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Knowledge Is Key
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Garmin nuvi 785T
Garmin is expanding its popular nuvi products line, adding four new 7x5
series models to choose from. The 755T, 765T, 775T, and 785T all include
text-to-speech, preloaded maps of the US and Canada, 3-D buildings, 3-D
lane guidance, photo navigation, faster screen redraws, route planning,
and Garmin Locate.
The nuvi 785T differs from the other units in the new 7×5T series in that
it doesn’t offer lifetime traffic. Instead, it comes with a three month trial
subscription to MSN Direct. The advantages are that traffic coverage is
offered for more cities, and you get extras like gas prices and weather,
as well as the “Send to GPS” feature.
All four new models include traffic receivers, but service varies between
the models: the 785T includes an MSN Direct receiver (built-in to the
12v power adapter), and requires an annual subscription ($50/year).
The 755T, 765T and 775T ship with an FM traffic receiver, and include
free lifetime traffic service. The 785T has a 4.3? wide touch-screen,
stereo Bluetooth, pre-loaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, and text-
to-speech. That means that you”ll hear directions like “drive one mile,
then turn left on ABC Street,” instead of just “drive one mile, then turn
left.”
The 785T brings the first nuvis with A2DP stereo Bluetooth, the
exception being the 755T, which doesn’t include Bluetooth at all. This
allows a new range of options. For example, you can stream music via
the nuvi’s MP3 player to a stereo Bluetooth headset. At the same time
such an audio link is established, you can connect your phone to the
nuvi as well. Also, the sound quality of calls made from the nuvi is
excellent. It has nothing to do with A2DP, but rather with dramatic
improvements in Garmin’s echo-cancellation technology.
Features:
- Easy to use, well designed, user interface
- Great looking 3-D lane guidance
- Speed limit information
- Improved traffic reporting options now include traffic map, traffic search, and traffic onroute
- Customization of data field on the map to show distance, remaining time, direction of travel, elevation, or time of day
- Fast frame rate makes for an ultra smooth scrolling map when navigating
- Automatic map zooming adjusts the map zoom level based on your speed and the current maneuver
- New upcoming turn indicator displays direction of next turn, and/or lane guidance
- Best designed map screen
- Transparent 3-D buildings and landmarks on map makes navigating cities easier
- Large POI database of 6 million entries
- MSN Direct provides traffic, weather, gas prices, movie times, local events, news, and web favorites
- Rubber-like protective coating around the plastic case offers some protection, and reduces fingerprints and scratches
- Excellent windshield mount
- Stores the last 50 recently found places in the Recently Found menu
- Ability to connect a phone and a headset at the same time via Bluetooth
- "Where Am I" feature provides one-touch access to your current location, as well as nearby hospitals, police, and gas stations
- Easy Bluetooth pairing process
- MP3 playlist support
- Ability to listen to MP3s or Audio Books while navigating
- After pausing a song to announce navigation prompts, it resumes playback
- When using hands-free calling while navigating to a destination, it suppresses all audio navigation prompts
- Track log recording
- Supports multi-destination routing with route optimization
- Automatically stores the position where the nuvi was last undocked from the mount, for parking identification
- Menu items only appear when needed
- High sensitivity GPS receiver
- Good text-to-speech quality
- Good routing engine
- Good customer support
Cons
- New screen transition animations create delays during navigation
- MSN Direct traffic not as strong as TMC
- $50/year MSN Direct subscription cost plus additional cost of the receiver makes the value of MSN Direct questionable
- Manually panning around the map tediously slow
- Searching POI database by spelling a business name is slow
- Can't customize the colors or layout of the map
- Touchscreen is a fingerprint magnet and not sensitive enough
- Long MSN Direct download data time
- No way to exclude a specific road or highway from the planned route
- Can't customize the information displayed the left bubble on the information bar
- Internal speaker isn't loud enough
Conclusion
Garmin's nuvi 785T delivers some significant improvements over earlier
models. The first thing you notice when driving around with the 785T is
the incredibly fast frame rate on the map screen. Map scrolling is many
times smoother than earlier models. That smoothness does suffer when
driving in densely populated areas where the map is more complex to
draw, but even under those conditions, the 785T was much smoother
than any earlier model.
The 785T introduces several map enhancements that make it easier to
navigate. An upcoming turn indicator has been added to the map page
that shows the direction of the next turn, as has the ability to
customize the information displayed in the information bar. Arrival
time, remaining drive time, remaining distance, direction of travel, or
the current time can now be displayed.
The Lane Guidance tells you which highway lane you'll need to be
driving in at the next maneuver, and Garmin's 3-D Lane Assist feature
is the best looking 3-D lane guidance. Transparent 3-D buildings and
photorealistic landmarks bring a new level of realism to the map screen,
and speed limit information is a nice addition to an already strong
interface. Traffic alerts are displayed in a more intuitive way, and it's
now possible to view traffic along the planned route, as well as in
surrounding areas.
The new map screen is ultra-smooth and refreshes at a much higher
rate than earlier versions, yet the rest of the interface feels slightly
slower. New menu transition animations add to the sensation that
things are taking longer than they used to, and manually panning
around on the map is tediously slow. Searching the POI database for
a specific business name is also slow. The new 3-D Lane Assist looks
very good, and it makes complex highway intersections much easier
to negotiate.
Customization is pretty limited. You can't change map colors, turn off
speed limit information, automatic map zooming, or exclude specific
roads from the planned route. The 785T's touchscreen is less sensitive
than earlier models, requiring a firmer touch to register commands. The
internal speaker isn't loud enough, and the FM transmitter is hopelessly
underpowered.
In general the nuvi 785T brings lots of important new features that
improve the overall navigation experience, and warrant upgrading from
earlier models. This new GPS from Garmin is excellent in terms of ease
of use, feature set, reliability, and hardware quality. If you're not
planning to take advantage of all MSN Direct has to offer, and if you're
mostly interested in traffic, Garmin's nuvi 765T which includes lifetime
TMC traffic for free, is definitely a very good choice.
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