Garmin nüvi 785T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

Product Description

garmin nüvi 785T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Bluetooth, Free Traffic, and Maps of the U.S, Canada, and Puerto Rico

This is my 3rd Garmin and this is by far the best. As as family that drives a 40' diesel pusher who pulls a car four down, the lane assist is a real asset.
Secondarily the unit is far more sensitive to receiving the GPS signals than its predecessors. We also are fans of MSN Direct. Again the traffic, fuel, and stock monitoring are components we use daily.
On the improvement side of things the keyboard is to small and my big finger does hit the wrong keys.
I would recommend this unit.



At first, I wasn't interested in a GPS unit, but since I will be traveling to several cities on vacation this year that I am not so familiar with and I travel a fair amount on my job, I decided to buy one. I spent some time doing research and decided on the 785T. The price ($399) couldn't be beat and it had the lane change and photo navigation which were what sold me on this model. It is exceptionally accurate regarding the milage and time calculations.

The refresh rate is extremely smooth and I liked the fact Garmin allows you 60 days after purchase to get a free map update (saves you about $200). Setup was a little odd since you have to power it up and use it before you can get it set up on your computer for registration and getting updates. A slight annoyance, but okay. MSN Direct will ONLY work in designated areas so if you are out in the middle of nowhere, you can't get stock updates, weather, best gas prices, etc... Not sure why this is so; especially, since this is tied to a satellite system which covers almost 99% of the world.

POI is another great feature for finding restaurants, banks, gas stations, etc.... But beware that the information on some POIs can be outdated. A restaurant in Salt Lake City was no longer there. Inputting an address in Salt Lake City was difficult due to the uniqueness of their address system. Maybe I wasn't doing something right, but I couldn't input a 500 West 9000 North address. The POI saved me on this aspect for the restaurant, but it was a little frustrating.

The 3D highway signs are pretty cool. Displays accurate wordage and symbols as shown on the actual highway signs. Bluetooth for phone works, but the receiving party has a hard time hearing me due to road noise. Overall, it is a great product and I am glad I purchased it. You can't beat the price compared to newer or comparable products.


If you are set on buying this (or any other GPS) from Amazon, wait for the right price. Amazon will periodically throw some loss leaders out at $350, You have to be quick before they jack the price back up to around $500 or try to direct you to one of their other vendors. Right now you can by this unit for $399 at Adorama, so be patient and wait for the $350 price.


Despite the poor reviews I still ordered this unit. I have to say it is awesome. I love it!!! The unit is fast accurate and right to the point. All the features are perfect. If you want a great GPS packed with features this is it. I use the Bluetooth calling everyday on it. People can hear me clearly and have no clue that I am talking through a GPS. I have even driven on the highway with the windows down and people have no idea that I am talking from the car, its all where you mount the unit that makes the difference. MSN Direct is really cool its great having weather, movies, especially GAS prices (not to mention they are accurate) and more and your fingertips.


I had a C550 and loved it but it got stolen so I had to buy a new GPS. I started with a Nuvi 885T because I was intrigued by the voice activation. The good news is that the voice activation works very, very well. The bad news is that I found the overall operating feel to be slow and choppy, a fact that is mentioned in several other reviews. Also, I had some issues with the unit locking up, so back it went.

I've had the 785T now for a couple of days.

Here is what I like:

* Quick to lock in satellites, even on cold start
* Accurate directions
* Smooth scrolling
* Customizable display
* Lane Assist works nicely and I like it. Useful feature.
* Junction View works nicely and I like it, but in my opinion it is not nearly as useful as Garmin would lead you to believe. A photo realistic image of upcoming street signs flashes across the screen for about 5-8 seconds, with an indication as to which lane you should be in.
* Bluetooth connected with my Blackberry no problem
* Ability to send addresses from my computer to the unit wirelessly. I've used it. It works.
* Small/lightweight (unlike my old C550)
* MSN Direct works well. MSN Traffic seems to work well, although some other reviewers prefer Lifetime Traffic. I think that is a matter of personal preference, and also depends on where you live. I live outside of Washington, DC, so MSN coverage is strong.

Here is what I do not like:

* Speakers barely loud enough. My C550 had rich, deep, loud sound. The Nuvi 785T, like all the Nuvi's, has shallow, slightly tinny, not quite loud enough, sound. I am really surprised that Garmin has not addressed this, as this is probably the number one complaint that I have, and that I have seen in other reviews. Unlike some other reviews, this wasn't a deal breaker for me, as I find the volume and clarity to be basically acceptable, but just marginally so.
* The underpowered speakers make the Bluetooth component less than perfect, but still useable
* The distance remaining and arrival time are slightly smaller than my C550, but it is noticeable and slightly irritating (only slightly). I wear reading glasses, so sometimes I have to squint at the screen a bit
* I am constantly taking the unit in and out of my car (don't want to have this unit stolen like my last one). Almost every time I have to fiddle with the mount so it clicks in. It has to line up perfectly, or it won't click in, which requires 2 hands and a bit of concentration. Should be easier and more intuitive than that.
* Updating the maps was an adventure. I don't believe this was the fault of the unit, but rather Garmin's website. The map updates are a HUGE file (192 mb), and twice it hung at about 180 mb requiring me to start all over. A little frustrating, but again, I don't fault the 785T for this, and eventually I got it all squared away.

Overall, I give it 4 stars. Not perfect, several flaws, but overall, I like it and recommend it.

By the way, here is a buying tip if you are interested in this unit....keep your eye on it and check the price daily. Amazon changes their prices dramatically from day to day. They do that on all of their products, but I seem to notice it more on GPS units. One day this might be $500, then the next day it might be $350, then the next day it might go back up to $500. My bottom line? Anything under $400 is a buy, and a good value for the Nuvi 785T.






Did an update when I got it and it works fine so far. Emailed Garmin for replacement battery information. Just send the unit in and Garmin will replace the batteries once it no longer holds a charge. I gave it 3 stars because I think it still can use some improvements in certain areas, especially, the navigational mapping part.

Update: After about a month of trouble free navigation, I started having issues with my Garmin today(2-10-2009). My unit started shutting down and rebooting about every 5 minutes for no apparent reason while I was roadway driving. I tried resetting the unit each time to no avail. I am disappointed with Garmin. I spent over $500 for this unit. Garmin should have never let this unit out of their warehouse if they knew the 785T still had major bug issues.

Update 2-12-2009: Amazon is the greatest. They replaced my unit without any problems. My first unit went completely dead since my previous post. Hopefully the replacement unit will do better.

4/10/2009...So far my replacement unit is still working fine. A point about the navigational mapping. I find the navigational mapping portion of this unit a little weak. In the "quickest time" mode, more often the unit would direct me off a "clear" highway to traffic light ridden backroads and streets to get me to my destination. I did a test driving the rout to my home from work once during highway heavy traffic and once during the lowest highway traffic hour, 3am. Both times I was redirected off the highway to traffic light ridden back roads and streets. During the 3am test, there were no traffic or traffic accidents. Staying on the highway at 3am would have gotten me home much quicker. This is probably the last Garmin I will ever buy.


I love the Garmin Nuvi 785t as this is a good unit. From what I am able to tell, it is about 99% accurate but those flaws will not let you miss your destination. Some of the directions around town do not make any sense but being that I know differently I did not take that advice. However, a stranger would not know the difference as gas will be wasted. For the most part, I am very satisfied with this unit.

For those of you that are new to the GPS these features are for you:

The first thing you want to do before routing an address is to connect the unit to a computer and UPDATE the Garmin software. It comes with a USB cable and it is easy to update.

It does speak the name of the street as well as the lane to get in after you make the turn.

U.S. interstates and roads speed is automatically displayed but not for local and state highways/roads.

Your personal speed is shown no matter what road or highway you are on.

The GPS has a mode for "automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian."

You are able to transmit the voiced directions through your radio to your automobile speakers without a cable by simply putting your radio on a FM station WITH static. The lower the channel the better but the lowest station that can be used is 88.1. The con to this is that you cannot listen to your CD's while you are using that feature and you will be able to hear some of the static.

Media card: the unit can take the regular SD card as well as SDHC card but not over 4GB. According to Garmin, anything over 4GB will make the unit slow and they do not advise using anything over 4GB.

It has a picture viewer so you can insert your media card to view your pictures as well as have a picture for the address listed in your favorites or address book.

When you input your address, let the unit find your location and save it as your home address because your location may not match your current address. It might find another address but your actual coordinates will match the location of your house.

The unit draws the map quickly as well as the re-calculation of the route. However, if you are on the interstate and you did not take the routed exit and if you have not passed the street that is attached to that exit, then the unit will not recalculate until you have passed that street especially when the exit is a long road. It will recalculate quickly if a street is not connected to an exit.

You can enter multiple destinations.

The "Where I am feature" is a good feature especially when you cannot find an address. You can pull in a driveway, press the icon and it will give you an address or what they believe to be address. I typed an address in the unit and the address could not be found. Therefore, after arriving at the address, I pressed the icon and it gave me an address which was different from the address that I had and I saved it for the future.

The current temperature is displayed on the GPS.

The "points of interest" is nice because it pretty much becomes a telephone directory.

I have not seen any 3-D buildings on the map.

MSN Direct: I love it BUT traffic reports are not in my area. All of the services of MSN Direct are not available in every area. All available features are available in the most major cities so if you live or travel to major cities, then just for the traffic reports is worth subscribing to this service. We traveled to a large city and were helped with the traffic information. It alerts of the traffic, the delay and how major the traffic has stalled as well as rerouting you passed the stalled traffic. The car icon automatically appears on the screen as you do not have to do anything which is great especially if you are driving alone. The information given gives traffic information for your direct route as well as traffic miles away from your location. You can push the car icon and it lists the location of the reports. Go to this link http://www.msndirect.com/coverage.aspx to find out if coverage is in your area and what features are available in your area.

The "Gas Prices" feature for ME is worth the [...] for the lifetime subscription. It is accurate and I got prices as far as an eleven mile radius of my location. I wish I had this feature earlier when the gas prices were much higher than they are now.

The "Stock Prices" is great if you do not have internet services on your cell phone. Enter the stock symbol and it automatically displays the information. The GPS does not have to be plugged into your car in order to get the update as the adapter has a battery so it continues to update the unit as long as the adapter is connected to the unit.

The "News Headlines" is just as it says. It shows the headlines and a brief summary.

The "Weather" gives you the current weather as well as weather in other cities in a certain radius of your location.

There are other features of MSN Direct but I highlighted some of the features.

Cons: There are two cons with this unit:

Lane Assist: It is not interactive and it looks like what you see when the lane assist is advertised. It flashes briefly across the screen so if you missed it then you missed it. However, you can touch the turn guidance icon and if the lane assist icon is highlighted then you can see the lane assist but if you are driving alone that is a bit much especially if you have to make a split decision. Lane assist is not every where all the time as that feature is very limited.

However, the plus is that the turns and the lanes are pretty much clear to understand without the lane assist.

Battery: The unit is too expensive for this to be a throw away unit. The battery is not replaceable and the guide gives you instructions on how to dispose of the unit but not return the unit to have the battery replaced. Therefore, it is imperative to protect the unit in making sure that the unit is not left in a hot automobile. Yes, the unit has a warranty but


I have had this unit for awhile - when I first got it I installed the updates so I never saw how it worked before. but I have been very pleased with the performance. when I find a POI it only takes about 2-5 seconds max for the unit to calculate the best route, which isn't lightning fast, but fast enough. I really like the MSN direct feature. although you need to keep the unit running for a couple HOURS to get all the information the first time out of the box. I really haven't had any problems or major complains about the unit. there are a lot of feature well thought out that they unit does buy itself that I never saw in other GPS units (I have used TOMTOM, iGuidance 4.0, Dell Navteq, and Google earth linked with a GPS)
I read the review from Cyrano1818 "cyrano_d" I personally think they are making too big of deal over trival things. never at any point have i missed a turn or not had the unit recalculate fast enough for unexpected detours. you can't expect something jack full of eye-candy to run like a grayscale GPS unit.
The movement of the map is very smooth, and navigation through menus has fluid movement (like the iPhone).
When I searched for a restaurant I was a little disappointed in the time it took for the unit to search it's database, sometimes it can take a long time, 20+ seconds. but you do have the option to stop the search at anytime and change the specifications to refine the search, which is nice.
Voice prompts are easy to hear and understand. Bluetooth is easy to use. people can hear me well on the unit (I was nervous that there would be too much noise being so close to the windshield.





I had a TomTom but I like the simplicity of Garmin's user interface better. When you are driving you want something that is easy to use. My only complaint is the touch screen could be a little more sensitive and it takes too many clicks to see the traffic information. But overall the 785T is a really good product. I ski often so having the weather and traffic from MSN is a plus. I took the advice of one of the other reviewers and installed the improved software from Garmin's website and it performs well.


I had an older Garmin C340 device and recently upgraded to the 785T for the wide screen and real-time traffic, weather, gas prices and other information from MSN. I was pleasantly surprised by how much better the 785T is compared to my old C340. I love how thin it is, and the wide screen is nice. I also liked the traffic information and found it to be fairly accurate. Even though the gas prices are going down, they will surely go back up and given how things are with the economy, saving a few bucks helps. I haven't had any problems, but just to be safe I upgraded the 785T's software using Garmin's Webupdater application. The upgrade is easy. After you get the device just install the WebUpdater application on your PC from Garmin's website, connect the device to your computer with a USB cable, and start the Webupdater application.

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About Garmin nüvi 785T 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator detail

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5861 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: NUVI 785T
• Dimensions: 3.00" h x .80" w x 4.80" l, .40 pounds
• Native resolution: 480 x 272
• Display size: 4.3

Features

• Bright 4.3-Inch Diagonal Touch Screen Color Display
• 480 X 272 Pixels, Wqvga Tft Display With White Backlight
• Preloaded With City Navigator(R) North America Nt
• Bluetooth(R) Wireless Technology For Hands-Free Calling
• High-Sensitivity GPS Receiver For Improved Performance & Reception

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