0ur opinion:

-- January 8, 2008:
Garmin's nüvi 700 series brings two exciting new features -- multi-destination routing and, 'Where am l?/Where's my car?' -- to its 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.

Which nüvi is Best for You?: Click here to see a quick, simple comparison of features for all Garmin nuvi GPS navigators

Garmin's nüvis pack top of the line features into a slim form factor.

Wider screen lets you see more of what's around. Compare these actual size views of a 3-inch (diagonal) screen and a 4.3-inch diagonal widescreen

New Features -- Where Am l? Where's My Car?
The nüvi 700 series is the first to answer two common questions: 'Where am l?' and 'Where’s my car?'




At any time, with a single tap of the screen, drivers can display their exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and gas stations. And to help drivers find their car in an unfamiliar spot or vast parking lot, all nüvi 700s automatically mark the position in which they were last removed from the mount.

New Features -- Multi-Destination Routing
This lets you enter several spots into the device (day care - supermarket-cleaners - office - day care, for example) and it will plot the fastest route. And once you've found the best router, the 'Route Planning' feature lets you save up to 10 different routes, Garmin touts the feature for providing, 'the most efficient route for errands, deliveries and sales calls.' The feature also makes this an instant essential accessory for anyone who shops garage sales (you know what we're talking about).

A trip log provides an electronic bread crumb trail of up to 10,000 points, so you can see where you've been on the map.

See Better, See More
The super-bright, 4.3-inch (diagonal) touchscreen display gives is anti-glare for ease of viewing during the day and automatically changes its color profile for easy viewing at night or in dim light. lt offers 2d or 3D perspective views.

The widescreen format gives you 70% more actual screen area than a 3.5-inch screen. Primarily this translates into a better view of the area through which you are driving. This is especially useful in showing you what parks, restaurants, ATM, gas stations, etc. are nearby, or in letting you know whether a detour is a good idea. Also, the device itself is larger, meaning controls on the screen are more widely spaced and somewhat easier to push.


First Rate Map Data
All nüvi 700s come preloaded with highly detailed City Navigator NT road maps for the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. This map database features nearly six million points of interest (P0ls), including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and attractions. Garmin gets its map data from NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping.


lmportant note about map updates: Due to our high volume of sales, almost every Garmin portable GPS navigator sold by will come with the most recent map version. lf you ever do need a map update, you can purchase one from Amazon.com at our Garmin Store.

Garmin Lock
Garmin's patent pending theft prevention system that disables the unit from performing any functions until the user types in a specific 4-digit PlN or takes the unit to a predetermined secure location


Easy To Use lnterface
Garmin's interface is a key to their success and one of the things that makes their devices such a pleasure to use. Simple controls and sub-screens make it easy to enter or search for destinations and get data about your trip.


Beyond Navigation

Browse your stored pictures with an easy-to-use JPEG viewer.

A handy MP3 player lets you play songs stored on SD memory cards.

nüvi 250W accepts custom points of interest (P0ls). View larger.

Navigation is just the beginning. All nüvi 700s feature travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, MP3 player, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more.




They are also compatible with optional content plug-ins available via SD card, such as the  Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide provide detailed data for attractions and information on nearby merchants offering discounts, so you can customize your nüvi for all your travel needs.




Garmin has also added the ability for customers to add custom points of interest (P0l’s) from third parties such as school zones and safety cameras.

Trick Your GPS Ride

Custom vehicle icons let you ride in style, at least inside your GPS. See more icon option

All nüvis support configurable vehicle icons. These fun, customized car-shaped icons come in a variety of colors to add a personal touch to your vehicle's position on the map.

What's in the Box
nüvi 750, Preloaded City Navigator NT for North America or Europe (full coverage), Vehicle suction cup mount, Vehicle power cable, USB cable, Dashboard disc, Quick start manual


Notes

• 0ptional software for language translation, detailed travel guides, and savings programs allow you to customize your nüvi to fit your travel needs
• The FM transmitter feature is only available in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
• This nüvi comes with a free, three-month trial for MSN Direct services.
  
• Like most USB Mass Storage Devices, the nüvi is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me.

Which nüvi is Best for You?
Note: All nüvis come with detailed NAVTEQ maps containing more than 6 million pre-loaded point of interest locations.

	Screen Size inches (w x h)	lncluded Maps			Text-to-Speech (Directions in Real Street Names)	Traffic	Bluetooth	Media	FM Transmitter (audio through car stereo system)	Multi- Point Routing	Battery life (hours)
		Cont. U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico	AK and Canada	Europe
nüvi 200	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 200w	3.81 x 2.25							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 250	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 250w	3.81 x 2.25							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 260	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 260w	3.81 x 2.25							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 270	2.8 x 2.1							Photos			up to 5
nüvi 350	2.8 x 2.1					FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 8
nüvi 360	2.8 x 2.1					FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 8
nüvi 370	2.8 x 2.1					FM (receiver included)		Photos, MP3s			up to 8
nüvi 650	3.81 x 2.25					FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 660	3.81 x 2.25					FM (receiver included)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 670	3.81 x 2.25					FM (receiver included)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 680	3.81 x 2.25					MSN (receiver included; 1-year free); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 7
nüvi 750	3.81 x 2.25					FM (with opt. receiver); MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 760	3.81 x 2.25					FM (receiver included); MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 770	3.81 x 2.25					FM (receiver included); MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 780	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (receiver inc.; 3 months free) receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 5
nüvi 850	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 4
nüvi 880	3.81 x 2.25					MSN-enhanced (receiver inc.; 3 months free); FM (with opt. receiver)		Photos, MP3s			up to 4
nüvi 5000	4.5 x 2.7					MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)					external battery only

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Testimonials

Average Buyer Rating:

Buyer's feedback: - * Excellent product ...
I've only had the nuvi 750 a little over a month and I haven't had the opportunity to use it on a long trip yet but I am very happy with it...for the most part. I have had three other GPS navigators, two Magellan and one Garmin C330 bought as an emergency back-up for a malfunctioning Magellan Roadmate. It was the cheapest thing I could find on short notice (old maps, slow response time) but it got me home flawlessly. So, when the Roadmate finally died after just two years and no help from Magellan, I did some homework and bought the Garmin nuvi 750 for its features.
My experience so far has been that it boots up quickly, locks on satellites quickly, and calculates routes as quickly as the fastest of my other navigators. It has by far the clearest, brightest, most readable screen (under all conditions) of any I've owned or used. One of the features I like is the speed limit display, on a long drive I'm focused on the driving and will suddenly realize I haven't seen a speed limit sign in a while,... question answered.
Touch "Menu" then "Tools" and among the menu options is "Where am I", it displays your current latitude and longitude, the name and location of the nearest cross street, and lists available emergency services. To me, that's worth the price all by itself.
The routes are accurate and, as far as I can tell, efficient. Unlike some comments, I don't worry about whether the route is the shortest, fastest, most efficient possible. It will never be as good as a knowledgeable human being. The point is, it gets me there and I'm not exhausted as I would be if I had to navigate from maps. The nuvi 750 is a major step up from all of the other GPS' I've owned.
On the down side, to make it so slim and sexy required compromises. The built in amplifier is feeble and the speaker is tinny and buzzy! Inexcusably poor. Fortunately, it has an earphone jack and a built-in fm transmitter which works very well if you tune to the lower end of the fequency range. Since that means you can't listen to anything else on the radio, I use a small sports radio clipped to my belt to monitor directions instead.
Another thing that seems to be characteristic of Garmen is a tendency to lag just a bit. I have to give Magellan credit, the display showed where I was in real time. Although the Garmin gives me turn directions in plenty of time, With both the visual display and voice instruction I'm often actually in the turn before it gives me the last "Turn right on", etc. A minor irritation.
Where it counts though it works beautifully, I have no complaints. In fact UPS just delivered the four more I ordered as Christmas presents.

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Buyer's feedback: - Great GPS but lousy maps
Before buying the 750, I used to have a Garmin nuvi 260 and it was my very 1st GPS. I was very happy with the 260 because it did well everything it was supposed to do, except that at some times it would give me wrong directions, mention street names that didn't exist, recalculated routes that forced me to do multiple u-turns like an idiot, the USB slot is useless (no MP3 playback), keyboard was only available as alphabetical (unusable!), and used to get locked up if destination addresses were entered inside a parking lot with no satellite signal. In this last case I was forced to reset the unit or it would never come out of simulating routes.

When I saw the 750 reviews I noticed some of those things had been fixed, like the keyboard now can be switched to QWERTY (finally!), the USB slot can be used to load MP3 music and audio books, the media player can be linked to the car's FM radio with or without cables, the road speed limits are now shown on screen (I like that!), and the power cable now connects to the mounting bracket instead of the unit itself, which makes for less fiddling with the cable. You can also set multiple stops in a trip, which was not possible with the 260.

On the other hand, the maps are still ridiculously inaccurate. For my 1st use of the 750, I traveled from Prescott to Phoenix (Arizona) with my wife. We wanted to try new and different Asian restaurants and the Gamin Nuvi 750 had plenty to choose from. Here are some real world results from this GPS:

1. We chose one at random based on the shortest distance, and let the 750 take us there trusting entirely on the GPS map. We ended up on a parking lot of a private house in a residential area.

2. We tried another Asian restaurant in the vicinity, choosing randomly again from the GPS list by proximity, and this time it took us to the parking lot of a Mormon church in the outskirts of the city.

3. We tried a 3rd Asian restaurant from the list, again by proximity, and it took us to a place that was indeed a restaurant, but that people told us it had been closed for at least 2 years.

After 40 minutes of total failure, driving around trying to find a place to eat, we GAVE UP on the 750 and went looking around ourselves, and found a place nearby in just a couple of minutes.

4. After this we wanted to find a Wal-mart because my wife wanted to buy a hard case for this GPS. The Garmin nuvi 750 is quite expensive but comes with no case whatsoever. Already laughing, we used the GPS to find the nearest Wal-mart and this time it took us to a Sam's Club instead, which we cannot enter because we are not members (ugh!!).

5. We used the 750 to trace a route to the the nearest mall, and it drove us into a desert wasteland (I am not kidding you!!).

6. We tried to get to the closest BestBuy and later (to make this short) to a CompUSA store and both had been closed for at least a year now.

7. We asked around to avoid following the GPS blindly, and found out a place that actually existed, the Metro Center Mall in Phoenix, and used the GPS to take us there. The problem was that the highway 51 was under construction and the nuvi 750 GPS insisted on re-routing back to the same ramp we already knew was closed. We had to drive quite FAR AWAY from that ramp for the 750 to finally choose another route, but by then we were already far away from the intended route and had to take the longest way.

8. I have to admit that what Garmin thinks it's the "fastest" route sometimes involve going through absurd routes, and this has been confirmed by reviews from other people. In the most typical case, the "fastest" route almost always involve being the longest, like I could had turn right and got the destination immediately, but Garmin preferred to go around the block in the opposite direction instead, which takes 4X more time and it's obviously not the "fastest".

Conclusion:
The Garmin nuvi 750 is definitely an improvement over the 260 in what comes to features and ease of use, but the maps are still terribly inaccurate and some of the glitches still persist from the 260. I checked on the maps info using the 750 and it claims to be using the 2009 maps, which only confirm my suspicions that even the latest Garmin maps still prove quite inaccurate after all these years.

The MP3/audio book players, FM transmitter, QWERTY keyboard, wide screen LCD, and display of local speed limits are all very welcome additions that make using the 750 a much more pleasing experience comparing to the older 260 model. Re-routing is VERY fast, almost instantaneous in my driving experience with it, which in some cases can be life-saving. Satellite signal reception is also much stronger than with my older 260, where in some cases I get signal locks even from inside houses and parking lots - really awesome.

So there you have it: the pros and cons. I have never used GPS from other makers, so this experience is solely based on what Garmin has to offer and my need to get directions while driving on a city I am not familiar with. I am giving the 750 3 stars because of all the improvements and ease of use it has over the older 260 model, but taking 2 stars off because of the unacceptable map inaccuracies and the ridiculous routes Garmin put us through to get the "fastest" route.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Great GPS ...
Very good GPS. Touch screen is great. Provides trip info like average overall speed, drive time, stop time, total trip time, speed (very accurate). Countdown time to destination. Really incredible.

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Buyer's feedback: - MY CHEAP TOM TOM WAS A BETTER UNIT
I have had my Nuvi 750 a few weeks now and I am returning it. I had a cheap older Tom Tom from a previous job and it was much better than this. For $349 this thing should be much better performance and quality wise. The volume is almost inaudible, then out of the blue the voice just stopped working, the machine says no voices found, no idea where they went just happened suddenly. Takes entirely too long to recalculate and orient itself, takes upwards of 5-10 minutes to find the satellites, reboots itself telling me it's loading maps. Cannot/does not find way too many adresses, places that have been around a long time too, to be very useful to me as a truck driver. Oh yeah, you cannot search by zip code which for me is a major issue. A couple other things I can't remember right now but overall I say it's junk and I'm returning mine this weekend for something else.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Good product ...
Good device, but the FM modulator is not the greatest, very staticy can't seem to get the right station.

Also would be nice if it displayed the time when you have the map open