Look ma, no ads!
When Garmin introduced lifetime traffic in 2008, it came bundled with their units but was ad-supported. You can see an example in the screenshot below. Personally, I found the ads low-key, but they certainly annoyed lots of folks.
An ad from a pre-2013 nuvi
Well get this — I was testing the nuvi 3597LMTHD for traffic coverage the other day, when I thought, oh yeah, I need to mention in the review that HD traffic is ad-free. Well that triggered an epiphany, because my next thought was, gee, I don’t recall seeing any ads when I tested the nuvi 2597LMT or 2797LMT. So I dashed off an email to Garmin asking about this and my contact there replied, “the 2013 units don’t use any ad-supported traffic.”
So there you go. All nuvi 2013 LMT or LT models are ad-free, even the Advanced series. I guess I’ll need to update my post on how to get ad-free traffic on your nuvi.
About Rich Owings
Interesting Rich. The more Garmin copies Tom Tom (no ad traffic) the more they might take away TT customers looking for a change. Could it be because Navigon introduced ad free lifetime traffic years ago and Garmin took over (merged with) Navigon?
I just bought the Nuvi 2557 LMT from amazon.com, It says I have life time maps and traffic. Do I need a special extra antenna or is this built into the unit? I have tried to research this and I am finding confusing answers!
Can you clear the mystery for me?
Gregg Huestis
my biggest beef with the nuvi 2597 compared to my older 360 is the lane by lane directions. i hate that the commentator says to turn at least 5 times on every turn. once – ok – twice fine but not more than that. i find that really annoying. now i keep the volume down which creates more eye distraction
260 – not 360 – sorry