Customer Reviews

Garmin Nuvi 780 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigation System w/ 4.3" LCD Widescreen (0100065705) BeanBag 2GB SD BigVALUEInc Accessory Saver Bundle + MORE

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not sure where the previous guy bought his 780,but it sounds like he should've bought it elsewhere.I drive for a living and none of the things mentioned by other reviewer are true of my unit.Works perfectly,easy to operate and undertand.Just returned from a 7400 mile trip across country without a single issue!I'd buy this again.I've seen other brands of comparably priced gps units that I wouldn't give $5 for.This 780 is as good as it gets...

It's perfect for people like I who lose themselves easily, allows me to go to where I want without having to request aid to strangers in the street.

I have had many GPS systems since they first came out as I can not read a map while moving.
This is by far the best yet. First the screen does not wash out in the sunlight. Second because you can scroll the map around it can be used as a real map for finding options. Bringing back the old way points should also make it possible for YOU to plan your route and not just have to go their way or from town to town. I have not used the bike mode yet but am looking forward to it. I have used it as a map while biking and it worked well if I got a bit away from tall buildings.

All in all...the best yet as I said earlier.

Good traveling,

Belden

The Nuvi 780 is a well-built electronic unit and, mechanically, has performed without a hitch 9 months into ownership.

The user manual needs a complete rewrite by a good technical writer who knows NOTHING about its electronic wizardness (which is considerable), but takes the approach of a naive user. More attention should be given to "How to change input data (such as home address)." There should be a "bulleted" list of features and how to access them with appropriate references to other parts of the manual. I am unable to find out how to get the pre-set searches to look in a specified geographic area. For example, I am in Maine. I know in several hours I will be in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and want to know NOW what restaurants are available so I can arrange to meet someone there. Cannot be done. "Search Portsmouth area for restaurants" is a command that cannot be given and selecting "restaurants" to look for one in Portsmouth, NH is useless until one is within 25 or 30 miles.

Although my device says it is set for North America, it includes distinctly British headings--such as "Chemist" for drugstore. Further, the voice used to give directions--supposedly in "American English"--uses an accent that makes it very difficult to understand. The optional "British English" voice is somewhat more understandable, but both of them have serious pronunciation problems. The first part of "Cushman", for instance, is NOT pronounced "kush" as also used in "bush" or "cushion", (with a pronunciation being "boosh or Koosh" or a "u" vowel sound with two ..'s over the "u") but a tongue-tangled sound like "Coarsh". A sound I cannot even imitate.

The routing algorithm picks absolutely the shortest physical distance between point A and point B--even if the roads selected are two lane, back country roads, even including logging roads which may have been discontinued. Once I was directed to turn into a boys summer camp road to go to a town beyond--and the road was not paved and its gate was padlocked. A "select only numbered highways" command would be most helpful. Here in Maine where a route (say state route 26) changes its name every ten miles or so, it is not helpful for the system to say "follow main street for 26 miles" where "main street" has four other names before the twenty-six miles are traversed. Better to say "follow Route 26 for 26 miles".

And One last observation. Even though we have taken the best route to go from point A to point B--based on 50 years of making that journey--the system has no heuristic ability to learn from how we actually went from point A to point B, but just continually says: "recalculating".