gps car navigation for hot weather driving

I live in a hot state, so I have to plan for this stuff early.

My current daily driver is the Garmin DriveSmart 76, and while that works very nicely, I purposely use a Garmin model made from over a decade ago because it's much better equipped to handle hot-hot weather.

Before I get into that, there are three realities when it comes to smartphone in cars used for navigation:

1. Can and will overheat, then shutdown at the worst possible time.
2. Can and will lose GPS signal where navigation will stop at the worst possible time.
3. Pairing to a car's infotainment system is flaky at best, can and will fail at the worst possible time.

Using a phone for navigation is just asking for problems to happen, especially in hotter weather driving. No thanks.

A standalone navigator is the best option, however, during hot weather driving, heat is a problem. Just like with the phone, if it's blasted by too much heat, it will shut down.

The solution to this problem is to purposely use an older Garmin with a resistive matte screen. Capacitive touchscreens may be brighter, but run hotter. I'd rather run with a screen that's slightly dimmer and works instead of dealing with a capacitive that causes shutdowns from generating too much heat.

How old is too old?

The oldest model that still functions properly is the Garmin nuvi 52LM and nuvi 54LM from 2013. Outfitted with a 32GB microSD card, it gets the job done. Just connect the thing to the free Garmin Express software to update the maps.

After that is the nuvi 57 from 2015. More features and quicker to calculate routes. Needs the 32GB memory card like the 52/54.

After that is the Drive 52 from 2019, which can still be bought new (although renewed/refurb is just fine). Also needs the 32GB microSD like the 52/54 to fit all the latest map data. This one in particular has the brightest matte screen you can get that is on par with a capacitive screen. It was also the very last matte screen for the car Garmin ever released.

All of these are 5" screens. Yes, there were 6" matte screens and even a few 7" models, but the 5" is the best of the lot.

Yes, they have to be used plugged in all the time because the battery life isn't that great. Yes, you need that 32GB memory card as mentioned above. But once you have those things in order, then you have GPS navigation that can handle the hotter weather.

Does this mean you can just leave it in the car all the time?

NO.

Or to be more specific, you can't leave it mounted on the glass 100% of the time.

For example, if you go to a grocery store and have to park in the sun, leaving the screen on the glass is a bad idea because it will get cooked. The sunlight comes through the windshield and will bake a Garmin screen. The solution to this is simple. Take the Garmin off its mount and out of the sun when parked. Just chuck the screen in a door pocket or glove box. Easy enough. When you get back to the car, put the screen back on the mount, turn it on and go.

Better to use an old matte screen Garmin instead of risking phone overheating

The real question here is this: Which would you rather destroy?

Every time a modern phone with a sealed battery overheats, you run the risk of battery bulging that can literally render a smartphone dead. And by that I mean "will not turn on AT ALL" dead. In the past, you could replace a phone battery or at least take the battery out and plug it in to get your important data off it. NOT ANYMORE. When a phone gets cooked, it's 100% dead.

Take the same situation with a Garmin Drive 52. Let's say you left it mounted to the glass on a hot sunny day like an idiot while going grocery shopping. You come back, try to turn on the 52 and nope, it won't power on. You destroyed it by letting the thing get cooked.

If you destroyed a Drive 52, that wouldn't feel so bad as destroying your phone. Think about that.

I'll end this one with a little story.

Years ago I had a Garmin nuvi 50 where, like an idiot, I left mounted in the car while I went shopping on a hot sunny summer day. I came back after my shopping, tried to turn it on, nope... not happening.

The car was started with the A/C on, so I held the screen unplugged in front of a vent blowing cold air on it to cool the thing off for about a minute. Then I tried to turn it back on, and... success! Incredibly, that 50 powered back up and still worked fine.

But make no mistake, I got lucky there. That 50 could have very easily gave up the ghost and never powered on again, but it soldiered on even after I left it in the sun like an idiot.

Had it been a capacitive screen model, nope, no way, never would have powered on after being cooked like that. The only thing that saved it was it being a matte screen...

...which I why I keep some matte screen Garmins kicking around. They can genuinely take more punishment from hot weather driving and it's worth it to keep one (or several) around.

Published 2025 May 6