Garmin nüvi 760 Portable GPS Review

Sep 13, 2008 by Admin

Nuvi 760 Software Version 2.10 / 2008 maps

This unit is replacing a nuvi 360, which is going to my sister. The nuvi 760 is still a bit hard to find. I found one in stock at a local SoCal retailer on 28-Oct.
Overall, I like the new compact form factor. There have been concerns expressed in various forums on the sensitivity of the internal antenna. So far, it seems to be sensitive enough. Side by side, signal strength and accuracy of the 760 are maginally better than my old 360 with the pop-up antenna. I’m getting 21 foot accuracy inside an office, a few feet from East facing windows. Attaching my external antenna to the MCX connector gives 9 Foot accuracy with 10 satellites at full signal strength.

The wide screen display is much brighter than the 360, readable in direct sunlight. The interface refinements are generally improvements, cleaner, more logical. I like having a choice of a QWERTY keyboard, better editing with retained history for the search field. Based on limited testing, the routing engine seems to perform identically to the 360, which was excellent. I’ve noticed a few updates to reflect newer roads in the 2008 maps. POIs are much improved in the San Diego area.

“Where am I?” works well and is quite useful displaying nearest address, major intersection, nearby hospitals, police and gas stations. “Where did I leave my car” is a bit clunky since you have to go into setup and change the Navigation to “off road” and then select “Last Location” from Favorites.

I’ve found two bugs so far in the initial firmware:

1) Start guidance with GPS active on a stored route with a distant starting point, decline “Navigate to Starting Point”, nuvi will crash and delete the route.

2) Bluetooth dialing of “Home” phone number is truncated when using “Call Home” from the Phone screen. Dialing the same number from the “Home” entry in Favorites works.

Bluetooth paired easily with my Motorola E815 phone. Call history and phone book are loaded into the nuvi automatically. The sound from the built-in speaker is just OK. You may want to run it through your car speakers using the FM transmitter or Aux jack. If you use the phone a lot, buy the optional microphone and clip it to your visor… people will hear you better.

Garmin do not provide an AC charger in the box. They will sell you one. Using a generic USB charger (I used on from a Blackberry) places the nuvi in Data Mode. It charges just fine, but you can’t use it while it is charging.

Still no selective route avoidance. The 2008 maps actually have a road near me that is not yet open. The nuvi always wants to take it to get to the freeway.

Haven’t tested the traffic functionality yet. The nuvi comes with a 3-month subscription, then it’s $60/yr.

The FM transmitter is less than useful with the crowded spectrum in SoCal. Hard to find an open channel, need to change it periodically. Often get a bit of static. I’m using the Aux input on my car stereo instead.

All in all, a great evolution of the nuvi line. I’m sure the firmware glitches will get worked out over time. If you are in the market at this price range and can find one, buy it.

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