Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
|
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 |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Far from perfect...
Summary: 3 Stars
If you've never owned a mobile GPS before, this unit may seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Granted, it does have lots of nice NON-GPS related features (like MP3 or photo album), but after having owned a Street Pilot III, and several handheld GPS units, I find the Nuvi 680 quite lacking in good old-fashioned GPS functionality.
Let me explain.
I do use it in my car, but many times drag out the older Street Pilot, which does a far better job, especially when I need to track my route. There are no tracking features in the Nuvi, so I can't hook it up to my PC after a vacation and see where I've been.
I also can't upload any routes to the NUVI. I do a lot of geocaching, and plan my routes ahead of time. Instead of just punching in the route and telling it to go, I have to look up the next POI (point of interest) and send it there. Then look up the next one, and so on. Quite cumbersome.
Speaking of waypoints, they can be loaded from the PC in 2 different ways, to 2 different locations. One is by using the "POI Loader" program provided free of charge via a Garmin download. This is the best way, but has one major drawback - you can't see the POI's on the screen until you search for one, then go to it. To access these waypoints, go to "Extras", then to "Custom POIs". The POI loader will delete all your old POIs before installing new ones.
The other way is to download directly from Map Source, Garmin's proprietery mapping program. The nice thing is that you can see these custom locations on the screen. Access is through the "Favorites" button. The downfalls here are that you can only delete one at a time, so if you bring in 300 custom geocaching waypoints, you will have to remove them one at a time... unless you know how to start the unit in Utility mode (press the upper left corner of the screen while turning the unit on). Then the only choice you have is to delete "all" your data, including custom locations, and any other location data you have put in (Fodders), plus many of your other setup choices. So you have to set your choices up all over again. Massive pain!
I do give it 3 stars, though, because of all the other nice features it has. I won't go into detail here because the rest of the reviewers have covered them. Despite it's geocaching and other GPS drawbacks, it is still a good unit for the average driver on the road, and is very easy to use. All in all, if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have purchased the Nuvi 680, and would have stayed with my Street Pilot III.
Customer Review: Very, very, very nice GPS system.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a nice little unit. I used to program GPS applications so I have used a few. The software running this unit is great. The GPS algorithms for finding the shortest or the longest route work excellently. I tested with 4 separate routes. When you deviate from your route the unit is a little slow to pick up on it, 2 or 3 seconds depending on how far you have moved, but then it starts recalculating and gets you back on track.
The maps are easy to read and the views (2d and 3d) are easily switched and zoomed.
The MP3 player works great. It plays music and when it needs to give a voice command it pauses the music and tells you what it needs to tell you. The FM tuner works well too. Although if you come in range of a station the station takes over.
The hands free calling works great. As soon I as I get in the car it finds my phone. If music is playing, it is puts it on pause until you are done on the phone and then turns it right back on.
The user interface is very intuitive and user friendly. I have hardly needed to use the manual or help.
The MSN direct features work good also. They take some time when you first turn it on to download all the information. The traffic feature has worked well. The data has been up to date so far. If it tells you a road is closed, LISTEN TO IT!!!!! We decided not to and sat in 4 hours of traffic because we thought "No way could the turnpike be closed." We could have totally avoided it.
The movie data in my area have all been up to date and have included some theaters I didn't know existed. The gas feature usually has data (prices) that is a day or 2 old, but it did list all the gas stations in my area.
At first when I used the suction cup mount I thought it was defective because it kept falling off. After reading the directions, I discovered that I need to clean all the dust of the window before trying to use it. Since I have discovered that little trick it has worked great. We have used it in our 2 cars and truck.
We do yard sales on Saturday and my girlfriend had to make maps with MapPoint every week. Now we just put the addresses in as we go.
Having a GPS like this definitely changes the way you travel. Running errands is great. I type in the name of the store I want to go to and go to the closest one. Then type in the next one. I have discovered a lot of store locations I didn't know about.
Over all the purchase was definitely worth it.
Customer Review: So So Item.. a New Yorker review!
Summary: 3 Stars
I got the NUVI 680 after reading many reviews both on here and at other sites. Not all of them were on the money, and while I did not have to purchase this unit as I got it by using reward points, I would have returned it had I paid for it.
First of all.. it does what is was built to. Get's you to were you're going if you DO NOT know the way. That being said, it leaves alot to be desired.
I got this unit because I live in Queens NYC and have to get to Newark airport and back a few times a week. I know how to get there without the unit, but figured that with the Traffic alerts, it would save me time. Plus, figured it would show me shortcuts within manhattan.
I was wrong!
First, no matter what time of day, the unit will show 18 miles distance and about 30 mins drive! The only way it could be 30 mins would be between 11pm and 5 am. This unit told me 30 mins drive when I left my place at 4pm on a Wed. Needless to say, it took 0ver an hour and 15 mins. It seems that the unit doesn't figure in different times of day and traffic conditions that should exsist.
Next, the unit will have me drive through side streets when I could go back one block to get on a highway. Seems it figures that going backwards adds to a trip so it doesn't do that. Instead, it will have me drive via a route that has 10 to 15 lights instead of getting me on to a highway earlier.
Something else that has happened numerous times is that I get the icon that shows Weather on the screen, but when I touch it, it says there is no information!
I have downloaded speedtraps and red ligh camera's from a POI site but not sure if it's in my 680. It's not user friendly when it comes to this.
As stated earlier.. if you don't know where you are going, this is a cool unit. I have not used the bluetooth yet, though tried to download some songs from my Itunes and real audio and they don't work! Guess the only way to hear mp3's is if you actually own the cd and transfer the songs that way.
The audio is loud enough, and haven't used the FM transmitter.
Hope this helps. My advice would be to actually buy two or three models and keep the one that works for you. My friend got a Tom Tom and loves it. Wish I had tried that out before choosing this model but then again, basically got this unit for free!
Customer Review: I'll never buy another Garmin product for any reason.
Summary: 1 Stars
I've owned this GPS for a couple of years but didn't use it much until recently. I have found out that it is really a terrible GPS, already completely obsolete and even dangerous when it leads you off the path you're supposed to take and into treacherous situations.
Positives: Big screen; nice, long power cord easily reaches from the center console to the bottom left corner of my windshield (where I stick the mount).
Negatives:
1) Directions sometimes lead you literally in circles, never getting you where you want to go.
2) Directions sometimes tell you to go where you can't -- sometimes the wrong way down a one way street, sometimes because there is NO STREET where it's telling you to turn.
2)a) Directions change mid-turn. Seriously. It's the equivalent of "Turn left. No! I mean right! Stop...turn...hh, wait, I did really meant right. WAIT! LEFT! Sorry! I mean LEFT. Oh...wait...." It's maddening. I almost threw the unit out the window the third time it did that.
3) A map update is $50 and still doesn't improve #1, #2, or #2a above
4) The traffic conditions service, "MSN Direct" (a good idea that allows the unit to re-route you if, for example, a freeway has recently come to a standstill), will soon be eliminated. This is an infrastructural change related to Microsoft, so when the service ends, this GPS will be even more useless.
5) The battery has an astoundingly short life. Fully charged, the unit can still only operate away from a charging jack (either in the car or attached to a USB port on a computer) for a few minutes.
6) The touch screen continually needs to be re-calibrated. There are MANY...as in *M*A*N*Y* complaints about Garmin Nuvi touchscreen failures online. (Google it for yourself if you don't believe me). Also, the owners manual that is loaded on the GPS itself provides incorrect information about how to re-calibrate the unit.
While I have long ago decided that I would never buy another Garmin product, developments in "smart phone" technology have rendered stand-alone GPS units such as the Garmin Nuvi 680 completely useless. If you decide that you must have a stand alone GPS, I would not recommend a Garmin product, and the Nuvi 680, in particular, would be a complete waste of money.
Customer Review: The MSN Traffic is a disaster
Summary: 1 Stars
You could not pay me enough to go through what I have with my Nuvi 680. I mainly bought it to help with work commute. The advertised idea of instant traffic reports was highly appealing to me as the commute can be a problem. I paid a lot more for this unit solely because of that capability through MSN direct. I have now had the unit four months and the traffic report has only worked for maybe 10 days. Even when it worked, it was unacceptably slow.
My first problem was out of the box. The entire unit froze when I activated it online. Calls to Garmin resulted in a finding I had a defective unit, so I went back to Best Buy and they replaced it.
The replacement unit then worked for about five days before I went on vacation. I was able to see traffic reports for Phoenix, and I did get movie times, gas and weather. I was unhappy, however, because it was taking 15 - 20 minutes to download this information each morning, so I was already committed, traffic wise, and so it was of no help.
I was then on vacation for three weeks. When I returned, I found it would no longer connect to MSN Direct. No data downloaded. It took three calls to MSN Direct and two to Garmin to figure out that the antenna was defective, so I had to wait for a replacement (an annoyance is that you have to send in the bad piece first and then they send you a replacement). It still didn't work! More calls revealed that because I had signed up (and paid money to) MSN they had to cancel my account and reactivate with the new antenna's activation code.
It worked for three days. I was traveling and then tried it a few days later. It has now stopped working again! Again, I find myself without data.
I am trying to decide whether to demand a refund, toss it in the trash or try again to get them to help me fix it.
I estimate I have made ten calls to MSN Direct and five to Garmin. I have spent a dozen + hours just trying to get traffic data - the data I bought the unit for. This unit is a disaster if you are buying it to see traffic. Ironically, the rest of it is nice and workable and does what it promises. But I would buy a lesser unit for a third of the price if all you want is navigation.