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My general opinion is that Garmin makes very high quality products.This in particular is a great tool for anyone on the road, even in your own city. It has very good screen size that lets you see and understand the map and your way whithout distracting your attention from their main activity (driving).The only weekness is that if you want to update your maps every year, you have to pay a high price for the Garmin Map Update.
It only has a couple locations saved in it, so it's not like its memory is full.Other features we miss from other Garmins we've owned: no internal batter, when it's unplugged, it's off; no bluetooth; no carrying case, and you have to purchase the MSN antennae separately if you want the extra features. We have been Garmin fans for many years and like their products over others we've seen. Well, I think I made a mistake. It seemed ok for about another week, but has started locking up again. I regret purchasing this as a gift for my husband. My husband only drives about 30 miles to work, and this unit locks up every day.
We are exchanging this product & Amazon is shipping a new one. I bought this unit for my husband from Amazon for Christmas because of the larger screen and the fact that the MSN gives you gas prices and other features. All in all, it's not worth the discounted price. The only way to get it running again is to unplug it and wait for it to start up again. I called Gamin & was told how to reset it to factory settings, which I did. I just hope it performs better than this one.
If the replacement unit acts the same, I'm returning it for a refund.
It is amazing at the improvements in this GPS over my Street Tracker - it is cheaper, far better with complete street level data for the entire USA and Canada, and faster to acquire location.
The wide screen is very good & makes it easy to navigate. Bought this Unit more than 3 months back. Overall unit was great & it has many features. The unit has music player and SD card slot where I put my 4GB SD & it's equipped with FM transmitter so you can listen to music, alerts as well as navigation instructions on the car speakers along with unit's built-in double speakers at the back.The unit has video-in port where I connected it with a back-up camera using Garmin A/V cable & it can be connected to DVD player. The unit also has POI alerts so you can just add points of radars or other things so you get sound & screen alerts 1km or 500m before reaching that location.I give it 4 star on accuracy of GPS because the GPS receiver is not that sensing & you lost it easily when you are not having clear view to the sky.Also 3 star for the Portability because this unit doesn't have built-in battery.Overall 4 star Unit.
We don't need bluetooth (we use BlueAnt Supertooth in all vehicles), so we don't interfere with CD's/Radio/etc. My Jeep Grand Cherokee has two power sockets (cigarette lighter sockets): One is on CONSTANTLY, whereas the other is only on when the ignition is turned on. That is my normal "driving around town" mode. Folks, this is a well thought out system: Give some credit to Garmin for focusing on what counts and avoiding Gizmo-itis and Bell-and-Whistle Disease.The software on this GPS appears to be exactly like the wonderful, handy, easy-to-use, intuitive software on our two Garmin Nuvi 750's. Did I mention that I think pricing it way below $300 is CHEAP for this big screen, especially when joined with the other Garmin Nuvi software virtues.My only complaint about Garmin Nuvi units is that, on ALL of them, the English lady (who has a decent mellow voice) interprets "drive" denominated roads as "Doctor", as in "Turn left on Maple Doctor" instead of "Turn left on Maple Drive". No switches, no reaching, no unnecessary "dialog" with the GPS unit.
Nice idea though, but not for us.Bottom line: Big, CHEAP, beautiful, CHEAP, accurate, CHEAP, easy to use, CHEAP and more convenient than units with internal batteries (you don't have to interact with it to turn it on and off). That means that, by plugging this GPS into the socket controlled by the ignition, the GPS automatically turns on when the car starts and automatically stops when the car stops. We also have no use for the back-up camera feature. Just sit back and enjoy.For long over-the-road trips, I plug this GPS into the other socket which is CONSTANTLY on: This preserves data during food and fuel stops and ensures continuous data on overall trip time, driving time, stopped time, average rolling speed, average overall speed, etc. At the destination, I transfer it to the ignition-controlled socket for local driving. It is perfect as a dedicated vehicle GPS.
How silly is that, Garmin.
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