 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.
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| 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.
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