Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Great Except for MSN Direct
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased my Garmin a couple weeks ago and took it down the East coast from NH to South NJ two weekends in a row. I got a great chance to play with it and found some pros and cons.
Pros: Was able to recalculate quickly and accurately. Lets you put in waypoint to redirect your route (in my case I wanted to go over the Tappan Zee bridge instead of the GW so I got a lot of practice in using this feature.) Was pretty accurate with only 1 time during the weekend it tried to get my going the wrong way down a one way street. The POI database was large and seemed updated. Great search features.
Cons:
1.) MSN Direct is absolutely, positively useless. First of all, it is buggy and one time when I plugged it in, it didn't synch up with the car and the vehicle had to be shut off in order to get the service running again. But just because the service is running does not mean you will actually get reception. It seems like the reception is down an awful lot, and it took me over two weeks just to get the service activated because I was never in an area with reception. When I actually did get service (maybe 10 miles outside of NYC) the traffic updates were absolutely useless and incorrect. Apparently I never had reception long enough to even use the other features because I kept getting a message that the service was downloading information.
2.) Sometimes you have to enter in a waypoint in a couple different places in order to get the unit to recalculate correctly.
3.) Most of the other cool features like Fodors are services you need to pay for. I just spent $700 on a Nav system, at least give me the Fodors data for free.
Why did I give this 2 stars? Because the only unique feature on this unit as opposed to all the other units is the MSN direct. And that doesn't work at all. I get the feeling that I would have been better off using the 660 with the XM NavTraffic subscription. I am definately disappointed with this unit and will probably trade it in for the 660 soon.
Customer Review: NUVI 680; Beauty and the Beast
Summary: 3 Stars
I passed my Nuvi 350 onto my college bound son and thought that I would "treat" myself to the bells and whistles offered by the 680. I was looking forward to the MSN feature as I live and work in the NY/NJ Metro area and am always concerned about traffic issues. It took almost 1 week to get MSN working - countless call to MSN, who wanted NO responsibility for their product and told me that Garmin would resolve the issue. Garmin ran through the standard Q&A and told me that as soon as I spotted the "green bars" to stop and wait up to 20 minutes while MSN booted itself. The prospect of stopping on the Turnpike or Route 80 for 20 minutes was laughable. Anyway one morning I tuned on the Nuvi and MSN was working!! The coverage on Staten Island and directly west of Manhattan, including NJ Turnpike, Rte 80, Rte 78, Rte 287 and Rte 280 has been very good and 3 days ago it save me a 90 minute wait on Rte 287. However on a trip to Delaware (DE) and yesterday to Boston it was USELESS! Delaware I can maybe get over, but Boston - you have to be kidding me. All the way through Connecticut I was getting nothing; on I90 towards Boston nothing. However when I left Boston and headed back to NY after about 50 miles on I90 all of a sudden dozens of icons appeared in and around Boston. I was still seeing the Boston icons as I was crossing the Whitestone Bridge and seeing NOTHING for NYC - I even turned the unit off and on in the hope that it may help. Also traveling from Staten Island out to Brooklyn, there is never a problem, even though the Belt Parkway is at a standstill all the way to JFK airport.
The Bluetooth feature is first rate and I like the Audio Books feature - BUT - I can get these features on cheaper models.
I will be returning the unit to Amazon this week as I cannot justify almost $700 for a device that doesn't deliver what is most important to me, the traffic in and around NJ and NYC - basically it's no better than my XM-Radio standard coverage on the NY Traffic Channel.
Customer Review: Software interface needs more work
Summary: 2 Stars
Bottom Line: GUI needs a lot of work. [...]
Garmin nuvi 680 is a good piece of hardware, but the software needs work. Below is a set of key features that I've grown to rely on in other GPS devices, but the nuvi 680 is lacking. The list is in no particular order:
o. Compass and direction of the destination (or next waypoint) on the main page
o. Indicator to show if the next turn is on the right or the left. The user can work this out by clicking a button or two but its important for it to be part of the screen so that the driver knows what lane to take as they approach the turn, without having to fiddle with the GPS.
o. Distinguish between planned route ahead and what has already been covered. So the driver can see where they've been and where they need to go. Different color path perhaps. This becomes important on a multi waypoint route, where routes can overlap each other.
o. Split screen with a map to clarify the next turn automatically. Again the user can get this to show with a button press or two, but its important for this screen to come up automatically as you approach the turn, especially when there are several turns in succession on a fast moving road, e.g. road splitting almost immediately after the exit from the highway.
o. Mileage and elapsed time since start of journey and the current estimates of mileage and time to the destination. At present the user only sees the estimated time of arrival.
o. Ability to search a list when entering the address. This is important for those of us bad at spelling!
o. Itinerary management. List of all waypoints as well as the destination and ability to manipulate the list. I really miss this ability.
o. More control on the Detour functionality
On the good side I find the nuvi 680 is pleasantly accurate on the time of arrival. I dont use the mp3, photo viewer or the travel kit functionality and dont really expect these to be a part of GPS device.
Customer Review: Great GPS - Okay Traffic Info from MSN Direct
Summary: 4 Stars
As far as a GPS (or "Personal Travel Assistant" according to Garmin) goes, the Nuvi 680 is awesome. The GPS gets great satellite reception, the maps are comprehensive for all parts of the Midwest I've driven, and the points of interest are extensive. I've always found the restaurants and gas stations I've needed. The user interface is about as easy as it gets.
The primary reason I purchased this GPS was for traffic information. I live in Chicago and drive extensively. However, the coverage area for RECEIVING the FM radio data feed is not as great as the maps on MSN's website show. Hopefully, the data coverage will get better as more people use the service.
The traffic information does match the website coverage map. I have found that the traffic info is accurate and detailed when you do receive the signal. The GPS shows a delay icon with the minutes you will be delayed. Touching the icon then brings up the detail information on the delay, and another touch of a button will have the GPS re-route around the delay if you want. Traffic information appears to be limited to major roads like expressways and large primary roads at this time.
The other MSN Direct information has been more useful than I imagined. I've found the weather, gas prices, and movie times to be very accurate all over the Midwest.
There are a number of other parts that make it fun, like the MP3 and audiobook player. But don't have much use for these.
Overall, a great purchase and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If traffic information is important to you, I would read reviews for the Nuvi 650 and others GPS units that use FM TMC traffic updates (instead of MSN Direct) and see what people are saying. When I purchased mine, there was not a lot of good information from reviewers that indicated one traffic service was better than another.
Customer Review: MSN Direct service ruins this equipment
Summary: 2 Stars
This unit is beautiful to look at but has major flaws in the MSN Direct implementation. I bought this unit mainly for the Traffic feature - which has proved useless and terrible.
PROS:
* Big beautiful screen.
* Speakerphone is excellent, although Bluetooth can be buggy.
* Satellite acquisition is very fast.
CONS:
* Before you purchase, do a search to see if your area is covered by MSN Direct - and do NOT trust the MSN maps on their website. Coverage in NYC, NJ, and Staten Island is terrible - basically non-existent and useless - even though the MSN Direct website shows full coverage. I am on my third MSN Direct receiver after being sent 2 replacement cables by Garmin, and all three have had the same issues. California seems better.
* MSN Direct Traffic (when it is actually receivable) content is often completely wrong in and around New York City - particularly on weekends, and especially for the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.
* Charger cable needs to basically be attached to the unit (which is only possible by using the vehicle mount) continually for content to be updated. This makes removal from the vehicle undesirable in order to get updated content, but of course leaving the unit in the car raises that danger of theft. A catch-22.
* If the charger is disconnected from the Nuvi unit for more than a day or two, a reconnection process appears to take place and the Nuvi does not have new usable information for 20-30 minutes.
* Cannot program custom avoidances for undesirable roads/areas.
* No saving of routes.
SUMMARY:
The unit looks beautiful, but it's features are sorely lacking and definitely not worth the premium price charged for the MSN content.