Free GPS Guidance
Posts Tagged ‘Garmin nuvi’
I have often wondered how the Garmin nuvi compares to the iPhone for automotive GPS navigation. I recently had the chance to find out. I found myself traveling with a friend about 6 hours away from home and back. I had brought my nuvi along when I went to meet them, but I was told it was not needed as they had GPS in their car. Well, their car is much fancier than mine so I believed it came with a GPS navigation system factory installed. Just after leaving my nuvi behind I learned the truth. Oh my! How I missed my own GPS device once we hit the road. We came across a detour which the iPhone had no idea about and had to figure out the detour ourselves by enlarging the map and watching our car move as a blue dot around the screen working our way back onto the suggested route. Well, that was fun – not. Then again, I have become quite spoiled and like it that way.
My nuvi comes with lifetime traffic and helps me bypass traffic jams and scoots me around detours without hesitation, talking me through every step of the way. Instead of reading directions printed on the screen and trying to follow them, my device makes me aware ahead of time which lane to be in and when and where to turn next, readjusting automatically if I don’t make the suggested turn for whatever reason. I do agree that ‘she’ sometimes seems to get frustrated with me if I decide to take a shortcut that takes me off the beaten path, but ‘she’ adjusts to my choices as well as my mistakes and takes it all in stride. I have plans for another trip soon with yet another friend who says she has a GPS device in her car. This time my nuvi will ride along in my purse just in case I again miss her help along the way.
We live out in the country. I love the quiet, our view and the space between our home and our neighbors. Now, don’t get me wrong – I really appreciate our neighbors ‘cause we have the best neighbors anyone could ask for, but I’ve lived where you can hear your neighbors just as well as your own family even when they are in their own homes. Can’t say I enjoyed that. I prefer life out in the country. Well, that being said, it is sometimes difficult for people to follow the directions we give to them so that they can easily find our house.
A friend of mine just called, and we decided it would be fun to get together at my house. I was mentally preparing myself for the usual “are you familiar with…” conversation and extensive directions when my friend spoke up and asked “what’s your address? I have one of those thingies in my car!” I love it! Gotta admit that I really love my own “thingie” in my car! Automotive GPS units are such a convenience. Of course, my Garmin nuvi has me spoiled. Sounds like my friend feels the same way about her automotive GPS “thingie” and has learned to rely on it the same as I have mine. I love to explore new places, but I sure love being able to find my way home again no matter where I wander and now that it is summertime I plan to do plenty of that! Have a happy 4th of July, and enjoy your own wandering this summer…
Ha! One of my closest friends in the whole world still was not willing to try using GPS. “Why bother when you can just Google where you want to go and write out the directions? That’s silly. I have my directions all written out and will have a teenaged copilot with me. I don’t need to use GPS.” Well, I set up my Garmin nuvi in his car the other day when he was heading off to a new location, directions in hand, and asked him to just humor me and see how the automotive GPS compared to his written directions. I showed him how to turn it off if it got too annoying and sent him on his way. When he got back to me he was truly amazed at what it was like to drive with automotive GPS on board. There was one intersection in particular that totally stumped him, and the GPS system just kept saying “recalculating”, and after a couple of tries it got him turned back around and onto the correct route. “Wow! Thanks! I’m not sure I would have gotten there without the auto GPS!” My friend is definitely a new convert to the use of automotive GPS. I love it!
Well, how funny is that? Last year when I was thinking of updating the personalization of my Garmin nuvi and stopped by the Garmin Garage feature, thinking I might change the icon on my automotive GPS systems to my surprise and delight, they were offering a special Halloween Boo Bundle with “scary” characters and even a ghoulish voice to use on your Garmin automotive GPS units to delight your passengers and break up your commute. Our grandsons got a real kick out of watching and listening to this update on our next outing.
Well, this year they have a new character who will gladly ride along with you and give you directions and funny/scary narrative, Dr. Nightmare. To quote the Garmin blog; “Love the voice. Ours has the habit of saying creepy things at the most opportune moments when looking for a house to buy. When we arrived, if the house was no good, he would say ‘Welcome to this dreadful destination.’ A friend was in the back of our car, and as she leaned over to look in the rearview mirror to check her hair, he said ‘Is that a goblin in the rearview mirror?’ She then replied ‘No its me.’ But the most uncanny of them all was just the other day, we were driving slowly through a small town when the vehicle in front of us stopped at the pedestrian crossing. As he did so a cat by the side of the road crossed in front of this vehicle. As we drove off Dr. Nightmare said “Did a cat just cross your path?”! Weird or what?!” We can hardly wait to go pick the boys up and go for a nice country drive.
When you are driving down the highway and see something great that you feel you just Need to get back to later, but you are on your way to an appointment or maybe traffic is just crazy, and you just can’t stop right this minute, what do you do? Well, if the automotive GPS you are traveling with is a Garmin nuvi it is no problem at all. All you need to do is just reach out to that handy touch screen and ask to “view map”, then click on “vehicle” and “save location”, name it (anything at all if you are in traffic , just to be able to find it again), and you are done! How simple is that? Gotta love those GPS touch screen features on the go! Next time you see, oh a terrific garage sale or an interesting restaurant or maybe a side trip you want to take on your way home from vacation all you need to do is just save that location on your Garmin nuvi GPS. Nice feature. Simplify your life and save that location.
Time for another product comparison; I am looking at two more automotive GPS units – the Garmin nuvi 255 versus the nuvi 775T. Both are excellent automotive GPS systems. The nuvi 255 is built more for the budget conscious traveler; whereas the nuvi 775T has more options to offer and increased functional capacity. Here are the functions that are basically the same in both:
They both have color displays to make it easy to read the screen. Both have rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the battery lasting approximately 4 hours on the nuvi 255 and 3 hours on the nuvi 775T. Each has a high-sensitivity GPS receiver. Neither of them is waterproof, so I wouldn’t recommend using them as a motorcycle GPS unit; however, waterproof is not really an issue in automotive GPS. Both come with preloaded street maps and the ability to add more maps if you are interested, but the nuvi 775T includes transatlantic maps which can be nice when you travel to Europe. Both of these versions of the Garmin nuvi come with internal solid state built-in memory and are designed to hold 1,000 Waypoints/favorites/locations; the nuvi 755T also built to remember up to 10 routes. Each includes a basemap and accepts data cards which are not included, but it would be handy to have for additional memory. Neither of these Garmin nuvi versions includes voice-activated navigation, so you are not able to operate the device with spoken commands; sorry about that one as that is a nice feature, but is yet another perk to look for in other automotive GPS systems in future reviews.
Both include choice of route setup for either faster time, shorter distance, or off road and route avoidance to help you avoid highways, tolls etc., also handy features to have in automotive GPS units. Both of these versions of Garmin nuvi also are FM traffic compatible (with receiver and lifetime traffic included with the nuvi 755T) and are MSN® Direct compatible and have a speed limit indicator which displays speed limit for most major roads in the U.S. and Europe. Both also have the functionality of the Where Am I? feature to help you find the closest hospitals, police & gas stations, nearest address & intersection and ecoRoute™ which calculates a more fuel-efficient route and the ability to add custom POIs (points of interest), all great features to have in unfamiliar territory. Personalize either Garmin nuvi version by adding Garmin Garage™ vehicles and voices, a free service at Garmin where you can download car-shaped icons and custom voices to your device. Photo navigation in order to navigate to geotagged photos, World travel clock, currency & unit converter, calculator and picture viewer are also nice features available in both.
Now for more differences between the two: The Garmin nuvi 755T has a few more features which the nuvi 255 does not. The nuvi 755T has higher display resolution and a 4.3-inch diagonal screen compared to the 3.5-inch screen of the nuvi 255. Nuvi 755T also includes 3-D building view which displays buildings in 3-D, the ability to auto sort multiple destinations which provides the most direct route, and Bluetooth® wireless technology so you can connect to your phone for hands-free calling. Garmin Locate™ marks your position when the GPS receiver is removed from the windshield mount – this can be really handy to help you remember where you parked your vehicle. The included MP3 player, Audio book player and FM transmitter with headphone jack/audio line-out will entertain you on your travels.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that both of these Garmin nuvi automotive GPS systems come with Garmin Lock™ anti-theft feature and touchscreen convenience. Well, I hope that helps to sort out the differences and advantages of each of these Garmin nuvi versions for you. Happy traveling!
Makin’ a list, checkin’ it twice… Well, here I am in my nice comfy chair, snack at my side, looking at those automotive GPS systems that are on their pre-Black Friday sale. Hmmm. Gotta figure out which one of those Garmin nuvi automotive GPS units I like best. There are so many things to like about each one! First, size – the nuvi 550 is the smallest and will fit in my pocket easily once I hit the sidewalks, the nuvi 1260T and nuvi 1450 are still pretty small but are much thinner, with the 1450 having the largest screen of all which will be easier to see while driving in hectic traffic. The nuvi 550 and 1260T both will have good pictures, but the 1450 has the most pixels, again easier to see in heavy traffic. Okay, color touchscreens on all three, that’s great.
While all are lightweight, the 1260T is nearly half the weight of the other two at about 4 ounces – I’m likin’ that in my pocket again if I head out on foot or bike ‘cause it won’t be bulky. Okay, good… All three have rechargeable batteries; with battery life between 3 and 8 hours on each, the 550 beats the other two out again, but I will just keep them charging while I am in the car. No problems there. All three come with preloaded maps and have the ability to load more – nice. All three use voice prompts and speak streets by name, I like that a lot, but none of these have voice activated navigation; well, I don’t really need that one, and it keeps the price reasonable.
All three will do detour calculations to get me back on track, but only the 550 and the 1450 will figure out the most direct route for me; although, all three models will help me avoid highways or toll roads – savin’ me money; and the 1260T and 1450 both include ecoroute to save gas. I like that. Oh, the 1260T is the one with Bluetooth, a handy feature to have; and that one comes with Lifetime Traffic included, oooh, nice. They all have world clock and a picture viewer, anti-theft (Great Idea) and are easily personalized with Garmin Garage. Ahhh, the nuvi 550, is waterproof and great for motorcycles, boats and geocaching! Well, I think I know which one I want for Christmas, oooops! I am shopping for everyone else!
Crazy, crazy stores Black Friday – I’m sure not joining in on that crush! Who wants to get up at O’dark-thirty and push and shove and stand in line with a bunch of other folks who are pushin’ and shovin’ and standin’ in line trying to get the best bargains. Not Me! I plan to do my shopping online, whenever it is convenient for me, with no other shoppers rushing me or confusing me or stressing me out. This is going to be eeeeasy shopping this year. With the house nice and quiet, got my little refreshments, my nice comfy chair, my computer and me. I’m liking this. I am checking out some pre-Black Friday bargains already online, looking at some automotive GPS systems and found some Garmin nuvi automotive GPS units already on sale! Who knows, I might finish my shopping Before Black Friday even rolls around. Yup, I’m talking eeeeasy this year. I’m crazy about eeeeeasy.
Hey! It’s finally here! We have had several people looking specifically for a GPS device that would work specifically for truckers, the nuvi 465T – the first nuvi designed specifically for over-the-road truckers. The nuvi 465T is the first navigation device to provide the NTTS Breakdown Directory which is the most comprehensive guide to semi-truck repair facilities nationwide – including those offering 24-hour road service, created with over-the-road drivers in mind. Also, lane assist comes standard with this GPS receiver for truckers, which is especially helpful when navigating complex highway interchanges. It also provides specialized routing to support truck-related restrictions (customizable by height, weight, length, width and hazardous materials). Simply enter dimensions and load restrictions and nuvi 465T guides you according to your requirements, even including multiple-point routing so that you can take a more efficient route between multiple stops along your trip.
This lets you know what lies in your path. It displays warning information of upcoming road conditions to make drivers aware of possible hazards along the route such as sharp curves and steep grades. You’ll also get lateral wind warnings and notification when the road narrows. Also, with nuvi 465T’s integrated FM traffic receiver you can receive free alerts about traffic delays and road construction that lie ahead on your route. Simply touch nüvi’s screen to view traffic details or detour around the problem area.
You also get nuvi’s hands-free calling as the 465T integrates Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker. When paired with your compatible Bluetooth phone you are able to talk hands-free through the 465T while staying focused on the road. Simply dial numbers with nuvi’s touchscreen keypad to make a call, and answer calls by tapping the screen and speaking into its built-in microphone. It is the safe way to travel down the highway.