Very handy unless the road is closed

I have owned this unit for several weeks, and have really put it to the test. My job requires me to navigate the streets of Detroit daily. This is my second GPS unit.

Compared to my original handheld unit from another manufacturer, this is a major upgrade. All of North America is contained in the unit's memory, and plotting a route is a snap, especially if you know the address of your destination. The audible alerts are loud enough to be heard over the stereo. Directions are given exactly when you need them, and you are always told what will be coming up next.

I like the mounting mechanism: the suction cup is designed to mount to the windshield. But in case you live in an area where that is illegal, or if the slope of your windshield makes the unit hard to reach, Garmin included a flat disk that you can stick on your dashboard and then mount the suction cup to that. This is the method I use, and it works very well. The power adapter connects to the mounting stand instead of to the unit, making removing and replacing the unit very easy.

The so-called anti-glare screen catches a lot of glare when the sun is at certain angles, making the screen nearly impossible to read in those situations. But the voice prompts make screen viewing mostly unnecessary.

The unit has one serious flaw, in my opinion: if the route the unit has chosen includes a road that is closed, there is no way to tell it to use a different route. There is a detour function, but it only works for the leg of the route your are currently travelling. You would have to travel to the road that is closed and then press "Detour" to eliminate that road from the route, and by then you could be far away from alternate routes that would have been sensible at the beginning of your trip.

Example:

Here in Detroit, most of the Lodge Freeway (M-10) is closed for the summer. If I'm in the northern suburbs and tell the unit to take me into the city, it wants to use M-10. At the beginning of my trip, if I press "Detour," it will plot a different way to get to M-10. If I press "Detour" again, it will give yet another way to get to M-10. What it will not do is give me a route down Woodward Avenue into the city, nor I-696 to I-75 and then into the city. To eliminate M-10 from the route, I would have to travel to point where I would get on M-10, and then press "Detour." But by then, Woodward and I-75 are no longer viable options.

After a route is plotted, you can access the list of legs on the route. From this list, I should be able to click on a leg, and push a button that says "Do not use this road." The unit should then plot the next most efficient route that excludes the closed road. I consider this a major shortcoming, but I don't know if any GPS units can do this.