GPS For Cars

Driving someplace you’ve never been has never been easier.  Use of a Global Positioning System, or GPS, has made folded paper maps almost obsolete.  Today I will review the Garmin nüvi 760 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Automobile Navigator. As of this review, this is the best selling GPS unit.

I remember the first time I tried a GPS unit.  I knew then and there that I was hooked.  The lady always knew when I had to turn and she’d warn me in advance.  If I missed a turn or an exit, she would patiently guide me back to the preferred route.  It was great.  Today’s GPS units come with even more bells and whistles.

The Garmin nuvi 760 offers multiple-destination routing.  This is an excellent feature that I always use.  How often do you go straight home after work?  Using this feature you can program several different destinations into the GPS and the unit will plot out the fastest route for you.  You can even save 10 routes in the unit for fast future retrieval.

I also really like the ability to find out where you are at any given time.  All you have to do is tap your screen and the Garmin 760 will tell you where you are, indicating the nearest cross streets, hospitals, gas and police stations.  You can also use the unit to find out where you parked.

That brings me to another one of my favorite features.  The 760 is portable.  It allows you to switch to pedestrian mode so that you can use it to navigate around unfamiliar cities.  You’ll look less like a tourist without that fold-up map blowing in the breeze.  Just keep your eye on the battery.  Battery life is about 5 hours, and this unit does not come with an A/C adaptor.  If you plan on using it all day it might be a good idea to buy an additional battery.  It uses lithium-ion batteries.

As a tease, Garmin packages the product with a three month trial of real-time traffic.  If you don’t plan on buying this in the future, DON’T TRY IT!  You’ll get hooked.  I have multiple routes I can take to work.  I use the real time traffic function to keep on eye on things up the road.  If I see a snag I can easily avert it, thereby ensuring the shortest possible commute time.

I wasn’t all that impressed with the quality of the FM tuner, and found that it sometimes interfered with upcoming directions.  Since that wasn’t a priority item for me, and this is the only significant flaw I found in the Garmin 760, I would recommend it.  I give it 4 stars (out of 5).