Compare Prices on Garmin Nuvi 780
This is my first automobile GPS, and I did a lot of research before settling on the Garmin 780. I live in the Washington DC Metro situation, so all of the extra features work here. Upon its arrival, I downloaded and installed the latest Garmin WebUpdater v.2.41 and then updated my 780 from software version 2.50 to 2.90. I also updated the Bluetooth and other firmware, along with the languages that I consume. This all worked flawlessly in a Windows XP virtual machine on a Linux host. FWIW, the 780 will charge off of the supplied USB cable.
The 780 acquired the critical satellites in objective a few minutes when first activated, and does so in less than a dinky for subsequent activations. I found the veil brightness to be elegant for both day and night. I’m using the 780 with the Garmin Portable Friction Mount. Smashing windows and stealing GPS devices is the sport of choice in the DC Metro set, so I wanted no evidence of a GPS extant when I left the car. The friction mount works perfectly on my Honda Accord dashboard and stores easily in the center console, leaving no effect of a GPS gradual. Very chilly. The 780 easily fits in a shirt pocket, so it’s not indispensable to leave it in the car.
I tested the 780 immediately by driving during accelerate hour to a plot across the river in a tangle of park roads off of the beaten track, then returning at night. The Garmin had no misfortune creating a very speedily route to the destination that bypassed most of the heavy traffic during hurry hour. On my return, I bypassed a turn on its preferred routing. It recalculated a fresh route in less than a second which was the steady legal acknowledge. The unusual route wasn’t a recapture of the novel route, which wasn’t possible from that station, but an entirely recent route. The routes it picked were appropriate for the times of day traveled, which can be a daunting task here if you don’t know which roads go which direction during the appropriate hasten hour. DC is a notoriously difficult plot to navigate, but so far the Garmin seems up to the challenge.
I found the volume of the internal speaker to be more than adequate even with the radio, air conditioning, and windshield wipers going. Direct notifications led upcoming turns by an adequate amount, and the narrate prompts always helped me collect into the legal lanes in plenty of time for upcoming turns. During a particularly tricky share where several major roads converge on a bridge, then diverge on the other side, the Garmin gave almost constant appropriate guidance to ensure that I took the true forks and turns. I was quite impressed.
The Bluetooth paired fast with my Motorola Razr V3. It even provided its PIN code at the appropriate time. The phone functions work astronomical and it’s easy to hear over the 780 speaker. The party on the other side of the phone said that I sounded like I was in a tunnel, which is typical for remote devices for autos. I have another BT hands-free intention and it garnered the same comments. The Garmin’s on-screen phone cues do hands-free easy.
Activation of the MSN Suppose service was simple over the Derive. On initial activation of your free 3 month trial, they offer a 6-month extension for $9.95 which gets you to 9 months of service total for less than $10–a very grand deal. MSN Assure information took a while to load the initial information, but then it said that in the Lickety-split Originate pamphlet. Once loaded, the traffic, weather, and news worked immense. Gas prices were tedious by several days, which is an eternity these days. My accepted (and cheapest) position wasn’t listed.
Overall, I’m very glad with the 780. I’ll be working it out heavily in the coming weeks, including on a road plug to another city with MSN Lisp service. I can’t hold that I waited this long to choose the topple to a GPS arrangement for my car. Even though I’m a master with maps, the Garmin suggested a clever routing that I did not previously watch on my bear. From what I’ve seen so far, the 780 will be a highly valued addition to my road warrior kit bag. I can recommend the 780 without reservation.
I purchased a Sony NAVU-83T, a Garmin 680, and a Garmin 780 to compare their features and routing capability. I kept the 780 and returned the others, but it was a very difficult decision.
The Sony unit [...] at Costco, and has a 4.8″ hide (1/2″ larger!) . It has one of the best user interfaces on the market, primarily due to a few things: 1) you can always collect benefit to the device by pressing one button, regardless of where you are, 2) you can always accumulate to the main menu by pressing one button, regardless of where you are in the menus, 3) it has a split hide function that gives you lane guidance visually so that you know which lane to win into, well before the turn, 4) it has shortcuts, for instance to GO HOME you fabricate a V shape on the cover and it takes you home…no menu navigation required!
On the down side, the Sony took FOREVER to calculate or re-calculate routes, and in many cases I missed the newly recalculated turn because it took too long to figure it out. It also took longer routes than the Garmin, would avoid commonly frail roads for no apparent reason, and would not remove me down roads that were shown on the arrangement and clearly the shortest route. Last of all, the Sony took forever to catch a satellite fix once turned on. And the Sony mount was soooo very frosty and useful! For $249 you got the frigid mount and a nice carrying case. I did not net a chance to expend the TMC traffic service.
The Garmin 680 ($349 at Costco) was a glowing map, with very quickly and good routing. It found points of interest snappy and accurately (the Sony often could not bag them) . However, I really liked the thin size of the 780 and the fact that the antennae was built in, so I kept the 780 in spite of the extra cost.
What do I like about the 780 (and the 680) :
1. The MSN Bid is VERY handy and I exhaust it every day for weather, news, fuel costs, and movie listings.
2. Very speedy route calculations.
3. I have never looked for a POI that was not exhibit.
4. The tour routes that you can download (for about $12 each) are frigid. You can buy car tours of a few hours that are laid out for you, telling you where to visit along the route.
5. The ability to sort points along a route is handy. If you have 10 places to go in one day, enter them all in and it puts them in the most efficient order.
6. It can procure rest areas on interstates. The Sony could NOT do this, which is annoying when you are trying to figure out if you should discontinuance at a gas region or wait for a rest location when you have three kids in the car on long toddle.
What would I change on the 780? Many things, and most of them would cost Garmin no money to implement. These are simple fixes that they should judge!
Bad Points of the Garmin 780:
1. If I go into the menu system, I can go 7 or 8 layers deep to bag to what I want to do. To pick up aid to the way, I have to preserve pushing the “Serve” button, up to 8 times in a row, to earn help to the plot. Expressionless!
2. If I go into a menu item and resolve I’m done, but don’t want to push “Encourage” over and over, the unit stays on the menu or submenu conceal forever.
3. It would seem that on a unit this expensive it could give you lane guidance. The Sony does. The Tom Tom does. Why can’t this unit, at almost double the cost?
4. When you turn off the car the unit asks if it should cease on or turn off. If you don’t respond, it turns off in 30 seconds. For people who are making deliveries, or running errands, this is a actual hurt. It would be nice to allow you to configure this once to situation how long it should wait before turning the unit off (options like 1 small, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, for instance) . This would allow you to urge into Kinkos and help out again without having to wait for the unit to turn aid on, obtain a satellite bearing, and then finally accept to its plan to drawl you where to go next. Simple software change!
5. It would be nice to have the unit launch up on the same hide where you left off. If you were on the intention cloak, then it should return to the plot shroud. If on the weather cloak, then return to the weather. I like to retain it on the weather, but I have to hit about 6 different buttons every time I turn the unit on to accept to the weather! Simple software change!
6. Most GPS units even at half this cost allow you to Witness your hurry, direction, and target’s relative direction while on the main plot cloak. This unit requires you to go to a dashboard conceal to prove you this information….so you have to decide the draw or the dashboard to opinion. Since some people may not like this feature, it could be configurable. Simple software change!
7. I can’t seem to figure out how to reveal the satellite signals/connectivity. ALL units have this, even though it is fair for fun.
8. For $500 the Garmin should include a carry case for the unit. They sell it itsy-bitsy size, light weight, and its “ability to know where you were when you consume it out of the cradle, to serve you gain your car later”, and yet don’t give you method to carry it around safely. Honest about every unit on the market, starting at the $149 units, include a case!
9. The 780 does NOT include an owners manual. You have to go online to understanding the manual, at garmin.com. Garmin may be surprised to know that not everyone has the internet (50% of homes don’t) . Although not perfect, the Sony included a fairly comprehensive launch up guide and a CD based owners manual.
10. The reveal looks like a cartoon movie, and that causes a lack of detail. The Sony displayed a very concise diagram where you could actually identify road splits, acceleration lanes, etc.
11. There is no ability to display POIs on the plot. You can route to one, but you can’t unbiased note them. The Sony allowed you to bewitch which POIs to exhibit, and it actually showed you slight BP, Shell, Cracker Barrel, etc. logos on the arrangement so that you could know well ahead of time which POIs were come you.
12. Many units content you how far to your next turn AND the direction you will be turning in. The Garmin tells you how far to the next turn, but it does not grunt you which draw to turn until you derive within about 2/10 of a mile. So on most multi-lane roads I salvage myself staying in the middle lane as I derive terminate so that I can go either device. It should warn you which method you will be turning at least a few miles in reach! As soon as you secure onto any road the Sony tells you that your next turn is “LEFT 123 MILES”, and it is always displayed on the main diagram. Handy. Simple software change!
I like the unit, but I only give it 3 stars because of its mark, its lack of favorite sense features, and lack of “in the box” wait on. It’s strong points are rapid, suitable routing and MSN exclaim.
I did a lot of research before I changed from my dilapidated Garmin c340. I assume I made an safe choice, this GPS has everything and more. I was current to traffic so I first tried the TomTom 920T which I didn’t like because of how innacurate the maps were so then I turned to Garmin and I was blissful again, with the addition of news, stocks and events for the MSN declare 2 version is large. I read the news once in a while is impartial a lifeless summary of what is happening not worthy with no pictures or anything but hey at least it gives you something else on the GPS to do. I procure the mp3 functionality spacious the sound is loud enough unbiased don’t assign it all the plot to 100% volume because you’ll hear static. The FM transmitter is one of the best I found on a GPS and the portray feature is gigantic I even keep it in my room as an LCD cloak for pictures hehehe. This GPS gives you all the directions you need handsome true, MSN traffic needs to improve on this, its usually delayed most of the time it tells me traffic is there but then I rep no traffic why? I don’t know but I can say that is probably 80% true on other traffic updates. I really like this product and I am more than elated with this item, it is now a lot cheaper than what I bought it for which was $700, so do yourself a favor if you want an moral, nice looking, snappily GPS signal, broad feature GPS glean this one, I recommend it.
