 "Discontinued, but now cheap to buy" | 2009-10-18 |
| - Reviewed By michael16128 |
I got this a couple of years ago because we were going to Germany and this model has both European and N. American maps. It works great on both continents and I have not had any issues with it except my own stupidity. Twice now, once on each continent, I accidentally left this in 'walk' mode while driving. You can imagine the comedy of errors that resulted. I will say that in Germany it kept us off the autobahns for fifty miles so we saw more back country until we figured out the odd roundabout directions we were getting. It wanting to take us up sidewalks was a little disconcerting, but I can't really blame the Garmin for that.
One of the little discussed features is the ability to take you to 'lodging' or 'hospital' if you need to. We used this feature to advantage on our last trip back east where we needed a hospital fast. It really allows you to appreciate where you are and not worry about getting lost. But, I have to say, over-reliance on any navigation system can get you into some trouble because you forget the skills that could get you around without one. Take a map, but take the Garmin, too. The newer model is the 775, which as some added features, but is essentially the same product. BE SURE you get an international model if that's what you want to do. |
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| "Garnin Nuvi review" | 2009-10-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: ALBVBLAB3HEFS |
| We absolutely love it. It has all the features we were looking for. The only thing we would change is the built in FM transmitter seems to be weaker than our Ipod transmitter. It's harder to find a clear channel for the Garmin. |
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 "Frustrating interface - behind competition" | 2009-08-18 |
| - Reviewed By jurban1997 |
I just returned from Italy. I purchased this because it had the European roads pre-installed. The roads are accurate as can be expected, so it will definitely get you around the cities if the roads are open. I did experience some round-about issues, but a quick u-turn got me around that. Once it sent me down a dirt road on the side of a mountain when there was a paved option close by.
I've gotten used to my Dash GPS, so was expecting the same level of quality in the software interface. I was very disappointed. First, you cannot toggle easily between North-up and 3D views. This is often critical when driving through cities that are not laid-out on a grid, or on mountain switch-backs with turns. The switch is buried three icons-deep, which is tough to do in situations where you really need it.
Second, you always have to review the total route before proceeding because it may send you down crazy paths that are obviously not optimal. We lost an hour driving through Tuscany because of this. We may have made a mistaken turn, but I distinctly didn't remember the characteristic "recalculating" it speaks when you do so. And, it was definitely set to "fastest route". And, because it only gives you one option to choose from, I'm unsure how to force it to re-think the provided route. Dash.net gives multiple route options and a complete overview of the route (but doesn't include Europe). Additionally, if you want to try to go along a parallel route (such as along the ocean instead of the inland highway), there is no way of forcing a re-route except to choose an interim location along your route. This can be very dangerous to do if you are already driving. And, calculations can take up to 30 seconds.
Third, you are presented with the arrival time, but you cannot change the display to duration or total miles. So, you are always calculating how long you have left. Again, I was spoiled with my Dash, which does this.
As far as the physical characteristics, it is a nice, big screen with a clean design. But, if you are using it for walking and POI's, it's a slippery thing to keep from dropping. And - my biggest annoyance - is the lock-switch that is the same as the on-off button. If it is in the locked-position and you try to unlock it, you could go 2mm too far and turn it off - requiring 2-minutes for it to re-boot. This will make you angry unless you have a saintly disposition. This happened a few times while driving, too.
If you intend to use this for POI's, be warned. I tried downloading gpx and gpi's from some websites and failed to make most of them work. If it is something that I'm not understanding about these formats, the Garmin website is of no help in educating anyone on the topic. I assumed that by now there would be plenty of good POI data and content for Rome!
All that being said, I'm unsure if there is a better value on the market for European travel if you reside in the US. I'm just very disappointed that a company that has been around as long as Garmin has such a poor interface and design flaws.
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| "Perfict for my Europe Trip.. Extra features are also great!" | 2009-08-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2IC9JUZBMQYK7 |
I used this for my recent trip to Europe where we were going to do a lot of walking around.
Before the trip I was able to view the various locations I was going to visit and add a bunch of places to my favorites such as sites, restaurants and hotels (note that you have to look up places by their foreign name if it is a foreign country and you can also look up places by address)
Once we were in Europe we could hit the favorites button and it would list all the places in order by distance. (eg... we were in Prague and I am a vegetarian so I added all the vegetarian places in Prague to my favorites. When ever I was hungry I just asked it which places was closest and went and ate)
Points to make:
1. Satellites were usually found quickly except near tall buildings sometimes.
2. Sometimes when walking it got confused as to our heading. I think this largely has to do with the fact that our walking speed was below the noise level. I suppose if it picked up more satellites it would be better. Anyhow, this was not too much of a problem because we could see a map of where we were regardless of what heading it had us on. Note: In a car this is never a problem.
3. The maps had everything in them! (as one would expect but it was nice to see this when you are in some small town in Europe)
4. Fairly easy to use. It took a little while to figure out how to view places you are not currently located at and to get it in pedestrian mode
5. Now that I am back from my trip I have discovered that the built in mp3 player is great since it has an fm transmitter. Additionally the blue tooth allows my cell phone conversations to be sent to the GPS and then to my car radio via the FM transmitter. I did not buy it with this use in mind but it is very nice to have.
6. When I bought this via big value inc through amazon it was $305 new (not refurbish but BRAND NEW). The price has been going up rapidly since I bought it? Anyhow, it was worth the $305 in my opinion. But if you want it you should buy it before it goes up even more!
7. Places visited included Brugge, st. johann em pongau, vienna, prague, salzburg, mijas, rhonda, amsterdam and haarlem. Did not find a street it did not know.
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| "Great Help at Home and Abroad" | 2009-07-14 |
| - Reviewed By pcallag1 |
I purchased a refurbished model in preparation for a trip to Europe. Even though it is a refurb, Garmin promised free upgraded maps. After logging on to Garmin, I was told to choose either the US or European map upgrade for free. I e-mailed Garmin, and they agreed that I should be entitled to upgrades of both map packages.
Garmin's customer service was also very helpful in getting the maps downloaded and installed-- it was really quite simple once I got my own computer to play nicely.
Performance on the road in Germany and The Czech Republic was excellent. The unit did it's best to help me avoid some traffic congestion on the autobahn.
I also made good use of the unit in pedestrian mode, navigating around Berlin.
Though the Nuvi is fairly simple to operate, I do wish Garmin included an instruction booklet of some kind, for quick reference when trying a new function. |
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| "Outdated Maps" | 2009-07-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2J125ZKPIVGSQ |
I ordered the Garmin 770 in March 2009 in anticipation of a May 2009 trip to Europe. It worked well most of the time, but I quickly discovered the maps were woefully outdated; some by years. It didn't do too much for my sense of security to be led astray into bad areas of town in countries where I barely spoke the language and had two children with me.
This ended up costing us a lot more money as several times we stayed in more expensive hotels, simply out of frustration and fear of being lost.
When I went online to check it out, Garmin was offering me updated maps for $130. I was gobsmacked.
As a customer, I don't think its an unreasonable expectation to have the latest maps on a brand-spanking new GPS. I could understand if it was two or three years old, but TWO MONTHS??? 'Ridiculous' doesn't even touch it. I will be contacting Amazon and Garmin about this, yet even if they offer to rectify, its a little late. |
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