Garmin nüvi 770 GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant
The nüvi 770 adds European maps to the multi-destination routing and, "Where am I?/Where's my car?" features the entire 700 series brings to Garmin's popular pocket-sized GPS navigator lineup. As with all nüvis, you get Garmin reliability, the fast satellite lock of an integrated high-sensitivity receiver, a slim, pocket-sized design with a gorgeous display, an easy, intuitive interface, and detailed NAVTEQ maps for the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico with more than 6 million name-searchable points of interest. All of the 700-series navigators also feature a rich array of features including spoken directions in real street names, MP3 player and photo viewer, and an FM transmitter that will play voice prompts, MP3s, audio books, and more, directly through your vehicle's stereo system. The nüvi 760 and 770 add integrated traffic receivers and Bluetooth capability for hands-free calling. The nüvi 770 adds maps for Europe. The nüvi 780 adds enhanced MSN direct content capability.
5-Star Feedbacks
I bought the Nuvi 770 for my wife for Christmas. I had been watching the GPS price/features evolution for some time, and almost went with the 660. Ultimately, the new, more polished interface of the 770 and a few of the more recent features won out. As a Mac user, one of the most important aspects of any electronics device is the willingness of the manufacturer to support the Mac platform. Garmin does a very nice job of this. I downloaded the Web Updater and updated the 770 software in less than 5 minutes. I also installed the POI uploader and tested it out; worked great.
While the 770 is no iPhone, it does what it does very well. The number of steps required to get to desired information is not significant, and the screen interface is quite nice. Very polished, less "cartoonish" than some interfaces I have seen. The 3-D view is very effective. Directions were flawless. No chance yet to test the Traffic.com functionality.
My wife loved how well the 770 pairs with her iPhone. Dialing POI phone numbers was simplicity itself, and the ability to use the 770 as a handsfree speakerphone, even when dialing with the iPhone is very nice. Sound quality is pretty good, too, for such a small speaker. Persons on the other end of the line report that sound quality is good and fully understandable.
The FM transmitter feature--for which I did not have high expectations--is at best so-so. The 770 seems to find open FM spots on the dial fairly well [here in the Bay Area of Northern California, that is not trivial], but the downside of leaving the radio turned on to an occasionally hissing, static-y spot did not seem worthwhile. I want to be able to listen to the radio, and be interrupted as need be. That's how the built-in GPS works on our Subaru Tribeca, interrupting as necessary. I have not yet tried to hardwire the 770. BTW, its GPS functions are vastly superior to the built-in navigation.
One reason we chose the 770 is because we are visiting Europe this spring, and renting a car. So, we are looking forward to using it there. My test of the POI capabilities in Europe was pretty impressive. So we are looking forward to taking it on our trip.
We bought the dashboard frictional base, and it is amazing. Through twisting curves, quick starts, and surprise stops, it never moved. I will never use a windshield or dash sticky mount again.
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