Garmin Drive 52, GPS Navigator with 5” Display, Simple On-Screen Menus and Easy-to-See Maps

I purchased this as a replacement for an older Garmin that I had which had just worn out and am pleased with what I received and the price. My only complaint is that there's only one "voice" for the navigation -- my older Garmin had choices of several "voices." This was not enough of a complaint to mark it down a star, just something I wish was present. The interface is easy to use, it connects to my phone for hands-free phone use (required in my state), and helps me arrive at my destination which is the purpose of the device. I would recommend this device.

It's a little different from my previous Garmin, but after some trial and error I've been able to use it effectively.

If you still use a stand alone car GPS, Garmin remains the last strong hold making stand alone units, thus I bought another as my older one is acting up, but I will repair my older one to use as backup as this new one is a step back in some respect. They are also good for domestic rentals, as you can bring presets and customs with you rather than relearning the nav unit in a rental. Garmin also pioneered car GPS, so the UI and design are optimal for drivers compared to free Google maps navigators; I use both when driving. For under $100, Garmins are still a steal. This review is after 1 week of daily road use.ProsComing from a Garmin nuvi since 2010 and 2013, you can functionally do all older unit do and its overall like a slightly bigger and faster version of the nuvi, otherwise the same. However, moving from a 2010 unit to a 2013 nuvi, there were all improvements. But moving from 2013, to 2022 is a step back in some functionsBuild quality is the same, high, since 2010, no longer rubber coated to make it easier to grip, but still worksthe LCD screen has a tighter dot pitch and is clearer, and this unit is larger than my nuvithe touch seems more responsivethe directions are spoken clearly and enunciated with emphasis in critical areas, like when a turn is about to happenupdates online are faster download and install, but work similarly as older unitsGarmin Express is simple and easy to use, and offers more functions now than older versions, see photoable to carry forward my custom POI and locations, moving them from my nuvi to the 52max volume is very loud, and so is brightness to see in full sunlight, I had to tone both down, a good thing, using Google maps to navigate on my phone, the phone is neither loud enough and would be useless if not being able to send the audio the car infotainmentthe newer design mounting clip uses the standard suction cup base, and takes getting used too but it allows me to use other Garmin accessory mountsGarmin has never gotten me lost in 1000mi+ trips, but some detours in backcountry, had some odd round abouts, for a country ride during the day it can be entertaining, at night it can be scary. However, Google Maps has taken me to bad detour routes, so I don't trust it for detours but it great for speed traps, alerts, and real time traffic.Conscustom POI do not migrate automatically, and there are no instructions. Open the POI folder in your older Garmin once the Garmin is attached to the PC, copy the POI to your PC, and remove the old Garmin, attach the new Garmin and drag that POI to the same folder in the new GarminThe color scheme for speed and limit is more bland and less alerting, and there is only one trip setting appearing on the right border, in the older units you could customize it in many ways to maximize the delivery of data on the small screen .. see photoon the fly detour requires up to 4 clicks, compared to one in the nuvi. One to hide the current trip setting, one to bring up the menu, one to select 'route', which is what detour is now called, then clicks again to select how far to detour. Luckily it does do the same thing, but getting to it is very annoying, being able to reroute on the fly when an accident or issue appears ahead of you is a key value a Garmin is for me, and they made it harder to use.The amount of custom voices is reduced, the voice sounds more mechanical and less natural, and is not as smoothly generated, there is a harshness to the voice synthesis, compared to older GarminsThe killer to this model is the battery is only 1 hour, if at all, and mine barely got 15 minutes. Older garmins were are least 2 hours. Even after 1-2 recharges, I couldn't get it to last over 15 minutes, and later returned my unit as defective, and I already reduced the brightness and volume to under 50%. This means if you try adjusting it without the car adapter power, it will rapidly eat the battery down, and it also slowly eats the battery when the unit is off. You can conserve battery power by holding the Power button down until the TURN OFF dialog appears, cutting standby power to minimum. I often started the trip with the unit dead, and it wouldn't start until a minute or two for the battery to charge from zero. I bought another unit and returned my first, and it got 1 hour, but again, its barely enough.Garmin 52 with TrafficIf you live in a well populated place, OTA Traffic has more options than older Garmins and is free and will save you a lot of time in wasted traffic. It uses the same cable as older Garmins that have Traffic. Its plug and play and what I changed my 52 too, and the ads don't say, upgrade maps are lifetime of the unit. It uses as much of the onboard memory as it can, then offloads stuff to the SD Card. For over 10 yrs, Garmins still have a max of 32GB SD cards, and been more than enough for decades. The OTA Traffic has less data than the upgraded model Garmins with bluetooth connect to your phone, to use its data for traffic updates, but reliability of the connection varies with your phone model, while the OTA is trouble free out of box.

I got this when I started a pizza delivery job. I drive 75% in the city and 25% in the country (Southern Illinois).I LOVE the subtle-ding the Garmin gives me when I hit 5mph over the speed limit (optional feature I enabled). It also displays the speed limit in most cases.The Voice Recognition is roughly what I expected. If I could rate the voice recognition on a 1-100 scale, I'd give it a 87. It recognizes well used streets well...but not quite as accurate on lesser known or said streets (or streets that could easily sound like something else). I always turn off the radio when I speak to allow it to hear me better. (But in most cases it can recognize with the radio on low).The SPEED at which I speak to the Garmin is Roughly 10-15% SLOWER than the Normal/Natural rate I would use if I were talking clearly to a Person. This seems to make it easier for the Garmin to read...But it could be slightly irritating to the impatient. Also the SPEED at which the Garmin Speaks to me (after I speak to it) will say something like, "Did you say, '123 Park Street".....Then I'll reply, 'Yes'....then then Garmin will say to me, 'WIll you like to begin Navigation', then I'll say, 'Yes' then it'll Beep/Chirp and say, 'Please Drive to the Highlighted Route'....The conversation of the paragraph above could be better....and could be worse....Once again (I only use the voice activation if I sense that it's an, "Easy' Street for it to recognize like Main Street or Park Street...not 'Chataqueaua Street' (That it mistakenly thinks I said, 'Choctaw Street' as an example)It finds roughly 98% of the addresses I look for. Usually is it doesn't find it...its because it's a new subdivision or street. It also occasionally happens when when it's WAY out in the country.Despite me griping about a few things...I only do so to highlght what I've noticed. Overall it not only have achieved my expectations...but it slightly exceeds it (Minus the voice activated aspect/Which I'd say it only reached my expectations)The other thing I'll say I love...Is How/When the Garmin decides to zoom in on the screen/Zig Zag Pattern of the Road as you get CLOSER to the destination. AS you get closer to the destination the Garmin Zooms in on the REMAINING portion of the route which REALLY helps out on knowing what to expect further down the road.My lights are about to be replaced (Older Mini-Van) BUT...If I were driving in the country (Little to No Street Lights)...It is a LIfesaver to be able to SEE/KNOW sharp curves ahead of time by looking at the Garmin.Also...if you're in an older part of town (With a lot of one way streets)...It's nice to have an audible voice Warn you as a backup, "You are going the WRONG way down the Steet"...HahaThings that could be better...And it could be worse:The ability of the Garmin to find the exact apartment number (In an apartment complex/Mobile Home Community).If I could rate that on a 1-100...I'd give it only a 35. (Granted it's not something they claim to have)Small gripe I have. I drive a GM vehicle and I have to sometimes turn the headlights on/off twice before my headlights go off...Sometimes when I do this the Garmin will say, "Say a Command" and while it's speaking it sounds like somebody pulled the plug on it WHILE it was speaking...it sounds a little harsh WHEN this happens (Which isn't ALL the time/But it DOES happen occasionally). It's not something that can't be dealt with (and isn't Too loud...but it's slightly irritating when it happens)If Garmin could eventually master knowing all the apartment numbers/mobile home communities and on which face/side of the building they're located on...it'd make things MUCH easier though (Delivering Pizza's). Believe it or not....Sometimes it takes less time to get to an apartment complex vs finding the right building. Less people have addresses well lit/Visible on their homes/mailboxes than you'd think.Overall I'm VERY happy with the purchase. On the rare 2% of the time I couldn't find an address....my cellphone would always get me there.**Also, I bought the Backup Camera from Garmin** It's DIRT-Simple to install (A child/elderly person) could install it themselves unassisted. The 2 Lithium AA batteries I purchased (**NOT**-Included-by-the-Way)...lasted Roughly a month (Jan-Feb 2020).