Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator by Garmin
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Our Price: $489.50 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $71.99 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: Garmin 680
Summary: 5 Stars
My Garmin arrived on time and in good condition..there were alot of reviewers that had issues with the MSN Direct and I agree it has some issues. I live in Dallas and just took a trip with it me to Houston where it also worked. Overall, I'm satisfied with it.Digital camera Review: Garmin 680 is great!
Summary: 5 Stars
Love this GPS. Even reconditioned it worked like new. I use it a lot for the MP3 player and though directions are not always accurate I have not found many that are perfect. Many types of vehicles, voices and views. I love the bluetooth features except have not been able to sync my phonebook to GPS; other than that it has been great.Digital camera Review: Garmin 680 very impressive so far
Summary: 5 Stars
I am new to GPS, with my only other experience being Onstar that was included with my car. I'm taking a month-long driving trip this summer, and had a 500 mile (one-way) jaunt to warm up. The Garmin handled it expertly. MSN Direct picked up on a freeway closure and guided me around it. The device detected in about a second that I had deviated from the recommended path, and gave me new instructions in a just a couple more seconds. The points of interest were accurate, the few times when we needed a suggestion.
The negatives? I need to find how to get it to repeat instructions that I didn't catch. The menu-only system is efficient, but can't be safely navigated when driving. I got tired of cleaning the suction cup and window, and just opted for the Friction Mount Base. It cost me $40 vs. $28 through Amazon, so consider just buying it at the same time. Also, a friend told me that a knowledgeable local would have gone a different way than what the Garmin told me, but it got me there without me having to print maps and try to read and drive at the same time.
Digital camera Review: Garmin 680 with dated maps
Summary: 4 Stars
Nice and what I expected (not had a GPS before) but the maps are dated and never did receive the warranty information I was told had been mailed. I have trouble seeing road signs and this should be a huge help and I like the large screen.Digital camera Review: Garmin Garbage
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought the Nuvi 680 expecting a significant step up from my few years old Mio C310X. Let's jump to the one positive thing about the Nuvi, it uses Navteq maps. Now on to the reasons I find it unacceptable. The suction mount will not stay fastened to the windshield. I tried everything, cleaning first, dry install, wet install, and so on. It stays perhaps an hour, then it falls off. The 680 has a flip up antenna; great except that when the antenna is down it turns the gps off. Dumb. So you can't really put the unit in your pocket and use it when walking around town. My Mio gets great reception without needing such a silly protruding antenna. The unit is slow to start up when powered on, and then you have to tap an annoying "I agree" button before it will go to work. There is virtually no useful customization available in the software. Either Garmin decided this would be a GPS for dummies or they created this dumbed down design to cut down on customer service calls. My 5 year old Garmin GPSmap 60cx has far more customization capability than this thing. Why would one need that? Well, for example, with Garmin's design, your speed is not displayed on the map when you are in navigate mode. You see time to destination instead. Curiously, speed is displayed when you are in map mode, not navigating to anything. This is stupid. I always want to see my speed. I can easily configure the 60cs or Mio to do this, but not this "sophisticated" Nuvi. Another thing, the instructions say you can search for a city by postal code, but it does not work. Any attempt to enter a zip code just brings up Search All. The MSN direct antenna is built into the power cord, which is very bulky.
So how does the routing work? Not very well. Going from Newport News, VA to a business near the VA Beach Expressway took us through the I-64 tunnel. I thought that strange because the tunnel and I-64 past it was showing a lot of red on the MSN Direct traffic, and the other way around via I-664 is only about 10-15 min longer. The Nuvi is suppose to take traffic into account when it calculates the route. I decided to trust it, and found myself in stopped traffic 2 miles before the tunnel that would have taken at least an hour to get through. I managed to bail out at the downtown Hampton exit. Okay I thought, I'll let the Nuvi get us back to I-664 and we'll go that way. I used the touch screen to locate a point on I-664 South of Hampton, , verified the little tag that came up did say "I-664 S", and pushed Go. The route was calculated, and it was clearly wrong. It was taking us in the wrong direction to a ramp for I-664 North, directly opposite of what I asked for. It was no help at all. The MSN traffic is disappointing because the traffic highlighting is not displayed on the Garmin map. You have to switch to a separate MSN map. How dumb is that? As we went along I-664 we ran into a couple of moderate backups. Neither was called out by MSN. The places it did show are the predictable rush hour backups one experiences every day in the Norfolk area. I did not see a whole lot of value add. I used the unit to check for gas stations. It found a bunch, listed prices and distance, but the name of many stations were listed as "unknown". What good is that? Map zooming is frustrating. The switch from 2D to 3D view is clumsy, and the zoom level is never correct.
I summary, I found this Nuvi to be a clueless design that has not been thoroughly tested and does not deliver on its promises. I am looking forward to returning it for a refund.