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Excellent Feature-packed GPS
I love my Garmin! This is my second Garmin GPS unit and I have to say that I am impressed. I upgraded from a Garmin nüvi 660 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator and this is definitely a step up! Not that the 660 is bad. It's a great GPS especially at the prices now. But if you're looking for a premium GPS, this is the one to get! And I wouldn't even consider any other name but Garmin. They are the best in the business! First off, the build quality on the 765t is great and the new black matte/shiny finish makes it look much more expensive. Most of the body is now rubberized except for a thin strip along the sides, top and bottom that's shiny. That offers protection against scratches on the body and the black color looks great! The large 4.3" screen is bright enough in the sun and is a big step up from a 3.5" if you've used one of those. The nuvi 765t locks onto satellites quicker than my old nuvi 660. As with any other Garmin, the navigation is top notch and the best among all manufacturers as many tests have proven. Not only that, the interface is the easiest out of all GPS manufacturers. How can it get any easier than two big buttons that say, "Where To?" and "View Map"? I have not had any problems with the navigation or maps except there aren't some new roads that just came within the last year. This is typical of any maps from the major map companies (NAVTEQ or Tele Atlas). On the map screen, the right field is now customizable and can show direction of travel, elevation, time, and more. The vehicles are also customizable and can be downloaded at Garmin.com. This is a novelty, but cool none-the-less. You can download new voices as well. The new 3D view is also more of a novelty to me and wouldn't be that useful. In certain situations it would be, but overall, it's just cool to have. I also like that it shows the current speed limit on many streets. The data however comes from the map manufacturers and I have seen several incorrect speed limits in my area so it might not be as useful to you. The sound through the internal speaker is loud enough for freeway driving. You can also use the FM transmitter (which I don't like to use, but it's nice to have) or run a 1/8" cable from the headphone jack to your auxiliary port if your car has one. Also, the volume on the bluetooth is perfectly fine for me after I upgraded the firmware. Just go to Garmin.com and upgrade the firmware. It took a while to get it to pair with my old Samsung but after I got it paired, it connects flawlessly. And the volume is loud enough on the freeway. I couldn't use my nuvi 660's bluetooth because the volume wasn't loud enough but the 765t is just fine. Some other new features I like are the free lifetime traffic (subsidized by subtle advertising) and the lane guidance. These were the main reasons why I bought this new line from Garmin in addition to the fact that I love Garmin's navigation. Both features are really only useful if you do lots of freeway driving. This is normally where the traffic data and lane guidance comes in (even though I've seen traffic data on some surface streets). Overall, the Garmin nüvi 765T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator is highly recommended by me and is a great buy if you're looking for advanced navigation from the best name in GPS! If you don't need the new features, I would just get an older model like the Garmin nüvi 760 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Automobile Navigator or the Garmin nüvi 265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator and save some money. You're still gonna get great navigation from Garmin. Just make sure you get text-to-speech. This is an absolute must-have! If you don't need bluetooth, get the Garmin nüvi 755T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator instead. If you need European maps, get the Garmin nüvi 775T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator.Actually 3-1/2 stars for this "Made-in-Taiwan" GPS powerhouse with glitches.
I'm going to try to make this review as short as possible (knowing I'm far too long-winded). I'll placed my full, expanded review in the comment section after this review is up (for those who may be interested). I didn't want to subject people to a long, boring review (unless readers specifically wanted to see it and sought out the comment section). Just remember, your experiences may differ from mine for a variety of reasons, including where you live. Pros: 1. Great new feature set, especially hotfix and lane assist (coverage varies), lane assist is a terrific aid for anyone traveling complex freeway interchanges. 2. Solid construction and attractive, 3. Garmin trademark: simplicity even with a unit with a lot of bells and whistles, 4. Nice map screen that's not at all overwhelming, 5. Free (ad supported) FM traffic (simple, easy to understand and informative), automatically reroutes you when there is heavy or stopped traffic, 6. Automatic time zone change, 7. Turn arrow now available on map screen, 8. Ability to customize "arrive" window with 1 of 5 different settings, 9. Many other bells, such as "Where am I / Where's my car", kwerty keyboard, powered cradle, better map update policy, posted speed limits, and multiple-point routing just to name a few. Cons (even after the update): 1. FM transmitter is junk and unusable in high volume FM traffic areas such as SoCal (this is a well-known problem with ALL Nuvi units), 2. Bluetooth problems (varies depending on your cell phone), callers hear their voice when talking to me (echo / feedback), couldn't download and create phonebook from my contact list, constant troubles pairing phone, 3. Getting started and registration was kind of a PITA, 4. Screen no better than my 260 (although a bit brighter), washes out quickly when tipping it down, darkens gradually when tipping it up or side to side, 5. Flakey touch sensitivity even though it was suppose to be fixed with the update, touches don't respond at times and accuracy can be all over the place, 6. Speaker volume not as loud as my 260, but I find it adequate, 7. Can't input more than one phone number when creating an address, this part of the input scheme not well engineered, and trying to get back to the main menu is cumbersome, 8. Garmin continues to refuse to give customers the ability to exclude a particular road/street/highway (even on their top units), 9. 12v adapter very difficult (for the first several times) to seat into cigarette lighter or auxiliary port (it's okay now, however), 10. Typically bad and uninformative quick-start manual (haven't bothered to downloaded the standard manual because past experience tells me it's not worth the effort). I REALLY like this unit, and it is a GPS with a whole slew of new features (hotfix and lane assist are especially wonderful, and the traffic feature could really help), but this unit has several frustrating problems that just shouldn't be there. However, it has so many solid advantages over my 260 that I rate it a bit higher than I did the 260 and give it (between 1 and 10), a marginal 7 (or barely 3-1/2 stars -- since I couldn't do this, I decided to give it 4 stars instead of 3 because of certain features that are really great). If Garmin would have tested this a bit more thoroughly and not rushed it out the door (and not use us as beta testers) and caught some these problems, I wouldn't hesitate to rate it a 9 (a marginal 5 stars). Hopefully, Garmin will resolve some of these issues quickly, but the FM transmitter will remain pretty much hopeless.Superior GPS
The amazing feature set on this unit is what really sets it apart from all the rest. Disregard the reviews claiming bluetooth instability and mapping problems, these issues have been corrected via software updates through Garmin. Overall great product.Nice upgrade from nuvi 660
I received my 765T and was anxious to use it so I darted to Cleveland. I have to admit I was curious to see the road signs on the screen which I didn't see going in spite of being on major freeways but I did see them coming back. I put on "go home" and when I was on the freeway & it would have a box in the upper left corner with arrows for each lane and the ones I was suppose to be in were white and the bad lanes were grayed out (on major freeways). Nice feature. It also has the way you will be turning with the mileage in that same corner for your next turn. This is a nice addition from the 660 which only told you which way to turn 0.9 miles before. Another nice feature was there is a speed limit sign in the bottom left cornor for non-side streets. I don't know how many times I've wondered what the speed limit was in unchartered territory. As far as the FM turner issue, I didn't use it because I didn't like it with the 660. I prefer the radio to listen to music not static & the lady in the box. I did notice the british lady now says drive for Dr. and not doctor. That made me crazy. I hope she says street for St. and not saint! I would definately purchase the 765 or any 5 series over the "0" series. My main gripe is it doesn't come with a case. I purchased this by Abt Tech through Amazon and am very satistied with their delievery. However, you do have to sign for the package.Great so far
I received my 765T a few days ago and love it so far. After reading some up and down reviews, I wasn't certain what to expect. I am pleasantly surprised. To start, the unit's volume is plenty loud, even at highway speeds. The screen is readable at all times, and automatically changes to a darkened "night mode" at night - very easy on the eyes. You can force it to day or night mode, if desired. The map's movement and fluidity is tremendous. It has a very natural looking motion at all times. Garmin claims the unit updates at 10fps, and it seems to be about that. I am still deciding if I prefer 3D or 2D mode yet, but both are great. I tested routing on a few trips and the navigation worked perfectly. Directions were given in plenty of time, and repeated at appropriate intervals. When just driving (not navigating) the green bar at the top displays your current road, and even displays the next exit when driving (not navigating) on major highways. This was unexpected for me and really cool! The voice on the unit is clear. The overall feel of the software is great. The menus move quickly and seem logically laid out. You can add categories to your favorites to better organize them. This helped a lot, since favorites are sorted by default via distance from your current location. Creating folders for your favorites works very well. You can even add a picture (and phone #) to your favorites. Very nice! As for Bluetooth: I paired the 765 with my Blackberry Storm easily, and everything works flawlessly. My phone's contacts transferred immediately, and I can call Points of Interest and people from my contacts easily, with 1 touch. I do not have any of the bluetooth issues described in other places. No issues at all. So I'm either lucky or maybe there is some inconsistency in the hardware. More likely, different combinations of cell phones and GPS units lead to varying results. IMPORTANT: I did update the unit to it's latest firmware, which many say have helped their bluetooth connections. I haven't been to an area with a traffic reception signal yet, so I can't comment on the traffic function. All the other niceties work well for me also: The picture viewer, MP3 player, etc all work as advertised. I even put 1 of my pics as the startup image. In conclusion, I am very pleased with the product so far. This is a great product that I would highly recommend.Keyword : gps
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