Garmin nüLink! 1695

After the pretty good nüvi 1690 that ushered in its nüLink! services, Garmin is pursuing the development of its connected sat navs and has given us a more evolved model: the Garmin nüLink! 1695 has a bigger screen, an improved interface and Coyote mobile speed cameras.

Hardware: large screen, aging suction mount

This new high-end sat nav is equipped with a nice large 5-inch matte screen. Legibility is excellent and we really like the gain in size in comparison to standard 4.3-inch screens. The resolution is nevertheless identical at 480 x 272 pixels, which is plenty. Everything is therefore bigger and more legible.


Although no bigger than average, the Garmin nüvi 1695 is too big for some pockets. Some time will be needed before the nüvi 3790T's design is rolled out across the range. Quality is pretty good and handling nice thanks to the soft feel of the material used on the back of the device. The front has a glossy black plastic finish, surrounded by a silver edging. Although this type of look is starting to look a bit outdated, overall it gives a pretty good impression.

On the left a microSD card reader allows you to add maps of other countries or view photos on the sat nav. Underneath, a micro-USB socket is provided to connect up to your computer for any updates you may want.



The suction-mount is the same as on previous generations. It's a shame that Garmin hasn't seen it worthwhile changing it as there are more practical ones out there, notably on TomTom devices. Garmin does however have an advantage when it comes to the cigarette lighter charger, with the mini-USB plugging into the mount rather than the sat nav itself. This means you can leave the mount in the car rather than having to take it off each time.

Design and build: a successful interface with simple menus

The sat nav starts up in 23 seconds, then detection of satellites is generally completed within the next minute. Responsiveness in the menus is good and moving between different screens of options is logical and intuitive, ideal for beginners.

The predictive text feature for addresses hasn't unfortunately been developed and could be improved as it simply offers a list of places sorted by alphabetical order when few choices are possible. Thankfully entering text isn't too slow.

In addition to entering addresses, the nüLink! Services also include the Google local search feature. You just have to enter the name of a place to find the address. In the same way, you can find addresses of individuals thanks to the White Pages. Very practical!

Changing the volume setting during navigation is still as impractical as ever unfortunately, as you need to go through two operations to get to the settings menu, then two more to return to the display of the map. We would have liked to be able to set this straight from the navigation screen, or with a physical button on the side.

Lastly, there's a route planner, which is very easy to use.

Route guidance: plenty of features, a few basic errors

Like any good modern sat nav, the Garmin nüLink! 1695 has plenty of features: traffic lane assistant with display of junctions and signs, speed alert and Text-to-Speech which announces the names of streets.

The instructions are precise and journey calculations quite fast. We would have liked a little more responsiveness when recalculating a journey in case of error - you sometimes need to wait almost ten seconds before getting your new route. For city driving this is too much and you end up missing the intersection.

Besides this, Garmin has added its nüRoute technology which is supposed to gain time for the driver. For this, the trafficTrends feature is supposed to get us on the fastest route depending on the day, time and traffic on the road. Apparently however, the service is still too recent to be completely reliable as several times it had us taking routes that cost us time. Indeed, distances were slightly lower, the actual speed of the routes was under the authorised speed limit. This was because we were recommended a more windy and therefore more dangerous route, particularly as it's winter and there's often more black ice on minor roads. Even if this journey had proved faster we would have liked to be offered an alternative, less dangerous route where traffic was fluid. Lets hope the reliability of the system improves with time.

The nüRoute technology also has a feature known as myTrends, which automatically offers a journey according to our habits.

You still get the ecoRoute feature for economising on fuel with more fluid, though longer, journeys.

Extra features: bluetooth, weather, fuel

Like the nüvi 1690, the Garmin nüLink! 1695 comes with Bluetooth allowing you to use your phone on hands-free. Audio quality is fine and sufficient for occasional usage. Major users will prefer their own dedicated kit which allows you to position the microphone closer to the driver.

We would have liked to be able to transmit audio to the vehicle's speakers via an FM transmitter. It's a shame that more manufacturers don't offer this feature, like the MP3 player that the latest (even high-end) sat navs don't include anymore.

The fuel pricing feature is practical in these times of fluctuating petrol costs and tells you where the cheapest station is near where you are. It also displays the stations on your current route.

All these connected features are included in the nüLink! Services that are free for the first year and then £49.95 annually (all-inclusive, with Garmin traffic-info and speed camera alerts).