Garmin Nuvi 780 Reviews, Best Prices, Compare
 |
Garmin Nuvi 780 Reviews, Best Prices, Compare.
Product: Garmin Nuvi 780 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
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 location, 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 exercise. 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 notable satellites in impartial a few minutes when first activated, and does so in less than a microscopic for subsequent activations. I found the cover brightness to be magnificent 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 region, 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 price of a GPS gradual. Very icy. The 780 easily fits in a shirt pocket, so it's not valuable to leave it in the car.
I tested the 780 immediately by driving during hurry hour to a status across the river in a tangle of park roads off of the beaten track, then returning at night. The Garmin had no danger creating a very snappily route to the destination that bypassed most of the heavy traffic during bustle 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 true fair reply. The unique route wasn't a recapture of the modern route, which wasn't possible from that area, but an entirely unique 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 speed hour. DC is a notoriously difficult site 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. Content notifications led upcoming turns by an adequate amount, and the convey prompts always helped me pick up into the true lanes in plenty of time for upcoming turns. During a particularly tricky allotment 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 moral forks and turns. I was quite impressed.
The Bluetooth paired mercurial with my Motorola Razr V3. It even provided its PIN code at the appropriate time. The phone functions work tall 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 draw and it garnered the same comments. The Garmin's on-screen phone cues produce hands-free easy.
Activation of the MSN Jabber service was simple over the Procure. 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 superb deal. MSN Reveal information took a while to load the initial information, but then it said that in the Fleet Commence pamphlet. Once loaded, the traffic, weather, and news worked sizable. Gas prices were unhurried by several days, which is an eternity these days. My approved (and cheapest) area wasn't listed.
Overall, I'm very tickled with the 780. I'll be working it out heavily in the coming weeks, including on a road stride to another city with MSN Express service. I can't contain that I waited this long to steal the tumble to a GPS contrivance for my car. Even though I'm a master with maps, the Garmin suggested a clever routing that I did not previously survey on my acquire. 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" conceal (1/2" larger!) . It has one of the best user interfaces on the market, primarily due to a few things: 1) you can always catch encourage to the blueprint by pressing one button, regardless of where you are, 2) you can always pick up to the main menu by pressing one button, regardless of where you are in the menus, 3) it has a split camouflage function that gives you lane guidance visually so that you know which lane to accumulate into, well before the turn, 4) it has shortcuts, for instance to GO HOME you do 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 weak roads for no apparent reason, and would not select me down roads that were shown on the draw and clearly the shortest route. Last of all, the Sony took forever to accept a satellite fix once turned on. And the Sony mount was soooo very icy and useful! For $249 you got the frosty mount and a nice carrying case. I did not gather a chance to exercise the TMC traffic service.
The Garmin 680 ($349 at Costco) was a beautiful plan, with very quick and upright routing. It found points of interest quick and accurately (the Sony often could not regain 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 Dispute is VERY handy and I exercise it every day for weather, news, fuel costs, and movie listings.
2. Very speedily route calculations.
3. I have never looked for a POI that was not display.
4. The tour routes that you can download (for about $12 each) are chilly. You can win 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 get rest areas on interstates. The Sony could NOT do this, which is annoying when you are trying to figure out if you should cessation at a gas position or wait for a rest residence when you have three kids in the car on long hasten.
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 believe!
Bad Points of the Garmin 780:
1. If I go into the menu system, I can go 7 or 8 layers deep to earn to what I want to do. To win benefit to the intention, I have to sustain pushing the "Succor" button, up to 8 times in a row, to fetch befriend to the plot. Tiresome!
2. If I go into a menu item and choose I'm done, but don't want to push "Abet" over and over, the unit stays on the menu or submenu cover 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 finish on or turn off. If you don't acknowledge, it turns off in 30 seconds. For people who are making deliveries, or running errands, this is a precise afflict. It would be nice to allow you to configure this once to residence how long it should wait before turning the unit off (options like 1 dinky, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, for instance) . This would allow you to bustle into Kinkos and support out again without having to wait for the unit to turn attend on, regain a satellite bearing, and then finally derive to its draw to converse you where to go next. Simple software change!
5. It would be nice to have the unit commence up on the same cloak where you left off. If you were on the device veil, then it should return to the arrangement hide. If on the weather hide, then return to the weather. I like to withhold it on the weather, but I have to hit about 6 different buttons every time I turn the unit on to rep to the weather! Simple software change!
6. Most GPS units even at half this cost allow you to Inspect your hurry, direction, and target's relative direction while on the main device camouflage. This unit requires you to go to a dashboard mask to indicate you this information....so you have to resolve the intention or the dashboard to thought. 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 explain the satellite signals/connectivity. ALL units have this, even though it is unbiased for fun.
8. For $500 the Garmin should include a carry case for the unit. They sell it slight size, light weight, and its "ability to know where you were when you acquire it out of the cradle, to abet you derive your car later", and yet don't give you contrivance to carry it around safely. Objective 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 plan 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 exhibit looks like a cartoon movie, and that causes a lack of detail. The Sony displayed a very concise intention where you could actually identify road splits, acceleration lanes, etc.
11. There is no ability to explain POIs on the procedure. You can route to one, but you can't unprejudiced expose them. The Sony allowed you to take which POIs to indicate, and it actually showed you petite BP, Shell, Cracker Barrel, etc. logos on the contrivance so that you could know well ahead of time which POIs were approach you.
12. Many units negate 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 hiss you which device to turn until you find within about 2/10 of a mile. So on most multi-lane roads I derive myself staying in the middle lane as I accumulate discontinuance so that I can go either scheme. It should warn you which plan you will be turning at least a few miles in approach! As soon as you collect 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 designate, its lack of accepted sense features, and lack of "in the box" serve. It's strong points are expeditiously, factual routing and MSN teach.
I did a lot of research before I changed from my aged Garmin c340. I reflect I made an trustworthy choice, this GPS has everything and more. I was fresh 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 notify 2 version is tremendous. I read the news once in a while is impartial a dull summary of what is happening not mighty with no pictures or anything but hey at least it gives you something else on the GPS to do. I get the mp3 functionality stout the sound is loud enough unbiased don't keep it all the arrangement to 100% volume because you'll hear static. The FM transmitter is one of the best I found on a GPS and the recount feature is gargantuan I even set aside it in my room as an LCD cloak for pictures hehehe. This GPS gives you all the directions you need magnificent just, MSN traffic needs to improve on this, its usually delayed most of the time it tells me traffic is there but then I get no traffic why? I don't know but I can say that is probably 80% moral on other traffic updates. I really like this product and I am more than cheerful 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 factual, nice looking, expeditiously GPS signal, colossal feature GPS gather this one, I recommend it.
