Garmin Nuvi 780 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigation System w/ 4.3″ LCD Widescreen (0100065705) BeanBag 2GB SD BigVALUEInc Accessory Saver Bundle + MORE
| Overall rating: |
|
This Kit Includes:
1- Garmin Nuvi 780 Vehicle GPS w/4.3″ LCD Touch Widescreen Brand New USA w/ Full Manufacturer’s Accessories
1- 2GB SD Memory Card (Extra Storage Space for your MP3s, Pictures, Additional Maps, POI’s and Software!)
1- USB SD Memory Card Reader (Transfer Your MP3s, Pictures, Additional Maps, POI’s and Software Faster!)
1- Bean Bag Dashboard Mount (Mount Your GPS Unit Without Adhesives or Windshield Mounts, Simple Beanbag Mount Stays In Place and Works for Any GPS Unit!)
1- Pack of GPS Screen Protectors (Protect Your Screen from Dust & Scratches!)
More about this GPS:
Vehicle GPS Unit, 4.3″ LCD Screen. Go wide and get MSN Direct with nuvi 780. This navigator has it all – advanced navigation features, a widescreen display, preloaded maps, an FM transmitter and hands-free calling – plus real-time local weather, traffic, movie times, stock information, gas prices and news and local events. Like the rest of the wide nuvi 700-series, its premium navigation capabilities, like route planning and a handy locator, give you peace of mind on the go.
Supplied Manufacturer Accessories in addition to mentioned above: Preloaded City Navigator® NT for North America, MSN Direct receiver with integrated vehicle power cable, 3 months free MSN Direct service, Vehicle suction cup mount, Dashboard disc, USB cable, Quick start manual.
Features
- Garmin Nuvi 780 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigation System w/ 4.3″ Widescreen Brand New USA w/ Full Manufacturer’s Accessories
- 2GB SD Secure Digital Memory Card
- USB SD Memory Card Reader
- Non-Skid Portable Bean Bag Dashboard Mount
- Pack of GPS LCD Screen Protectors (See Description For More Details)
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 0 x 0 x 0 inches
- Weight: 0 pounds
Nuvi 780 built in Taiwan, but to Great Britain specifications
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”.