-Bluetooth: I debated whether or not to get this unit or one of the lower ones with no bluetooth, but for the price difference (from my research it was only around a $40 difference), I decided to go with the bluetooth. I had heard all kinds of things about pairing problems and address books not being sent, but it has worked flawlessly with my Blackberry (Pearl 8130). The unit's speaker is clear and loud enough for talking on it as your hands free unit, and it's so nice to be able to see who's calling without digging around in your pocket when your phone rings. Definitely worth it.
-Navigation: I don't have a lot of experience with other GPS units so I can't compare, but this gets me where I need to go pretty darn well. There seems to be an affinity with this (and all GPS/mapquest/navigation aids) with "county routes", I don't know about anyone else but in the tri-state area, CR's are incredibly easy to get lost on, and generally most people know county routes by other names (i.e. call it "Ringwood Ave", don't call it CR-511 I have no idea what that is). But this is ok because the screen is so clear on where you have to turn, and the text-to-speech does a wonderful job of making sure you know which way you're going to be turning. There was an area in North Jersey that is an absolute cluster [expletive deleted] of construction cones and roads diverted onto off ramps and god knows what else, and this did a flawless job of getting me through it painlessly. This unit also does a fantastically quick job of getting you on the right path again if you miss a turn. Obviously the most important factor in a GPS unit, and this does an A+ job.
Ease of use/utility: Plug it in, turn it on, type in an address and press go. Doesn't get easier than that! I also love the small size, fits right into my pocket. I can use it to find my way around, find restaurants or movie theaters locally, and then dial them right from the Garmin and make reservations or get show times! I love this feature. Navigation is the most important factor, but this little gem does that great, and more.
Cons
Finding a satellite signal: Luckily, this hasn't been a problem when I really was relying on it to find where I was going, but a lot of times when I have it on driving around an area I know, when it's first starting up, it takes a long time to find a signal, even on perfectly sunny days. It's to the point where I'm driving for ten minutes and it says "trouble finding signal" and then asks me what day it is and whether or not I'm indoors or have moved 1,000 miles away since my last use. The times this doesn't happen, it finds a signal almost instantaneously, and sometimes it's not quite ten minutes, but this happens more often than I had expected given all the reviews I read about how quickly it finds a signal.
Windshield mount: After having it about a month, this has stopped working for the most part. The mount will stick, and then fall off after a little while. This is fairly annoying since it's the only mount I really feel like using (the suction one costs extra and is kind of unsightly, and the dashboard mount it comes with is more permanent).
Mixed
Music player/speaker: The music player is pretty cool, I have an SD disk in there with about a half a gig worth of music. The problem is, out of the box, this is impossible to use as a music player. Unlike the bluetooth phone which only is hard to hear if you're going 70 with the windows open, this sound quality is so poor with the internal speaker you won't be using it instead of your ipod or your cd player any time soon. With that said, a lot of new cars have AUX inputs in their cars, so all you need is a 3.5mm wire and you plug it right into the headphone jack, and then you've music through your car's stereo system. Not only that, you also would then get your GPS and phone through your stereo system. Not bad. If you don't have an AUX in, but you have a custom stereo, you can just get some standard Audio cables, plug 'em into the back of your stereo and accomplish the same thing. It's also neat that if you're playing music and using it to navigate, it will pause the music to issue voice directions, then resume where you left off in the song. It also does a nice job of not completely screwing you up if you don't know where you're going and you get a phone call on it. Click Answer or Ignore and it goes right back to the map. Nice. BUT, if you don't have an easy way of getting this hooked through your car's stereo system, the music player is kind of useless.
Overall
Really, this is a great little unit. It does it's main function extremely well, and even though the speaker isn't the greatest, there are ways around that and there is real integration here with music, navigation and phone in one. If it weren't for some problems with sometimes getting a signal, and if the windshield mount wasn't largely dysfunctional, this would be an easy 5 star product. But even with those negative, this is an easy recommendation, it's more than worth the money now that the price has come down so much.
This is the most "must have" gadget since the Ipod. It's amazing you can get this level of technology for $200. I tested the Garmin 350 head to head, to a more expensive Sony unit on a 6 hour trip from Chicago to Detroit. The Garmin was easier to use, picked the routes I had picked, and had less glitches.
This was my second GPS unit. The previous is a hand held Garmin Vista, a whole different animal more at home hiking in the mountains than on the road.
Pros
Ease of use-I literally did not need the user manual. I took it out of the box and started programing in my "favorite" places. The menus are self explainitory, make sense, and are easy to navigate.
Get to where you want and MUCH more- The extra features aside from trip planning make it worth the $200. Where ever you are, find the nearest gas stations, pet store, pharmacy, Subway.....or whatever. You'll know how far, which direction, and phone number with only a couple touches of the screen. This is very handy when you're in a town away from home. You can also do this while it is navigating. The calculator, and MP3 player also come in handy (although playing music with the built in speaker is useless).
Reliable- I have never lost signal because of weather, it works under bridges (unlike some older units I've used), just grab it and you'll get to where you need.
Cons
The navigation is not perfect- New roads do not come up on the map (even with the '08 model). Sometimes it picks routes that you think.....why?? This may have happened a couple times in the month or so of heavy use (navigating a new sales territory).
Some mount headaches- The way the general mounting design works makes it natural to push the power button when taking it off, this isn't a big deal but it could be improved. I also tried using the suction cup mount on one of my motorcycles and the ball mount wasn't strong enough to handle the bumps on the road with out "sagging" and needing of readjustment.
I would recommend Garmin to anyone. I have done a lot of research before I came a rational decision to purchase Garmin Nuvi 760. This is my second GPS from Garmin. There is no doubt that Garmin makes one of the finest products out there. I wouldnt say they are 100% perfect. But they are no doubt still better then most of the other rivals in the market.
Pros
Garmin Nuvi 760 is stylish. More options then other units.
The blue tooth is good if you are using it in a sedan.
Nice and small fits right into my pocket.
The maps are pretty accurate.
Cons
In smaller towns the new construction isnt upto date.
speaker should have been made in the front of the GPS and not back.
I was driving from Columbus OH into Chicago which is on Central Time - The
GPS did not simulate the central time.
One thing I have noticed about Garmin which really is a minus point - Garmin GPS's shows Fastest and Shortest option. I checked with my other buddys who own other brand GPS's which give the option Highway or through internal roads.
Bottom line - Overall I love Garmin. Its reliable and every Garmin has certain features. For the folks thinking of purchasing one look up the model of Garmin which suits your needs.
No comments:
Post a Comment