GPS Outlet & Clearance Review • Best Price

The amazing feature set on this unit is what really sets it apart from all the rest. Disregard the reviews claiming bluetooth instability and mapping problems, these issues have been corrected via software updates through Garmin. Overall great product.

Hocked off my old Nüvi 250, picked up this 765T. Primary reason was for bluetooth phone integration. Traffic notification & lane assist end up being much more valuable than bluetooth, although the 765T’s bluetooth functionality works great with my Moto Razr V3M. The 765T definitely gets satellite lock much quicker than the 250 did. It still has a little trouble locking on in downtown Detroit, amidst the skyscapers. But it does lock on before I get out of downtown, whereas the 250 had to reach Michigan & Third before it knew where it was. Love the “send to gps” integration with Google Maps–very useful feature. One bummer of upgrading GPS units is that I lost all of my favorites in my 250. Maybe Garmin will one day stop worrying about unlock codes & user-hostile stuff like that, and worry more about giving me an easy upgrade path.

Short Version: Strongly recommended to buy. Does the key things right.

Long version:

I currently own a Magellan 3250 and I previously owned Magellan 4350 (see my review on 4350). I also used other GPS devices. I am a pretty expert GPS user. I purchased this GPS as an upgrade on Magellan 3250. My review on Garmin 765T:-

Great:
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(1) USER INTERFACE: I am migrating from Magellan to Garmin and the learning curve was pretty simple.

(2) ROUTING: Voice is clear and instructions are pretty straightforward. There are some differences as compared to Magellan, but it is just different, not bad. There is no Magellan ting-tong when you approach an intersection. But I don’t miss it. When Garmin is at an intersection, the top left corner shows the remaining distance which is typically between 0ft and 60ft. That is enough to indicate that you are at the intersection you are supposed to turn at. Magellan has different voice instructions for free-way entrances (like ‘freeway entrance on the right…) , which I like in Magellan. But Garmin keeps it simple and plain.

(3) VEHICLE SPEED: I like the point that 765T displays the vehicle speed on the main screen irrespective of whether it is in routing mode or not. Helps me keep tab on my vehicle speed. I don’t look at my vehicle speedometer anymore.

(4) ROAD SPEED LIMIT: Excellent, at least in my area. Haven’t tested it yet outside Portland Metro area. But in my area, the GPS has correct speed limit info for most of the city roads + highways. In a nearby downtown area, one road has 3 speed limits within 2 mile range and it updates the speed limit info correctly right as it passes through the speed signs. It is great. Caution: It won’t change the speed limit info in school zones. In short, the speed limit info is reliable, though the intention is not to make the driver depend 100% on it. Magellan 4350 doesn’t have speed limit info for any city road.

(5) LANE ASSIST / JUNCTION VIEW: Works great in my area for every junction where one highway bifurcates into two or more major roads. It won’t work on freeway exits and that is not the intention of the feature, I guess. May be it will work if the exit is on the left. But by default all exits are on right. I have tested it on US-26W/E in Portland Metro Area and it works reliably. When the junction view/lane assist are available, the top left corner shows multiple arrows. You can click on it and see how the junction looks like, Around 0.3mile before the junction, junction view pops up automatically once and then disappears after couple of seconds. Yet to test this feature on other interstates.

(6) BLUETOOTH: Works great. I have a blackberry 8310 and it paired instantly. Every time, I walk into the car and start my GPS, the GPS connects immediately and automatically. The nice feature is that the GPS copies my phone addressbook, and the complete call log instantly. Magellan 3250 and even 4350 can’t do that. Browsing the addressbook, placing/receiving a call are super-easy and intuitive, just like it should be. Voice quality over bluetooth is good, though I haven’t yet tested it extensively.

(7) Multi-point routing: Pretty intuitive and works great.

(8) Never used, but can route to coordinates (longitude/latitude). I am not sure yet when I will need to use it. But a nice feature to boast of.

(9) Option to route to an intersection. When you don’t know the address but know the nearest intersection.

(10) Where am I? Click on the car icon to see where am I? Provides useful info about nearest fuel station, hospital, emergency, nearest intersection/address.

(11) Acquiring satellites: Fast, flawless. In 200 miles of driving, never lost connection.

(12) Nice little suction cup and mount system. Flexible and moves in all directions pretty easily.

Average:
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(1) RE-ROUTING: Magellan 3250 Vs 4350 vs 765T. 765T and 3250, when compared head-to-head on an actual city drive rerouted exactly at the same time. Magellan 4350 reroutes almost 2x faster. So, I would say 765T re-routing is average. The on-screen rerouting instructions pop-up much sooner than the verbal instructions, especially when the GPS is still speaking the previous instruction and you take a turn different from what the GPS had instructed to. For example, if the GPS instructs to take a right and you take left, it might be still speaking the instruction for right (pretty long instruction). It takes some time to complete that instruction and then speaks the new re-routing instructions after a while. The screen would have shown much earlier that you took a wrong turn.

(2) FM TRAFFIC: Works OK. Not tested fully. But it did pop up couple of times that there is traffic delay enroute. Different story that at one instance, when I reached that point, there wasn’t any unusual traffic.

(3) MP3 PLAYER: User interface is pretty intuitive. The sound quality is OK for the size of the speakers. At 30-50% volume, the sound quality is good. At 100% volume, the sound is little irritating. The good thing is that the GPS has 3.5mm audio out and I can connect the audio to my FM Transmitter, if I really need.

(4) NIGHT MODE: The night mode display is a blue background. Looks little cheap. Black background would be better, I guess.

(5) Points of interest: Good database. The search is as slow/fast as my Magellan 3250. Megallan 4350 searches 2-3x faster.

(6) PHOTO VIEWER: Tested it, OK. but not sure, if I will ever use it or need to use it.

Bad:
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(1) FM TRANSMITTER: Weak. Not usable. Better is to connect an aux cable if you car has one, or use an external FM Transmitter.
(2) BATTERY LIFE: Less than 45 min, even with BT off. Magellan 3250: 2-3 hours and it is 2 years old.
(3) NO CURRENT ROAD INFO: In routing mode, it doesn’t show on which road you are driving. The GPS has lot of screen real estate to show this info without cluttering the screen. Magellan 3250 has this feature.
(4) VOICE COMMANDS: No voice commands, in case you need them. My Magellan had it, though I hardly ever used it.
(5) MOST USE OF FREEWAYS: There is no routing method called ‘most use of freeways’. Default mode is ‘fastest time’.
(6) Fastest route calculated within a city may always use a road which has the highest speed limit, even though that road has lot of traffic intersections. In my case, it doesn’t route me on a different road which is same distance and has no traffic intersection. I guess, other GPS use the same routing mechanism. Missing ‘human intelligence’…

Summary: Great GPS. I bought it for $190 and I will definitely keep it.