 Impressive and great price |
| Review Date: April 13, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Giraldus, California |
Garmin has a somewhat confusing product line, which is somewhat alleviated by a reasonably good online guide on the manufacturer's web site (you select the features you are looking for, and it narrows down the choices to fewer and fewer models until you find what you are looking for);
I was specifically looking for a model with both North America and Europe maps, capable of supporting multiple languages for speech synthesis (so that my non-English speaking parents could use it as well), traffic information, lane assist, and pretty good UI.
I had narrowed my choices down to the Garmin nüvi 775T and the Tomtom 930T, but eventually went for the Garmin for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I am a little biased, having used their aviation panel mounted models for a few years and I knew that Garmin makes excellent units. I was also impressed by their customer support: they replied to a couple of questions I had about their products pretty quickly, even though I hadn't bought the 775T yet.
This is a feature rich device; I haven't had time to play with all its functions yet; it is able to get a satellite fix even in non optimal situations (such as tree coverage, tall building, even indoors if a window is nearby); the routes it picks look quite reasonable (by the way: do not try to make it compute 'silly' routes, such as asking it to compute a driving route from some place in California to some place in Europe... the unit will get stuck and might require a hard reset). The user interface is very intuitive IMHO and presents the information in a very concise and effective manner (important while driving!)
So overall, I am very satisfied with this purchase, especially at the price that was offered on Amazon (significantly cheaper than what I had found elsewhere).
A couple of things in no particular order:
The safety lock feature is neat (you can protect the unit with a PIN, and if you dial the PIN wrong too many times, the unit can only be unlocked by returning to a 'safe location.' Sounds neat, until you realize that it is easy to misdial the PIN (until you get used to the touch screen I suppose), which might be a snag if you do that many miles away from said 'safe location', for instance, when on vacation. I disabled that feature as a result.
The manufacturer's web site was not specific enough IMHO about which voices were provided 'out of the box' for the speech synthesis function (where it speaks the instructions and street names); it turns out that the nice customer service representative answered that question promptly. Note that not all the voices / languages provided can speak the street names (e.g., the various English, French, Spanish, etc. voices can, but the one Arabic voice cannot)
If you choose a voice of a different language than the locale, its pronunciation of the street names can be a bit puzzling at times :-) it does however a remarkably good job most of the times (I went out of my way to try to confuse it :-) ).
Finally, don't forget to download your one free map update (you'll have to choose between either the North America or European map for this free update), and the free firmware updates. There are also pretty neat applications available (which combined with some Google Maps features, e.g., possibility to overlay the contents of GPX files that the unit can export onto Google Maps, increase the possibilities.) |
Works great, even nicer if you downlad extras.
|
| Review Date: September 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Brigitte R. Wise, Gulf Breeze, FL United States |
Some of the reviews here are not quite accurate. The 775t model powers up in 20 seconds, then you have to hit agree or wait 10 more seconds for the "Warning", after that you are ready to "where to?". I have to enter 3 of the first letters of my 9 letter city, then it comes up, enter address and directions and map displays up in 1 second. The unit will auto power on when
it is connected to supplied car charger. When you turn the car ignition off, the 775t gives you a choice of leaving the power on or off.
The voice on my unit is load and clear, I happen to like the downloaded voice of Team Garmin's Matt White.
The "Where To?"-Points of Interest is a great feature. Need to find the closest gas station? Hit Fuel- Names and addresses pop up, click on the business and phone number shows up. No more digging for the phone book. The GPS
has icons for gas, food, fuel, transit, lodging, and even shopping, banks, and hospitals.
Suggestions for new owners: This unit does not come with a case. This unit charges the GPS battery attached to your computer with supplied USB cable. Unit works fine inside your home-gives you indoor playing time. Go to Garmin site for free upgrade and download extra voices, and vechicle icons. Be prepared to spend a couple of hours at the Garmin site.
I look foward to using and playing with my new GPS 775t. This GPS is easy to use. I just wish it came supplied with the lastest maps, and all the voice and icons already on the unit, and the case.
|
Nuvi 775T is a great navigation device
|
| Review Date: May 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: DMG, Mpls, MN, United States |
Garmin nüvi 775T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Simple, reliable, and fully featured. There is not much this GPS device can't do. I am travelling to Europe this summer so I wanted a device that has both US and European maps. The thing I struggled the most with was the 'Tom Tom vs Garmin' decision. Both have some unique features but in the end the various online reviews about the Garmin being easier to use, and the NAVTEQ maps being more accurate in the US, combined with the 'free for life' traffic updates convinced me that this was the unit for me. And I have not been disapointed. The display is easy to read, even in sunlight, operation could not be simpler, and it works very well. That said I like to play with the configuration of my 'toys' but the Garmin really does not have many things to play with. The two things I am not as keen about are 1) To view traffic there is a traffic display mode' in which the normal GPS display goes into a grey mode so it's easy to see the traffic, but to see the normal screen colors again you have to turn traffic off. Makes it easy to see the traffic, but you lose the other detil (parks being green etc). 2) It has a very fancy auto zoom that will zoom in as you approach a junction etc. It's not very configurable and sometims does not remember the zoom level that I set. But all in all a great device. |
Garmin Nuvi 775t
|
| Review Date: September 27, 2009 |
| Reviewer: CB Shaw, Boston, MA |
| I am a great one for reading others reviews to make a decision on which item to purchase but never letting others know after I have made my purchase, but with this Garmin 775t I feel so happy with my purchase I want to pass on my review. The Traffic updates are just brilliant. I have 3 options of how to get to work, the best being the expressway (about 15min faster). The other 2 are back roads. This Garmin has directed me every morning on which route to take, sometimes the expressway and others the back roads. Last week on 2 mornings I went against the advice of my Garmin and I will never mistrust it again. It added an extra 20 min on to my journey if I had taken the back roads. I could see the entrance to the expressway and it looked clear so on I get to be stuck bumper to bumper for miles. It showed 3 colors for traffic. Green with minimum delays, yellow for med, and red for major, the road shows each color exactly how the traffic situation is and on the map when you see any of the other colors ahead sure enough the traffic becomes that condition. The arrival time takes into account the calculated traffic delays on the route. If you are travelling on a route and traffic builds up ahead it will divert you around it automatically if the other route is faster. One thing I have noticed it is slower loading maps and also recalculating if I take a wrong turn. (I brought my sisters with me on same trip to compare)I believe this maybe because there is both Europe and US Canada maps in the system. This is so minor and the benefits far outweigh this. |
Made A 3-1/2 Week Driving Tour Of Spain A Pleasure
|
| Review Date: October 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Mazzone, Rocky Mountain High, Colorado |
| My wife and I just returned from a 3-1/2 week driving vacation in Spain. We put over 2100 km on the car we rented, visiting Alcala de Henares, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Granada, Seville, Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid - as well as Gibraltar. The trip was the reason we bought this GPS - and are we ever grateful that we did! It would have been a nightmare trying to navigate the highways and streets without the GPS. But the 775T made it easy. And, when I occasionaly misinterpreted its instructions and made a wrong turn - or if a street was closed due to construction - no problem: it just recalculated and re-routed me. Clear, bright, adequately-sized screen; adequately loud spoken directions (when volume set at 100%). Startup map loading and satellite acquisition were fast. Did not use any of its advanced features such as Bluetooth coupling with a cell phone or media player. Only negatives are: (1) Was not able to find several Points Of Interest (no big deal), (2) Lost satellite several times while on very narrow streets with tall buildings in Madrid (but regained it quickly once in a more open area - I suspect any GPS would have experienced this). This being the first and only automaotive GPS I've owned, I can't compare it with other units. I can only say it took all the stress out of driving in Spain and was well worth the money paid for it. |
|
No video reviews found for this product.