Garmin nüvi 765/765T 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic & Lifetime Map Updates

Reviews

1. Check the bluetooth compatibility list!

   by Homeschooling Mom of 3

   I’ve used my mom’s Garmin 265 and my sister’s Garmin 765 and enjoyed both. Hubby and I decided it was time we entered the 21st century and got our own GPS, so after tons of research, we chose the same model my sister has.

   So far I like it. As other reviewers have mentioned, the touch-screen can get a little schizophrenic sometimes. The maps aren’t perfect, but I don’t guess we can expect “perfect” maps for a few more years, at least. They’re definitely getting better, though, which seems to me to be a strong argument in favor of getting the lifetime map updates. The original maps on my Garmin had a completely skewed version of my neighborhood, but the update (which only took about 2 hours) had the corrected version.

   One word of advice to potential buyers: If the bluetooth feature is important to you, check Garmin’s bluetooth compatibility list to see if your phone is listed. (Just do a google for “Garmin bluetooth compatibility list”.) I was looking forward to this feature, as we just upgraded to our first bluetooth-enabled phones, and I’m not fond of the Borg-looking, headset craze. Sadly, my Pantech phone doesn’t play nice with Garmin bluetooth. I can make the connection for calls, but I can’t hear the other person on the line, and they can’t hear me. A $40 Jabra car kit will do the job, but that’s not as much fun as using my snazzy new GPS as a Borg-free, hands-free phone gadget.

   One word of advice to Garmin: PLEASE come up with a gps that will let the user choose the actual route! I LOVE Google Maps where I can drag the route to a different road if I so choose. There are many times we’re going on a long trip to somewhere familiar, but still want the gps active to help us find restaurants or whatnot. It’s awfully annoying to hear “recalculating” over and over as we drive the route that we know is most efficient. Also, in our area, there are many curvy, mountainous roads, and even though the speed limit is misleadingly sufficient for a quick drive through, the curves themselves simply don’t allow for efficient travel. Once when using my mom’s gps, we followed the Garmin-recommended route through North Georgia, and lost an hour on our supposed “ETA” because the garmin did not account for super-curvy roads through the mountains where, much of the time, it is impossible to drive at the speed limit.

   Overall, I’m happy with my purchase. I think it was overpriced, considering the bluetooth won’t work with my new phone, and the main reason I bought the 765 instead of the 265 was for the multiple-destination routing (my clumsy effort at replicating the neato Google maps drag-and-drop routing). But I’m glad to have it, and I would highly recommend Garmin to other potential buyers.

2. Restarts spontaneously in the middle of a route?!

   by Amanda Linden

   We are very impressed with the traffic & navigation abilities. We have, however, had a few quirks with the whole system shutting down in the middle of a route & restarting spontaneously. Also, at one point, some of the options in the menu disappeared but was resolved after the system was restarted. This was especially aggravating considering we were on vacation & had no idea where we were going. My husband does love her & has named her because we have avoided a lot of arguments by leaving the navigation to her instead of me trying to read the map!

3. Incredible GPS

   by Brant W. Weller

   So 3 years ago I was one of the first people I knew to own a GPS. I bought a garmin street pilot c330 for $220. It is absolutely amazing to see what I can get for the same money now. This GPS is amazing. It fires up and knows right where I am as soon as I turn it on without having to spend 10 minutes ‘acquiring satellites’ and reroutes when I turn off the given directions much faster than my old c330. I bought it with the portable friction mount which fits fine, doesn’t leave residue, but somehow doesn’t slide when i’m driving. It is such a great GPS, and with the included Lifetime maps, it’s a steal!

   Bluetooth: I bought this for the bluetooth application, because next month it will be illegal in my area to talk on the phone and drive, and being in sales, i am on the phone in my car all the time. I read many reviews saying the speaker isn’t loud enough, and I think they’re crazy. I can hear the person on the other end perfectly clear, and they have no problems understanding me. It easily paired with my LG phone and pulled up my contacts and recent call lists. My only complaint is that I wish the bluetooth tool was closer to the main screen and quicker to access.

   Screen: It was quite off when I got it in the mail, but upon a quick internet search, I learned how to calibrate it and it works fine now. It is incredibly nice having the speed limit and lane guidance on the screen. I also love how it automatically zooms out when i am going faster to give upcoming detail, and zooms in when my speed drops to give closer details. The wide screen is extra nice, too, in helping me see what I am surrounded with.

   Navigation: Garmin always seems to be the best. It gives way better directions than my Dad’s magellan, and I love the new ecoroute feature to save me gas money.

   I haven’t got to use the 3D buildings or traffic features since I live in a fairly rural are, but I do a lot of traveling and look forward to putting those to use in addition to my new capability to navigate through Canada!

   This is a great GPS and i am so happy I purchased it.

4. Terrific buy!

   by Kathy O.

   This is our first GPS, and we’re thrilled. The first time I used it I was shocked that it took me through the city to get to the airport (instead of the longer, but usually faster, beltway). I followed the directions and got to the airport in record time and stressfree! Then I used it to get back home, and it took me through the city again, but on a different route! Again, very fast and very easy. It automatically finds the fastest way to get there!!

5. Several problems my last garmin did not have

   by Amnia

   – unit occasionally shows my car icon driving in the fields parallel to the road i am on. at intersections it then thinks i am driving on the intersecting road. after 5-10 minutes it settles down.

   - sometimes it takes several minutes to acquire satellites; sometimes the unit does not find any satellites after 10 minutes and i have to turn it off and then on again.

   - when typing in the name of a place or the address of a place, often the unit does not enter what i actually typed. something is wrong with the sensors of the touch screen. others seem to be having this same problem with their 765 as well.

   - screen shows lots of fingerprints.

   - about once a week the unit tells me my maps are out of date, even though they are the latest maps.

   - it seems to receive far too many advertisements for local fast food and hotels when it gets traffic updates. for example, without naming names, i have seen over a hundred ads for a well known seafood restaurant named after a red crustacean that goes well with drawn butter.

   note that the 765 does not have the latest operating system. the newest units like the 1390 have the latest operating system, but garmin has removed the mp3 player, fm transmitter, store routes/multiple destinations, audio book player, locate (where is the car parked), 3D building view, accept SD cards (1390 only takes micro-SD), and a few other things.

   a year ago a lot of the 7×5 series were turned into bricks when they received a bad firmware update, and needed to be sent back to garmin to have them fixed.

   so i think the 7×5 series were just lemons. my last garmin did not have any of these problems. i was very satisfied with my previous garmin and only replaced it so i could get traffic info.

6. NOT BAD AT ALL

   by T. Michael Doy

   Okay, I read many reviews that kinda sorta trashed this GPS. When I read these bad reviews I suspected (correctly) that user error was at work. One reviewer lamented that you cannot program multiple stops during the same trip. Well, there are actually a couple of ways to do this. If you want to add just one stop you can enter it in ‘Where To?’. After you press ‘go’ it will ask you if you want to add this as an via route. Click ‘yes’ and it’s done. The other way is to edit the route you have programed under ‘Custom Routes’. There you can add as many stops as you want. I have tried both of these methods and they are both very user friendly. Another reviewer complained that the GPS kept taking him in the wrong direction and was completely useless. He said he turned it off and probably could not wait to take it back. That really sounded suspicious.

   As with any new GPS one should always use it to travel to places already well known to the user in order to get a thorough comprehension of the characteristics of the unit. I suspect he did not do that. A GPS might take you in the wrong direction briefly but they always come around. It’s a good idea to know whether your destination is north, south, east, or west from your current location. It’s also a good idea to review the route before you leave. Simply tap the top bar on the unit and it will tell you turn by turn, mile by mile, how it is taking you to your destination.

   One problem with the unit is that you cannot x out a road or part of the route it has decided for you. Navigon allows you to do this. I don’t remember if Tom Tom does or not. My last unit was the Navigon 5100 which I thought would be the last GPS I would ever buy what with map upgrades and all. Boy, what an inferior product my Navigon is to this Garmin. Really, the only thing Navigon has that I miss is the ability to x out portions of the route. Every thing else about the Navigon is pale in comparison. The contrast on my Navigon was such that I would have to take my driving glasses off to see no matter how I set it. Even though it has more settings than the Garmin, there is still no comparison. The Garmin’s contrast is sharp and clean. Navigon’s is not. To x out a portion of the route or a road, a little geographical savvy is necessary. Simply drive past the portion of the route you don’t want to take towards the route that you prefer. The Garmin 765t will recognize the route you want to take much quicker than the Navigon 5100 without repeating, ‘please make a u turn now’ for several miles.

   Another reviewer complained about the clarity of voice on this unit. I can tell you that this reviewer never had a Navigon. Yes both voices are robotic. But Garmins robot girl knows how to enunciate and project. You can actually hear what she is saying and you don’t have to turn it all the way up to do so. One problem they both have with their programming is the use of the abbreviation, ‘St’. Both companies seem to think that no matter where this appears in a street name, it stands for ’street’. For instance Saint Lo Drive will be pronounced ’street Lo drive’. Cape Saint Clare exit will be pronounced ‘Cape street Clare exit’.

   Yet another reviewer comlained about the customer service. At least Garmin has customer service. Navigon’s customer service is only an email address. Unfortunately they never, and I mean never return an email. I would much rather hang on the phone for 2 hours waiting for or talking to a service rep than sending emails into cyberspace never to be heard of again. I know that is not saying much for either company but, which one would you take?

   Finally, the customer that complained that the ‘lifetime maps’ are only good so long as the currect provider is solvent and remains the provider. Come on, get real. What does he expect? Now I’m not a lawyer and I’ve never sat for any states bar exam but I can tell this is a standard contract. Perhaps better than most.

7. Nice value bundle, but terrible quality

   by G. Meador

   I have owned five Garmin GPS units prior to ordering the nüvi 765t. They’ve generally been excellent, and I have a great experience overall with the Garmin brand.

   I ordered this as an upgrade to my aging StreetPilot c550. Bluetooth is a requirement for me, as my c550 is the core of my handsfree communication setup. The 765t is not cutting edge now, so the price has dropped significantly, and the inclusion of nüMaps lifetime upgrades in this bundle makes it a great value.

   My initial impressions were positive. The build quality of the 765t is excellent, and it has a speedy CPU that offers smooth screen updates and fast, responsive operation. The included traffic receiver seems nice, although I don’t live in a coverage area, and the nüvi quickly picked up the satellites overhead.

   Once I started using the 765t, however, the honeymoon was over. The touchscreen occasionally registered taps in areas far away from where I had tapped, even after I calibrated the screen.

   More importantly, however, the speaker in the 765t is terrible. It is less than half as loud as the speaker in my older StreetPilot. After trying a handsfree call, I discovered that I couldn’t hear the other party even while I sat quietly in a parking lot. On a drive around the block, I couldn’t hear the spoken directions … even at maximum volume. This is absolutely unacceptable for a GPS featuring spoken directions and handsfree calling. Garmin really shot themselves in the foot by cutting corners with the speaker.

   I’m sorry to say the nüvi has been boxed up for return, something I’ve never done with a Garmin. Stay far away from this model and look at other Garmins with dual and/or front-firing speakers.

8. Garmins work great for us !

   by Naileshree Chauhan

   I bought the 765T because of free lifetime traffic plus amazon has the free lifetime maps package too. Used it in San Francisco, works great, actually saw the ”3-D” building display in downtown, kinda cool ! Looking forward to future map updates for FREE, hopefully up to 4 times yearly.. that’s going to pay for this unit quite nicely .. Only slow feature is when you search for an exact business name, it takes a while to find the matching names, otherwise I’ll hopefully get several good years of service from this unit !

9. jaybee

   by Jaybee

   Knowing our area, it didn’t take us the best way (for traffic). We were looking for lane-specific items, but haven’t seen that.

10. Good GPS but heavy, speaker SUCKS and not configurable enough

    by Salit L. Gazit

    Got this one to replace my aging 370. On the whole I like the 765 (and the lifetime map updates!) though was hoping that 3 years and a higher end model would result in a far better GPS. It is more accurate, has better graphics and visibility even in strong daylight (unlike 370), faster and shows both turn lanes and traffic conditions, which I like.
    
    On the con side, it took forever to update the map, the 765 is a lot more heavy than the 370 (no more keeping it in my purse) and the speaker is FAR worse. The voice sounds choppy and I had a hard time understanding what a caller was saying on an incoming call. The 370 voice quality was much better. I don’t know why a newer higher end model should have such poor sound.

    The navigation options should have improved. I was hoping the 765 will have overcome the 370 tendency to select obscure highways rather than freeways, and/or allow the option of preferring freeways, but that seems to still be a problem. Having the 370 navigate me through high Sierra mountain roads during winter, rather than go through the freeways, is downright crazy, and potentially dangerous. I have not driven to Tahoe with the 765 yet, but I hope it will be better in that respect.

    Inserting an address also hasn’t improved much (except for switching to QWERTY keyboard). The device should remember cities inserted and offer them earlier than new ones (e.g. if I used Santa Clara, I w

    So on the whole a decent GPS and certainly does the job. Lifetime maps and traffic are great. But the poor quality of the speaker and lack of configurable navigational choices lowers the score heavily.

11. Another piece of junk

    by John T. Reiter

    This unit has excellent graphics and the menu is very intuitive, but that’s where it ends. When you upload google maps routes, it only saves the destination; not the route you planned. When trying to set-up custom routes, this thing will route you around every country road in the USA to get to your destination. When you try the optimize feature for the route, not matter which optimize feature you select, it always says this is the best route and will not let you adjust it. If your going to the grocery store at the end of your street, then this is your machine. Otherwise, I would look somewhere else. Also, the disclamer on the lifetime maps is it’s good for the life of the machine or the current map provider; whichever happens first.

12. Great deal, and GPS

    by theoriginalsubguy

    There are a lot or reviews for the Garmin 765T, but this is the first for the unit, bundled with the lifetime map update.

    First, this is a great deal, because for twenty-five dollars extra, amazon is giving you free lifetime map updates. This is normally a hundred + dollar option.

    Unit is great. Fast satellite locate, great accuracy. Lane assist is great option that it comes with. I am not sure why, but on a 3 hour drive from WA to ID, I never saw traffic information once. Maybe that only works in BIG cities. I will check in Seattle or Portland.

    The speaker phone works much better than expected. Doing 70MPH, the caller said it had only a minor sound like a window was cracked open (I had them rolled up). They said that they could still hear me clearly. I like how the caller ID and address book are displayed on the Garmin. Also, phone battery status.

    I did go to Garmin’s website and it said both a map update and a software update were needed. The software update took 5 minutes. The map update was long! Over 3 hours to download 2 GB (not MB, but GB!) and then transfer it into the unit. I think even with the quickest internet, this is still a 2 hour process.

    My GPS is fully updated now! So I hit the road to Idaho. Very accurate. Lot’s of voices and icons to choose from. You can download more, for free, from Garmin.

    I really like that you can enter coordinates, a feature my older Magellan did not have.

    I only have one critical comment, and it is minor. On the display, it shows the speed limit, and your speed. It also gives you the choice of seeing your distance to destination OR elevation, OR estimated arrival time, OR time to destination, or …

    It would be nice if you could select an option to automatically scroll through these instead of having to manually selecting one. I like to know both elevation, and distance to the destination simultaneously. Elevation is important to me so that I know to keep an eye out for ice or snow.

    Overall, I love it though. I like the eco mode, which assist you in optimizing gas mileage.