Garmin nuvi 1450LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Map and Traffic Updates Problems

Garmin nuvi is one of the good brands of GPS' in the market. Most people blindly go out and buy one, only to discover that there were some issues with the GPS, which they could've avoided had they done a bit more research. At Cautionista.com, our primary goal is to make our readers aware of certain issues or not-so-nice features with the Garmin nuvi 1450LMT GPS.


Here are some of the issues that other customers found with this GPS model -

• Stopped working after a few hours, probably because of overheating.
• Locks up after power-up displaying Garmin on the screen. This problem is seen by many customers after many weeks of operation.
• Garmin customer service requires you to send the GPS to them and wait around 2 weeks for repairing  or replacing it with a refurbished unit.
• GPS went dead after a firmware update that was recommended by the company. Some voice files need to be deleted in order to perform firmware upgrade.





• The Garmin nuvi 1450LMT GPS defaults to "press dot" screen after several days of operation, unable to come out of it.
• If you use the Traffic Updates feature, the GPS shows advertisements about local businesses like pizza, every few minutes. Since these ads block the map and directions, they are a major annoyance.
• Restarts multiple times while running. Takes several minutes each time to get it back up. Sometimes need to unplug the car power cord, wait a few minutes and plug back in.
• Highway Lane Assist feature not reliable, show only occasionally.
• Speed Limit display feature not reliable, sometimes shows higher than the actual speed limit of the road.
• Even though the screen is large, the resolution is still the same as it's lower end models. So, no additional information can be displayed, the map just appears bigger.
• Slow to respond to touch screen presses.
• Takes a while to search for Points of Interest (POI).
• Slow to re-calculate route, after you miss a route.
• Map update took 7 hours to complete, and took two tries.
• Internal storage is one-third of the previous Garmin models, hence a pain to upgrade maps.
• Doesn't acquire satellite signal, even in an open area. Multiple units behaved the same way.

Alternatives to Garmin nuvi 1450LMT GPS -

• Magellan RoadMate 5045-LM 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic. 5" screen size. Much better in stability and has some nice features like audio warnings for upcoming turns.
• Garmin nuvi 1350LMT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Map & Traffic Updates. This is the previous model. Although it's a smaller 4.3" screen, it's much more reliable and has more storage than the 1450.