Garmin nuvi 880 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin nuvi 880 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Digital camera Review: Does what it claims
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought this for my wife (a non-techie), knowing it had many more features than she'd use or care about, but I like the tech toys and knew with its portability that it would find its way in to my vehicle from time to time. Was a bit skeptical about the voice/word recognition/accuracy, but was happy to tap the screen if all else failed. Got the until JUST in time for an 800 mile trip by car, but too late to read even page 1 of the "how to" guide. So my wife and I took turns giving it a shake-out on the actual drive. Within 40 minutes we had exhausted all the menu's and pretty much knew how to use every feature - all by trial and error. There were 5 of us in the car and we all took turns asking it to find a different POI - mainly restaurants. No voice training or anything - this thing just "understood" about 95% of what was being said, even from the back seat. Amazing word recognition capabilities. Took a while to figure out how to get POI's to show up on the live map as we were driving along, but other than that it was smooth sailing, and one of those rare times when one is pleasantly surprised by a product that does just what it claims, and more importantly does the job we needed it to do. Another surprise - without activating anything (we didn't have time) we were surprised to get live high wind warnings for a portion of the drive along the Great Lakes where the weather really was bad. Nicely done. I'd recommend this unit to anyone who wants to be able to truly operate a high-end GPS unit totally hands free, and not have to repeat themselves over and over again to a machine. Garmin gets a double thumbs-up for the voice processing on this unit.Digital camera Review: Don't buy this for the voice recognition
Summary: 3 Stars
I recently bought a Nuvi 850 for the only one of our three cars that doesn't have a factory nav system and for rental cars. I am pretty well spoiled by factory system integration but I figured that the aftermarket portable crowd may have figured out how to make a decent product at this point. And they have. Decent, not great.
First, the primary value of a nav system comes from the basics. Maps, routing engine, receiver, a well designed user interface, and a great screen. Garmin does a great job with these basics. And you get all this basic goodness in even their lower end widescreen Nuvi models like the 260W or 760.
But, when it comes to some other stuff well, they have some work left to do.
Volume - the Nuvi 850 is barely audible at max volume with moderate road noise. I was hoping the front mounted speakers on the Nuvi 800's would be an improvement. They're not! The FM transmitter meanwhile is a pain in the butt if you're moving (why else would you need a nav unit). As you move, a previously clear FM channel may become occupied resulting in constant fiddling with the radio and Nuvi.
Voice Recognition - it's a great concept and the 850 does pretty well but you need a very quiet environment. Doesn't sound like a moving car does it? Even in the house, with a TV at low volume 15 feet away, the unit becomes confused about what it's "hearing". Mute the TV, and tell the kids to shut up and it really does a pretty good job. Entering addresses via voice is just so much better than tedious typing. My opinion of the professional reviewers who rave about the Nuvi 800's voice recognition has slipped quite a few notches. It ain't that great.
Garmin Features - the "Where Am I" and "Where's My Car" features are great ideas and well implemented. But again, both of these are available on the much cheaper 700 series of Nuvi's.
Battery - the 800 series has the first user replaceable battery on a Nuvi. For about $30 you can carry a spare. Nice.
So, is limited voice recognition and a replaceable battery worth the $300 premium over a 700 series Nuvi? Only you can answer that. Although very disappointed with the voice recognition accuracy and low volume, I'm keeping my Nuvi 850. The voice recognition still saves me from typing and a spare battery means I don't have to carry a power cord for most trips. I'll just enter my destination using voice comands in the office, hotel, restaurant, or at home before I head out. The VR remote can live in my briefcase. Less clutter for the cabin.
Digital camera Review: Don't buy this unit!!! Read why
Summary: 1 Stars
Got the unit for my mother in law for christmas and spent two days trying to set it up. 1> The voice function does not work well. Kept trying to send us to a hospital 2> Even the most recent maps are not up to date, whole shopping malls missing that have been there for years. 3> Instructions for turns come only when you're right up on them. 4> MSN after two days could not update nor work the right way. 5> Unit freezes and the only way to get it to shut down is to, open unit, and take out battery, and then reboot. 6> If you need lanes the unit does not show them. 7> Unit is very slow to find locations. 8> It takes way too long to have to input information to find a place or put in directions. 9> The unit won't take my home address in the location I live. You have to set your home to "A location" it shows my home over 500 ft away from where it really is. >10 Unit shuts off on it's own. >11 Screen brightness changes and has to be reset. >12 Update of 880 software did not work and reference to 850 was only update the machine would take after trying everything else.
This is the worst electronic device I have ever bought. I'm in a big city on the MSN and Garmin coverage areas. I'd say stay away from this unit at ALL costs. Also returning it is a nightmare. It's not sold by Amazon but a 2nd party reseller. The fighting to get a refund is beyond anything I've ever seen. What a nightmare this purchase has been.
Digital camera Review: Excellant Choice
Summary: 4 Stars
Purchased via Amazon for 1/2 the price of the same unit at Best Buy. 90% accurate and extremely helpful refinding the freeway ramp in an unfamiliar city or town. Need to review some route choices that could place you on a two lane vs the freeway for a more direct route. Modify as you see fit. MSN Direct useful but not available in very many places.Digital camera Review: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
The Garmin 880 is an excellent driving aide. The graphics and audio features are superb. When positioned on a dash board, the display is easily readable in the day as well as the night. The unit's speech is clear and distinct; and the unit's response time is quick. It recalculates a new route to a destination when a turn is missed, at a rate that minimizes any deviation to travel time or distance traveled between two points.