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The Garmin nüvi 780 GPS is an excellent value in GPS navigators. This device makes a perfect navigator for casual drivers, yet is is feature rich and reliable enough for business users as well. Like all 700 series Garmin nüvi's, nüvi 780 comes with Garmin's own fast satellite locking technology and is backed by the excellent reputation of the Garmin brand.
The Garmin nüvi 780 is slim in design with a well crafted display and easy to use interface. The 4.3 inch wide touchscreen is anti-glare and even automatically changes it's color profile depending on the lighting. You have the option of 2D and 3D perspectives.
There are over 6 million points of interest already programmed in to the detailed NAVTEQ maps for the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Easily find parks, restaurants, ATM, gas stations, etc. and more nearby. Spoken directions with real street names make the nuvi 720 the perfect co-pilot.
How about Hands Free calling? The Garmin nüvi 780's got that too! With the included Bluetooth capability, your car's speaker system and the 780's built in microphone transform this GPS in to a fully functional hands free kit. Never have to take your hands away from the wheel with this convent safety feature.
All in all, the Garmin nüvi 780 is a device that is packed with features and extra's. Especially with the current sale price (Click Here), this GPS navigator is a very smart buy and an excellent choice in GPS.
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 Great Device and Easy to Use |
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 area, 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 use. 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 necessary satellites in just a few minutes when first activated, and does so in less than a minute for subsequent activations. I found the screen brightness to be fine 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 area, 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 trace of a GPS behind. Very cool. The 780 easily fits in a shirt pocket, so it's not necessary to leave it in the car.
I tested the 780 immediately by driving during rush hour to a residence across the river in a tangle of park roads off of the beaten track, then returning at night. The Garmin had no trouble creating a very fast route to the destination that bypassed most of the heavy traffic during rush hour. On my return, I bypassed a turn on its preferred routing. It recalculated a new route in less than a second which was the exact right answer. The new route wasn't a recapture of the original route, which wasn't possible from that location, but an entirely new 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 rush hour. DC is a notoriously difficult area 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. Voice notifications led upcoming turns by an adequate amount, and the voice prompts always helped me get into the correct lanes in plenty of time for upcoming turns. During a particularly tricky section 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 correct forks and turns. I was quite impressed.
The Bluetooth paired quickly with my Motorola Razr V3. It even provided its PIN code at the appropriate time. The phone functions work great 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 device and it garnered the same comments. The Garmin's on-screen phone cues make hands-free easy.
Activation of the MSN Direct service was simple over the Net. 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 good deal. MSN Direct information took a while to load the initial information, but then it said that in the Quick Start pamphlet. Once loaded, the traffic, weather, and news worked great. Gas prices were behind by several days, which is an eternity these days. My favorite (and cheapest) station wasn't listed.
Overall, I'm very happy with the 780. I'll be working it out heavily in the coming weeks, including on a road trip to another city with MSN Direct service. I can't believe that I waited this long to take the plunge to a GPS device for my car. Even though I'm a master with maps, the Garmin suggested a clever routing that I did not previously discover on my own. 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. |
Sit back and leave the driving to Garmin
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| LOVE IT. Even my wife loves it. This is porbably the first electronic gadget I've ever bought where my wife wants to use it more. Very easy to use. It only locked up a few times because I was zooming in/out too fast as it was navigating. perhaps if I let it go it might have caught up . It was no big deal to turn it off and on to get me going again. The MSN is great. It actually gave me a thunderstorm warning and asked if I wanted to go around it. Traffic updates were good, gas prices were dead on, most of the time. Weather forcasts were great, The "text to speech" was cool. We chose the Ennglish mans voice and he would read any text messages I received on my (bluetooth) phone. Pretty funny. The FM transmitter isn't great at all. What else can I say, I've owned the Garmin eMap (VW bug)and thought that was nice, but this is like a Porsche. Garmin's website is also great for updates and software. That's all, now I want the voice recognition nuvi880 but really who needs that!!! Enjoy and buy this unit NOW! |
Best GPS available - Wide Price Swings
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I love this thing so much that I just returned and bought my second one. The first one rides on the dash of a 2007 Acura with a built in navigation system with XM Navtraffic. I used the free months of MSN traffic on the Nuvi then paid the Microsoft fee to keep it going for the life of the device. MSN traffic was almost as good as the XM, and a lot more economical. The only advantage of the built in system is that traffic information is always displayed on surface street zoom levels. With the Nuvi, you have to go to a separate screen to check the traffic flow speeds. It is a big disadvantage, but in every other sense the Nuvi wins.
The Acura navigation system is not even in the same league with the Nuvi. The Nuvi is so user friendly, and intuitive. Although the built in unit has a huge, bright, screen, the Garmin is just so much better. I really hate the Acura system. The fact that I will tolerate a dash mount device that is less than a quarter the screen size as my cars built in navigation system speaks volumes about both devices.
As to price swings, I bought that first Nuvi 780 on July 7, 2008, from Amazon, delivered for $524. This one 7/14/09 from Amazon was delivered for $199.99, and when I completed my order and returned to write this review, the price had jumped from 199.99 to 238.88.
It is a good deal at any of those price points, but the newer models are probably even better value. I chose the 780 again because of interchangability with my existing cradle/dock. That lifetime MSN subscription I bought belongs to a power cord, not a GPS so it will work with either unit.
Update July 2010 - MSN traffic is slated to die in a few months and after the loss/theft of my newer 780 it has been replaced with a Garmin nüvi 1490T 5-Inch Widescreen for just under $200. I don't like the FM traffic advertisements, but it looks like they are here to stay. I stay amazed at the way the GPS units continue to improve, while their price continues to drop! |
So Happy I Returned My TomTom
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Last week, I bought the TomTom GO 630... and almost immediately replaced it with this one. It was full of features and goodies... and after about 12 hours, I realized how much simpler Garmin menus are. One major feature of the Garmin is that it turns *ON* when the power cord receives power. According to TomTom, they have disabled that feature and it only turns *off*
So here's what I love about my new Garmin Nuvi 780:
This is my 4th Garmin. I had a big ol' StreetPilot and a couple of older Nuvis (360s). The menus are simple to navigate. While it seems like they don't boast the quantity of features that the TomTom does... I can tell you that Garmin's features work. Compared to OTHER GPS units I've had, the Garmin truly works.
Here are some specific features that should help you in your decision about this specific unit:
BREADCRUMB TRAIL
You can reset the trail in "my data" in the menu... but while you drive, it makes a thin cyan line over your path. I drove a few hundred miles with mine so far and it didn't automatically erase any of it. I'd find myself coming back across wiggly cyan lines where I had driven through a parking lot or taken it off-road in the field. I like this feature, but I don't really see a practical use for it... but I guess it *is* nice if you're in a strange town -- you can see if you're back where you started (even if you weren't intentionally tracking your course).
QWERTY OPTION
THANK YOU, GARMIN! I spend my days typing on a QWERTY keyboard and it's nice to be able to use one on my GPS. This unit gives you the choice of a sequential ABCD... or a QWERTY style on-screen keyboard.
ROUTE CREATION
Home to work, home to the store... I don't always take the route that Garmin initially suggests -- but I still like the convenience of having a GPS read me directions on commonly-traveled routes. It might sound silly, but it's a feature I've wished for in my other 3 Garmins. This lets you create pre-set routes with specific points along the way, and you can select a specific preset route instead of waypoints.
POWERED CRADLE BASE
Not all GPS units have a powered base. My TomTom had to be plugged in and hung on the cradle. This Garmin unit clicks into a base, which already has power connected. The power cord includes a traffic receiver, but I haven't activated it. It tells me I get 30 or 90 days free (can't remember which) but I don't plan to subscribe, so I'm ignoring that feature. If you plan to use it, though -- it seems relevant that the receiver is included in the cord.
ODD-SHAPED POWER PLUG FOR CRADLE
The USB cable is a standard USB -> USB-MINI cord to connect to a computer. However, the power cord that connects to the base of the cradle is an odd (proprietary) cable. I haven't seen a power cord like this before. This won't matter unless you break the cord and need to replace it. OEM solutions never seem "reasonably priced".
TTS / DANIEL - BRITISH ENGLISH
I can't get enough of Daniel the Garmin voice. I used him on my last 2 and I really like him on this one. It's clear "text to speech". Sometimes, you get a funny TTS result, due to the way TTS has to guess what it's reading. For instance, If you need to turn on "Smith Drive Northwest"... but the GPS has it recorded as "Smith Dr NW"... the TTS voice will say "Smith Doctor Northwest". This is actually a fun joke in my family and we quite enjoy goofy nuances of the voice. The British English voice pronounces the grocery store "Kroger" as "Kro-Jur" (soft G). My wife and I have started calling it that for fun. Yeah, kinda sad -- but we're entertained by it.
FM MODULATOR
This unit was mounted directly in front of the stereo (about 3" lower) on my maiden voyage. I was disappointed at how weak the FM signal is. Also, it makes sense that the speaker shuts off when you turn on the FM modulator. I just wish it was a bit easier to switch back and forth. I will give this another try, but FM modulators aren't that great in general. This one is below expectations, but still better than the few I've purchased over the years to play my iPod or walkman through the speakers.
BLUETOOTH CALLING
This is a feature I use quite frequently. The call quality of this GPS is actually USABLE! The Nuvi 360 wasn't so great, but I can actually rely on this for communication. This unit syncs nicely with my Palm Pre's phonebook and lets me dial from my phone's contacts (or recently dialed / received). I've not had a bad experience with bluetooth so far, so it seems to have drastically improved from my last Nuvi. I'm quite happy with this.
DAY / NIGHT MAP COLORS
If you've never had a Nuvi, it has 2 different color / brightness schemes that switch based on the exact moment of sunrise / sunset in your local time. Mine switches to darker maps at dusk, making it less obnoxious to drive (since the night map has colors that are not as hard on the eyes when compared to a nighttime setting).
NO ANTENNA TO UNFOLD
My Nuvi 360 had an antenna that would fold out. It was nice and compact, but required an extra step to put into the cradle. This one doesn't require any more than snapping into place.
INTUITIVE MENUS
My wife and I agree that the menu has a lot of neat features, but in an intuitively organized way. Navigating the MENU of my TomTom was a nightmare. I'm VERY happy with this one.
ALL-AROUND GREAT
I shopped around, compared features and prices, and tried to filter out worthless features. For instance... my TomTom had "voice command"... which was a nice distraction at the time of purchase, but really stunk. I disabled it almost immediately on the TomTom. And the Homer Simpson voice that TomTom offers... yeah, that lasted about 15 minutes. I want my $13 back!
SUMMARY;
So before you flame me for making this sound like a negative review about the TomTom... let me explain one thing: It took my bad TomTom purchase to make me appreciate the features on my Garmin. I won't consider a TomTom after my 12 hours with one. This Garmin Nuvi works great and has LOGICAL features. And the features it has... actually work correctly.
A+ |
Best item for the price
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This item has worked EXACTLY as described and better. This unit picks up satelites even while I am in most buildings. I have not lost signal unless in a metal building without windows.
I Highly recommend this product. It is very nice to compare fuel prices while driving down the road, and then have it route to the fuel station of your choice.
Again, I am VERY pleased with this item. |
Lowest Price on Garmin nüvi 780 at Amazon.com - Click Here To Buy Now |
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