Garmin Nuvi 760
Update: As is the case with most of our reviews, we purchased the 760 off the shelf, from a local retail store.
With the possible exception of the 770 which includes European maps, the Garmin Nuvi 760 is the flagship GPS of the Garmin auto line. It has nearly all of the advanced features GPS connoisseurs look for, a widescreen display, Bluetooth hands free calling, live traffic reporting, and an FM transmitter. It also comes with a hefty price tag. If the success of the Nuvi 660 is any indication, the 760 is almost certain to be a winner. We’ve dedicated a few full days of quality time with the new Nuvi 760, and here is what we found.
Physical Design
The Nuvi 760 is a beautiful GPS device. Maybe not quite as sexy as the TomTom 720, but we’ll still take her out. A few immediate differences are seen from the previous top of the line 600 series. First, the face of the device is black. To me, this is an improvement over the previous Nuvi devices not simply from an aesthetic point of view, but it also makes the screen appear slightly easier to read against the high contrast surroundings. We’ve talked about the color of your GPS before and this is a tiny but welcome change.
Another improvement over the 600 series is that the flip-up antenna is gone. No more pulling up the antenna to activate the GPS chip. It does seem to take noticeably longer for the 760 to get a GPS signal each time we turn it on compared to our 300, and 600 series Nuvi devices. Across the top of the device is a slider which turns the 760 on and off, and can serve as a “hold” switch causing the device to ignore touch screen input. That feature can be especially handy for pedestrian use. On the left side is a headphone jack and SD card slot. The maps are loaded in an internal memory so the SD card slot is only needed for additional map coverage or multimedia files, should you desire. Along the bottom is a USB port for connections to your computer, as well as the power/mount connector. On the back is also a connector for an external GPS antenna, should you need one, but you probably won’t.
Update: People have asked for a more specific definition of “noticeably longer” signal acquisition time compared to the 300 and 600 Nuvi series. My 300 and 600 series devices will typically connect within 10-20 seconds while the 760 typically takes 20-30 seconds. It is a noticeable difference, but not significant.
I’ve nocked countless devices in the past for having connectors on the bottom which tend to make it difficult to mount the GPS very low on your dash. However in this case the power connector (part of the mount) only sticks out about 1/4 of an inch, so this isn’t much of an issue. While that bottom location also is where the “eject” button for the mount is, you can take advantage of the ball and socket joint in the mount to angle the GPS up to access the eject button if your GPS is mounted very low on the windshield.
In typical Garmin fashion, the mount and hardware design is nearly perfect. The mount is compact making it easy to stow, the ball and socket joint in the mount is perfectly tensioned for easy adjustability of screen angle, yet it holds tight enough to not bounce around on rough roads.
The power adapter for the car also serves double duty as the FM TMC traffic antenna. This is simply brilliant. The last thing I need is one more cord hanging around my dash… especially one with multiple suction cup mounts that just scream “Expensive GPS hidden in this car!”. Integrating the traffic antenna with the power cord eliminates a dash full of spaghetti cable and one less accessory to forget taking with me. Before using one of these combo cords I was concerned that it might not have as good of reception as a separate cord stuck up on the windshield, but I’ve found with this and other Garmin combo power/antennas that the reception has been just fine.
Of course the only way to make the traffic receiver even better would be to incorporate it into the device itself so I could still get traffic on trips less than 4 hours (estimated battery life) without needing to take the traffic adapter. But still the traffic solution offered with the 760 does beat the competition when it comes to convenience and other devices that have built in traffic receivers haven’t had great reception.
Perhaps the best part of the newer Nuvi devices is the screen. The screen is incredibly bright, brighter than just about any other GPS on the market. These newer screens (as compared to the early 300 series for example) are so bright it is the only GPS I’ve ever considered turning down the brightness from the maximum setting. Text is crisp, and extremely readable.
We would have liked if the Garmin 760 came with an AC adapter, but in all fairness most other GPS companies are skimping on this accessory as well. While most of my trips are short enough to do without a power cable, you may still want to take the power cable with you since it doubles as the traffic receiver.
Routing to an Address
As you can imagine, I frequently get friends, neighbors, and relatives asking to borrow GPS devices. When someone who has never used a GPS device asks for a loaner, I often (but not always) hand them a Garmin. The reason is that they are dead simple to operate.
Navigating to an address is really simple. Power on -> Where to -> Address -> State -> City -> Street Number -> Street Name -> Go. But to be picky, there are a few things I’d like to see changed. I prefer to enter the street name first, then number. And why, oh why, does nearly any GPS on the market today not know that I type “NY” in the state field I want…… you guess…. New York! Again, in fairness most other GPS devices on the market are equally dumb and don’t understand state abbreviations. Instead I’ll just keep having to type N-E-W-Y-space-Y before it knows what I’m taking about.
Again, being really picky, there are two other things I don’t like about the Address entry feature. First, after selecting the city and town there is only one street in my town that begins with the letters “Mon”, yet I need to enter two more characters “Montg” before it will show me that one result. The second is that it isn’t at all accommodating if you make a spelling error. A few other devices on the market are much more elegant when it comes to spelling mistakes.
More people have recently begun to ask which GPS devices support QWERTY keyboards for address entry. The Garmin Nuvi 760 does offer a QWERTY option for you fast thumb keyboarders like myself.
Finding POIs
Finding POIs is just as simple. Where to -> Points of Interest -> select a category, a sub category if applicable, and then look through the resulting list. A nice bonus is that the list will tell you which direction the POI is in relative to your current location. The font size used is good and big, however we would prefer (again, being picky) that the address not be shown on this list instead making room for one more item on the list before you need to scroll. Once you click on a POI the address is shown, making it somewhat redundant in the POI list. Once you find the POI you are looking for, click ‘Go’ and you are on your way.
And we still would like to be able to view POI icons in the 3D map/navigation display, something that other devices have offered for quite a long time.
Multi Destination Routing
It took a few years, but Garmin finally heard the cry and has given us Multi Destination routing without the need for a big old bulky StreetPilot device. Thank you, thank you, thank you! To create a route with tons of points in it go to Tools -> Routes -> New. From here you can add a starting point, an end point, and lots of points in between. I haven’t yet tried to hit the limit on how many points you can add to a single route, but I’ve been told it is 50. If you need more than 50 points you should probably look into some sort of commercial navigation system anyway. 
After you’ve entered in your starting point, your ending points, and intermediate points you can calculate the route and go. You can manually reorder the points in the route, or have them “optimized” by using the ‘Optimally Reorder Points’ function. Yes, the Garmin Nuvi 700 series does include the highly sought after “route optimization” feature many people are looking for. I’ve always been upset with a few GPS manufacturers who offer a feature called “Route Optimization” but it is really “route sorting” where the list is sorted from closest to furthest away, which is often not the most efficient order. However once again, Garmin gets this right and the feature they call ‘Optimally Reorder Points’ is in fact true route optimization.
Note that through the Routes feature, you can now also plan routes in advance by setting a starting location other than your current location. In most other Nuvi devices you could only do that through a complex work around which involves disabling the GPS and then browsing the map to find your starting location. Not anymore! So when would you use this feature? Next week I’m going to a trade-show. I want to know now how far it is from the airport to my hotel. And I might want to plot out a route from the hotel to the convention center. With most of the other Nuvi devices it was an unbearable workaround to get that information. Now I can just take advantage of the Routes feature to set my starting location as a POI (the airport) and then my destination as another POI (the hotel) and preview the route.
Traffic
As mentioned above, integrated into the power connector is a FM Traffic antenna. Here you can connect to The Clear Channel Total Traffic Network (TTN) to receive live traffic information as it pertains to your route. While we’ve put quite a few miles on our 760, we haven’t yet spent a ton of time in traffic. While we’ve been in an area covered by the traffic service, we haven’t been able to spend time in rush hour traffic to give it a run. However there are not too many unknowns here. The TTN is used on quite a few devices, so we know the service works fairly well. And we can say that we were able to get a connection to the traffic network where a few other devices had dropped in “fringe” areas, so the reception appears to be fantastic.
You don’t need to turn anything on to activate the subscription. Once the GPS is plugged in and it finds a traffic report, the ticker starts on your three month trial subscription. After that the subscription costs $60 annually.
Detours, Excluding Specific Roads
The Detour function on the Nuvi 700 series unfortunately still leaves quite a bit to be desired. I don’t think it does what most people would expect from a detour function. For example recently I was driving back home from a conference and the trip was about 150 miles. About five miles after leaving I came across an accident where the road was blocked. I wanted to know the best way to get around the block which I could see was about 1/4 – 1/2 mile in distance. With most other GPS devices if you use a detour function you can specify how far out you want to avoid. Hitting Detour on the Nuvi however will just create an entirely different route all the way to the destination. Not quite what I needed. 
Note too that what I experienced seems to conflict with what the User Manual says what should happen:
The nuvi attempts to get you back on your original route as quickly as possible. If the route you are current taking is the only reasonable option, the nuvi might not calculate a detour.
What the manual seems to describe is what I wanted it to do. But instead it calculated a new route for the next 145 miles that didn’t touch any of the previous roads in the all of the way to the destination. I also wish there was a way from the Maneuvers list to “exclude” one of the items in the route.
Update: Subsequent testing shows that what the Detour function is doing is in fact similar to the other Nuvi models. What it does is basically detour around the next road segment. When I was testing it I was on a long, limited access highway. I thought it would (and should) take me off at the next exit, and then get me back on one more exit further. However it excluded the entire highway. Still not what I’d hope for out of a Detour function, but it does seem to match what the manual suggests and previous Nuvi operation.
In the ‘Next Turn’ bar at the top of the screen gives you a list of all of the upcoming maneuvers in the current route. I really want a button on the right side of this list that says “exclude”, “delete”, or “remove” that would create a new route avoiding that road or intersection. Yes, I could accomplish the same thing with a via point or a Route, but it is nowhere near as convenient.
Where the hell did I park?
One of the other new features in the 700 series could only be called “Let me scratch my head look around and see nothing that resembles my car in this parking lot.” Instead of getting out the remote on your keys and trying to “light up” your car, you can use your GPS to find your car. The premise is simple. When you remove your Nuvi from the mount it will remember the coordinates where it was when it was separated. Then later as you are looking for your car you can go to ‘Where to’ -> ‘Favorites -> ‘Last Position’ and it will help you guide you to your car. Clever, simple, and only you will know how often you might use it.
Navigation
The navigation screen hasn’t changed much over prior Nuvi versions. The top still has a Green bar with the Next Turn information. At the bottom left is your estimated arrival time, bottom center takes you to the Menu, bottom right shows the distance to the next maneuver, and there are zoom buttons at the top left and top right. I still miss not being able to easily answer someone when they ask me “how long before we get there?” Of course I can look at the estimated arrival time and compare that to the current time. I also wished that the screen would zoom in a little more when there are side streets. Sometimes “straight ahead” isn’t always obvious and in densely packed streets that are not always parallel and perpendicular it is sometimes necessary to zoom in to find which way I want to go. There are nice big zoom buttons though so it isn’t too big of an issue.
Some of you older Nuvi users will notice something else on the screen, a speed limit graphic. When you are driving on a road where the Nuvi knows the current speed limit, that information will be displayed. Most of the limited access highways we drove included speed limit information while most of the city streets did not. But when driving in an unfamiliar area it is nice to just look down and see what the limit is rather than just wondering to yourself when it last was you saw a speed limit sign.
While looks aren’t everything, the Nuvi series devices including the 760 have a beautiful, easy to read map. The colors are vivid, and the font anti-aliasing and shading of elements makes many other devices look like they were drawn by a kid with crayons. What we don’t like as much is that those beautiful graphics seem to come at the expense of a slower screen refresh rate. In contrast to other devices on the market your car icon tends to “hop” down the street a bit more rather than gracefully slide. However you won’t think much of that issue if you haven’t compared it to other faster devices and I don’t find that it inhibits on navigation.
Voice, TTS
As would be expected in a device of this caliber, Text to Speech is offered. The voices haven’t changed that I can tell from previous Nuvi devices. I can hear them just find, however other people have complained to me that the TTS voices are difficult to understand and they end up using a non TTS (recorded) voice for their navigation. I didn’t have any trouble with the TTS voice.
The voice prompting frequency and instruction types were similar to other Nuvi devices. In general we found the prompts to be frequent enough, yet not to chatty in most environments. At highway speeds however (say 55 mph and above) we would have liked to have had much more advance warning of upcoming turns and exits…. say once at 2 miles out and then again at 1/2 mile out. When not watching the map and relying on the voice prompts, you might not always have enough time to switch as many lanes as you need to at highway speeds.
There is also an FM transmitter in the Nuvi 760. You can select a station yourself or, in a leg up on the competition, you can have it scan through and try to pick the best station for you, then reporting back what station you should tune your stereo to.
While FM transmitters sound great on paper, be prepared that they don’t always work well. Depending on where in your vehicle the antenna is, what type of an antenna it is, and the availability of “open” stations in your area– your results may vary. In my testing the FM transmitter worked on par, no better and no worse) than most other FM transmitters out there. This makes sense because the output power is regulated by the FCC and they are designed to put out as much power as possible. I’ve seen some FM transmitters underperform or outperform others, possibly due to the antenna location within the device, but the 760 appears to be on average with most devices.
In my car I needed to set the volume about twice has high in my stereo as I would ordinarily set it at and there was a bit of static I could hear while the Nuvi 760 wasn’t speaking its sweet nothings to me. I was able to drown out some of that static by having the 760 sing some MP3 music files to be in between navigation instructions.
Bluetooth
Don’t believe what you hear salespeople say in stores about “Bluetooth is Bluetooth, if your phone has Bluetooth of course it will work with this GPS.” Check the compatibility charts to make sure your phone is supported. Once paired, you can use the 760 to place calls to numbers in your Phone Book, POIs, or dial manual numbers. You can also receive calls through the 760. Like the FM transmitter, your results will vary depending on the phone you have.
We found that the phone book transfer option was much, much faster than on other competing devices, requiring no waiting at all. The same goes for the call history list. The phone call sound quality was marginal– which is about as good as can be said for most GPS devices unfortunately. The tiny speaker and tiny mic just never leads to outstanding sound quality. However the convenience of dialing through the GPS rather than the phone and being able to directly dial POIs as you navigate to them might outweigh the marginal sound quality.
Purchasing Guidance
Quite simply, it is really hard to go wrong with the Garmin Nuvi 760. It offers a great package of features including Bluetooth hands free calling, an FM transmitter, included and semi-integrated traffic receiver, Text to speech, and multi destination routing in a product that is physically very well designed and attached to a mount which is second to none. While we have a few gripes with the interface here and there, the issues are small and often amount to little more than personal preference. A product like this has great expectations and is held to a higher standard than many others.
As we mention with almost every Garmin product we talk about, the biggest thing that might cause someone to look to another product is the price. The MSRP price when announced was $857.13. You can find other GPS devices which offer similar features nearly half that amount in some cases. We’ve seen it advertised at around $700 in some places, however you can still find other devices with similar features for nearly a couple hundred dollars less. But you do get a product with a great set of features and few flaws.
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What is the difference between “Waypoints 500″ and “Waypoints/routs 50″ (and I’m not looking for 450
)?
500 = Number of “favorites” you can store
50 = Number of via points that can be in a single route.
I’ve been a 660 user for quite some time and like it very much. I have only a few gripes, but a big one is this: If I am traveling down the interstate, such as I-10, and I put in a POI such as a restaurant or a coffee shop, the Garmin should have the ability to see that I’m on a directional route and suggest stops ‘on the way’.
Instead, it shows me places behind, off to the left and off to the right.
This makes some sense in some circumstances, but not in a route heading down the interstate.
This one thing alone would keep me from upgrading to the 760 if it is the same.
Anyone hear whether Garmin will offer a firmware update to Nuvi 6xx users? I have a 660 and would love the QWERTY keyboard and multiple waypoints.
Nice review and I do agree on most of your points. However a few things they changed on the 760 over the 660 which I dont like at all are
1) Speaker is tinier (thanks to the slimmer design) and sounds less than desirable as compared to the one on the 660 which was nice and had a solid amount of (comparable) bass.
2) Why did Garmin remove the ability to access the volume + screen brightness in one quick touch (as with the 660). Volume is accessed now from the home screen (2 clicks) and brightness requires you to practically dissect the unit.
3) Satellite sync/link up takes much longer in the 760 as compared to the 660, especially if the unit has stayed off for a while i.e. you’ve left your car parked overnight and start the car / unit first thing next morning. The 660 took under a minute, the 760 takes incredibly long (in my case between 3 – 4 minutes) but once it does, then through the day, it syncs up much quicker. Dont know why it does that.
4) They skimped on accessories i.e. Carrying case + wall charger. Ok I admit I didnt’ use the wall charger a whole lot but carrying case? Why would you build a portable GPS and then not include the carrying case especially when they did include it on the 6XX series.
Otherwise its a great unit, screen is great and I got mine with 2008 maps ($70 value).
Floridaguy – Most other GPS devices (except for the Magellan Maestro series with their Exit POI functionality) suffer from that same issue. But it is a good point to remember. You can search ‘along route’ which might get you exactly what you are looking for but sometimes you are willing to go a ways to the side of the route that it might not pickup, but don’t want to go backwards.
Todd – I really doubt it, but it would be nice. Garmin doesn’t typically offer big new features in firmware updates.
Kamal – Thanks for the comments, and valid points.
Hey now… “big old bulky StreetPilot” … thems fightin words! I love my streetpilot! I bought a TomTom 720 and took it back and went back to my 2720!
I’m not sayin’ the 2720 isn’t a great feature packed navigator… Just that it’s missing a little something in the looks department.
tim – thanks for the review!! Can you create routes in mapsource and then upload them to the 760? What about a tracklog like the old gps V had? thanks jim
Yes, you can transfer routes and record tracklogs. I might have an addendum for those features in a couple of days.
Haha well yes I suppose that is true… my girlfriend always says “When are you going to get a cute one!?”
Does the 760 (or any GPS) automatically change the time when you pass from one time zone to another?
I know the 760 does (only because I read it the other day) as far as the others I have no idea.
I know the 760 does not…I just got off a 3000 mile bike trip and when crossing the time zones, the time did not change.
I do not have the latest software update, and this feature might have been corrected, but as of right now it does not.
Tom, I don’t believe so. I can’t think of other GPS devices that do either, but it isn’t something I keep track of either.
FloridaGuy: It is very easy to have your unit only give you POI’s along your route. After you click “where to,” click the “Near…” button at the bottom and choose “My current route.” I like being able to search for POI’s that are not directly in front of me: You’d never know when you just past the best restaurant within 100 miles otherwise!
Great review and followup comments. [snip] Thank you all for your efforts
I like my Nuvi 660 alot, but I have one big problem: it seems it does not support Topo maps, and one of the main uses I need it for is hunting…
Ani idea?
Thanks
Doru, I believe you can load topo maps on your 660 and the 760, however it generally isn’t recommended since your 660 isn’t built to withstand the outdoors. Open USB port, open SD card slot, etc… It wouldn’t take much to ruin it.
Nice review. I have had the 760 for a few days now and I really have enjoyed it. I was negitively suprised to see that the carry case and a DVD of “City Navigator NT” was not included. But after calling Garmin both could be ordered for about $15 each.
I was positivly suprised though to get a coupon to Audible.com in the box for two free audio books. Taking advantage of that was about a $60 value for me. And the books work both on the Garmin and my iPod.
One annoying feature about the 760’s Route and POI function is the the big red flag used to pin waypoint locations. They completely cover the name of the waypoint rendering the name unreadable. this is in all map views (3D, Track-up, North-up) and zoom settings.
Not a deal breaker, but you would think someone at Garmin would have fleshed-out this problem and corrected it. Maybe in the next software update Garmin can produce a fix to print the waypoint names OVER those POI and Route flag pins.
I’m terrified!
My Garmin Nuvi 760 froze during the first hour of using it. It was paired with my cellphone, then i switched it off and when I tried to turn it on again something like a screen calibration display shows up reding “press dot”, but without any further responce, no matter how I press that dot. There is a chance that my battery is down, but after a few hours of charging there is no improvement. Is this a hardware breakdown or software problem, can I do something by myself?
Dim, while I haven’t experienced that myself, I have heard other people say similar things about other Nuvi devices. A call to Garmin support is probably in your future, but I’ve heard of people getting through the calibration display game by clicking it “faster”. I’m not entirely sure what they meant by that since I haven’t seen it myself, but perhaps it will mean more to you since you’ve seen it.
I almost bought a 660, but heard that the “loaded”760 was coming out shortly. I was very impressed with your review of the 760, but a few things I questioned in the 660 seem to be the same in the 760, namely the limited distance in notifying you of an upcoming turn especially at highway speeds. This was one of the few things I had hoped Garmin would rectify in the 760. Now that the 760 is out, pricing on the 660 is significantly lower. Now my question (s), is the 760 worth the extra bucks over the 660? The new design is nice, but as Kamal noted, is the sound not as good as the 660, and what about maps, are the updated maps in the 760 that much better than the 660?
Fred, the speaker on the 760 doesn’t sound quite as loud as the ones in the 600 series, but I’ve found it to be plenty loud enough at highway speeds. It is difficult to say how much the new maps might impact you in your area. I’ve found some things that have been corrected, as well as a few new mistakes in my area.
How does this unit do in downtown with tall buidlings? My old street pilot 2610 usually lost satellite under those circumstances.Made the unit very unhelpful.
Greg, I don’t have a huge city close enough to me for a true urban environment, however the chipset does hold well for me in some challenging areas. It will certainly get a much better signal than your 2610. My only issue with reception on the 760 is that it takes longer than other devices to get its first signal, but after it gets the signal it holds on tight.
Hi
Just got a Nuvi 760. I like it, but not 100% convinced it’s the best. Some features that I think should be included in a good GPS is not there. Like exclude a portion or road from your route. NEEDED bad, as many roads in the USA are beng worked on for months. HAD MY FIRST PROBLEM, HAD TO DO A FULL RESET BECAUSE IT STOPPED TALKING. NO SOUND AT ALL. AFTTER THE RESET IT WORKED. If this happens again, back it goes.
So the difference between the Nuvi 750 and the 760 is the 750’s “silver” case color, no bluetooth and hundreds of dollars cheaper. Hmmmm why would anyone buy the 760????
Dean, I believe the 750 doesn’t come with, but is compatible with, the traffic receiver.
Funny, I bought the 750 today and it’s black, not silver. I’m returning it tomorrow. Cannot get a signal. The “Where Am I?” feature tells me I’m located in Tam Tam, China. I live in Massachusetts!
I have a 680 but i think iam going to return it for this 760. is it really worth it? how much different is the interface? Also, Im a police officer and obviously need nav in the same city everytime. is there Anyway around having to type in state-city, everytime, its very annoying and time consuming in the 680? I also wonder what the EMERGENCY vehicle setting in the 680 does.
Jason, I don’t think you will find many differences. The address entry interface hang changed much excepts perhaps the Qwerty option. I thinkthe emergency option just changes which road rules are followed.
Can you tell me if the Bluetooth functionality actually is heard through the vehicle speakers via the FM transmitter? Or is it solely heard through the 760’s built in speaker?
I got the 760 today and it is all black. A friend of mine got one and its got some silver in the case. Its strange since garmin does not publicize the option, i wonder if its any indication of production time. However, i did notice on the 760 it does not give me the emergency option, i hope im not depriving myself of something. I got the unit from [snip] which had it for sale $[snip]. Not to bad considering the 680 i returned cost me $[snip]. not sure why the price drop,i feel like if it costs more it must be better? hopefully in this case its not true. I wish i could figure out a way to set my city as the default any time i need to get somewhere, having to re-enter it everytime while trying t respond to a call is cumbersome. If you figure out how to do this plase let us know. thanks
DRiV3n – I recall Bluetooth will go through the FM transmitter.
Anyone know if the Nuvi 770 will have more than 2GB of total internal memory? If so, how much memory does it have?
Got my nuvi 760 with a 4Gb SDHC Kingston working just fine.
Mike, I suspect it will have more than 2GB since it would be needed for the additional mapping. I don’t know for sure how much it does have.
Tim, any idea on why the 760 is now shipping in solid slick black? another question i have is why is the msn direct w/traffic charger less than te normal just traffic only charger? dont they do the same thing except msn offers more options?
Jason, as far as I know all of the 760’s have been shipping in black. The MSN direct traffic/charger connects to a different service with different options than the FM (RDS-TMC) traffic receiver. I don’t know why it costs less (I recall there might be a difference in the duration of the free trial), I suppose only Garmin could answer that.
I lead motorhome tours and need to follow a route that is spelled out in a logbook. When are you going to write an article on planning a route in City Navigator on a laptop and then transferring the route to the Garmin? Thanks.
Jerry, at this time I don’t plan a full article on that topic since the manual seems to cover it well. I may discuss the features a little more, but probably not as a full instructional piece.
Strange about the colors. I just received my 760 from tvnav.com (which is very close to Garmin headquarters in Kansas), and it is black on the front and back, but silver on the sides. Oh well, regardless of the colors, this thing is GREAT. If it had route avoidance, it would be just about perfect. Thanks for the great review, Tim!
That is what mine is too, Jeff. Black on the front and back and silver around the sides and top/bottom.
Tim. You responded to Jerry that “the manual covers it well”. The Nuvi manual really doesn’t cover creating routes using the software much at all. Is there a seperate manual that discusses specific route creation methods. Some people need to take very specific streets along a route rather than a route that is automatically generated as being “shortest” or “fastest”. Is it explained how to do that anywhere that you know ?
…Thank you
Hi Robert, yes, page 20, 21, & 22 of the MapSource Manual cover creating routes on your PC.
I’m new to GPS and about to buy. I can buy a Garmin Nuvi 750 at a reasonable price. Is there an appreciable diffence between this and the 760?
Don – see comments number 26 & 27.
Using the nuvi 760, can I find gas stations with the lowest gas price within some distance (say 2 miles) of my current location? Can I do that using any GPS currently available?
bb, you can get that if yousubscribe to the MSN direct service with the associated hardware. You can only do that with a few GPS devices on the market today.
Is there a difference between the 680 Nuvi screen and the 760 Nuvi Screen. The specs look the same, but the 760 looked much better in the Bestbuy – side by side. Was it the way they had it set or is it brighter and more crisp?
Mark, in my own testing they look very similar. However I’ve heard a few reports from people who don’t think it is as good as the 600 series, particularly at high and low angles. When I view them both side by side (comparing to a 660) I can detect a difference, but it is small.
Regarding the power port on the bottom of the unit: You say it is part of the mount. What if I want to use the unit without the mount? (I want to know if I can velcro the bottom of the unit to a certain place on my dash where the back will be supported.) The vehicle dash top is very far away for friction mount use, and the windsheild is very sloped and even farther away. I have a nice place to mount, but it won’t work unless the bottom of the unit is flat against the dash, and any power plug sticking down there would be an issue I would have to solve.
In the box is a small flat disk with adhesive to stick to some area on your dash panel, console, or where ever, to as an alternative mounting position. The suction cup mounts right on the flat disk.
The power connector connects to the side of the mount. The mount then connects to the back and bottom of the 760. The part where the mount sticks out from the bottom of the 760 sticks out by about 1/4 of an inch. You mount is in two pieces, the suction cup part and then the part that connects to the 760. So you could remove the suction cup/arm, but still attach the power cable to the mount and the mount to the device, but the bottom of the mount will stick out about 1/4 of an inch from the bottom of the 760.
Also, I can shed light on the black unit question: Seems a certain Big Box retailer has special versions of the 700 series units that have an all black, shiny “piano black” body. This is not the two tone case that some have. It is all black, and glossy. I have seen it myself on the 750.
Hi guys, have you ever questioned if the new nuvi 700 series uses SiRF chips? I’ve noticed on garmin’s product feature info page on the 700’s nuvis, they’ve deleted the SiRF logo. Meaning it wasn’t built with a SiRF chips on it. It was there before they’ve released the 700 series and now it’s gone. Maybe that is why when the first time I’ve turn my unit on, it took 10 mins. to acquire a signal and 5 mins. thereafter because it is a non-SiRF like the 200 series. Any thought?
Ekie, some of the hidden diagnostic screens and copyright info suggests that it is a SiRFstarIII chipset.
Tim,
So there is no way that an ordinary user like me could confirm that it really uses a SiRF chips? And why did I experienced a lost satellite reception passing thru a tunnel if it was really built with SiRF chips? I have the 660 and didn’t have this issues. Do you think I had a deffective unit that I should return?
No, there isn’t a way an ordinary user could confirm the chip. That is common (now) in the GPS market. Your 660 has a couple of advantages with the flip-up antenna which puts the chip in a more optimum, horizontal position for reception.
Tim,thank you for telling me that. So I decided to stick with my 660 for now and I’ll just return my 750.
Tim, The long sigal aquistion times concern me. You mention above in your review a few seconds longer while other are mentioning 5o to 10 minutes. No one has that kind of time to wait for the signal to come up.I wonder if the long times do not reflect the situation for the average user.
I haven’t seen anything close to that long except for the first time I took it out of the box. Under normal conditions (GPS upright, in mount, on dash, outside of my garage) it gets its signal within about 10-15 seconds.
Thanks Tim,That seems very reasonable.I also called Garmin support and he explained to me that the first time it initializes, one should under ideal circumstances allow it full sky view in an unobstructed area for up to 30 minutes after it finds the signal to determine the location of all 12 satellites,if possible which it then stores. This will also help signal acquisition in the future. He explained that partial satellite acquisitions, ie letting it be on moving for 5 to 10 minutes can only further confuse it for the next time it needs to determine position, with longer signal acquisition times until it figures it out
Had my 760 a few days and first observations
1. My screen is really bright and I like it.No problem seeing it even at night. Seems brighter than the 680.
2.The mount seems improved also.Locks the Nuvi on better and has a quick release button.Easy to use.
3.Signal is great! Mine picks in 15-20 seconds after I turn it on.It is between 11-17 feet accuracy.
4.Love to be able to sort routes, That is what I bought it for and it works great so far.
5.The voices are good but the speaker is smaller than the 680 so they are not quite as loud but still very good.
6.Re-routes quickly when you go offtrack.
7 Road lock does not seem to be a problem, have not run in to that scenario yet.
8.Really like it being thinner than the 680. Put them side-by-side in Best Buy tonight and you could really tell. Fits in my pocket better.Best Buys 760 unit was Solid Glossy Black, Mine I like better it is Matt Black nice finish with a silver stripe in the middle
9. My cellphone works better and people and understand what I am saying clearly. Had a problem with this on the 680.
Really glad so far that I updated from the 680. Traffic works fine with the cable provided but I miss my MSN so I ordered a cable and am going to probably end up selling the GTM 20 on ebay sometime. Also I emailed Garmin about a Mapsource CD and they emailed back “it’s on the way to you free”. Great service.Will write more as I use the unit more.
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Jerry, thanks for sharing all of your points and nice chatting with you.
Tim, Thanks for all the great information. I also called Garmin about my specific usage of the unit (see question 38). The technical support person I talked to had never run across that particular application before but said it’s easily done. She also sent me a free City Navigator disk to install on my laptop. I was just notified that my 750 had shipped and will be here on Tuesday. I’ll let you know once I play with it a little. Thanks again for your help.
I like the “Where Am I” Feature
Re: #61 Great review; thanks! Like you, I prefer the 760 in matte black. Can anyone tell me where I can purchase a 760 in that finish?? Thanks!
Tim,
Your comments and those of others on the Garmin 760 have been immensely helpful to me as I am a first time GPS buyer.
I have ordered mine from an established long time electronics mail order company; they were out of stock so it is on backorder. Since it is on backorder, I got a $50 price break.
Anyway, I have a question. I noticed a post in a forum that said that there is a problem in the 760 software v2.10 when specifying an intersection as a destination. A ‘no match’ message is returned. That post also indicated that the problem is corrected in release v2.20 of the software.
Now, for the question, does Garmin provide upgrades to their software?
Rick, Yes, you can upgrade to version 2.20 (and subsequent updates) for free.
Tim,
Thanks for letting me know that an upgrade to v2.20 is free.
Now,how does that happen?
Are they downloadable from the Garmin website or do you have to get a CD from them or some other way??
Also, one last question
Is the battery in the unit replaceable and can it be replaced by the owner?
You can download the update from Garmin’s website. They have a program that you can install on your computer that will run it for you. The battery is not replaceable.
Tim,
Thanks immensely for the help.
I am looking forward to receiving my 760.
I have been a sofware developer on mainframe systems and client/server systems in the business world for 38 years.
I know that software has bugs and constantly requires updates; I am glad that Garmin at least provides them to you.
Mark Wheaton
I bought mine online at [snip] Pre-ordered but they may have in stock now.Matt Black with Silver Stripe in middle I would call them direct to see. Jerry
Can someone please tell me how to activate the DVDs for the Nuvi 770? Garmin sent me the DVDs and said I needed the codes found on a green sticker of the DVD cases. I cannot find such green stickers or codes.
The unlock codes for the DVD are in the box and paperwork that came with your unit.
Thanks Jerry
The 760 and 770 do not come with any unlock or serial codes in the box like the prior 600 series.
Garmin sent me the DVDs for both North America and Europe to install on my computer. I asked Tech Support how to activate them and I was told that I needed the codes found on a green sticker of the DVD cases. There are no such green stickers or codes on those DVD cases, so I really would like to know if someone else had the same problem and how they resolved it. Thank you
What is the number of via points available in the 700 series? I have a StreetPilot III and have had to use up to 4 or 5 in some routes. I’m comparing the StreetPilot 7200 with the nuvi 750 and will use them in my motor home and towed vehicle as I do currently with the Streetpilot III.
One thing that makes the 750 preferable is its compatibility with Macintosh computers.
Bruce, I haven’t tried hitting the limit yet myself, but I’ve been told it is 50.
I just purchased a 750 from a “big box” store, and I’m not finding any DVD’s or printed manual in the box. It does have the hardware, a Quick Start sheet, and some multi-language warnings. Am I missing something.
Roger:
I just got my North America DVD in and unlocked it. Really easy. it asks you if you want to go on line and get your online code and you say yes. Then you put in your name and password registered on Garmin. Mine then unlocked. Now I need to learn how to use this.
Zach:
You need to download the manual online no printed manual but there is a help button on the 750 that answers alot of questions. On the DVD you need to call or email Garmin and request one. They sent mine free.
Jerry, Thank you for the info just want to make sure that the DVD you unlocked was the one that Garmin sends someone for free if they purchase one of the Nuvi 700 series and that you did not need to pay for the Unlock Code.
Roger:
DVD was free and didn’t have to pay for the unlock code.
Jerry, You have been of much help, thank you
Regarding the color(s) of the Nuvi 760: I just hung up with a supervisor at GARMIN Customer Service. She explained that there are two (2) different color versions of the 760: Matte black – Part No. 010-00657-10; and Piano Black or Gloss Black – Part No. 010-00657-18. The latter version is a so-called “special edition”, sold at two of the largest national chain ‘big-box’ electronics retail stores. The matte black version (which has a metallic colored center stripe in the middle, delineating the front and back sides) is currently for sale at numerous other sources, both on-line and at national chain stores, as well as other large national stores which charge an annual membership fee. Hope this helps.
Further to my description of the Nuvi 760 (Post #85) above, “Piano Black” is the term used by one of the two large, ‘big-box’ retail electronics store chains. Indeed, “Piano B” is printed on my receipt. I use “Gloss Black” interchangeably with “Piano Black” — bottom line, this version comes with a glossy, shiny black color as opposed to the other version of the Nuvi 760, which is Matte Black.
I have a mobile service business. I have searched very hard to find a GPS that really has a FULL OPTIMIZATION FEATURE for several stops per truck per day. Q.: Would it be wise to buy less expensive GPS units with less features, and use some sort of PC program to generate and upload to the unit, routes daily for each truck? If so what would you suggest?
I am sure that this has been discussed elsewhere, but I’m a real newbie. Why the change from MSN traffic? Have been looking seriously at the 680, but if Garmin is moving away from MSN, I’ll pass/
Jim:
The 760 does have MSN Capability, just doesn’t ship with the cable. I personally prefer the MSN because of its features, and bought the cable for my 760.
Jerry – appreciate the info. Any idea why they changed so that it is now what amounts to be an add-on?
I would like a responce also to # 87.
Great website!
Ted:
I am a Realtor and that is why I upgraded to the Nuvi 760.You can put routes in and it will optimize them for your best trip. Hope this helps.
Roger – Thanks for your earlier information. When I called Garmin they said that all the maps were already loaded, that DVD’s were just for new maps. Seems weird, since it’s a new model anyway.
I have to say..so far I’m less than impresssed with Garmin. A “server error” message comes up each time I’ve tried to register, and I get a “page error” message when I try to go into their email support section.
Any tips?
Thanks,
Tim,
I’ve been looking at your reviews and the comments. Love them. I want to know if there are any other differences between the 760 and the 770 besides the European maps and the price.
I am trying to decide between these two and the TomTom 720 and 920T.
That is it Jean, maps and price are the only differences between the 770 and 760.
The Garmin StreetPilot 7200 (and also 7500) can display composite video input from external analog source such as a DVD player or camera. Does the Nuvi 760 (or 770) have that capability? Can it connect to a backup camera in a wireless manner?
The Nuvi 700 series does not have video input capabilities.
Thanks Tim.
I’ll take the 770 off my list. I don’t need the European maps…at least not any time soon.
Now I need to decide between the 770, and the TomTom Go 720 and 920T….So, Back to the reviews… This site is proving to be very, very useful. There is so much good information here that I have not been able to get elsewhere.
Zach:
Actually, one would want the actual DVDs if one would prefer doing all the planning using a PC before a trip as an example, but you can also do other great things with the maps loaded on the PC. The only way one can do that is by installing the map on MapSource on the PC. The DVDs that I got from Garmin are not newer, they are identical the the pre-loaded ones.
How do I know if my 760 has 2008 maps? i just bought it and then found this site. In Oct. “Kamal” mentioned in this forum that his came with the 2008 maps a “70$ value???? November,07
I just got my 750 and the unlock code for the City Navigator disk is in the nuvi itself. Just load the disk onto your computer and connect the nuvi to your computer. The instal wizard asks if you have the code or if it’s in the unit. Just click on “inside the unit” and continue on. Mine installed just fine.
Shannon, if you go to tools -> settings -> map -> map info, you can see the map version. I would be really surprised if any shipped without that version.
Thankyou Tim, I will check this out.
Folks,
I am awaiting arrival of my 760.
In preparation, I have bought a Garmin AC charger for it from a big box – part number 010-10723-07; it has the mini USB connector and is compatible for the Nuvi 600, 300, 200 series.
However, Garmin’s website shows its part number as 010-10723-00.
Does anyone have the Garmin part number for their AC adapter for the 760?
Thanks,
RickM46
Rick,
On my product, the part number is 10723-00.
I got my Nuvi 760. It froze right away, was ok with restart. Next morning it said it was April 07 and would not pick up satellites. Called support and did a hard reboot and it worked fine. Two hours later I went to turn it back on and it was dead. Garmin is shipping me an exchange.
I hope we early adapters are not in for some trouble.
When it did work it worked great. Fast signal aquisition, good route planning etc.
Greg
I want to thank this site, its reviewers, as well as the many folks who have taken the time to post here about the new model 760: how it stacks up against previous models and also, letting us know that the unit comes in two (2) different color styles — matte finish and gloss black “enamel.” While function is perhaps most important, form (aesthetics) has its place too. I went out to one of the big-box stores and saw the glossy Piano Black version of the 760 first hand and knew immediately it was not for me. The shiny, slippery, black plastic shell looks fragile and cheap; none of which are attributes I want for a device that I will carry both in my car and on my person. The smudged fingerprints all over the shell are another negative. Of course, design and appearance is subjective and your mileage and viewpoint may vary. Again, my thanks for the insights and for the heads-up.
Can someone tell me the difference between the 750 and 760?
Also, do either or both work easily and compatibly with Mac OS X? Does one work better than the other?
Terrific site!
Mark, see comments #26 and #27. Both work with Mac OS X, and work the same with OS X.
Thanks Tim !!
Tim,
First of all, thank you for your wonderful reviews. I am looking to purchase my first GPS receiver and the site has been extremely helpful, and it’s a first-class website.
I am trying to decide between Nuvi 760 and Tomtom 920.
Can you please explain why you said “[Nuvi-760 is] Maybe not quite as sexy as the TomTom 720″?
Which of the two (Nuvi760 vs. Tomtom920) has the best overall user interface? Least amount of annoyances in your opinion?
I think it would be very helpful if there was a direct comparison article between Nuvi760 and Tomtom920.
Thanks again, and keep up the good work!
Dennis
I had a Nuvi 660 which worked great until it was stolen. I am considering the 760 and have a question. The 660 had a “truck” selection for type of vehicle. It allowed an earlier prep for upcoming turns. I’ve noticed the 760 doesn’t have “truck” available. Did Garmin lengthen the prep for the directions for auto, making the “truck” unnecessary?
Dennis – I just personally think the 720 is a better looking device from a physical standpoint. User interface really comes down to personal preference on top brands like Garmin and TomTom. The Nuvi perhaps as fewer annoyances because it has fewer features/options.
Bob – Garmin hasn’t changed the lead time for turn notifications.
Tim how does a GPS of this price not have a feature that rerouts you around traffic and back onto the highway? Are there any other units you could reccommend that do this and do it well? This is a very important feature for me. Thanks.
Zac, unless I’m misunderstanding what you area looking for, the 760 does include a traffic receiver that will notify you of delays to your route and can reroute you around that traffic.
Tim,
You stated, “For example recently I was driving back home from a conference and the trip was about 150 miles. About five miles after leaving I came across an accident where the road was blocked. I wanted to know the best way to get around the block which I could see was about 1/4 – 1/2 mile in distance. With most other GPS devices if you use a detour function you can specify how far out you want to avoid. Hitting Detour on the Nuvi however will just create an entirely different route all the way to the destination. Not quite what I needed.”
In other words. I want a nav unit that can route me around accidents and road work and such and back onto the highway.
Zac, at that time I was in an area not covered by the live traffic reporting services. Had I been in the coverage area it is likely I would have been routed around the block. So instead I used the manual detour functionality.
Regarding the comments concerning the colour of the unit, I see Garmin are now doing a pink version of the 200 and 250 here in the UK and Ireland, quite obviously aimed at the female market from the promotional material on their web site, which is quite interesting if their products are seen as “boys toys”, as it were.
Does anyone know if there is a different SKU/Part number from Garmin to differentiate the glossy black and matte black versions? I’m probably going to purchase this online and want to see if I can get a matte black model.
Drew, see comment #85.
Thanks for the response Tim (I think you meant #86), I have read this entire thread and am still unclear that if I buy online and they don’t state it is glossy black shall I assume it is matte? I’ve looked at a few online sites and have not seen any mention of color like they do in the Big Box stores mentioned in comment 86.
Roger – Thanks for your earlier response (#99) – I think I’ve finally got things working (it does help to read the manual….). Two questions:
1. How does one obtain maps not included (eg. Hawaii)?
2. Why does the FM transmitter work sometimes when the map is showing and not work other times? Is it a timing thing?
I’ve seen some review comments about the FM transmitter not working well. So far mine seems to be fine except around power lines.
Thanksk,
I just got a new nuvi 760. All is well except that when I turn on the unit, it takes a long time to acquire the satellite signal (a few minutes, or a few tens of minutes sometimes). Is this normal, and has anyone else experiencing similar problem? Or is there something wrong with this particular unit?
How is the signal reception of other nuvi models?
Harry, My 760 picks up usually in around 30 seconds or so when cold then it is good the rest of the day. Try it for a few days and see if it doesn’t get better.
Harry, also see comment # 60.
I would like to know how many years the Lithium battery will last. It is very painful to toss an $800 unit because of a bad battery, even at the 5 year mark.
Is there any chance of you doing a direct comparison of the Garmin 760 versus the TomTom 920? I’ve read both of your reviews, but it would be great if you could give us the lowdown on which one is the better device overall, ignoring price since both will be about the same price online.
Screen lag is a big issue with me, as well as interface usability. Thank you
Folks,
My Nuvi 760 was just delivered; it was on backorder from a ‘popular, established, you have 30 days to return, knocked off $50 from list due to backorder’ mail order electronics store.
I am a newbi to GPS.
I will let you folks know about my experience with it after a little more use.
However, out of the box, I was impressed with:
It is made in Taiwan (I’ve had good luck with them);
It was perfect in finish (black and silver) – no scratches;
All items present;
It charged after 4 hours (the battery indicator does not show up when you first turn it on);
BlueTooth connected to my cell phone (Motorola Razr) easily;
It connected to my Dell PC easily;
FM works;
Easy to use screens and menus;
It has version 2.10 of its software;
It does take a few minutes – less than 3 – to acquire satellites (which I knew about due to this forum);
It does have the software bug in 2.10 where it does not find an intersection as a destination (supposedly corrected in version 2.20).
Will keep you posted.
Folks,
Has anyone downloaded the latest version of firmware 2.20 from the Garmin website for the 760?
Any issues if you did?
Thanks
Rick,
I’ve downloaded and installed the Nuvi 760 Software Ver. 2.2.0
Easy download and installation with no issues
Ron – Garmin says 1000 full charge cycles. Most people would rarely complete a full charge cycle in a day… or even several days.
Nate – the TomTom 920 has a much faster screen redraw rate.
Rick – Yes, that is corrected in 2.2. I’ve also had no problems with the update.
Thanks Tim, but could you give me a bit more? Which device do you prefer, and for what reasons?
I was dissapointed with how few crossing street names appear on the nuvi 750 when compared to the magellan 4040. I was in simulate mode and set the map detail to max but still hardly any crossing streets were named. Even if the streets arent on my route I still think it would be nice to see what streets I am about to pass on my way to my next turn. Is this normal or was it a function of being in simulate mode?
Tom – I believe what you are seeing is normal. They don’t label as many side streets that are not part of your route as other brands.
Bought Streetpilot III May 2001. It’s now damaged and considering a replacement. Non-user replaceable battery units is not acceptable. Love my Garmin but cannot buy a Nuvi. Any suggestions?
I’m echoing Harry’s comment (#122 above) about a long time to acquire a satellite reading. Mine never did while in the house (trying to set a route) nor while I was driving downtown – probably a 15 minute jaunt. After a while in my pocket (by which time I was walking) it finally kicked in. After that it would pick up fairly quickly when turned off and on. What gives? Do they NOT pick up satellite signals indoors? Do they not pick up the initial signal in a moving vehicle? I’d hate to think that I have to sit with it in the middle of a cornfield each time I fire it up.
Any suggestions / observations will be appreciated. Thanks.
Zach,
My 760 picks up well outside. Aquires a signal in 30 seconds or less initially. The 760 is not made to use inside a building so it may or may not pick up a signal . Mine does sometimes.
Thanks Jerry – will keep after it. Should they pick up the initial signal OK from inside a moving vehicle or do you have to “prime” it by standing outside at the outset?
Zach,
I don’t have to be outside the vehicle, mine picks up fine inside.Good reception.
Very informative forum.
Mike – Most all auto GPS devices use non-replaceable batteries.
Zach- GPS isn’t designed to work indoors. If you don’t have a signal and start moving it will take the GPS longer to figure out where you are versus if you were stationary. Try what is suggested in comment #60. That has worked for me.
Does it zoom in when you’re approaching intersections in “View Map” function?
I had C320 which did it and because of this I switched to 2720. 2720 was great at this; it did zoom in “Navigation”, but stayed at the set zoom level in “View Map”. I sold my 2720 and looking for 760. I hope it does the work with mapping similar to 2720 and not as c320.
Hey all, question. with all of todays sales, i got a tomtom one LE and a mio C320. i picked them both up at good prices, just curious which one you would recomend over the other? I have a 760nuvi myself but this one is for a gift to my girlfriend. just wantd to get some opinions. Thanks
Tim,
Do you know what the max size SD Card that the 760 will read?
Thanks
Folks,
Does anyone know what the max SD card size that the 760 will read??
Thanks
Thanks Tim. It seems to be functioning a bit better now. Question: I couldn’t get a signal last night after about 6 minutes outdoors, but we had a heavy overcast. Is this a common problem? Thanks again.
i am a realtor. my wife and i also do a decent amount of traveling in the usa. if you had to decide only between the 680 and the 760, which one would you select for us. why? explain the differences if you can also, please.
Tim,
I spent time at two large Electronic stores today and went in with the decision that the TomTom 720 was the unit for me. However, both clerks directed me away from that device to Nuvi 760. There main reason is the ease of putting in route information. Have you found that to be true as well? Is it worth the additional cost? I know that garmin is the leader but I have seen so many great reviews on the TomTom 720 that I am not sure which one would be the best fit. Any input and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Zach – overcast won’t make a difference in satellite reception. See comment #60 and give it a shot for about 30 minutes.
David – Adding in destinations is largely personal preference. One nice advantage the TomTom has in this area is that it doesn’t force you to spell everything correct. You can make spelling errors and it will look for best matches based on what you have typed.
Tim and Anyone else that have used both,
So dollar for dollar and option for option, would you say that you get more bang for your buck with the TomTom 720 than the Nuvi 760? The only challange the 720 has is that it just takes a little more study at first on planning a route but once this is mastered it is comparable to the 760? Or were the sales clerks steering me to the more expensive model because they work on commission? I find myself a pretty knowledgeable when it comes to technology and just want the best with least amount issues. And, As they say “Time is money”. Again any input from you or others would be greatly appreciated.
Craig:
I am a Realtor also. I had the 680 and sold it to buy the 760. Reason was that the 760 has where you can put in multiple routes and then have it put them in order so when you are showing houses it makes your trip more efficient. The 680 would not do this. I really like my 760 alot and am glad I made the move.
Craig or anyone else: I just returned the Nuvi 360 because I wanted the larger screen. Thinking about the 680 since THE large warehouse chain has a special going for not much more than I paid for the 360 and less than some are selling the 660. I’v read some negatives about the MSN component on the 680. In general, were you happy with the basic navigation/bluetooth/MSN on the 680? Thanks
I’m thinking about buying the 760, but in the bluetooth section you said to check the compatibility charts to see if it will work with your phone. Where can I find a chart that has that? Great site by the way. It’s been a tremendous help.
Neil – check here.
I currently use Co Pilot Live running on a Pocket PC as my GPS. One of the features that I like about Co Pilot is the ability to map out a trip on my PC including waypoints and then load them onto my Pocket PC. Does the Nuvi 760 support this type of functionality.
Neil,
Doesn’t look like Garmin has all the phones that will hook to the Nuvi 760. I have a Blackberry 8100 Pearl and it works just fine. I would say if it works with the Nuvi 680 it will work with the 760 fine.
Ron – Check out comments #9, 43, 61, & 99. MapSource is the program you need. Garmin seems to be giving it to some people (but not all) who ask.
I was on Garmin’s site and it appears that the 700 series is not WAAS enabled or SiRF powered. Using something called ST Mirco?
Howard ,You really don’t need WAAS at all a non factor. On the chip mine says SIRF GSC3F GPS MODULE. Here is how you can check for your chip:
Hold your finger on the battery icon until the diagnostics screen comes up. Go to the screen that Has Version information on the top. Hit the start test button, then hit the MOR button. Scroll down till you see your chip. Mine was the last item on the Inventory. What does yours show?
I am thinking of purchasing the 760 but am concerned about the number of waypoints it can hold. If I install a card will this increase my waypoint limit? I currently use a 2720 and have over 500 waypoints stored. If the 760 can do this then I will be purchasing one. Thanks
Tony – Your 2720 can hold 2,000 but the 760 can hold only 500.
I wish someone would do a direct comparison of the Nuvi 760 and the TomTom 920t. I’m ready to buy one, and I need to know which is the better unit overall.
From what I read here it appears that the Garmin Nuvi 750 is almost ideal for my needs. I’ve been using the Garmin C330 as my very first GPS product but I’ve found that I need a multiple via point capability. After reading the review and comments 1 through 156 I have a couple of questions still.
1) Does the device come with an adapter to get its power from the car? In other words, am I limited to the battery life or will it remain charged as long as it is plugged in to a live aux power outlet in the car.
2) I live in one of the states that prohibits suction cup attachments to the windshield. Is there a friction mount for this device for use on the top of the dashboard? I’ve only had the C330 fall off the dash once with such a mount.
3) In the multiple via point mode can additional via points be entered after one or more of the prior via points have been visited? I’m in the local delivery business and receive new destinations via a pager during my work day.
4) Also dealing with the multiple via points, if I go “off route” for some reason, will the routing again be optimized? My point here is that I may have to go back to headquarters to pick up more product and I want to know whether the route to all the remaining via points will be optimized at that time.
I’m looking at the option to purchase this device on line but I want to make sure that once I get it I’ll be able to use it to good advantage.
i have done a comparison of my own and here is what i have decided. I will be returning my nuvi 760 and keepig my new TomTom 920t for the following reasons. The 920 has mapshare!! that alone is huge if your in or traveling to a growing area. My nuvi doesnt have several neighborhoods that my 920t had right out of the box. The speaker quality on the 920T is 110% better than the worthless one on the Nuvi. The 920t has voice input which actually works! nuvi doesnt offer it. The 920 has a status bar that shows me what steet i am on constantly, the nuvi only tells you once you turn onto a street but forgets to remind you where you are at once you actually turn onto the street. When sitting in one place, the nuvi would constantly show my position turning about and acted like it couldnt keep synced. the tomtom from the same spot stayed still. The bluetooth on my tomtom seems more relaiable than it did on the nuvi, the nuvi kept dropping my connection. Tomtom suport was pretty helpful on the phone today and i like that. Those are just a few things that have helped make my mind up, both are strong units, just depends on your preferences.
jelang – (1) Yes, it does. (2) Yes, there is. (3) Yes, you can. (4) In that scenario I would cancel the route, navigate directly to HQ without the other points, then once back at HQ open the route again and re-optimize the rest of the waypoints.
Thanks, Tim. So I gather from your response that there is a way to “save” and “reload” a route.
Yes, you can save up to 10 routes at a time with multiple points in each route.
What is an approximate length of time needed to fully charge a depleted battery?
Thanks,
The problem with slow satellite acquisition is well-known and has been discussed in other forums. It seems to happen mostly with the first usage of the day. I’ve had it take as long as 12 minutes on my 750, switched on in the exact same location where I switched it off the night before, with a clear unobstructed view of the sky. In normal circumstances (i.e. when this “bug” isn’t doing its thing) it can lock on to the satellites in less than 15 seconds. Various causes/solutions – some bordering on superstitious – have been proposed – including:
- Using a PIN code puts the microprocessor into a loop, interfering with its ability to process the satellite signals. Don’t use a PIN and the problem goes away.
- Upgrading the firmware to Version 2.20 makes the problem go away.
- The problem gets worse as as you store more audio files.
- It only happens on the first usage of the day – sometimes it doesn’t even happen then.
- One poster says he talked to a Garmin rep who told him they are working on a software solution.
My own experience over the course of a couple weeks is that about two thirds of all first usages of the day have this problem. I’ve used it twice since installing 2.20 and it hasn’t happened either of those times, but one of them was a little over a minute, which is kind of borderline.
Those of you who haven’t seen this yet, please don’t insult our intelligence by reminding us that it won’t work in our sub-sub-basement. We already know that. This is clearly a defect, and if your unit doesn’t have it, just be thankful – but remember, it does sometimes spontaneously strike a unit that has been working just fine.
Please excuse my ignorance, but what does the 2.2 refer to? How does one upgrade (or, for that matter, find out what he currently has. My 750 was purchased on 11/9 – have there been upgrades since?)
Another Bozo question: What are waypoints?
Thanks,
Oops….just saw my first question covered in an earlier post. v 2.2 — firmware – Garmin site. Got it.
Jason:
Thanks for doing the time to make a comparison. Leaning towards the 920t myself.
I am a first time GPS buyer and was considering the 680 or the 760.
I do alot of offroad jeeping and was wondering if the 760 does topo and if so how well is it?
I would like to map poi’s as i jeep.
This thread has been extremely helpful and i’m leaning towards the 760 but i travel local highwas alot and am concerned about the lag time and missing turns. Is there realy a differance between the 680 & the 760
Thanks
Hi Tim,
Regarding your comment #116 “the manual detour function” is this feature available in the 660?
Thanks,
Mark
Mark M – Yes. Menu -> Detour while you are navigating a route.
Tim…Thanks!
Does the 760 have “Truck” or “Bus” routing, as the 650 does?
FML – I don’t have mine with me at the moment, but I don’t think it does.
tim
can you give me your opinion of which gps you would go for between the garmin 680 & 760 and any info you would like to pass along. tghis will be a gift and your opinions would go a long way for me
thanks
Debbie – Check out comments #61, 150, and 151 on this page.
tim
i read what you said to read.
Can YOU give me your opinion, please.
it would mean a lot to hear your thoughts.
thanks,
Cebbie
the lag time on the 760 is really bad. i would already be passing the street about 5 -10 seconds before it showed me on the map. On my TomTom 920t, its dead on, no lag time
I have a nuvi760 and did some research before purchasing, I am having trouble getting the MSN Direct going. First of all I have no ICON on my display, nor can I locate my code. It receives Traffic updates just fine, just nothing for MSN Direct. Can anyone assist me?
-Does the connection between nuvi 760 and the cigarette lighter recharge the battery whilst driving? or should i also but an ac charger for recharging it at home before i intend to drive.
- Can the 760 listen to mp3 music at the same time whilst viewing the on route mapping screen
- whats the largest size memory card that the 760 takes ?
- what is the 760 internal HD size ?
- Ideally should i put all my mp3 music onto a seperate memory card or store it on the internal 760 HD ?
Nice review ! keep it up !
al5061, did you purchase the MSN Direct receiver? The receiver that comes with the 760 only gives traffic information, not the MSN Direct info.
AH Yes, it charges while driving. You can listen to music and drive at the same time. Cards over 4 GB might work, but when you have that much info on the card it can slow down the performance of the device. The internal memory and free space are in the specs in the upper left of this page. I’d keep the files in internal memory if possible since it probably provides faster access.
No, all I got was the power cord that receives traffic. So, I guess that answers my question, now if I get that receiver, will the 760 recognize it immediately and start displaying the MSN ICON on the settings display?
also, if I do purchase the MSN Direct cord for my 760, how will it affect how it receives the traffic info. Will it do both, or will I have to have 2 cords attached to the device?
al5061 – Correct, you would need to purchase the MSN Direct receiver/subscription. That cable will also do traffic, but uses a different traffic provider that has different coverage. You can read about it here a bit.
Interesting comments above about the nüvi 760. I have just bought the 760 (my first nüvi), migrating from the GPSMAP 276C. The reason? I don’t like the rather cumbersome 276C for my travels which are 90% on established tar/good gravel roads. I’ll just keep the GPSMAP 276C in reserve for the odd time I need backtracking! The 760 is a beautiful device, and works to my satisfaction here in South Africa. The touch screen is what really did it for me, AND you can route with the device. We’ll have to see about the robustness of the unit, since some of our gravel (AND some paved!) routes can really shake a vehicle and everything inside it!
Bought my first ever sat nav, nuvi (760t) Eu maps delivered 22nd Jan amazing piece of kit only two problems using the phone symbol on the start up screen it misses the last digit of the number if you use where to & phone home it dials ok secondly bought it from a reputable dealer in the UK on line when I register it with garmin it comes up this (serial number has already been taken) is this common or is this been cloned by a stolen unit? serial no RH side base of unit looking at the screen. great site helped me make my mind up between tom tom & garmin
Just received my nuvi 750, based on what I read here and other places.
I would now like to transfer my waypoints from my streetpilot. I tried saving them, renaming the file from a .gdb to a .gpx and copying to the nuvi, but it didn’t read it. Do I need to save and rename each waypoint individually, or is some formatting change required?
On a side note, my call to tech support on this was ineffective; I seemed to get a newbie who said my StreetPilot City Nav software would transfer the waypoints (although I already told him it didn’t). I did get him to send me a new DVD, but haven’t received it yet.
On another topic, before I ordered I spoke to Garmin tech support and was told the 750 has either a SiRF chip or SiRF technology, but she was evasive as to what exactly the “technology” was. Upon receiving the unit, I performed the chip check (see 158 above) and got the same result as OrlandoRealtor. Has anyone gotten any other result from this check?
Question on how to enter “other” street addresses, specifically county roads. We have a lot of rural addresses in this area, and if someone lives, for example, at 36 West County Road 23, how should this be entered? I think we have similar issues with frontage roads and, possibly, highway addresses. Enter entire name? Abbreviations?
Thanks,
Oops! Option to save as .gpx (my previous post 190) built into City Nav (File | Save as and select type gpx). Oh well, the Garmin guy was right, he just didn’t explain it. Copied to the nuvi gpx directory and read perfectly.
Still interested if any other results to OrlandoRealtor’s chip test for the 7xx series. If Garmin is really using the “technology” without the chip in some units, there should be a different chip listed.
Those people who are having satellite reception issues with their 700 series devices should read this article and update to the latest firmware. Your problems will likely go away!
I am a realtor looking for my first gps system. This forum has been extremely helpful. Programming Multiple Routing before setting out is important to me but not optimalization. A friend let me try her old Nuvi 200 series model and I had the following experience utilizing her instructions. First, it gave me significant advance warning of turns – 1-2 miles away – which several writers have complained about not having. Second, and most important, I entered 4 addresses into Favorites before starting out, in no special order, and then proceeded to drive. I selected the first address I wanted to visit and after arriving there picked another random address on the list and was directed there. This seemed to work perfectly well for my needs without having the newer multiple routing option. Do the newer models have the same capability, or am I missing something about how Favorites now work?
Sue – If you don’t need to optimize the order of stops and being able to view the total time and distance for the entire trip doesn’t matter… then you don’t really need any of the features multi destination routing is best for.
I have been posted this same question at the TT forum, and would like to get an answer to the same question but about Nuvi 760. This is important to me as I live in EU.
Is it possible to plan a route as we are driving a BUS rather than a car or motorcycle, with a Nüvi 760/770?. This in orther to avoid low viaducts
Lusodana – There is no bus option on the 760. Only automobile, bicycle, and pedestrian.
Lusodana, we also live in the EU, in the United Kingdom. What you do is you instruct your bus drivers to use their common sense and look out for the signs warning of width and height restrictions, like viaducts, bridges and so on. GPS systems are not a substitute for the use of common sense and there’s nothing like actually driving the route yourself.
Yes Ravi, I know; but it is a headash to realize that the signs coms up to late and you can not turn on. Believe me it can happen in the continent. Som times there is no sign at all. Try to drive i.e. in Italy, at San Remo, or at the Pyrenees.
I recently went from Toronto to Niagara Falls New York. I have a nuvi 750. I used the route feature so that I could go to the Rainbow Bridge to USA as opposed to Queenston which is the usual one. After I got over the border I made a wrong turn and I started to be directed back to Canada. Is there a problem with rerouting while on a preset route?
Hello Tim, I was curious to know if the 760 has an altimeter or geocoder… i.e. lat – long coordinates features
Thanks in advance
thinking of buying the nuvi 750 . I do deliveries, sometimes as many as 20 stops at a time. I heard nuvi can only optimize 10 stops. does anyone know the limit?
CAN ALL THIS BE ACHEIVED ON Nuvi 760 …
Hi, Just bought Nuvi 760, not yet opened, someone showed me his Tomtom 720… it blew me away. The Tomtom plays movies and reads out SMS (messages) when the phone is connected, Allows other voice files including reading into your own voice!!!
CAN ALL THIS BE ACHEIVED ON Nuvi 760?
Hi nice review –
can someone tell me how to set the date –
when i go into the world clock it displays the wrong date and year.
thanks
Yunus – It can’t play movies. I don’t think it will read SMS messages but it can display them on compatible phones. You can’t record your own voice but you can often download a couple of others from the Garmin WebUpdater program.
chales Do you have a position fix when you are checking? Is your time zone set correctly under tools -> settings -> time?
Hi Tim – I am in the market for portable GPS for my SUV in NY. I am familiar with basic GPS services inasmuch as I have an in dash GPS in my 2003 BMW – it seems pretty basic based on all my recent research. I just read up on the Garmin 880 and leaning toward waiting until Q2 to purchase this device with all the bells and whistles – any thoughts? Is the TomTom 920T a better device or comparable?
That is difficult to say, Frank. I try not to comment much on devices I haven’t reviewed or used extensively yet, as is the case with the 800 series. It sure looks good on paper, I like the approach they have taken with speech recognition over the way TomTom did it (although the TomTom method works), and Garmin rarely produces bad devices.
The 920T is quite nice in different ways… the EPT is nice if you are in tunnels, and it is much more customizable than the Nuvi devices. There is also a more active “community” developing around the MapShare (user shared map edits) and POI functions. But for those that want something more straightforward they often lean towards the Nuvi series.
ok,
simple question, can i download to my computer where i have been ? as in tracking mileage as i am a salesman and it would make my
I.R.S. mileage issues legit.
thanks,
mitch
quick question…is the included traffic receiver free forever or is it only a free trial with a subscription fee required at some point? I’m talking about what comes with the 760, not the MSN option.
It is a three month trial, automatically started when it is connected.
Tim – unless, of course, you are in the United Kingdom, in which case the traffic information subscription is free “for the lifetime of the product”.
mitch – Yes, you definitely can do this, I use this very feature myself, using the Garmin supplied software MapSource, although bear in mind, that dependent upon your mileage, the track logs on the nuvi will be overwritten every so often. I download and back up the track logs daily. You can also use the information for other features, such as stamping your latitutde and longitude information into the EXIF data of your photographs.
Tim, This site is invaluable, thanks for all your great info. I just swapped a TomTom ONE for the nuvi 750 to get route optimization. BTW, I really liked the TT ONE otherwise. I just downloaded the firmware update to the 750, went outside and fired it up for the first time, it acquired the satellites and looks great. A couple of comments/questions.
1. I went to Where Am I. My address ends in 01 and it gave me the 08 house as my location. Is this as close as I can expect it to be, or do I need to do something else to get it more accurate? That is about 100 yards off as a rough guess.
2. The Garmin gets recognized as a drive on my Mac, but the firmware upgrade required a PC. The TomTom appeared fully Mac aware, but I didn’t try a firmware upgrade. Any chance Garmin will get to full Mac compatibility in the future?
Thanks.
Jerry – (1) Yes, that is about what is expected for accuracy. Sometimes better sometimes worse. (2) The WebUpdater program from Garmin does have a Mac version that works well. It doesn’t require a PC to update the firmware.
Tim – In a fit of rage, I smashed my old StreetPilot III, after a stupid calculation of detour. This is not the first time, where driving wrong happens every day for most of the people. But when I take a wrong street, I want my GPS, not to calculate a new route, but to draw a new one back to the route I had chosen before.
Now I have to buy a new GPS, but still thinking about which one (TT920 or Nüvi 760). TT920 does the detours as it shuld and I’m afraid N760 doesn’t do it so well. I don’t why, but my thoughts goes to Nüvi, but as I said, I’m afraid it behaves like the Street Pilot III.
What do you say Tim? Is TT better to calculate detours from a point and back again to the original route?
Thinking better, I keep waiting for N850/880. Tim which will the the differences between Nüvi 850 and 880? If you know for time being.
REPLY to Jerry Donnelly – February 10th, 2008
Jerry, my 760 is also off anywhere from 50 – 75 feet. You will notice this mostly while driving. i called Garmin up on this and all I got was they will take note and work on it. Try using the lat/long coordinates. That might be more accurate.
Just got a 770 because I need the European maps, and I could only download a limited number of areas from the CDs onto the Garmin storage chip used with my 276C Chartplotter. What can I say? As an old GPS user, it pains me in many ways to see how “dumbed down” the units have become in terms of essential GPS functions and customizations. These new units are designed to help you get to the place you’re going, period. On an older unit, such as the 276C, the map screen is fun to glance at while you’re driving because it gives you a quick visual sense of the type of area you’re in, how close you are to the nearest built-up areas, and so on. For example, many times when you’re touring you don’t have a specific address to go to, but you’d like to drive to the “center of town” if you only know exactly where it was. Glance at the 276C and head straight into the area densest with roads–it’s easy to set the screen so it shows that kind of stuff beautifully. But this just isn’t possible with the newer units–they’re designed so you DON’T look at them, but only listen for your next turn.
Just bought a 760, not to impressed so far, 3 things are bugging me.
1, I cant turn off auto zoom, I zoom into the max and it zooms out again a couple of clicks.
2, When your following a route it doesn’t give your current speed.
3, When in 3D mode the pointer (icon) seems to lag behind, you could be passing a road end and the pointer is still a fraction before the road end.
On my Garmin M4 I had the same problem as 3 but found if I deleted some or all off my poi it was better, the only poi I have on at the moment are some Speed camera ones installed by Garmin (I suppose).
Is there anything in the menus I may have missed, regards altering 1 and 2 above?
The good news is I can now plan a route on Mapsource and send it to my 760 as opposed to just sending waypoints. I also like the TTS.
Tell you what though, I think the Widescreen layout is rubbish, I’ve read in a few places where it has been said widescreen layout is great, "you see more" yes thats true, but you see more of where your not going.
Sat Nav is far better (in my opinion) using a PDA vertical view ( like my iQue’s 3600 and M4 ), pity there’s not a setting on the 760 to turn the view round.
I recently purchased a 760, and upgraded to 2.6 this evening. I love the unit, though I am a little upset with the POI database. A friend’s Mio C520 has found much closer food POI’s (Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, McDonalds) than my 760. It’s annoying to have a year+ old unit smoke me when looking for dinner in a new town (Atlanta). I expect there to be nuances between softwares, but is there something abnormal here? IF anyone knows something I don’t regarding POI’s, please let me know. Thanks!
Adam, you can read more about POIs that might answer your question. Basically the POIs Garmin picked to include differ from what Mio decided to include.
Thanks, Tim. I figured that not every company would include another’s listing. It would be such a nice addition to have a yellow pages auto-update feature via the web. That would rule. Thanks again for the quick response!
The new “connected” GPS devices starting to hit the market offer something similar… They can search Google Local and Yahoo Local and return “live” results so they are constantly updated and not limited to the internal memory of the GPS.
OK, I know I’ve probably missed something here but I’m still unable to program in a rural address. In trying to list “1800 North County Road 23, some sort of default road name comes up after “county” and I can’t complete the county road address. Suggestions?
Zach, it would be helpful if we could have a full address (house number, street, city, state) to check.
It would be the same road number as above, but add Berthoud, Colorado.
Also, I’m still having a problem with road and highway intersections.
Again, thanks for any assistance you can provide.
Try “N CR-23″ as the name of the street.
That did it. Thanks. Will try it with highway intersections. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Keep in mind that major highway (interstate) intersections can be weird since they often don’t actually intersect other roads… they intersect with on/off ramps that in turn intersect with roads. So those can be difficult and frustrating.
A few questions…
I am trying to decide between the 750, 760, 550 and 880 so the questions here maybe geared between any of those.
-Is it possible for the 760 offer prompt to your headset like the 550 so that you can receive directions wireless?
-Do the all the version I mentioned above offer Sirfstar III?
-I know it is not really recommend to use anything other than the 550 on a motorcycle but I really like some of the features the others offer more than the 550. I figured I would be fine mounting the other models to my bike, only thing really to worry about would be to remove it when it rains.
Thanks.
I used to have a Nuvi 350, and remember that before a turn, there would be a warning tone / ding. I just bought the Nuvi 760, and have noticed that there is no tone to warn you of an upcoming turn, just the voice prompt. I liked having the tone in addition to the voice prompt…am I missing this somewhere in the settings, or does the 760 not have this ability?
Also, why did Garmin do away with the sky view screen that you could access by touching the signal bars on the Nuvi 350? I thought it was cool to know how strongly you are locked on to each satellite.
I don’t believe there is a way to configure a warning tone, just the voice prompt. In the latest firmware versions you can get the sky view screen by holding your finger down on the signal bars for a few seconds.
I have two issues: 1) I’ve not seen anyone else mention it, but I really miss a light that changes colors when the device is charging/charged. Thus with a quick look you always know the state of charge and if what you are currently doing is charging the device. Also, how good is this unit at holding a charge if it sits awhile? Do I need to be sure I give it a charge fairly often if I’m not using it regularly? 2) When I put a route into the unit I never get the option to Manual Reorder Points or Optimally Reorder Points. I’m selecting tools, route, putting in the start and finish and intermediary stops, then hit Next and it just automatically kicks out the route after chugging away for a while. I’m not really sure if that is the optimized route or not. Any ideas what I’m doing wrong? Thanks.
1) That isn’t on many of the newer devices, unfortunately.
2) Save the route first, then bring up the list of saved routes, click your route, then click ‘Edit’ and then you will see the options to manually reorder, optimally reorder, and recalculate.
The 700 series does have sky view, Tap MENU then at the top left of the screen you will see (satellite)status bars. Tap or hold for a few seconds will bring up the sky view.
I was told from Garmin that 700+ and up units do not have WAAS. But, told that due to the sensitivity of the chip, WAAS was not necessary. Now I have read from another site, “The SiRF Star III chipset is a WAAS enabled for improved accuracy however, its inherent accuracy makes the WAAS enabling less important. Accuracy for the SiRF Star III is 2.0m for position and with 0.01m/s for velocity accuracy.”
I cannot wait to get my hands on this thing and take it for a plane ride sitting in a window seat to follow all the flight details! Speed, Elevation, Track, and ETA!
Bought this unit from a auction site and it comes in the color of grey, not piano black. I was told piano black is only for Best Bye. Think they would let me swap the two?
Who is “they” when you ask if they would let you swap? I can’t think of anyone other than the original store (if they happened to have both) that might let you swap.
The N760 I just purchased, is there many files (voice, text …) to other languages than them I will use (portuguese and danish). Can I safely delete these files? I think I can get much more space in the unity.
I got a 760 for Xmas 2007 and was pretty excited about it, but I discovered that it did not have many of the POI’s near where I live. These are restaurants and stores that have been there for years. I thought maybe I needed to update the maps, but when I tried, I got the no updates available. My husband paid a lot of money for this and I was disappointed that it seemed not to reflect current conditions. He wants me to use it, but so far I haven’t been that interested. Also, it locates our house in the wrong block so all the directions from here to other places are not correct…. Maybe these are small issues, but they bother me, especially the very incomplete poi lists.
Deb, in contrast to the road database, manufacturers don’t try to put in every known POI. They generally only include about 5-25% of known POIs.
How’s this? My 770 has worked perfectly for the three weeks I’ve had it . . . until today, when I am really needing to rely on it, and upon being turned on it says “Can’t unlock maps.” Apparantly this is a HUGE problem that Garmin is having with these units–without warning, the maps are no longer accessible to the user. You may want to wait until this problem is cleared up before buying one.
By the way, the problem outlined above (i.e., “Can’t Unlock Maps” is actually easy to fix: you go on the Garmin website, register your product, obtain unlock codes for your maps, paste them into notepad files you create on your computer and save as “all types” with the names gmapprom.unl and gmapprom1.unl (if you have European maps on a 770), plug your nuvi into your computer, go to my computer, open your nuvi as if it were a hard drive, and paste the .unl files into the Garmin folder, where these files should have been. But here’s the thing: why does this happen in the first place? Can you count on your unit in the field if your maps can suddenly disappear and you’re not near your computer?
I just ordered the garmin 760. A representative called me a day later to verify my order and to tell me he noticed I did not order the 2gb SD card. Is this card necessary for the unit to function properly?
OK, this issue is a major pain in the rear: On a few occasions I’ve gone to enter a street name, only to have some street names pop up before I’ve finished entering the name. The pop-up names are wrong, however there’s no “none of the above” or “let me finish entering the name” feature that I’m aware of. What am I missing? If it’s simply not finding a street by that name, why can’t it say that?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Don – You don’t need a SD card. Don’t give in.
Zach – Correct, that simply means it doesn’t know about a street of that spelling in the city you have entered. It assumes (incorrectly) based on what you have typed that the matches shown must be what you want.
Tim – Thanks, as always, for the prompt response. That’s certainly an incentive to pre-load one’s desination points before a trip to check whether they’re findable.
Perhaps a tweak in the future to let people know that the particular street (or other target) couldn’t be loated?
Thanks,
Tim, Thanks alot. That is exactly what I thought. I had already let him talk me into it however I will send it back for a refund. All I really wanted the 760 for is navigation. I don’t need or want to download a lot of superfluous extras into it.
Tim, Thanks very much for your review. I bought my 760 about 2 months ago and updated it to the 2.6 firmware and am very happy now, with the exception of two things:
1 – Is there any way to make the unit do a direct route (without roads)? I’m a pilot and trust me when I say, I KNOW not to use this thing for flight navigation. However, it would be nice to keep in my flight bag as a backup. I’ve worked out how to load all airports and navaids into to the favorites and now have the loaded along with frequencies and such. However, no matter which mode I put it in, when I ask it to do a route, it follows roads. This probably goes along with your comment about topographic maps.
2. Occationally (twice, now in the last month), the I’ll put the unit in the carry case, and after a little time (30 to 45 minutes) the 760 is completely unresponsive. The screen doesn’t light up at all. I initially thought it might be the battery, and both times, I’ve left it attached to my PC via the USB cable to let it charge over night. Eventually, if I play with it enough, it will suddenly wake up and work just fine. Have you had this experience? It did it before the update to 2.5 and then again last night, 2 weeks after my update to 2.6.
Thanks!
One quick note for folks wanting to put their own POI’s in. It’s not too difficult at all to convert stuff from Google Earth. Do a search on Google and you’ll find that there are even some free tools out there that will convert the Google Earth .KML files into the required .CSV files to help you put your custom POI’s into your Garmin. Try this one:
http://kmlcsv.pbwiki.com/
I haven’t worked with it yet, but it looks easy enough.
Because of the limitations on the CSV file format (you can’t put in phone numbers that you can dial by touching them on the POI screen, for example), I’ve moved over to working with the GPX format files. There’s a pretty good article over on the POIFactory website that can get you started with these files, although there are a lot of things NOT said in the article. Here’s the link:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/6664
By the way, this seems to be a relaly good place to find information.
Hope this helps… It helped me put all of my favorite places that weren’t in the GPS already in!
Hi Doug – I’m a pilot too and frequently throw an auto GPS into my flight bag as well. You can’t have too many backup/redundant systems.
If you to go Menu -> Tools -> System -> Navigation -> Route Preference -> Off Road….. that should give you a straight line route to your destination.
As to the second item, I haven’t seen that before. Any chance the hold switch was activated?
Tim – Re Garmin Nuvi 760T uk/Europe
Do the POI’s cover Camping sites in the UK/Europe version?
Many thanks
Tedm – Sorry, don’t have access to a Euro version of the 760.
Thanks, Tim. I thought I tried setting that setting, but maybe I didn’t. I’ll give that a try.
No, the hold switch wasn’t activated. The symptom is that I’ll take it out of the case, slip it into the mount and it doesn’t come on (even though the power cord shows green lights). I press the power button to the ‘on’ position and nothing happens. I tried holding it in that position for more than 10 seconds and then releasing it. I removed the memory card, held down different spots on the screen and so forth while turning the unit on. Then, suddenly… it came on. Very odd.
By the way, the custom POI file (.gpx) that I created with all of the airports, frequencies (including AWOS/ATIS and ASOS) and even traffic pattern altitude and phone number for the airport was all pulled from the AOPA aiport database. It works pretty well – I used the Navaids GPX file from POI-factory as a separate file and they loaded in as separate headings under Custom POI’s.
If you are interested in the data, please let me know.
Just purchased a Garmin 760 and awaiting for it to arrive. Intend to use it at the end of March for a tour of east coast colleges with my wife and daughter. Do you recommend that I program starting city and ending city, then add all the points in between, or should I create a separate trip for each leg of the trip?
Also, how do I charge the battery fully to use the device outside of the car to program my trip in advance? How long does it take to charge in the car, and should I purchase an AC adapter?
Doug – I have a similar GPX file of my own, but thanks for offering to share.
Jamie – You can do it either way. If the order of the visits are flexible the route planner has the advantage of picking the most efficient order to make all of the stops, and being able to see the total time and mileage of the entire route. Otherwise separate trips for each leg might be just as easy.
Hello Tim I am finding it difficult to see if garmin760T displays road speed on main display when in use. Have you any experience of this
It does on some of the major highways in the USA, I’m not sure about your area.
Thanks Tim for your prompt reply ,much appreciated over this side of the pond. I am just about to purchase a GPS and have got it down to 2 models HP 310 and Garmin 760T, I like the travel companion from HP but would like to have the feature of TMC but currently HP reciever is not available(FB055AA).The question I hope you can address is a alternative part that would facilitate this feature. If none is available the scales will tip in the favour of the Garmin
Thanks Dot
I don’t know of any alternative traffic receiver for the HP until they release their own.
Tim, I’m considering upgrading to the 760 from a nuvi 680. I’ve been very happy with the 680 and 660 models but have a question about POIs on a route. If I’m on a long trip and want to stop along the route, is there a way to tell it I only want POIs ahead in the route. When I search on the 680, I get all POIs sorted by distance from that point (including those I’ve already passed. I get pointers next to each POI that indicate direction from my current point, but they aren’t always helpful.
Thanks!
Chris, you can search for POIs “near current route” but that still won’t eliminate POIs behind you.
Hello
I will be buying a GPS shortly and have been doing some research to get the best deal out there. Which do you think is best overall, the Garmin 770 or the TOMTOM 920. I live in Puerto Rico but plan on moving to the states eventually. I also travel to Europe every so often during the summer months. Thanks!
Carlos, we also have a review of the TomTom 920T you can read for comparison.
Tim, thanks for the hint about the mode – I was looking at the wrong thing. Now I think this makes a nice little backup for a flight bag!
You know, this 760 is nearly perfect. With the new firmware, it finds the sats very fast! I’m down to having two major complaints left:
1 – When I want to enter a destination, it requires me to enter the starting city, and doesn’t give me the option to choose the one I’m already in or one nearby from a list. This is fine if the town name is short, but if it’s a long one, it’s irritating that I don’t have the option to select it from a list of nearby cities/towns. I don’t want to give up the spell option. On a day-to-day basis, 95% of my use is within a 40 mile radius of my home so nearby cities would be helpful.
2 – When working with POI’s, I have one serious problem:
If I am looking for a POI in a nearby town and select to enter the city to look near, it doesn’t display the cities in order of distance. It doesn’t appear to let me enter a state (I’ve tried, but using as it’s shown in the listing it provides doesn’t return any matches), and it lists cities with the same name from all over the country. In my case, I was in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and wanted to go to a restaurant in Troy, Michigan (about 12 miles away). I entered Troy and it found 20 or maybe more Troys and the one I wanted was on the 5th page of cities. The first one on the list was over 1100 miles away. That makes no sense at all to me and means that I have to take my eyes off the road for much longer to find my destination (yeah – I know I’m not supposed to play with the GPS while driving…)
I have played with a TomTom and am not happy with the way it handles POI’s either. They are both close, but… not quite there.
Do you have any suggestions or workarounds for these?
Oh, I do have one more complaint – heheh – Where’s the COMPASS???? I want a compass screen. The thing that says N, NW, NE, S, etc, is nearly useless! I miss my compass! My TomTom has a compass! Garmin, please give me a compass!
1) I don’t know of anything you can change there.
2) They are displayed alphabetically (with state)… doesn’t help much, but perhaps making the location in the list more predictable.
No compass, sorry.
I’m trying to learn a litle about working with my new N760 as a device on my PC. I’m been looking at POI files and I used the POILoader to transfer some POI to the device. To find out how it works I got a SD-card 1GB. With the POILoader I transfered the contents of the CSV file to SD card, but after that I realized that the same “current.gpx” on both the card and the device, when I thougt that the intention with an SD card was to avoid the use of the N760 space, and at same time to have the possibility to have plenty of POIs.
Are all the Nuvi 760 the same? I notice when I look to purchase some say Bluetooth and some do not. Do they all come with FM Transmitter?
Yes, they are all the same and come with Bluetooth and an FM transmitter. Some are sold with different shades of black, but all with the same features.
Does anyone know if Nuvi 750s are being shipped with the 2.6 firmware… and if so, is there any mention of it on the box? I’m in the market, the 750 sounds ideal for me, but VERY reluctant to buy something so flawed out of the box.
Scott, I haven’t seen any shipping with the new firmware yet… but it is quite easy to update and many people don’t have any issues with the <2.6 firmware.
I agree. The update is fast & easy, and it made a BIG improvement in how my unit functioned.
Thank you for such a quick response Tim! I’ll have to give it some thought. I have a problem paying serious money for something I have to take home and fix. IMO, Garmin knows they have a problem and should have been shipping corrected versions some time ago.
Scott:
In this day and age, hardware production runs are going to present longer lead times than firmware updates. I understand your frustration, but I expect that for Garmin to meet demand for their highly desired Nuvi’s, this will always be the case. As was mentioned, the software update is a piece of cake. Don’t get tangled up on something that is so easy to update.
Speaker on this thing is horrible. It sounds like a cheap toy. Reception is the second. My 660 catches signal in 10-15 seconds inside my apt. 760 sometimes finds it, sometime not at all. For those to simple reason I decided to keep 660 and return 760. Oh yeah, it costs twice as much.
hi tim,
thank you for the very detailed information about the nuvi 760. i am planning to purchse a gps (don’t own one) and this seems to be a good one but does it have the option of truck routes??
thanks.
No, this Nuvi doesn’t offer truck routes.
I am ready to purchase the Nuvi 760 or 770. Is the Traffic Receiver an added option? What good is this? Is it necessary to purchase more memory? One company told me that the unit has to be sent in to Garmin every year to be updated, is this true?
The traffic receiver is included, with a three month subscription. You don’t need to purchase more memory. You don’t need to send the device to Garmin to update the maps. You purchase the map update and install it from your computer.
hi tim,
thank you for your quick reply. do you have any suggestion on a gps that has truck route option??
thank you.
Shelia, there are a couple of trucker specific software packages on the market (co-pilot and NaviGo come to mind). There was one just announced by WordNav, however their previous products have received very poor customer feedback.
In general the feedback I get from truckers is that the data from these consumer level devices isn’t reliable enough to keep you out of tight and low spots.
I ordered a 760 over the internet and the rep said I needed a 2008 map update for $59. Is real or a scam.
Thank you
It’s a scam….it will come with the 2008 maps, an if it doesn’t, it’s been sitting in their inventory an awfully long time.
Ken – It will come with the 2008 map. (Which is actually based on a map release they got from their supplier in the second half of 2006.) But it will come with the most recent map Garmin has made available at this time.
Ken:
That surprises me. I ordered mine online from an electronics retailer almost two months ago and it shipped with current maps. I’m sure Tim can help with a reality check here.
If you order a 760 it will have the newest maps.That is B.S. what they are telling you. Trying to get an extra 59.95 for nothing.
Thank you guys, that’s what I thought so I just wanted to make sure.
Thanks again.
Hi All, thanks for the great tips.
1. Does the Garmin Nuvi 850 & 880 Optimally-Reorder-Points? Or is the 760 still the champ?
2. Has the detour feature improved in the 850 & 880 or should we expect to experience the same problem?
3. Are there any suggestions or reviews for the best GPS system that has both features: Optimally-Reorder-Points & Voice Recognition?
Has anyone seen the Nuvi 860? Just wondering if it’s worth waiting or just go for the Nuvi 760. Thanks.
Tim, Great review I just ordered my 760 [snip, see comment policy]. Anyway real reason for post…does anyone know what the max size on the SD card is? And will the 760 accept SDHC? Thanks!
Can you download additional voices for the 760?
Which is better, the piano black or the black/gray finish?
Thanks.
Both are the same 760 Nuvi, just your preference whether you want a shiny black(comes from Best Buy) or the Matte Black finish from other Realtors. You might go to Best Buy and check out the shiny black, They have other Garmins in the Matte black to compare the finish to.
Thanks !! I heard that the piano black picks up too many fingerprints and also reflects the sun so it can be distracting. Any feedback on that?
Again don’t have the Piano Black but have seen it in Best Buy and I am sure it will show fingerprints. On the reflection I really don’t know but it is really shiny.
Does the new garmin firmware increase the GPS tracking speed.. meaning does it make the screen flow smoother with your current position on the map?
JP, most like the matte black (as opposed to the shiny piano black) better.
Jared, I haven’t noticed much of a difference in screen refresh rate.
Thanks Tim and Orlando !! I saw the piano black today at BB and it does look kinda sharp. Any hints on why the matte is preferred?? Sorry to beat this up but you just decide once and then you are “stuck” -:)
Many people with the shiny piano finish say that the glare off the shiny black parts make the screen harder to read.
Thanks Tim and Orlando !! I saw the Piano black today and it does look kinda sharp. Any reason why the matte seems to be preferred? Any downside to the shiny? Sorry to beat this up, you you just decide once and then you are “stuck” with it
JP, I just prefer the matte myself. Like you said the glossy will show fingerprints and may reflect sunlight. Just a choice of preference but like Tim says, most prefer the matte and you can get good deals online on the Matte better than bb
Thanks Orlando ! I can get the glossy one near me on a special deal, under four. That’s why I was thinking is it worth getting the glossy finish for that price. What do you think??
sorry for repeating…… challenged computer skills….
Tim, I wonder if Nuvi760 map has national park roads — something like Google map. (You cannot find roads on map shown on Magellan Maestro.)
Thanks,
Daniel
Can I enter a “Where to?” destination that is just the name of the small town, rather than having a street address or intersection?
Thanks!
Sue – Yes.
Thanks, Tim! Another question, please. I just purchased the Nuvi 750, thinking it was the same as the 760 regarding Traffic. (The Garmin site didn’t make a distinction on the compare features page, just saying they were both Traffic compatible.) It seems that I need to buy an approximately $170 traffic receiver to get the live traffic feature on the 750. If I buy it, does it replace the charge wire for the car that came with the 750? I am trying to decide if I should exchange the 750 for the 760.
Thanks!
One more question – If I get the Nuvi 760, am I able to hear the traffic information through the Nuvi, or must I use my radio tuner? (I would like to continue using my radio for my Ipod.)
Yes, the traffic receiver does replace the power cord — it provides power and the traffic feed. You do not “hear” the traffic. The traffic cable is an antenna that picks up the signal out of the air and feeds that information to the GPS.
Thank you very much, Tim!
Sue, if you are buying the cable, there are two different traffic services; Clear Channel Traffic or MSN Traffic. MSN also just came out with Enhanced MSN. That allows you to beam routes to your Nuvi from your computer, through their website. It sounds pretty good. There seems to be a lot of opinion on which service is better. The 760 comes with Clear Channel and the 780 comes with MSN but make certain if you are getting the Enhanced version. I think the enhanced comes with 3 months free and the regular MSN comes with a year free. I might just wait for the Nuvi 880 with Voice Control.
Hope this helps.
Can you download additional voices for the 760 the same as tom tom?
Can I transfer bycicle tracks on the Nuvi 760 series? Does the battery last indeed about 5 hours or is it less? Thks
I want to buy a Garmin 760 but I have heard that 2009 map will be available soon. My question is, can I get that update for my GPS from Garmin website for free or I have to pay?
Thanks
Aran – Garmin doesn’t have a published map update policy like they used to, so we can’t say for sure.
Hi, two things to share for my new 760:
1) I just got off the phone with Garmin tryiing to get my “free” mapsource cd, they were going to charge me $15, then in further conversation, they told me that they were going to update the maps at the end of April, so I am going to wait.
2) I bought my unit off the internet from two different “photo” companies with great price, both tried really hard to sell me extra stuff at exorbitant pricing! In the first case I declined any accesories, then a few minutes after the phone call, they emailed me and said the unit was on back order for 3-4 weeks and I could cancel if I wanted. What a scam!
Oh yeah, great website
Garmin 750 or 760? Probably a very familiar question, but I am trying to figure out the better deal for the money. Both look very similar, but hard to tell the difference. [snip, see comment policy] I am leaning towards the 760 for the traffic feature, but wanted to get your take. Thanks for the assistance! Jamie
Received my new Nuvi 760 this week. This is my 5th GPS from Garmin. It works absolutely perfect. Don’t understand the complaints about being slow to get to ‘ready to navigate’ as mine was ready (cold) out of the box in less than 30 seconds. It has a black matte finish and has a silver frame.
I upgraded to new operating system 2.70 and it does indeed display powered by SiRFinstantFixII copyright 2008 SiRF Tech…
Garmin recommends the AC power supply 010-10723-00 but I found out that the power supply ending in 07 works also. The difference being is ..07.. includes adapters for various voltage connections maybe overseas locations other than the US. Again ending in 07 worked just fine for me. No lockups no problems what so ever.
Connected immediately to my Verizon W385 Motorola phone via bluetooth. The complaints of poor sound I haven’t seen. Sound is great. I was able to mount it on my Honda Goldwing using the supplied disk by adding heavy duty hook and tooth adapters to bottom of disk and mating set on the Goldwing. Works just fabulous. Just don’t allow it to get wet!
The Nuvi 760 with bluetooth ability and the fact that you can hear the directions thru your fm radio while on the bike or car makes it well worth having this unit. The included traffic features are not available here in Huntley IL, so I would consider the MSN features if traffic info needed.
Called Garmin about my need for mapsource to use in my computer and they said a new mapsource is coming out at the end of April but you have to call for it. BE SURE TO REGISTER YOUR NUVI WITH GARMIN. I have an older version of mapsource from my Garmin 2610 and I was able to transfer my
favorites/waypoints to the Nuvi 760, no problem. Just don’t transfer the maps as it might wipe out the included maps on the Nuvi.
Interestingly enough when you create a route from one place to another, I found that when Nuvi 760 wanted to send me to a road that I didn’t want for reason of a less traveled road, when it replies ‘off route, recalculating,’ the voice sounds as if it is irritated that you want to go in another direction.
A super unit and you have to shop cause I found it brand new on line at half the listed price.
Go for it.
Great site for information. Spent at least a week using you site info to realize what I wanted to upgrade to and your site was most helpful.
Don, that is a first class review. We should acknowledge such helpfulness.
Thanks !!!!!!!
Hi
I was just about to buy the Nuvi 760 but now I am wondering if I should wait until the end of April due to the 2009 maps.
Besides the Garmin 700 series what others should I consider that offer multi destination routing?
Thank you
I have had the slow to find a signal issue as well.
But my main problem is my Bluetooth. I have a Blackberry 8300 which is a compatible phone. The first several times after syncing the devices the bluetooth worked perfectly. but after this weekend without using the Nuvi 760 in now connects for a few seconds and then automatically disconnects itself. Any ideas on this issue? or should I get Garmin to do a reset or flash the latest software 2.7/firmware. I just got the unit a week or two ago but don’t know the software v. #. Thanks for the great review!
Steve
Searched further here and found what I was looking for. My unit did not come with the newest patch/ firmware already installed.
I went here: http://www8.garmin.com/products/webupdater/howtoinstall.jsp
And installed the WebUpdater and all the newest versions, this fixed the sat problem and bluetooth issues.
Thanks
A very informative forum. I live in Malta Europe and interested in buying a Nuvi 760 from a UK located website. As you can imagine I will be mostly using my gps in my country Malta. Going through this forum I noticed that some users have found difficulty in setting their hometown city as a default location address as their starting point (look at questions 28 and 32). In fact it has been also stated that they have to set their 760 gps (”where am I” feature) every time they set up a destination. Would it be possible for me to set my nuvi 760 with a default of my hometown address in Malta or do I have to set it every time I use it?
Also, what should I be careful about when buying a gps from an internet based shop such as ebay?
Thanks.
For satellight reception, is the Nuvi 760 WAAS enabled (if that is the correct term)? Or is that feature no longer important in regards to accuracy?
WAAS isn’t really important for auto navigation.
Tim, thank you very much. I am looking for a new GPS. I have had the StreetPilot III and the 2720. I do not really need Bluetooth or traffic updates. I do like the wide screen. What in your opinion, if you don’t mind, is the best Garmin unit in regards to the GPS function? Accuracy, screen clarity, etc. Thank you very much.
I got my new 760 today and everything is working fine, but I notice on the phone it doesn’t show me my phone book. I have a Blackberry and everything else is working fine on it. I upgraded the GPS to 2.7 on the garmin website is there something I am over looking????thanks Frank
Does any of Garmin GPS have an option to choose vehicle ? For example: car, bus, truck etc ?
All:
Just wanted to let those of you looling for an in-house charging uption that my 760 charges perfectly off of USB wall charger. I realize this is not advertised or reommended by Nuvi, therefore it is “at your own risk”, but I’ve been doing this for several weeks and there are no ill effects. My charger is from the ATT 8525, which is similar those used by Blackberry. Saves me a few bucks on an unecessary accessory and there’s less cable (we all have dozens) laying around the house.
Hi,
Not to be redundant on the 750 vs. 760, but I was reading somewhere that it was mentioned that the 760 uses a faster processor than the 750 and that was the reason that the 750 was “sluggish” sometimes when in route. Anyone know if there is any truth to this or is it just an urban legend? Thanks!!
I don’t know that I’ve found my 750 sluggish when en route – seems OK – but it’s still horribly slow (5-10 minutes) to find a satellite when it’s first turned on after not being used for a while. Is this a processor issue?
Have you updated your 750 on webupdater lately? The latest update has instafix that picks up satellites in seconds.
No, it’s been a while, and will get on it asap. Thanks for the tip.
Any comments on the fact that the Garmin 760 says “recalculating” every time a turn is missed or if for any other reason you take a route different from what the 760 is indicating? I find the “recalculating” to be bothersome and unnecessary, as it should be enough (and preferable, I think) for the unit to simply recalculate and provide revised instructions from your current location without “yelling” the “recalculating” message at you. Which is how my TomTom works. Any comments?
Francisco – I agree to some extent that it is unnecessary, but it doesn’t bother me or otherwise make the unit less useful.
Tim,
I’ve found my 760 very slow recalculating if I missed a turn in a roundabout street. I’ve updated my unit to latest 2.70 version. Does the new TT 930 slow in recalculating too? I’ve found it very annoying thinking of returning my 760 and get and wait for the TT 930. Any advice for me?
Tim,
And also, I’ve noticed I’m on my driveway and hit the where am I, the 760 shows that I’m on my next door neighbor’s house address. For instance, house # 516 instead of #518 but we’re 10 meters apart. I’ve checked the sat accuracy is 3 meters. Is the TT 930 more accurate than the 760?
Rey, I think you are very lucky if your 760 is off by only 10 meters. Almost every time mine is off by much more than that. I find my TT 720 more accurate, but the screen is not nearly as bright as the 760 and is hard to see in bright sunlight.
Rey, when I say that “mine is off by much more than that”, I mean my 760 is off by much more than 10 meters. Just to clarify.
When dealing with auto GPS devices, the margin of error you will find when it comes to addresses is typically coming from the map database, not the GPS itself. Being off by only a few house numbers is very close as far as mapping goes. Addresses are often off by a thousand feet or more. So the accuracy of the GPS signal isn’t the issue you are experiencing, rather the resolution/accuracy of the map. And again, being off by only a couple of house numbers is pretty much right on target as far as current mapping technology goes.
Yes and not only that, it has this annoying feature when recording the Track Log – which I choose to display on screen, in a light blue line – of “snapping” to a neighbouring road. This is not so important when on a long journey, when it tends not to do this, but when working as a courier and making lots of stops in a residential area where there are loads of cul-de-sacs, it is several times a day locating me in a completely different street.
Tim, should we therefore assume that different brand devices (ie. Garmin, Navigon, Magellan) that use the same map supplier (ie. Navteq) will all be similarly inaccurate? Thanks.
When it comes to address positioning, yes.
Francisco,
I feel good with my 760 now, learning that your accuracy is more off compared to what I’ve complained on mine. But how about, how quick is the recalculation on your 760 when you’ve missed a turn compared to your TT720? I’ve noticed on my 760, I’m already 20 to 40 meters away from an intersection before it performs a recalculation. Any thoughts about this?
Rey,
I’m happy to see that you feel good with your 760, which is a very good unit. I do not find the recalculation time to be a problem on either the Garmin 760 or the TT 720; both are fast enough, I think.
What really bothers me is the Garmin 760 saying “recalculating” each and every time that it recalculates a route. The TT 720 simply recalculates silently and then gives you an updated instruction as required. If I miss a turn or for any reason deviate from a route all I need are the revised instructions; I do not need the machine to tell me that it is “recalculating”, which I find very bothersome.
In my opinion the Garmin 760 is clearly superior to the TT 720 in that (1) the Garmin 760 screen is significantly brighter and thus much easier to read in bright sunlight, (2) the Garmin 760 interface is clearer and easier to navigate, I think, and (3) I find the Garmin 760 mount to be sturdier, more convenient because the power cord is attached to it instead of to the GPS device, and for me the Garmin 760 is easier to place on its mount and remove than the TT-720.
On the other hand, my personal experience with accuracy of directions has been better on the TT-720 than on the Garmin 760. And of course, the TT 720 does not nag me with the 760’s needless “recalculating” “recalculating” “recalculating”…
Those are my personal opinions, anyway.
Tim:
Do you know if there are plans to introduce an updated Nuvi GPS in the near future? A successor to the Nuvi 760 with all or some of the problems corrected?
Thanks,
The Nuvi 800 series was announced in January.
Am looking at buying 760 for my new car…
When will Garmin bring out new models?
Will new MAP/POI databases require additional fees?
Thanks
I have been collecting tips on my 770 (loading routes and POIs from Google Maps, utilities, etc.) See:
http://bitrazor.com/content/nuvi770/index.php
i’m traveling a lot. i have an oldy 700 magellan right now. and i’m gonna buy 760.
i’ve some questions:
- can i categorize my address list?
- can i add europe map to 760? and how much?
- can i save coordination points (long, lat)?
- how much free hard drive space does 760 have?
thanx for your time, magis
1) No.
2) Yes, about $150. Often better just to get the Nuvi 770 that includes them both.
3) Yes.
4) 540 Mb. See specs top left column.
Is there software which will work on a Garmin unit, for truckers from your company. One which shows wieght limits, bridge heights, road widths for big rigs, and large RV’s?
Just the basics.
Diesel Guzzling Road Hog, here.
Magis,
Follow Tim’s advise I have 760 using an SD europe map card on the 760 and is very slow drawing map. Need to free more space more than 540Mb. I’ve tried deleting non-english voice, help files, Text files, Loaded POI & preloaded pictures & MP3s. But it only improved a bit. I just talked with Garmin tech, told me that 770 has 4 GB of internal memory so it’s better to buy the 770 if it’s only $150 more.
Tim, I’m comparing Garmin 760T to Navman S90i.
Does Garmin do the following
£60 or $120 cheaper than Garmin 760T
1) Show a hologram based image of the next turn. So you just a small glance shows you the next turning rather than being fixed on the GPS which turn to take.
2) Show speed of the road
3) Seems to have a slower processor and ROM speed than S90i
4) All the info on screen is translucent hence not intrusive to the map information
5) Maps look much much clearer than Garmin
6) Volume high enough in order not to need FM transmission.
7) Haven’t read about any problems with satellite acquisition times in S90i unlike 760T
9) Anything else you can say that Garmin 760T does and Navman S90i doesn’t do? Because I’m one of those who does not need re ordering waypoints (I’m not a delivery man) Useful feature for every one.
10) Surprisingly, you haven’t talked anything about the supported software that comes these GPS’s. A lot of features can be of real help.
11) Just by click on the screen move between 3Dmap to 2D map to Traffic on route map to Route overview screens.
12) Just by couple of touches on screen, add an avoid area. ie remove that path from route. In case you see traffic sitting infront of you.
13) Categories your custom POI into new categories or existing. Navman lets you add 25 new cutom categories (like my clients) under which you can have any number.
14) I always like to to business with smaller companies they are always willing to do better rather than sit on their laurels so Navman.
For info: Navman uses Tele Atlas and Garmin uses NavTeq.
Navman has a very nice feature called NavPix. Take a picture and it attaches a GPS positioning of the image and then you can just select the image next time. Take a picture of your parents outside there house. Next time you want to go to there place. Just click on their image and off you go. (I’m assuming that you forgot the route
)
Tim,
I just bought my 760 and updated to v2.9. I was wondering if I really need to register or is it just a spam generator? From what I read, I can get all of my updates through webupdater (how I got my latest version.) Is there any real benefit to registering? I am also a pilot and I am interested in how you set yours up for flight purposes. I have WAAS GPS installed in the aircraft I fly, but like you’ve said I could throw it in my flight bag as an “in case….” Anywhere I could find info on this? Thanks
Scott,
I registered my 760 but haven’t gotten much email at all from Garmin. I’ve been pleasantly surprised on that front.
I know you were asking Tim for this, but as I’m a pilot as well, I would be happy to send you the airport and navaids files I built (these have data pulled from the AOPA airport e-directory including frequencies, TPA and if your phone is connected, you can even call the ATIS or FSS number from the screen). Drop me an email if you are interested to: dfitler@earthlink.net
My main concern is will Garmin 760 bought in Uk be able to use in Singapore / Malaysia? I would think tat if I buy the SD card City NavigatorNT for that particular country and slot it in, it should work? Im actually getting it for my dad and Im still debating on 760 or 660 version due to the sound quality for my old man. Please advice.
Scott,
Registering your 760 in mygarmin will benefit you of receiving a free map update NA 2009 NT if you just bought your new nuvi recently and if it has the old NA 2008 NT map preloaded.
Doug,
Thanks. I’ll send you an email soon.
Rey,
Makes sense. My unit did ship with the 2008 map. Would be nice to at least get a free update.
Fired up my unit for the first time this morning and after it finished loading the updates I had downloaded, it picked up the sats in less than 20 seconds. The settings were easy to set up for my preferences. I did notice the unit was off on my location by a short distance, but this is not a worry and I understand why. When I left for work this morning, the 760 picked up the sats in about the same time while sitting in my driveway. I typed in the direction to my workplace and it found it easily. It did route me in a non-preferred way, but I wanted to see how fast it would recalculate. I did not notice that I was not taking the right freeway exit at a large freeway interchange, but Im sure that was do to the position error. As soon as I drove under the overpass it had instructed me to take, it realized I was off track and recalculated in under a second. It routed me to my preferred route that I normally take without trying to get me back to the other freeway (my work is a mile north and east of the interchange.) The trip log info was accurate and easy to nav to. The traffic service alerted me to a traffic accident on the freeway and it was there. The only thing was that it alerted less than a mile from it, which would prevent me from exiting to get around it. IT’s worked very well and has excedded my expectations so far. I will post again if I see other issues.
Bought the 760 – thks to you all for the comments (you too Tim) – just to say that the maps for Belgium (europe) are NOT very precise – so other european countries cld have same problem – compared with friend and Tele Atlas maps – bycicle roads are even not on it!
I am looking to buy a nuvi 660 or 760. There is about a 80.00 price difference. I have heard pros and cons about both. Any ideas or suggestions?
Thank’s in advance!
Tim –
1) you rock. I would NOT have made a purchase without your web site. I’ve been back and forth for years due to insufficient info.
2) May I suggest a VERY PROMINENT rank of customer service somewhere on your site. (and you should augment your revenue model with a feed to other sites with this info and more).
3) I purchased the 760 today. My priorities: traffic alerts, easy dismount and bells/whistles in case I feel like using them.
Keep doing your thing. I applaud your efforts and dedication. I think the features of the product are just as important as the features of the company. Start highlighting the hidden fees, the customer service, etc. Is it easy to get help. Once you get it, what happens?
A certain market share owner of satellite tv has a pretty inferior product but they “take care of me” when I call to complain about the frustrations. This is subjective. I’m sure there’s a portion of subjective and non-subjective rating you can do. Protect us! Focusing exclusively on the product and features is 75%. Give us the rest!
I’m not ragging you. You are the best online. Just offering suggestions like a responsible reader.
BTW –
I logged into the tom tom site to let them know I purchased the garmin 760 over the 920T or 930T b/c of their customer service reports in forums and what a chore… I was forced to register and sent through a gauntlet of pages and questions just to find a form. LOL. Maybe it’s to keep people like me at bay. But c’mon. Either way, this is bad.
I will pay a premium or get a few less features or whatever to deal with a company that appreciates my business (like that will happen) or will make it easy for me to deal with them.
Service has taken a nose dive and I will go out of my way to support companies that offer it.
I recently upgraded to the 760 from the 2720 and really like it. My only quible is “Jill”. On the 2720 she sounded more natural while on the 760 the voice is more robotic. Is this normal for the 760? This is besides the “tinny” sound that others talked about and that I have no problem understanding. Thank you.
In regards to my question 362, how do you change the voice if so desired?
Thank you for any info/help.
I recently purchased City Navigator North America NT 2009 Map on DVD and updated my nuvi 360. Can I reuse the same DVD to update nuvi 760 that I just purchased two days back.
Sushma – You can use the same DVD, but you need a second license code to activate it on the second device.
Tim thanks for prompt response. How does one obtain additional licemce? Do I qualify for free map update because I just bought nuvi 760 twop days back.
Register it at my.garmin.com and it should tell you (in the map section) if you qualify. It should. Then don’t download the map again, but it should prompt you with a new code.
Tim Thanks for your advice.
I paired my n760 to my cell(samsung sch-u410). I can call and receive with no problem but I cant get the phonebook to transfer. Whats up with that?
How did you manage to pair your u410 with the 760? I can’t seem to get it to go.
Thanks,
Chad
John, it might be a known issue as Garmin doesn’t appear to list that phone as being compatible:
http://www8.garmin.com/bluetooth/phones.jsp
I been using the 760 for a few days now and really like it. One complaint is while driving the name of the street you are driving on does not show? On the top it tells you the next street you need to turn on, but I do not see the name of the street I am on. My gps in my wife’s Lexus always shows the name of the street you are on, on the bottom of the screen. maybe not a big deal..
I have just purchased a brand new Tomtom 730T but in my case (I have installed Tomtom in ashtray behind wooden panel) its useless because I need to have a automatic power on function. At the moment switching navigator on nmanually is almost impossible. How does Garmin 760 handle auto power on when ignition on? And does it have auto power off function as well?
Another question: is it possible to use headphone jack to output mp3 player audio to car speakers? I drive a 2005 C class Mercedes with audio in cable.
Thanks, sorry for my bad English…
Greetings from Finland
Tom – The name of the current street really isn’t valuable in navigation. Using paper maps it is good to know, since the GPS always knows where you are you (the driver) need to focus on what’s next.
I am about to purchase my first GPS unit. I have narrowed my choices to the Garmin Nuvi 760 & the TomTom GO 920. The deciding factor for me will be the quality of the speakers,i.e., what kind of volume can they put out (I know people who have the 760 who are seniors like myself who say they cannot here it), and the mounting systems available. In Calif. it is illegal to place a GPS on the windshield.
John,
I bought the Garmin 760 and have been very happy with it. The speaker on the unit is pretty good – a bit tinny, but understandable for the most part. The FM transmitter is rubbish on my car (too far from the antenna which is on the rear fender, I think), but it’s my understanding that this is more the fault of the FCC than of Garmin due to transmit power limits in the US. My understanding is that if you have a car with the FM antenna in the front windshield (like my previous car, a 2001 Buick Lesabre), it picks up pretty well.
If you want to be able to listen to your radio AND hear the GPS, you can get a nice amplified car speaker [snip, see comment policy]
This would probably do the trick for you and you might want to think about this regardless of the brand of GPS you buy as none of them are that great, in my opinion.
If your car stereo has a line-in auxilliary jack (I added one to my BMW – they are available as plug-in modules for many radios), you can use that and play the audio over your car speakers. I really like doing it this way with the cell-phone bluetooth interface as the audio is crystal clear. If you don’t have a line-in jack, but do have a cassette deck in your car, go to [snip] and buy one of those adapters that plugs into the cassette that has an audio plug on the other end:
[snip]
As I mentioned before, the only downside to these last two options is that you won’t be able to listen to the radio and hear your GPS at the same time, which is why an external speaker might be the solution for you. The only problem there is where to mount the speaker.
As for GPS mounts, I went to [snip] and found a nice vent mount that I like a lot (and it’s CHEAP):
[snip]
This is cheap and easy to use on any vent in your car. It re-uses the actual mounting plate for the Garmin so the power is still integrated to the mounting plate. I really prefer this to the window suction cup and have bought a couple of them so I can put one in each car. I think these are available for the TomTom as well, but haven’t ever tried one, but would expect that it works just as well for it.
Hope this helps you out! Good luck on your purchase!
Tim/Tom,
I have to agree with Tom on this one, Tim. I moved to Michigan last year and was stunned to find that most streets do not have signs that tell you what street you are ON. They only show the cross street name. This is particularly true of large, main roads. They seem to assume that you know what street you are on since it’s a major road. I can’t tell you how many times I have driven down a street and not had any idea what street it was, and just having the GPS show the current street name without jumping over to the ‘where am I’ option would have been a huge help. This is another of those things that seems so obvious.
This dovetails with my comments earlier about my complaints about finding a POI in a city other than the one you’re in. When I first moved here and got my 760, I didn’t know anything about the area. I would be driving and a friend would ask me where I was. Since the GPS doesn’t tell me what road I’m on, I can’t tell him. He’ll then tell me to go to a particular store in Troy, Mi for example. I would go to POI’s, select to enter a POI near a city, enter the city name and sit stunned as over the next 5 minutes or so it would find every single Troy in the US, starting with one over 1800 miles away. It wouldn’t find the one that was 12 miles away at all sometimes and other times it would take it 4 or 5 minutes and put it at the far end of the list. This also seems to happen if you just punch in the name of a POI, like Wendys or McDonalds. It will find the ones that are miles away, but miss the one that’s 2 blocks away until it’s found all of the Wendys restaurants within 500 miles. Very odd.
In both cases, I’m trying to locate something close, and I can’t even tell what road I’m on, or what township I’m in. The sorting algorithms for this part of the unit just don’t seem to work well. If you know exactly what you’re looking for and where it is, it works very well (but that kind of defeats the need for the GPS, doesn’t it????).
One other thing that I’m hoping you can help me figure out, Tim. I added about 3000 custom POI’s to the unit (airports and navaids) via XML code. All is well with the data – I can see it in the lists, I can route to any of the airports, and it works really well. However, I can’t seem to find a way to have it display the symbols on the map unless I’m actually routing to them. So if I’m flying from one location to another and fly over another airport that is in the custom POI list, it doesn’t show up on the map even though it’s in the list and I can route to it. Do you know how to turn on the symbols for all of the custom objects you add so they show up all of the time on the map? This seems to also apply to things like restaurants that I’ve added. I can route to them from the list, but they don’t show up on the map unless I am routing to them.
Thanks again!
I had Garmin 680 for sometime and I was very happy with the unit. I returned it for 760 and have not used it much. I need some suggestions on whether to return 760 for 680 or to keep the 760 which has maps for 2008. I hear that 680 was a better model. Any suggestions please.
I am about to buy my first GPS (leaning heavily towards Garmin 760)and am wondering if I can use it without buying subscriptions for other features like TTN. I am just interested in getting from point A to point B. Thanks for your help. Great site.
Doug,
Thanks for your comments. They were very helpful.
Cynthia – No subscription is required for a->b navigation.
I just got my Nuvi 760 today and it came with 2008 maps. I’ve seen a couple posts from people who were able to get a free 2009 upgrade for a recently purchased Nuvi. How do I go about getting this upgrade?
Justin, register your device at my.garmin.com and you should find the info in there.
Tim:
Could you tell me if the “Detour function” has been improved from the Nuvi 700 series to the Nuvi 800 series?
Thanks
Tim,
I am not sure of any gps units has this feature, but I think it would be a great one. Since the GPS knows the current speed limit in that area and it knows the speed you are traveling at, it would be a nice feature to say, if I go over the speed limit by 5 miles an hour (or whatever speed you set), please beep at me or tell me I am speeding. This would allow users like myself who has a few tickets to avoid future violations. Please let me know if you heard of this as a feature. Thanks
Tom – Quite a few devices have that feature such as the TomTom 930 I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.
Of course, the answer is not to break the law in the first instance. Best regards
I just paid [snip, see comment policy] without really knowing what I was getting into except that if I was getting in, I wanted quality. I can’t tell you how reassuring it was to then find your website. Thank you for the great effort that you have put into it.
I think the 660 does not advertise track log capability but is available via diagnostic mode using 3rd party software like some other models?
Garmin has just released the update for various units, Nuvi included 2009. You must have registered your unit with garmin prior to this process and mine was registered 4/1/08. Yep – you get the 2009 update w/o charge. BUT download with high speed i’net connection took 1 hr as it is over 2 gbyt in size. Decompression takes about 1 hour with my machine which has 1.5 gbyt memory and then installation takes about 1 hour. 3 hours with high speed connection. Make sure you copy down the 8 alpha/numeric reg code needed for final installation. should have Garmin attached to computer and it will update computer with maps and the Garmin unit. It asks for your unit s/n# so have that handy. Also you need Garmin updater installed and Garmin downloader installed to complete. I had it but believe it will prompt you for the installation of these jprograms if they are not on your computer. Again make sure you have your Garmin connected to your computer when you start the final install process. I wanted also to get the disk update which they want $10.00 shipping but it sent me right into the net update system. Will call them for the DVD which they say will take several week but it is in fact installed via computer. IT WENT FLAWLESSLY FOR ME. Good job Garmin.!!!!!!!!
I am about to buy a garmin nuvi 760 which I will be using for my holidays in Barcelona and Costa Brava Spain. Will the nuvi 760 loose satellite position whilst driving through a tunnel? If it does, how long will it take for the nuvi 760 to make a recalculation and regain connection? Also does anyone have any advice or experience by using a gps in Spain?
Lawrence, the Nuvi 760 (like any other GPS that doesn’t have an auxiliary navigation system) will drop signal in a tunnel.
I assume that it is possible to add maps to the SD card, if so how does one access them?
Secondly I have seen posts from people who say they are using 8 or even 16 gig, yet Garmin say one should use 4 gig cards(perhaps the size was upgraded in firmware 2.9). Surly Garmin should give an accurate answer.
The Nuvi will look for maps on the SD card when it is booted.
Thanks Tim. But how long will it take for the nuvi 760 to recalculate the destination and regain satellite connection? Also, is it just tunnels and enclosed areas that the 760 drop signal or does tall buildings and other obstacles also affect the signal?
How can I get Europe maps for 760?
Can the 760 be used for geocaching?
Is the 760 portable, can it be used in a rental car in a different state?
How can I get and install European maps for the 760?
Are any of the above “easy” or does it require much study?
Lawrence, in my experience it generally happens within ten seconds.
Michael, you can order them from Garmin.
It *can* be used for geocaching– but it wouldn’t be much fun and it isn’t designed for outdoor use. You can use it in a different car. You can purchase extra maps from Garmin, or if you know you want Euro maps, I’d go for the 770 Nuvi instead since it already has those maps and will likely cost less than adding them later.
Tim,I presently own a Nuvi 350 and was looking to buy the 760 for 2 main reasons, the traffic receiver and the FM transmitter. However, Im not sure I can get the benefit I want from the FM transmitter. I would like to be able to listen to an FM radio station, and not have to turn down the radio volume every time the GPS wants to tell me something. I believe that this can only be accomplished while listening to music from an SD card, and NOT from my car radio. Is there a way I can have the 760 temporarily mute the car radio while giving me instructions?
No, you cannot use your car radio to listen to a radio station and use the FM transmitter at the same time.
Are there any GPS’s that can mute my car radio temporarily while telling me instructions?
Just got my nuvi 760. I’m new to GPS and checked out everything (reviews). Just took a job driving a dump truck, was having problems finding places. This was the answer to my problems. 500 favorites, Love the little blue trail to see where you’ve been. The only problem I have is when I am in that loud truck, the microphone on the bluetooth, callers cannot understand me. Works great in the car.
Is there a way to use an external micrphone?
Can I use bluetooth headset and phone?
I’ve been looking through these comments and I haven’t really seen a solid answer to this question:
I am deciding between splurging on the 770 or going with the 670 (I am an American living in Europe and travel back and forth frequently). Is the 770 really worth the extra money? What’s better about it than the 670?
Thanks!
Hi Tim, any comment #352 above will be greatly appreciated.
Charlie – Sure, but not in a portable design.
Jeff – You can’t use a headset, phone, and GPS at the same time. You can use this external microphone.
Deepak – I didn’t comment because I don’t know the answer. Navman products are pretty rare around my area.
Is it possible to SAVE a route with via points as a Favorite with the nuvi 760? I’m able to update a saved favorite route with via points in real time so the nuvi will direct me along the route I want to take, but I cannot figure out how to SAVE the modified route for use the next time without manually entering the via point again.
I am looking at GPS’s for bmy sales reps. I am leaning toward the 760, so I thank you for all your info. However, I still have one question unanswered. When I put a rookie into a new territory, I would like to be able to download all his assigned customers into the GPS, so he/she does not need to plug all that data in and be able to call them up by the Customer name. Is that functionality available.
Tim:
I asked the following question a while back but did not receive an answer. Would like to buy a Nuvi 700 or 800 series as soon as possible, but when I read your review of the 700 series about the “Detour Function” I though that perhaps the 800 series might have corrected this and in that case I would buy the 800 series.
Could you tell me if the “Detour function” has been improved from the Nuvi 700 series to the Nuvi 800 series?
Thanks
Hi I have now taken the plunge and bought Garmin 760. However I am trying to establish what is the largest SD card compatible. Garmin tell me it is 4 gig. On the other hand I have seen posts from people who bought 8 or even 16 gig. Perhaps Garmin have not updated their info ( current firmware is 2.9 which may permit the use of higher capacity). The other issue is the speed of these cards ( class 2,4,6). I would appreciate the input of anybody who have bought higher than 4 gig card.
Brian – are you actually using the ‘Route’ feature, or are you just entering a destination and a via point? You might want to drop by the Nuvi forum where we can discuss further.
Kim, after entering it into one it is possible to transfer those to other devices. There are a couple of ways to do it depending on the existing data format. You also might want to drop by the Nuvi forums for more details or when you get ready to do it.
Tim – I’m starting from a saved “Favorite”, then manually updating that with a preferred “Via Point” in order to force the nuvi to navigate in a different direction from its default routing. I’d like to then save that favorite WITH the manually entered via point so the next time I select that favorite route, it includes the preferred via point so I don’t have to manually enter it again. But I’m doing something wrong because I can’t seem to save this preferred routing sequence which includes a via point.
Thanks for your help.
Brian, you want to use the ‘Routes’ feature instead of the process you are using. Page 12-13 of the manual.
I have just purchased a NUVI 760 and am pretty pleased with it.. however i’ve experienced 2 problems over the past few days:
1)the devices just suddenly switches off at times (battery fully charged)
2) when simulating a route (GPS OFF), though it does not crash, the vehicle on screen suddenly stops (without reaching final destination). I will need to restart the device in order to make it work again.
Any ideas as to what the prob might be? I have also just upraded to the latest software from Garmin website.
Thanks
I recently bought a 760 and it is working very well, except for a small, I hope, problem.
I few days ago I plugged it into my PC via USB cable and the computer crashed. I eventually got a message that computer was recovering from “serious system error”
Since rebooting Help (gives nessage “no matches found”) and Garmin Garage (if I try changing vehicle I am told to go to garmin.com but if I try uploading am told that vehicles already exist).
When I plug Nuvi into computer, help and vehicle files seem to appear under My Computer so it seems that files exist but the device is not recognising them. Navigation and other functions seem to be OK.
Any help/advise would be appreciated. I contacted Garnin a few days ago but still await reply.
I just purchased a new in box nuvi 760. It only came with an 8 page Quick Start Manual. There was no Owners Manual. Was it supposed to be included?
Patrick – You are on version 3? If so I’d call Garmin support or ask if anyone knows in the Garmin Nuvi forums.
Michael – I’d say the same thing, you might want to ask for help in the Nuvi forums.
Paul – No, there isn’t a manual in the box. We’ve linked to the manual near the top left of this page in the specifications.
402. I went ahead and got the external microphone from garmin. Took me some time to figure out where to plug it in. It plugs into the cradle, I got it in 2 days.
I had some problems downloading the new 09 map update to, but I called garmin, had to pay $10 to ship it. But it was alot faster than trying to download it. The lady said it would take 8-10 weeks, got it in 2 days. I was very impressed of helpfullness.
THANKS TIM
TRUCKIN IN THE CIRCLE CITY
Just got my external microphone, from garmin.
I had trouble downloading to, but called garmin and just got the disk. The lady said it would take eight to ten weeks, Got it in two days. I was very impressed of their helpfullness.
The microphone plugs into the cradle.
Thanks Tim
I have a question about using the 760 in Europe–which is where I will mostly be using it. You mentioned that the 770 has European maps. Other than that, is is basically the same as the 760? Which would be more cost effective–buy the 760 and then a package with European maps or buy the 770 with the maps already included? Thanks!
Jan – Correct, the 760 + European maps is the same as the 770. Generally it will be less expensive to purchase the 770 with the maps already loaded than to purchase the 760 and then add the European maps. So typically the best deal is to just get the 760… unless you might not use the European maps until next year– in which case it might be better to get the 760 now, then get the maps just before you go next year when they will be slightly newer. But it sounds like in your case where you will be using it often, the 770 with the preloaded maps is the better deal. You can checkout some current prices over here.
760 vs 770: I had heard that the 770 has more internal memory than the 760, is this true? It may be that some folks feel the 770 aquires the satilites quicker and therefore think it has more internal memory. Can you comment on this, besides the European maps, is the 770 exactly the same as the 760? Thanks!
Jamie – The 770 probably does have a bit more internal memory to accommodate the additional maps, but I have serious doubts it acquires satellites faster, and more internal memory wouldn’t make it acquire satellites faster. Garmin won’t confirm or deny that the 750/760/770 have any hardware differences like processor speeds, etc.
Just purchased the 760 and have been playing with it for just one day – it rocks! Is there any way to connect my XM Radio to the 760 so as to hear it through the FM radio? Thank you in advance for all the helpful info on this site.
Al, there isn’t any way to feed audio into the 760 from an external source.
I am enjoying reading these post and reviews. I am a 75 year old man, with limited computer technical knowledge, etc. I am considering buying a gps. Could some of you suggest the simplest one for me to use up to 500.00 outlay. Thank you.
George, I’d check out the Nuvi 260w.
George, Im 71 and have been using the Nuvi 350 for almost 2 years. You should be able to buy it for around $250 on sale, and you cant go wrong, unless you want live traffic updates or you want the ability to program multiple destinations, in which case you will need something more expensive. You shouldnt have to spend more than $500 for any of those.
Which is the best dashboard friction mount holder for the nuvi 760? From where can I buy this mount at a reasonable price? I live in Europe.
I also live in Europe, in the UK. Without a doubt, the Garmin branded beanbag mount is a superb piece of engineering. I’ve had one in my various business and personal vehicles since 2002, initially holding the Street Pilot III – which is considerably heavier and chunkier than my current 770. When I bought the 770, I got a new beanbag mount and have never had cause to use it as the old one is still going strong without any signs of wear and tear despite daily use on three continents for all that time. I don’t work for Garmin, but credit where it is due. I’d recommend doing an internet search and get it by mail order, as this will get the best price, but a well known branch of a car products superstore also do them.
Is there a way to have the POI icons displayed on the map on the 760 the way they are on the magellan
Rick44685 – No, the POIs only show on the map at very high zoom settings.
I am new to the GPS world and I want to buy one that is going to serve all of my needs…I want something that is going to provide traffic updates and is now going to be slow as far as processor speed is concerned…I’ve have been giving serious thought into buying the 760 Nuvi…what do u guys think?
I just ordered my first GPS, the Nuvi 760, online. The vendor called “surprised” I had not also order a memory card to update the yearly map, and the 1G holds only half the US and 20 destinations, while the 2G holds whole US and 50 destinations. Now I see I did get taken by buying the 2G card. So, just what does the memory card get used for–how can we take advantage of it for best effect? (And thank you for this site, which I obviously wish I’d found before that extra sale phone call.)
The overwhelming majority of people won’t need to use the SD card slot. If you want to add a ton of MP3 files and run out of space in the internal memory, you could add more to an SD card. Or if you wanted to add maps of a country you were visiting but didn’t have maps for you could add them to an SD card if there wasn’t enough room in the remaining internal memory. But the vast majority of auto GPS users will never need to use it.
what is the size of internal memory on Garmin 760?
2 GB, there is a ‘Specifications’ section along the left column (top) of this page.
Looking for my first GPS. I looking between the nuvi 350 (price) and 760 (capabilities). My main goals are navigation accuracy and text-to-speech. Bluetooth and multi destinations are bonuses in my mind. I’m working with a tight budget and nervous to spend extra for the 760 only to have it outdated in a year. I want to be able to use this gps system for a couple years without needing to upgrade.
1. What is the typically life of a gps system (I understand there are many factors to account, but on average – 1 or 2 years, etc?)
2. If I purchase the 350, Will I kick myself in 3-6 months because I didn’t spend a bit more for the 760?
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Neither device guarantees you will get the latest map available. However since the 350 has been discontinued, it is more likely to not have the latest map. I’d look to the 760 for that reason.
If you can buy the 350 for at least $100 less then the 760, and if you dont need the traffic feature (and its subscription fees), then I would buy the 350. I have been using the 350 for about 2 years, and I recently passed up a great deal on the 760. I plan on updating the map next year. When you get your new gps, make sure it has the latest maps (2008, I think). If not, call Garmin and I think they will let you update at no cost.
Note that Garmin will not automatically give you a map update for any GPS that comes off the shelf without the most recent map. Especially when it comes to discontinued devices.
Hi Tim, well done. Great site and very informative. I have ordered a 760 (based largely but not exclusively on this site). I don’t think the 760 ticks every single box but overall I think the unit, as an everyday general user friendly gps is about the best out there at this time. Do you own a 760 yourself Tim or what gps are you using? BTW Greetings from Dublin Ireland where it hasn’t stopped raining in 7 days!!! we are in need of sun!!!
I do have a Nuvi 760… but I’ve also got 40 or 50 other GPS devices kicking around my office too so I wouldn’t read into that very much.
Today is the first day in a couple of weeks that it hasn’t rained here too– so you have company.
Charlie – I’ll think about that.
Tim – thanks for the feedback, and all info. on this site. All the newer models are coming out with anti-glare screens. Was that a significant complaint from consumers?
Assuming Garmin still isn’t shipping it’s 700 series with updated firmware that corrects it’s aquisition time problem – Did they at least fix the problem in the 800 series?
Some do ship with the updated firmware and it is pretty easy to install if it doesn’t.
Is the nuvi 760 compatible with SDHC cards for expanded memory? What SD card would you recommend (4GB) for this gps?
Thanks..
Tim,
Was considering the 760 when I read your review. It sounds like a good unit, however, the detour function scares me. Are there any other GPS units that do a better job. Also, how well does the 760 compare to other brands/model with Highway drive settings. I have used a C330 and many times it directs me on Non-highway routes (even though the “fastest route” selection is chosen) when the highway was obviously the best route. Want to make sure the 760 doesn’t do that. Can you recommend any other brand/model that is comparable with the 770?
Thanks
Tim, what a great site you have. Thank you very much for your efforts. I purchased the Nuvi 760 about a month ago. Works great ! Even the built in traffic reports work very well here on Long Island.
The only negative I can find (and it’s a small one) concerns the POI’s. Today I was looking for a particular fast food place. When I used the POI and searched under the catagory of fast food, the unit wanted to send me many miles away even though I knew there was a closer location. It wasn’t until I typed the name in manually that the closer location came up on the screen. I thought that was very odd.
All and all, I’m very impressed with this unit.
Lee – I don’t very often come across unexpected roadblocks, so the fact that the detour function isn’t as good as other devices really doesn’t bother me much… I can’t remember the last time I used it on any GPS.
As to routing– you will never agree with any GPS 100% of the time.
How do you disable the speed limit display, I find it not up to date for my area and bad information is worse than no information in this case.
Tim,
Plain and simple, I am purchasing a planning on buying a GPS 4″ screen. What are top 6 in your professional opinion priced under $500.00. That is, based on the comments you have received.
Thanks and hurry, I want to purchase one this week.
Johnny
My Garmin GPS 760 is about 2 months old. I made several trips and the sound worked fine, then this week, no sound thru the FM radio. I tried everything I couls thonk of, but no sound. I am look for a clue to examine next.
Prior to purchasing my 760, I was concerned about the “poor” built-in FM reception as reported here. I purchased it anyway and it turned out to be as reported, weak. So I went back to what I had been using: a tiny device I purchased through “the” auction site that works great as an FM transmitter. I bought it to use with my satellite radio and never had any problems with it, even in southern California. The cost of this item was minimal, including shipping and it works great with my Garmin 760. It takes an extra wire but I drive an old Land Rover so who cares? The Garmin 760 has been a great benefit and I also appreciate this web site.
Tim, Can you please clarify charging other than off the car. Manual says to initially charge 6 hours. Don’t want to drive that far and car cigarette lighter only works when car is on. Can I plug to a USB port on my computer and leave computer on until completely charged? Would rather not buy an optional AC adapter if avoidable.
Thanks for your help
You can charge off the USB port to your computer, it will take roughly twice as long to charge that way.
Just purchased my 760 free shipping on 8/23/08. Did not buy ac charger but I dont think USB port can charge your unit. The unit so far works great. Came with 2009 MAP latest version. Anyone know if Map update are free?
Dave, you have the latest map so there is nothing to update to. Map updates typically cost around $70.
Thanks for the info TiM. But I think $70 is a lot for an update. SO If I have 5 updates will cost me $350 and that is what I paid for the unit. I might as well get a new one.
You can update as frequently or infrequently as you wish. Currently, devices that are 5 years old can’t update to today’s map because they don’t have the hardware requirements– I suspect in another 4 years we will be saying the same thing about the 760 so I doubt hardly anyone will ever pay for more than two updates for the same device.
Garmin’s map update prices are just about the cheapest in the industry.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your feedback. I’ve been using my brand new 760 for 3 days now, one thing I notice that when I am on the way home, approaching the T-intersection where my house is on the LEFT TURN of the street, but the GPS told me to make a RIGHT onto my street. This just irritated me. Not sure if it is MAP’s error or programing’s error?
Most likely a map error. Search for your address then instead of ‘Go’, ‘Show Map’ and see if it places you on the wrong side of the intersection. That would confirm.
We just ordered a Garmin Nuvi 760 from an online vendor. We were sent a message to call a member of their staff to confirm the purchase. He asked if we wanted to have the maps upgraded to the 2008 version from the 2005 maps that are in it for an additional $84.00. I am led to believe that the 2009 maps are out now. How much would it cost to download the maps to the most current version from Garmin. Am I being scammed?
Yes, it is a scam. The 2009 maps are out now, however you should get the maps for free. I’d cancel your order and get it from a reputable place.
I just purchased a Nuvi 760 tonight largely due to the response on this blog. The only problem I have encountered so far is when I go to register the product my the Communicator plug-in doesn’t recognize the serial number of the device. I am a MAC user and have tried multiple browsers (Safari, Firefox, Opera). Any suggestions?
I am getting ready to order the 760 which is my first portable GPS. The salesperson told me I needed a memory card in order to load the 2009 maps. I told him I did’nt believe him based on what I read here and he hung up on me! Do I need a memory card and what accessories do you recommend to get started?
That is how the scam works. You order the device at a super cheap price, from one of a few stores we know runs this scam. Then they tell you you need certain accessories to make the device work. It isn’t true you need those accessories, and they charge way more for those accessories than they are worth. If you say no to the accessories, then suddenly the device is “on backorder” and they never ship the product.
Great site, Tim!
I just got a new 760 to replace the old standby 2610 and have a few questions/observations. The 2610 displays route turns, over-riding other displays such as the trip info page and I’ve found that very useful. It appears that is not the case with the 760 – the voice kicks in but no graphics. Is that normal or something that can be enabled? I’ve seen some reference to an external microphone used to improve the audio for the phone function. Any info pro/con? There doesn’t seem to be any info on it in any of the Garmin maunals covering it. So far (1 week) I’m finding it to be a really nice unit, although I sometimes find myself missing the more technical info that the 2610 provided like the GPS info page.
Thanks for the dedication Tim.
If I’m correctly understanding what you are describing, that sounds normal. Most people are happy with the increased sound quality using the external mic.
Regarding the weak FM transmitter in Garmin -
I’ve just bought and used A Garmin 760 for 3 weeks in Sydney city and suburb. The built-in FM transmitter work really fine so far in my car (Camry 2003). So the receiver may also play a role here!
Thanks for the useful Forum – Tim
I have been describing a bad experience I have had with my Nüvi 760, where I missed text, my favorites, help issues, vewing/display of gallery pictures. I could later get the GPS to work again because I had a backup on my LapTop during my journey.
In the language options I had Danish at 3 items; The crash happened when I changed the text language to English and keybord to German.
When I turned the GPS off and on again, almost all was gone. I had no text and many other things didn´t work.
An user from another forum told me at I should take the SD-card out, because it could give problems. I did so, and now the GPS works fine and I can change the language as many times I whish without problems.
Is Garmin aware of this problem med SD-card?
Tim -
Finally took the time to read through all the comments/answers! The mic input and Sky view screen are two things not listed by Garmin in the manual. Are there any other goodies we should know about?
Gene
You can find other goodies in our Garmin Nuvi Forums.
Hi, I have been looking to purchase a GPS for my hubby for Christmas this year. I have read alot of revies adn have been comparing. I like the features of the Garmin NUVI 760 and it seems to have good review. I am kind of going between the TomTom brand and the Garmin..im torn on which to choose. I heard the TomTom maps update for free and with the Garmin, you have to pay each time. Is this true?
thanks
TomTom allows users to make certain corrections to the maps and share those with other users. That is free. However they still charge for official map updates just like Garmin.
Getting ready to purchase one of these units and would like clarification on one bluetooth feature. I have a aux. jack in my car that I intend to run the audio through. Will phone conversations go through my car speakers? Thanks in advance.
Next to keeping me from getting lost, the bluetooth feature is my favorite feature of the 760! California will give you a ticket if you so much as hold up a phone to your ear while driving (good idea), so it’s great to have the 760 answer your phone for you. And if you plug it into the vehicle speaker system, all the better. In our case, it works great and it keeps us from getting a ticket for yakking on the phone while driving!
Thanks for your help! which would you say is more user friendly? If any body else has inputs too, i welcome them! I am looking to get it for a first time GPS user!
Tim, do you happen to know if it is possible to upgrade Garmin 760 to 765 by means of a software upgrade? If not why not
Husam – It is not possible as far as I know because the software in the 765 requires more advanced hardware not present in the 760. The 760 just doesn’t have enough horsepower to run the new software.
Tim,
$299.00 @ CC is a steal, however it is also a sham! I went to their web and they are “not available in stores and not available on line.” I can offer to sell you a Sony 42″ flat screen brand
new for $399.95. But I don’t have it and can’t get
it. Circuit City is famous for this type of BS. I’ll send you a crisp $20.00 bill by snail mail if you can find a CC that has one…and not open box!! After seeing the ad for $299.00 and going to their site to buy one, only to be disappointed,
you see the email I fired off to them. It wasn’t
flattering!!
Wow, circuit city is now offering the 760 for $299. That’s a steal!
With the 700 series can I plan a route on my computer, manipulate it and then transfer it to the GPS ?
If so what software do I need ?
Yes, you can either ask Garmin to send you a MapSource CD, or plan from MapQuest and send the route from their website.
Thanks for the quick reply. Could you expand on “or plan from MapQuest and send the route from their website.” How would I go about this ? Thanks
Mapquest on 760? – Garmin Nuvi Forums
David and I had exchanged a couple of emails offline about the Circuit City deal. I was able to get in on it just fine, as were a few other people I talked to and some forum members as well. But he couldn’t get it for reasons we don’t understand right now. I’d be interested in hearing from anyone else that tried (yesterday only) to get the deal, but were not able to.
I have been looking for a gps that is able to set up a route that starts and ends in the same place but has 15 to 20 stops in between as I make deliveries in a 100 mile area and often not to the same places and I want the gps to put things in order that makes sense. Great site .
Owned nuvi760 for almost one year. This is my first unit. It worked well until yesterday. I drove approximately 100 miles to my destiation, turned unit off and put it into my pocket. Later I returned to vehicle, affixed unit to windshield and set then another location and drove off. But . . . no voice. Turned unit on/off a few times. Held ‘off’ for several seconds, however still no voice.
Would some one comment or suggest solution?
TIA
Brad
I have recently bought AA guides from Garmin. I was disappointed to learn at the point of downloading/installation that the 180 mb application has to be insalled on the device and not on the SD. I have already installed similar application ( road tour) on the SD. So why Garmin cannot arrange the same facility!!. I had to halt the installation and delete some foreign languages before I was able to proceed further.
Brad, I would first check and make sure the volume is turned up.
Tim, let me first say fantastic site and info! I have never owned a GPS but like paul # 487 I to need a unit that I can enter in 20-30 stops in one trip and in return get the best route to take, will the nuvi 760 do this? I am confused about the routes and waypoint/routes. On the specs it has routes listed at 10 and wp routes listed at 50. And in reference to the via point comments # 77 and 78 you make the statement you think it’s 50? does the unit not list this info? I am interested in the 760 but I am also looking at the new 755T which has a few more features but is about $100 more street cost. Do you think these features are worth it? Thanks!
Jerry, the device can store up to 10 custom routes at a time. Each of those routes can store up to 10 waypoints (stops) within the route.
How accurate is the MPH indicator on the 760? If the 760 indicates I am going 60, my speedometer reads about 65. Is this normal or is the car’s speed indicator off? Thanks for any info.
See:
heat and speedometer questions – GPS Discussions
Trust Speed Reading! – GPS Discussions
GPS or Speedometer – Garmin Nuvi Forums
Can you tell me if the Nuvi 760 is multivoltage. Does it cater for heavy vehicles eg: tour coaches, trucks as in to avoid low bridges etc
I just got my Nuvi. Do I need to charge it before using. If so how long?
Hi. I bought Nuvi 760 and I’m using it a few days, and I have a problem. GPS shows ways correctly but
the voice comand comes after I do the move. I have 2009 maps, and I update software to
version 4.1, but didn’t help. What is wrong and what I have to do now?
Hi, I have my sister’s 350 and thinking about getting my own GPS. Should I get 360 or 760? I don’t have any problem with 350 but since I am not going to get a new GPS in 3 yrs, I don’t know whether it is a good idea to get disconnected item. Should I go ahead with 760 or save a few dollars buying 360? If I get 360, is it easy to update it? thanks,
Sorry, I mean discontinued item
Stef, see Garmin Discontinued Status.
I only have a question, I have no clue what I am buying but my husbands wants a GPS as he is a truck driver and thought it would be handy to have. I would like to get him one for Xmas but no nothing about them. Can any one advise me as to what to get? Thanks
I just bought the Garmin nuvi 760 a few days ago, I am having problem with getting reception on the FM station any suggestions. I tried different stations and still bad reception. I really like my new GPS
Carl, what geographical locality are you in? In London, the FM reception is absolute rubbish, due to the huge number of FM stations, both legal and illegal crowding the band. It’s pretty poor elsewhere in the Kingdom, too, especially when travelling distances in excess of 50 – 60 miles, where you’re often changing frequencies due also to the changing strengths of FM radio stations. In this jurisdiction, the nüvi’s transmitter simply isn’t powerful enough. It’s a pointless feature of an otherwise pretty good unit.
Success of the FM transmitter also depends on the location of the radio’s antenna in your vehicle. Many vehicles that have the FM antenna located at the back of the car don’t work nearly as well as those with antennas up front as the transmitter is designed to only work at a very short distance.
I am in Parker Colorado USA, I drive a 1998 Nissan Pather Finder, the antenna is in the front. any way to correct this
Carl, Even though the 760 has its own FM transmitter, it is still best to give it some help and use a stronger transmitter, particularly in high density FM areas. I live in southern California and have no problems listening through my FM but it was necessary to get a cheap (less than $10) transmitter.
Thank you I just went and bought a FM transmitter, you are the best. One more question. I down loaded all my songs from my Ipod, if I am listening to a song how do I switch to the next song or keep skipping until I hear a song I like.
Carl -
If you haven’t already done so – download the users manual. Page 22 has the info you need.
Just noticed and installed Version 4.20 update – short list of fixes includes the speech stutter! That would be nice.
As a follow up to the update. The stutter appears to be cured. Thanks Garmin!
1) have the 760 – very satisfied – but when scaling to have larger view it does not show the map aligned to north – do you then each time have to change map display from 3D view to etc.?
2) suggestion: why not replace the very slow simulation by a fast overview of course aligned north!
Rudy,
The unit needs to be moving to know which way North is relative to the screen orientation. Could that be the problem?
put gps in 3D mode – push while driving on the minus – repush until you see large area – it does not head to north while all paper maps show north on top – thks gene
Hi
Are there any applications that can be down loaded to interface with the unit?
I’m thinking of being able to both upload and download route information, way points etc in either (or preferably both!) long & lat or map references?
Having just bought a unit I was suprised nothing comes with it and that when connected via usb you can’t actually do anything except copy mp3 files etc across or am I doing something wrong??
Thanks in advance for any help offered!
Keith
Keith, you can contact Garmin support and ask if they will send you a copy of their MapSource program to do those tasks.
Hi, I have copied Road Tour/France Heritage to my Garmin 760 ( 925 mb) SD card (4 gig).The device is up to date. However when I click between various software on the SD card, some of these applications seem to didappear and become inaccessible. I have no option but to close and start again!!.This french application was copied rather than installed ( initially installed on my desktop, then the appropriate file was copied over). I am not sure if the fact that the SD is 4 gig rather than 2 gig which might have caused this. Why can’t Garmin update their firmware to accept sizes > 4 gig !! any body help !!
The vendor who sold me the garmin 760 suggested that I pay $40 extra for updated maps and $60 for “memory”, otherwise I’d have to reenter addresses every time I went anywhere. Did I get sold a bill of goods?
It must be 86th street photo & video, techondigital, or any of the other names they go by. It is a scam. There is no such feature they are selling you.
Hi, I have a Nuvi 760 and recently the bluetooth has stopped functioning with my Blackberry 8830. It works fine with my Sanyo Katana II. It pairs with the Blackberry and asks me to enter the passkey code and then makes the connection but after about 10 seconds I get a message that the phone has been disconnected. This is strange because it has worked with the blackberry in the past.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Jim, you might want to check and see if WebUpdater offers you any Bluetooth updates and try those– I think one might have been released today according to people in our forums.
Thanks Tim. I will check it out.
Tim
Can you update the bluetooth SW without updating to the firmware 4.2? I have heard so many horror stories about the updates I am leery of updating. I currently have version 3.0 which came installed on the unit when I purchased it.
Thanks again for your help
Jim, Mine does the same thing and it ALWAYS happens because I have my bluetooth headset on and connected to my phone at the same time as the Bluetooth on my Garmin Nuvi 760. It appears that if the Garmin detects that your phone is currently connected to another bluetooth device (like my Jabra or Jawbone headsets, or maybe even your car’s built-in Bluetooth, if so equipped) at the same time that it is trying to connect to the phone, that it will give that message over and over. To fix it, just turn off your headset whenever you are going to use the Bluetooth in the Nuvi and the problem will go away.
Hope this helps!
wondering about the fm transmitter on the 760 and my sirrius sattalite. fm transmitter. can they share a channel on the radio? can you just use the speaker on the 760 and not the fm transmitter?
No, you can’t use two FM transmitters at once. One will “win” with power, just like what happens when you are half way between two radio stations on the same frequency. You can just use the internal speaker of the GPS… the FM transmitter is not required for audio and that is the way most people use it.
I have Garmin nuvi 760, This is the best investment I ever made. GPS was made for someone like me who gets lost easily. My question is when I set up routes. I use one route start to finish with a few stops in between. Example: Stop A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. Let stay I start on A, then B then I want to change to stop F, G, H, then go back to C, D, E. While I am driving the I want to tell the GPS to goto F, it asks me if I want to start from the beginning, when I say yes, it takes me to my home base A, when I say no it does nothing. While in my routes I want to be able to change my stops with stopping an manually changing stops. Can I just pick the address and hit go. The GPS will not allow me to do so. I need to go to recently found addresses.
Tim, a few questions.
Does dropping the internal free space memory down from 700mb (660) to 540mb in the nuvi 760 have any ramifications moving forward for map updates?
Did the 760 pretty much work out all the bugs you discussed in the above comments: long initial boot, etc and do you recomend it over the 660?
Thank You
Mike, yes, you might have trouble with map updates with that little free space. Yes, most of the bugs have been fixed and I’d get it over the 660.
Tim,
Thanks for the fast response.
What’s your opinion on refurb. GPS?
So why do you think they dropped the free space down when they produced the 760? Have map updates been an issue with that unit all ready?
I’m first time buyer of a GPS, I am looking at what seems to be a great deal on the 760 at $250 at a large online only retailer. Should I expect that the unit would loaded with the latest maps and any other software updates?
Chris, the updates are free if it doesn’t come with them. If the retailer is telling you that you need to purchase some sort of map update, SD card, etc– it is a scam. (And there are LOTS of those going on right now.)
I’m a newbie to the GPS realm and am looking at the 760 verses the Navagon 7100 or 7200T. As I easily get frustrated with traffic, I have been interested in the Navagons and their free traffic subscription, but with the 760 being advertised for $249 by a major online retailer and the reviews like it so much, I am strongly considering just jumping for the 760. Given I am new to the GPS thing, would you advise the Garmin 760 or one of the Navagons (7100 or 7200T)? Thanks.
Tim, I bought a nuvi 760 a couple months ago and love it but on the way home from work mine froze. What do I need to do? Thanks in advance
Roger, our 760 review is here on this page. You can also catch our reviews of the NAVIGON 7100 and NAVIGON 7200T.
Ray – I’d contact Garmin support.
I found the Nuvi 760 for a really good deal while I was looking for the Nuvi 255W. They are both about the same price and I really only need the features the Nuvi 255W has. Would you recommend the 255W for any reason over the 760?
Tim, can you purchase an update from
garmin with European maps for the 760?
Does the 750 or 760 have a screen which shows locations and “strengths” of satellites being used?
To reiterate Matt’s question (posting 535): “Would you recommend the 255W for any reason over the 760?”
Matt and I seem to be facing a similar decision, although I am wondering about getting the 255W or 750.
My question: Has anyone used this in a *very* rural, mountain region?
I have the same question as Matt and Lynn regarding the 255W or 760? My main concerns are quality of sound, ability to re-route due to traffic problems, and if I will need the additional waypoints on the 255W. We tend to overlook bells and whistles in favor of overall performance. Love your site. Thanks!
I found the answers to my questions in your comments when I looked for Garmin Nuvi 255w on this site. I’m convinced that I will never find the “perfect” system, but either the 255W or the 760 sounds great. Now it’s just deciding between arrows, distances and multiple destinations. The “Where did I park?” feature should come in handy when your (one of millions) white rental car is parked in either “Goofy” or “Pluto” at Disney World. Thanks, again.
do any of these units have the ability to take and guide you with land description co-ordinates? eg 32-10-14-56-w4
I just bought a 760, can I hook it up via the USB cable to the back of my stereo (stereo has a USB port) and have it functional through my truck speakers. I’m looking for a way around the FM tuner. Thanks
Rodney, no, USB is only used for charging and data transfer, not audio.
thanks, why then can I hook my ipod thru the USB port and it plays?
The iPod was designed to act as a USB drive with some other devices and to send audio output, the Nuvi was not.
I am looking at purchasing the 760 version but am unsure if it will fit my needs. I am in sales and cover the entire state. I would like to enter 8-10 POI at the beginning of the day and need it to tell me the most optimal route. Can the 760 optimize my route or do I need to enter them in the correct order to start with? Can I enter 100 POI, plot them on the map, then pick the ones I want to go to that day?
Jo, yes, the 760 can do that. You can’t plot your custom POIs on the map, but you can store them there and you can build a route that will sort the stops in an optimum order.
Can I download the poi names and addresses from an excel spreadsheet.
Jo, yes, if you have latitude and longitude values for each item.
Hello,
Just got my brand new Nuvi 760 [snip, see comment policy]. Best price for new that I have found thus far. Anyway, I LOVE MY GARMIN. My friend has a 255W and he got me hooked on Garmin. The maps on the 760 have been very accurate and quick to recalculate and the bluetooth option has really made talking on my cell phone safe. My only two questions right now are: 1) Is there a quicker way to get back to the navigation map from “tools” or whereever else I may be browsing rather than hitting the “back” button a million times? 2) What is the BEST screen protector I can buy for my 760 that is anti-glare and a great pre-cut fit?
This website is absolutely mandatory for any GPS owner, thank you so much!!!
John, if you hold down on the back button rather than a single tap it will take you all the way back to the main menu.
Thanks Tim, that’s easy enough. Any recommendations on the screen protector? Also, in 3D mode, why doesn’t the map tell you how far out the view is when you press the “+” or “-” like in “heads up” view in the lower left corner? It always seems like the default of the 3D screen is too close and I have to zoom out to get a better perspective. Just noting little things as I play with it on day 2.
Thanks again.
John
I just purchased this unit and one of my main uses is as an MP3 player…I’ve noticed SEVERAL people asking what the maximum SD card size the unit will accept and what read/write speeds are recommended. I’d prefer to use an 8gb or 16gb card…will it fully function?
It appears that the 760 has been around for a couple of years. Have some of the early sound quality squawks been worked out like when using the bluetooth phone, or the FM sound transmission?
tom check 556
bought a garmin nuvi 760 a little dissapointed with poi i mean there are some very big name retail outlets e.g costco not included..incorrected addresses e.g w.saanich instead of e.saanich otherwise it seems o.k i do have alot to learn about it..also what purpose does the screenshot option serve?
Tim, see comments #220 & #238
bluetooth sometimes may sound distant i guess depends where call comes from and as for f.m transmitter if you have it hooked up to car charger when using it ,,it works just fine for all purposes mp3 f.m radio and incoming calls
carl are you using your unit with or without the external power hooked up when it is connected mine f.m is great wnen not it is very poor ..try it out
I’m a first time buyer. I just need a great Navigator, but I don’t need the hands free Blutooth feature. What is the unit for me.
I have had 760 for a few months now. Love the unit. Not impressed with with the blue tooth feature. Person on the other end always gets a lot of feed back. Also not very happy with Garmin’s customer service.
yes i agree..the bluetooth feature is less than satisfactory.
i hardly use mine because of the other end callers complaining i sound too far away!
my q is does the 760 make you aware if you are going over the speeding limit?if so do you need a program for this to work e.g total traffic network?i bought mine used and that featured had expired.
thanks tim
i have the nuvi 260 and its always a few hundred yards off i need somthing to get me in the driveway of peoples houses when its dark is this the unit i want ?
Jeremy, mapping just isn’t that accurate. See our article on GPS Street Address Accuracy for more information.
ok thanks that was alot of help . so is the real differnce between the 750 and 760 color ,bluetooth and the traffic ? also i drive a noisey work van do you think the blue tooth would even work well ?
Jeremy- correct on the basic differences. As to Bluetooth sound performance, it is typically marginal at best in a quiet car.
I have a few questions about the FM Transmitter. It would seem from what I read, you have to pick an FM band that no one is transmitting on and tune to that for the 760 to use it. Is that correct? This would seem to mean that to get the nuvi to come through the vehicles audio gear you have to give up listening to the radio. Is that correct? Does anyone make a unit that will transmit to the audio equipment and interupt the broadcast to give instructions? How is the audio quality when its transmitted to the vehicles audio equipment when taking a phone call?
Yes, you need to pick an unused station. Correct, that means no radio. No– there is no interrupt type equipment as it would need to know when to change the station which the GPS wouldn’t be able to tell it– nor make the switch in a timely manner. The audio quality of FM transmitters is generally poor, with a few exceptions based on density of radio stations and the proximity of your radio antenna.
Thoough I was told by someone who had a unit installed in their dash that it integrated with the vehicles audio and muted the radio when a call came in or it needed to give instructions.
I’ve had the 760 for over a year. Living in southern California, the FM transmitter issue proved to be a challenge – though not an insurmountable one. I simply purchased an automotive FM transmitter and run the 760 through it. I chose an FM station in my area by going online and accessing a satellite radio web site that recommended the least used FM station for my area. It works fine.
Those do exist.. yes. But that is a single in-dash system and not a separate PND/separate radio.
Well, my traffic subscription is finally up on my Nuvi 760 and I want to do the lifetime renewal. I noticed there are 2 traffic choices on Garmin’s website: Navteq $50 and Clear Channel $60. Which one came with the 3 month trial on my unit originally? Which one is better to resubscribe to? The $10 difference won’t affect my decision, just the quality of the service.
Thanks!
I called Garmin and the told me you get twice the info with the 60 dollar one
Got Nuvi 760 through employer awards program. We have been very satisfied but do have some questions. How do I get a manual? There wasn’t one in the box except for a “quick start manual” in non-english. I don’t see any phone # to call Garmin. Also, is there a way to have the voice prompts for turns to say the name of the street you are turning onto. I believe that information shows on the screen but when I am driving, reading the screen is not always possible. Maybe if I had a manual I’d know the answer to the last question. Thank you.
There is a link to the manual near the top right of this page. It sounds like you might need to enable text to speech.
Thank you for steering me to the manual and the information to set up the voice the way I want. You provide an excellent service to GPS users.
I’m an appraiser and have used the 760 over a year. Fm transmitter was a problem so I fouond a cable to plug garmin into auxilary input in my car, problem solved, directions and bluetooth phone clear as a bell!
what kind of cable did you buy ?
when i attempt to dial direct from p.o.i all the numbers are preceded with a 1 which pertains to long distance therefore my calls do not complete…are you aware of this and if so can you help…by the way the roaming setting on my cell is at home only mode..t
another Q i have is involving routes ..for instance if i wish to go to 5 destinations and i am starting from home ..do i enter home as my starting point and my ending point with all 5 poi’s in between oram i doing it all wrong because i am having a bit of a problem with this feature..and i do optimally organize the route
Voice only works on battery power.
Its only 4 months old and this problem persists from first use. It used to be that I had to get the Nuvi to start talking and while it was talking put it on the window cradle/power cable. If it was in the middle of talking and it mounted the voice would stay working. If I wasn’t fast enough, it wouldn’t have a voice when mounted. **NOTE** Its not on mute, the volume is up, its not set for FM, I’ve changed to other voices. As of a couple days ago, I can’t use my trick to elicit voice when plugged in. Still works perfect on battery. For the last day prior to the voice failing completely when plugged in, the voice was getting very choppy. So now that I’ve said that, what’s the deal?
I have a nuvi 760. I want to know what is the pin#? Please, I tried to contact Garmin. I couldn’t get through. It’s lockup. Maybe’ I dont know how to reset it to the factory default mode. I tried to press the reset button in the back, still it did not reset. Does anyone knows how to reset it. Thanks
The PIN is a password. So it is whatever you (or someone else) set as a PIN when the lock was turned on.
on my nuvi 760 do i need a special program in order to make the speed warning feature work?
I just got the 760 and used it for a quick trip before giving it to my daughter for her road trip.
Ques: Why did I have to enter my location (US) and time zone (Eastern) EVERY SINGLE TIME I started the unit after turning it off??? Can’t it leave the last setting as default?
PROBLEM: My quick trip was to drop off a package at the UPS depot, approx. 5 miles from home. Coming back it kept on sending me WAY off base…. first a half mile further east to go on the highway instead of just making a right turn. Then when I was on a road from which I would turn right one block and then left two block to home, it wanted me to go 10 blocks further from the right turn etc.
IS THIS GOOD NAVIGATION????
PROBLEM: I put in a SD card with music and when I tried to get it to play it did NOTHING. The audible books played but I was unable to get anything from the SD card. I took out the card and put in a different card with music and SAME RESULT… NO MUSIC.
Any suggestions/comments?
Hello, I have recently purchased a Garmin 760 and I am very dissapointed with the unit. It does not seem to recgonize it’s location. In one instance I had traveled north on I-5, then headed east a few miles to Hwy 99 to go south and the unit told me to turn right on I-5. It has told me to turn onto a named street that I was already traveling on. I was in Seattle wanting to go to a location just a few blocks away, and it was directing me to the freeway, and that was not a viable option. Can this be operator errors or possibly a defective unit? I am considering sending it back for repair. I also spent 6 hours downloading the updated maps recently. Any suggestions or comments?.
Ray
To whom it may concern.
i own a garmin 760 model
having problem keying address………….
after keying address message always say………….
NO MATCH FOUND
WHY?????????????
PLEASE HELP
Thank U
Tonia
I am looking to purchase a GPS to use on my motorcycle and my car, so i need one with a AUX/Headphone jack so i can hear the voice promps while on the motorcycle.
What is the difference between this unit and the newer 765, 780 and 850 models?
thanks
I am trying to decide between the Garmin 770 and the 775T.
I need US, Canada, Puerto Rico and European maps.
Do you have a recommendation for me?
Thanks for your help.
Raquel
I looked at the Garmin 770 and other brands. I found the screen and the graphics to be just right for me when I drive.
I purchased a refurbed 760 in late June just prior to a lengthy roadtrip and have nothing but praise for this unit (although, admittedly, this is my FIRST unit!)
I do have one question, however…how can I get the loaded MP3’s to list in a truly alphabetical order? I currently have about 2200 songs on there and when shuffle is turned off, it puts the songs in some unknown order and I cant figure out the logic in order to get them to sort properly. Any suggestions?
I have purchased 3 garmin products and in general have liked the products. After having my Garmin 680 for about 18 months I purchased (just recently) the lifetime subscription to MAPS to update the maps – that is a joke. My Garmin started to experience issues with the touch screen a few weeks ago and finally would not work at all. I bought another Garmin thinking I would be able to transfer my subscription from a honerable company right? WRONG. I bought this lifetime subscription just a few months ago and they will not honor the subsciption.
DO NOT BUY GARMIN OR FOR SURE NOT THE SUBSCRIPTION (LIFETIME)
thanks for the warning. from previous comments on this site i’ve noticed that they are not so good with customer service and yet such a huge company to boot!
keep trying be persistent i think it will work in your favour!
Have been using Garmin for the last 5 years and no problems out of the customer service. They have been great!
Just bought a refurb 770. I like it very much except for the fact that it does not give you an attention tone when it is time for you to make your turn. For example, the voice will announce “Turn right in 500 ft…approaching so and so street” but when it is time for you to make the turn it does not give you a “bong” or a “bell” sound indicating that you need to turn then. Is there a setting that I can change so that I can get this feature?
I drove in Miami, FL and missed many a turn because of the missing feature.
Please help me out with this. I still have a few days left to exchange the 770 for a similar model which has the attention tone feature if there are no setting changes that can give me this feature in the 770.
Thanks. I hope you can answer me soon.
Raquel
To whom it may concern.
i own a garmin 760 model
having problem keying address………….
after keying address message always say………….
NO MATCH FOUND
WHY?????????????
The street that I am looking for already exists 1 year and a half already. Did the updates, it still doesn’t find the street.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO REALIZE THERE ARE NEW STREETS IN THE WORLD!!!!
PLEASE HELP
Thank U
Speed
In most cases new roads seem to make it into new maps within a couple of years, however I’ve also seen (in rare cases) roads missing for over a decade.