look into buying a new or certified refurbished 2X89 or 2X99 model from the ²⁰¹⁴⁄₁₅ model line (i.e. 2589, 2689, 2789 without HD traffic, or 2599, 2699, or 2799 with HD traffic) before you buy. You may still decide to go with a DriveSmart model, and are quite likely to end up somewhere between reasonably to very happy with it (and you are almost certain to absolutely love it if are making the switch from a pre-2014 unit, as it is leaps and bounds better than those!) But at least then you will have looked at a full range of good options at different price points before making your final decision.—————————————————— Good luck, and happy travels! ——————————————————

Solid unit with great features, but still a work in progress

I recently bought the DS 60 NA LMT to replace a three year old Nuvi that developed a bad connection with the plug so it would not longer charge. Anyway I brought this since I wanted a larger more detailed screen than the low resolution one on the older unit. I prefer having a dedicated unit over using Google Nav on my smartphone since I frequently receive phone call and emails while driving which can interrupt the navigation. This unit seemed to have all the features I need, live traffic, detailed maps and the ability to plan my own route which my older garmin could not do. I use my device daily since I work on the road.Positives:Bright detailed 6’ screenAbility to create my own routes and modify them on the go.I like that I can see emails and texts show up on the screen. This way I can respond quicker to important emails.Voice recognition, though it does not seem to work properly all the time.It is better at finding time saving routes than my old unit.HD trafficBluetooth operationsNegatives:Screen is glossy lots of glare in bright sunlight, though I can make it bright enough to see past the reflections. Still kinda of annoying.Same old oddball Garmin directions. The Garmin always likes to have me make unprotected turns onto main roads, or better yet, exit a highway then get right back on. It will have me go down a one way street the wrong way. When set to quickest time, it always seems to take me on the longer routes, usually on major roads, even if a backway would be faster. If I know an area well enough I will usually ignore its directions and end up saving time. I always found that Google Navigation gave better, more direct routes that usually save me at least several minutes off my drive compared to the Garmin. I tested the device against my Google Navigations several times and the Garmin usually gave the longer less direct routes.The built in traffic function is better than my last Garmin, but still many times I am sitting in traffic for a long time and the it still shows a clear road. This is in a major metro area.It also has a difficulty finding addresses, I would say about ¹⁄₃ of the time it can’t find an address. This is in an area with old neighbourhoods that have been around for decades if not centuries, and not new developments. Also many of the streets are shown with no name markers. At least I can manually mark a location on the map.I frequently found that the maps are outdated even when using the latest map release. For instance I have come to interactions that have been reworked years ago that are still wrong on the Garmin map. Another issue that I have come across is when it will take me down a street that is not a thru street.This is a big negative with these types of GPS’s. I have less of these issues with Google maps which are more updatedThe speech recognition is still a work in progress, I have spent nearly an hour trying to get it to work. I tried speaking clearly to it but it still won’t recognize most of my commands and forget trying to input addresses through the voice commands.I have to keep it connected to the charger otherwise it will not last long on the battery.The unit will occasionally hesitate then start recalculating when I am still on the intended route and haven’t made any detours. I think it briefly loses connection with the satellites, and gets “confused” on its location and thinks I am on a different street. This has happened a few times while driving out in the country with no obstructions around. I just noticed that now the screen image will start spinning wildly around when making turns and going around bends in the road. It makes it hard to tell which way to go at an intersection etc.I will need a extra storage card since the map take up almost all the internal storage capacity on the device.

Very good GPS

Very good GPS. I’ve only used it a couple of times so far, but it worked well. The setup was straightforward enough, I had no trouble downloading the software and updating the maps. There are lots of red light cameras near me so I can confirm that it identifies them. It also know the speed limits and your speed glows red when you exceed it. You can also load the Smartphone Link app on your phone and pair with the unit over Bluetooth to provide even more functionality, like entering the address on your phone.A few quibbles.1) The screen resolution doesn’t seem very sharp. If you are used to modern phones or tablets it seems like a step back.2) The USB connector is the old-style D-connector, so you can’t share the car charger between the GPS and your Android phone.3) You need to download the manual. The only instructions included are how to plug it in. The manual is here: […] Its a good way to find out exactly what the unit is capable of and all the settings you can customize to get it to work the way you want.

Five Stars

very easy to use

Very good

Works good. My fiancé uses it more than I. But I have used it on a couple of trips. Works better after we updated it. Wasn’t difficult to update.

Five Stars

Works well

Unit functioned great until the suction clamp came loose and the unit …

Unit functioned great until the suction clamp came loose and the unit fell into a cup of coke that was sitting in the cup holder.

For Canada use. Some major TOIs are not found.

For Canada use. Some major TOIs are not found.

Five Stars

Arrived and worked as advertised

That’s what I’m talking about !!!

It’s the Real Deal gets me there and back in style !!!

Died quickly

Got it out of the box, plugged into PC (Garmin Express running). Unit slow to be found by Windows10, meanwhile the screen came alive and asked me to set country and language…

Five Stars

Love it.

Professional User Approved

I was a bit scared to upgrade from my 2597. I’ve had several of those types and beat them up at work and home but they are dated and the touch screens aren’t great.

Get it at Amazon

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