Garmin Nuvi 780 Review

The Garmin nuvi 780 portable GPS navigator goes above and beyond what's usually expected from a GPS offering an innovative design, easy to use interface, and just about everything you'll need while in your car and on the go. With a host of advanced features, both for navigation and travel purposes as well as a range of media capabilities, the Garmin 780 is certainly a GPS device for the long road trip.

Garmin nuvi 780 GPS Navigator

Product Overview

Ready to use as soon as you open the box, Garmin's nuvi 780 offers a bright 4.3" widescreen display that is readable even in harsh daylight from any angle thanks to the integrated white backlight. The slim, attractive design of the Nuvi makes it easy to take anywhere you travel as it fits neatly in a purse, pocket, or briefcase. And, with the Garmin Locate feature, the device remembers the last position when it was removed from its dashboard mount to make it simple to find your car in a crowded parking lot.

Like all Nuvis by Garmin, the 780 is loaded with nearly six million points of interest, known as POI, which can be anything from local attractions and landmarks in the area to gas stations, emergency personnel such as police and hospitals, hotels, motels, ATM machines, and many, many more. Users can also enter their own POI to truly customize their driving and travel experiences, along with the Garmin Garage feature that gives you the choice of using any one of the many car-shaped icons to choose from with everything from tanks to motorcycles to bicycles and sport's cars.

With the purchase of the Nuvi 780 comes the Quick Start manual, USB cable, vehicle suction cup mount and power cable for charging the device's lithium ion battery that will run for as many as five hours without being connected to a power source, and also a dashboard disc for keeping the unit securely in place.

Actual user comment: "I love this thing so much that I just returned and bought my second one. The first one rides on the dash of a 2007 Acura with a built in navigation system with XM Navtraffic. I used the free months of MSN traffic on the Nuvi then paid the Microsoft fee to keep it going for the life of the device. MSN traffic was almost as good as the XM, and a lot more economical. The only advantage of the built in system is that traffic information is always displayed on surface street zoom levels. With the nuvi, you have to go to a separate screen to check the traffic flow speeds. It is a big disadvantage, but in every other sense the Nuvi 780 wins. The Acura navigation system is not even in the same league with the Nuvi. The Nuvi is so user friendly, and intuitive. Although the built in unit has a huge, bright, screen, the Garmin is just so much better. The fact that I will tolerate a dash mount device that is less than a quarter the screen size as my cars built in navigation system speaks volumes about both devices." - D.Dunahoo (Atlanta,GA,USA)

Notable Benefits and Features

The multi-destination routing feature of the Nuvi 780 lets users enter up to ten different destinations into the device, which will then automatically plot the route by the quickest time possible. This is not only ideal for the casual traveler who spends time in their car running errands or for business purposes, but also for those who routinely travel for many miles at a time away from home in unfamiliar territory.

With the Nuvi 780, you won't ever have to worry about being stuck in traffic jams, driving through unexpected congestion, or getting lost after taking a detour around construction again as the device has a built-in traffic receiver that doesn't just give up-to-date traffic information, but also a whole lot more.

With the free three month subscription to the enhanced MSN Direct Connect users are able to get data such as the current weather conditions, what's happening on the stock market, local movie listings, news happenings, and even a comparison of gas prices in the area. The service also offers the ability to plan your trips on your home computer and then transmit it wirelessly to the device.

Besides the dynamic travel features, the Nuvi can also be used as an MP3 player, JPEG picture viewer, calculator, currency and measurement converter, and a world travel clock with automatic time zone adjustments. Even more content and features are available via an SD card such as Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide.

Making hands-free phone calls is also possible with the Nuvi 780 as it comes with Bluetooth capabilities. Paired with a Bluetooth capable phone, users can use the keypad to dial out and simply touch an icon on the display to answer incoming calls, making it easier to concentrate on the road ahead.

Technical Specifications

• Antenna: Built-in
• Battery: Rechargeable lithium ion, runs for up to five hours without power source
• Connectivity: USB cable
• Dimensions: 4.8"(W) x 0.8"(D) x 3.0"(H)
• Display: WQVGA color TFT 4.3 touchscreen display with 480 x 272 display resolution
• Expansion Slots: SD card (not included)
• Included Accessories: Quick Start manual, dashboard disc, USB cable, vehicle power cable and suction cup mount
• Included Software: City Navigator NT maps of North America, three month subscription to MSN Direct Connect
• Voice Capabilities: Yes, text to speech directions, voice prompts

More user comments:

• "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 area, 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 use. 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 necessary satellites in just a few minutes when first activated, and does so in less than a minute for subsequent activations. I found the screen brightness to be fine for both day and night. I tested the 780 immediately by driving during rush hour to a residence across the river in a tangle of park roads off of the beaten track, then returning at night. The Garmin had no trouble creating a very fast route to the destination that bypassed most of the heavy traffic during rush hour." - Robert Mattes (N.Virginia, MA).

• "LOVE IT. Even my wife loves it. This is porbably the first electronic gadget I've ever bought where my wife wants to use it more. Very easy to use. It only locked up a few times because I was zooming in/out too fast as it was navigating. perhaps if I let it go it might have caught up . It was no big deal to turn it off and on to get me going again. The MSN is great. It actually gave me a thunderstorm warning and asked if I wanted to go around it. Traffic updates were good, gas prices were dead on, most of the time. Weather forcasts were great, The "text to speech" was cool. We chose the Ennglish mans voice and he would read any text messages I received on my (bluetooth) phone. Pretty funny. The FM transmitter isn't great at all. What else can I say, I've owned the Garmin eMap (VW bug)and thought that was nice, but this is like a Porsche. Garmin's website is also great for updates and software." - By Steve Mann (FL, USA)

List Price : $699.99

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