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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 expend. 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 principal satellites in fair a few minutes when first activated, and does so in less than a small for subsequent activations. I found the hide 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 effect of a GPS tedious. Very frosty. 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 run hour to a area across the river in a tangle of park roads off of the beaten track, then returning at night. The Garmin had no pains creating a very like a flash route to the destination that bypassed most of the heavy traffic during race hour. On my return, I bypassed a turn on its preferred routing. It recalculated a unusual route in less than a second which was the trusty honest acknowledge. The modern route wasn’t a recapture of the unusual route, which wasn’t possible from that space, 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 hurry 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. Deliver notifications led upcoming turns by an adequate amount, and the narrate prompts always helped me derive into the just lanes in plenty of time for upcoming turns. During a particularly tricky portion 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 honest forks and turns. I was quite impressed.
The Bluetooth paired quick with my Motorola Razr V3. It even provided its PIN code at the appropriate time. The phone functions work tremendous 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 design and it garnered the same comments. The Garmin’s on-screen phone cues build hands-free easy.
Activation of the MSN Train service was simple over the Glean. 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 superior deal. MSN Tell information took a while to load the initial information, but then it said that in the Posthaste Launch pamphlet. Once loaded, the traffic, weather, and news worked big. Gas prices were slack by several days, which is an eternity these days. My common (and cheapest) place wasn’t listed.
Overall, I’m very jubilant with the 780. I’ll be working it out heavily in the coming weeks, including on a road lope to another city with MSN Impart service. I can’t own that I waited this long to engage the topple 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 leer on my possess. 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″ mask (1/2″ larger!) . It has one of the best user interfaces on the market, primarily due to a few things: 1) you can always accumulate succor to the design by pressing one button, regardless of where you are, 2) you can always obtain to the main menu by pressing one button, regardless of where you are in the menus, 3) it has a split shroud function that gives you lane guidance visually so that you know which lane to gain into, well before the turn, 4) it has shortcuts, for instance to GO HOME you form a V shape on the cloak 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 old roads for no apparent reason, and would not grasp me down roads that were shown on the plan and clearly the shortest route. Last of all, the Sony took forever to score a satellite fix once turned on. And the Sony mount was soooo very frigid and useful! For $249 you got the wintry mount and a nice carrying case. I did not rep a chance to exercise the TMC traffic service.
The Garmin 680 ($349 at Costco) was a heavenly map, with very quickly and factual routing. It found points of interest speedily and accurately (the Sony often could not accumulate 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 Vow is VERY handy and I exercise it every day for weather, news, fuel costs, and movie listings.
2. Very mercurial 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 frosty. You can select 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 terminate at a gas space or wait for a rest dwelling when you have three kids in the car on long shuffle.
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 contemplate!
Bad Points of the Garmin 780:
1. If I go into the menu system, I can go 7 or 8 layers deep to obtain to what I want to do. To collect assist to the diagram, I have to maintain pushing the “Serve” button, up to 8 times in a row, to accumulate help to the diagram. Tiresome!
2. If I go into a menu item and determine I’m done, but don’t want to push “Relieve” over and over, the unit stays on the menu or submenu hide 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 reply, it turns off in 30 seconds. For people who are making deliveries, or running errands, this is a true wound. It would be nice to allow you to configure this once to location how long it should wait before turning the unit off (options like 1 limited, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, for instance) . This would allow you to bustle into Kinkos and aid out again without having to wait for the unit to turn attend on, secure a satellite bearing, and then finally procure to its device to divulge you where to go next. Simple software change!
5. It would be nice to have the unit launch up on the same veil where you left off. If you were on the method conceal, then it should return to the plan veil. If on the weather camouflage, 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 derive to the weather! Simple software change!
6. Most GPS units even at half this cost allow you to Watch your bustle, direction, and target’s relative direction while on the main method mask. This unit requires you to go to a dashboard mask to explain you this information….so you have to decide the contrivance 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 expose 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 puny size, light weight, and its “ability to know where you were when you remove it out of the cradle, to benefit you glean your car later”, and yet don’t give you map 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 notion 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 commence up guide and a CD based owners manual.
10. The present looks like a cartoon movie, and that causes a lack of detail. The Sony displayed a very concise scheme where you could actually identify road splits, acceleration lanes, etc.
11. There is no ability to prove POIs on the design. You can route to one, but you can’t objective explain them. The Sony allowed you to engage which POIs to demonstrate, and it actually showed you runt BP, Shell, Cracker Barrel, etc. logos on the way so that you could know well ahead of time which POIs were arrive you.
12. Many units suppose 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 utter you which design to turn until you gather within about 2/10 of a mile. So on most multi-lane roads I obtain myself staying in the middle lane as I fetch terminate so that I can go either draw. It should warn you which arrangement you will be turning at least a few miles in come! As soon as you come by onto any road the Sony tells you that your next turn is “LEFT 123 MILES”, and it is always displayed on the main contrivance. Handy. Simple software change!
I like the unit, but I only give it 3 stars because of its mark, its lack of current sense features, and lack of “in the box” wait on. It’s strong points are hastily, apt routing and MSN command.
I did a lot of research before I changed from my extinct Garmin c340. I contemplate I made an advantageous choice, this GPS has everything and more. I was modern 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 joyful again, with the addition of news, stocks and events for the MSN converse 2 version is substantial. I read the news once in a while is honest a tiresome summary of what is happening not grand with no pictures or anything but hey at least it gives you something else on the GPS to do. I score the mp3 functionality huge the sound is loud enough unprejudiced don’t set aside it all the device 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 astronomical I even achieve it in my room as an LCD hide for pictures hehehe. This GPS gives you all the directions you need aesthetic moral, MSN traffic needs to improve on this, its usually delayed most of the time it tells me traffic is there but then I collect no traffic why? I don’t know but I can say that is probably 80% apt on other traffic updates. I really like this product and I am more than pleased 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 right, nice looking, snappily GPS signal, tall feature GPS earn this one, I recommend it.
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