Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Our Price: $444.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $72.49 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Perfect GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the few products that I ever bought that exceeded my expectations. I am a perfectionist and tend to second guess and agonize over things that I bought when they are not perfect. The only time I have referred to the manual was to determine how to adjust the voice volume for the verbal directions. The volume could also have more discreet volume increments. High setting is OK for highway but too loud for local driving. The next lowest setting is OK for local driving but too low for highway driving. The volume adjustment should be a easy to get to button rather than into multiple menu levels. A minor nit and the only nit that I have found. Even my wife who is a non-tech type is amazed that how easy it is to use. The 4.3 inch screen is a perfect size and the brightness is great even in bright sunshine. Direct sun on the screen does somewhat reduce readablity which is rare but expected. I had a Nav system on my Toyota Avalon which I liked but this Garmin convinced me never again to pay a premium for a dash installed unit. Garmin got it right on! I paid for the weather and traffic info which is good in certain large cities. I was disappointed that the coverage is spotty or non-existent in medium size cities. I should have gotten the one year suuscription to try out rather that the one time five year subscription. When I need another GPS, I will buy a Garmin.Customer Review: Great Produce!
Summary: 4 Stars
I needed a GPS unit for my car but got really confused with all the options out there. I read some comparison reviews and settled on Garmin. I chose the Nuvi 680 cause of the bluetooth, MP3 player and screen size. I really do love this GPS unit. It does what it's suppose to and it re-routes really fast. Its a really high-quality product.
I would say my only problem has to do with the bluetooth option. The bluetooth built into the GPS allows you to talk on your phone hands-free via the GPS's internal speaker, which is pretty darn good by the way. I thought it was going to be horrible sounding, but I was impressed. But I already have that option built into my car. I wanted to use the bluetooth to get the voice part of the GPS to go through my car speakers like my bluetooth phone does. I don't know too much about this technology, but its really annoying that the bluetooth on this Garmin is so limited. The FM transmitter doesn't cut it for me as I live in a big city and can't find a frequency that works flawlessly. Garmin, if your listening, please give us the option to pair the GPS with our car's bluetooth option so I can hear the GPS directions through my car speakers via my car's built-in bluetooth hands-free option.
All in all, a fantastic product. I'm very happy with the purchase!!
Customer Review: not what I expected
Summary: 1 Stars
After purchasing this unit I took several trips trying to use the GPS to guide me. I will never buy another Garmin unit. For most of my trips, I wouldn't have been able to get there using only my Nuvi. There were several streets that the Nuvi couldn't find, streets that were there for decades. For example it was a nightmare trying to guess the Garmin abreviation for County Trunk V. I tried Cty V, Cty Trk V, V, etc. Luckily it was a location I have been to so I was able to drive there without directions. Once I arrived, the street did show up on the map as County Trk V. I constantly have problems in MI with the mile roads, for example trying to enter 6 1/2 mile road etc. I can never figure out the specific spelling or punctuation of a road. Sometimes I had to zoom to it on the map and then tell it to go there--this only works if you already know where you are going and then why would you want a GPS? I found the traffic/weather updates only worked in downtown Chicago, no other place in a 200 mile radius had signal. Another thing that bothered me is the directions along a US highway I was told to take an exit and follow a county highway that weaved through towns and then get back on the original US highway 40 miles later. On the way home it saved me 20 minutes to ignore the Nuvi and just stay on the US highway!Customer Review: Nuvi review
Summary: 5 Stars
I used this device on a 2500 mi trip right after I got it and really enjoyed it. It did a few odd things (trying to route me onto some backroads off the main road, on a route I knew) for some reason that was unclear, but overall it did the job well. Easy to enter destinations in unfamiliar areas, and it does pretty well at getting you around, though sometimes it seemed to miss the interstate in favor of adjacent streets/roads. It is very easy to use and has a lot of nice features. Recalculates rapidly and updates directions. Display/touch interface are very good. I like how it projects your arrival time -- on a 850 mi 14 hour leg it projected an arrival within 2 minutes of actual arrival, when I first entered the destination!
The traffic update feature worked well, where it worked (a limited number of metro areas), and it works well at home, when I pay attention to it!
Some of the less expensive units probably have many of the same nav features, but I like this one. One feature I would like to see (and it might be there) is a pause feature for when you get off the road to get gas or eat -- that drives it crazy trying to make you get back on the road and it gets kinda annoying listening to it tell you to turn around, etc.
Nice unit, strong recommendation.
Customer Review: Maps not as good as IQUE3600
Summary: 3 Stars
Since Garmin is known for its mapping, I thought the nuvi680 would have the same if not better mapping features as my IQUE3600. Wrong! The surrounding street names on the map are not populated until you get off the route you're on and start driving on a different road. That's not the case if you've selected a route to a destination, then that route has the various street names you'll be traveling on. I would think that Garmin would have built on the previous technology and added that to the nuvi series. I tried taking the SD card from my IQUE and placing it in the nuvi, but the nuvi could not open the maps installed on the card. This is something I think Garmin could correct very easily. Other than this mapping problem, as a PDA the nuvi680 has some interesting features. I do like the Bluetooth capability and locating restaurants near your location as well. Although, some updating needs to done in that area too. Some restaurants in my area that have been out of business for the past 6 years are still named in the nuvi directory.
So, I have mixed thoughts on the nuvi. The color of the screen is much improved and much easier to see in the daylight, the directions using street names is a plus and capturing satellites is much quicker. It's just the mapping that I don't like.