Garmin - nüvi 780 Portable GPS

I was fortunate to pick this unit up from Best Buy yesterday morning on Black Friday for $299 (Black Friday price of $349 minus a Best Buy Reward Exclusive coupon on Garmin GPS units for $50)! My two previous cars already had navigation, so this is my first portable unit. All I have to say, is WOW!! Apart from having to mount it on the windshield and taking it down everytime (for security purposes), this unit has far more features than any car's OEM navigation system! The MSN Direct feature allows you to check out the region's major highway traffic alerts, gas prices, news headlines, and more. My favorite feature is the unit's ability to look up movies in local theaters with ratings, actors, and showtimes - much faster than you could search online. The only disppointment for me, was the fact that I could not sync the blue-tooth feature with my HTC Pocket PC phone from Verizon (It was one of the major criteria for purchasing this unit), but I could not pass it up for the price I was getting it for. Although I have not fully tested the traffic avoidance feature, I would highly recommend the Nuvi 780 for anyone in major metropolitan areas who know what it is like to wish they had gone another route home...ending up being stuck in traffic for a long period of time. Bottom Line: This navigation system does everything! It plays MP3's and audio books through your car's speakers, displays slideshows of your favorite pictures, teaches you common phrases in foreign languages, compares gas prices from dozens of gas stations in your immediate area! For a lot of $$$ more, you could add voice input with the 880, but entering addresses takes about 20-30 seconds! This is the premier navigation to own...Happy Shopping!!

So far it has been absolutely fabulous. I travel quite a bit and usually rely on directions from websites but without a co-pilot reading directions while driving can be dangerous and confusing. It redirected me around traffic and continually updated roads. Roads in Boston can exist one day and then disappear the next, and website directions to places in Jamacia Plain are impossible and more times than not wrong. This got me to places that didn't exist on the websites and my brother's in-dash GPS in a 2008 Land Rover. Sometimes the directions seem to be a little odd on short trips while I was playing with it in my area (it keeps you away from the backroads where possible). Can't wait for my next road trip to CA. The only negative I have has more to do with my car than anything. Using the bluetooth was difficult. The person on the other end had a hard time hearing me but understandable in a soft-top/door wrangler its hard to hear a person seated next to you.

I have used this product in everything from long road trips to local directions, and it has always been very reliable and accurate. It is extremely easy to use. Only complaint is sometimes the voice commands don't give much notice, but I have heard most GPS units are the same way. This is completely worth buying.

I purchased this Garmin because my brother has one, and after watching his work, I was amazed! Bluetooth and all. He has the 200 series. I purchased the 700 series (Nuvi 780). I drive for a service company. I was getting around with the online mapquest on my laptop via wireless. What was I doing wasting my time! Now all I do is input the information on my Garmin and it takes me exactly where I need to go without a blip. When I initially purchased this item almost a month ago and had no service calls, I drove around trying to get it to fault, just to give me a reason to take it back and get a full refund. Guess what! I'm keeping it. The automatic re-calculation is amazing! Just when I think it can't re-calculate and it's confused, it makes a fool out of me! Yes, there was two ocassions where it sent me to the wrong street number, but it definitely took me to the right street. It's not 100% but definitely 99.9%. I use it every single day to find companies by names, address or even find the nearest stores or banks. All I can say is amazing! And I have'nt even mentioned all the other features it comes with. I don't leave home without it. Now, all I need to do is convince my boss to pay for it under my yearly tool allowance...

I have owned this unit (Garmin nüvi 780) for a couple of days and have managed to test just about every feature. For the price, it is an outstanding GPS unit though there are some annoyances. I have found that the FM transmitter does not supply enough power on the battery unless the unit is right on the radio. My solution was to keep it plugged into the vehicle power but it still needs to be within 18 inches or so of the radio. The Bluetooth is clear, from what I’ve been told on the other end, and easy to set up with my cell. MSN Direct is a nice feature though it’s not available in all areas.

I bought this version over the Nuvi 260 because of the following: Bluetooth is a must, Multiple Route Planning (I am a road warrior). The GPS Side of this works great. I must say the Multiple Route Planning has made my daily Sales Calls much easier. The bad thing is that the Microphone SUCKS horribly. Everyone I call has a hard time hearing me. Its distorted, muffled, or incomprehendable. I bought this on Sat, returned it on Monday, and the 2nd unit has just the same problem. I also bought an external microphone to assist with this problem, but I cant stand the extra cord needed to operate. The microphone did little to help the situation.It is required in CA to have the unit in a friction mount (suction cup mounts are not legal in CA or MN). I suspect that because of this, the Microphone may be too far away from my mouth (from where I have to place the Unit in the Car) The sales person at Best Buy was very helpful to let me know that other customers have reported this same problem. He also suggested the Tom Tom 700 series. I see that from other consumer reviews, I may just try the FM Transmitter...I cant believe that would help, given that people on the other side of the line are reporting not being able to hear me. I hear the unit just fine. I dont have any problem with the speakers. I may try plugging it in the Aux to see if this corrects the issue. If you are looking for an Outstanding GPS but dont care much about the quality of your phone calls, this is ok. I will keep it for a few days to see if I can correct the problem myself. I also tried seeing if my Parrot Hands Free worked in synch with the Bluetooth on the GPS, and my phone does not allow me to connect to the two devices at the same time. Oh, and the price was not bad...$269 at Best Buy.

I love this device. It's the first GPS I've used that provided Traffic alerts, Fuel prices, Movie Information and more. I now use it all the time instead of just when I need directions. It helps me get to where I'm going faster with the traffic alerts even if I know where to go. I also love saving gas by finding the cheapest gas station near me and seeing when/where the movie I want to see is playing. This GPS is a dependable and great featured device. I highly recommend to anyone considering getting a new device. I've owned several devices but this one is hands-down my favorite.

I bought this product for 670 dollars at best buy on 2/17/2008. The navigation on this machine is spectacular. Being directionally challenged I seem to get lost often. I have always considered buying a navigation device, but never figured it was important enough to spend the money. I purposely missed directions many times in the last few days and the machine always get me on track logically. Also, I have been going a certain way to get to a work every day and the machine gave me a quicker way that I didn't even know about. The only con as I said before is that I am not sure if it is worth the extra money over the 260 wide nuvi. If you don't need bluetooth or an fm transmitter then do the research and don't overpay because I think the navigation is pretty much the same on the two devices. Peace