The Garmin Nuvi 205/255 were announced earlier this year and are quickly taking their place as solid entry level units in the Garmin line-up. The Nuvi 205/255 offer a series of new features and upgrades that improve on an already top notch interface, making the Nuvi 205/255 my pick for Best Entry Level GPS Navigators. I would urge you to upgrade to the Nuvi 255 for its text to speech (TTS) capabilities, as I feel TTS is one of the best investments to make when purchasing a GPS - it makes the navigation simpler and easier to follow in an ever more complex world of driving.
The Nuvi 205/255 feature several upgraded features:
New faster processor, making for a faster routing and map drawing.
New shaded elevation maps.
Now compatible with optional TMC traffic receivers, or MSN Direct service (Gas prices, traffic, local events, stocks, news, and weather.
Garmin HotFix capability to automatically calculate and store satellite locations so that you will be able to turn the unit on and go a lot faster greatly reducing satellite acquisition time.
Geolocated Picture capability - Download geotagged photos to the Garmin to be able to navigate to a loaded picture; works with Google's Panoramio photo sharing community and Garmin Connect Photos website.
The subtle changes don't sell themselves in any huge way as breakthrough innovations, but these changes add up to a whole lot more in use than the quick read might lead you to believe. Garmin clearly did some work here to make the interface better and easier to understand. The tweaks are another step on their continuous line of interface changes that make the units simple enough for all to use.
Let's take a look at what's inside and why these are worth the upgrade.
The Garmin Nuvi 775T is one of the newer widescreen GPS units (Announced in August) in the Nuvi line at this writing and offers several key upgrades over the Nuvi 770 offering that I think are useful and worth consideration when shopping for a GPS. I firmly believe that text to speech and widescreen GPS units are worth paying the additional money for, and being at the high end of the Garmin line, the Nuvi 775T has both. That's not all though, as Garmin has seen their way to adding in a few other goodies to keep people interested and enticed enough to put the Nuvi 775T high on their list. The reason to spend a little more on teh Nuvi 775T is to get both North American AND European maps pre-loaded on the device. If you are heading to Europe and want a GPS, this is a great high end choice.
Let's take a look at the features of the Garmin Nuvi 775T to see what it has to offer....
The Garmin Nuvi 205W/255W were announced earlier this year and are quickly taking their place as solid entry level units in the Garmin line-up. The Nuvi 205W/255W offer a series of new tweaks that I have quickly come to appreciate and enjoy.
The Nuvi 205W/255W feature several upgraded features:
New faster processor, making for a faster routing and map drawing.
New shaded elevation maps.
Now compatible with optional TMC traffic receivers, or MSN Direct service (Gas prices, traffic, local events, stocks, news, and weather.
Garmin HotFix capability to automatically calculate and store satellite locations so that you will be able to turn the unit on and go a lot faster greatly reducing satellite acquisition time.
Geolocated Picture capability - Download geotagged photos to the Garmin to be able to navigate to a loaded picture; works with Google's Panoramio photo sharing community and Garmin Connect Photos website.
The subtle changes don't sell themselves in any huge way as breakthrough innovations, but these changes add up to a whole lot more in use than the quick read might lead you to believe. If these were houses for sale, the 200W/250W and the 205W/255W may look the same from the outside, and offer the same number of bedrooms and baths, but the think of it like the Nuvi 205W and Nuvi 255W just got kitchen, bath and master suite upgrades that make them stand out as easier and more enjoyable to use.
Let's take a look at what's inside and why these are worth the upgrade.
Update: The Nuvi 2x5 series has the ability to use the Garmin ecoRoute program that helps you drive more efficiently. It's not nirvana, but it can help those interested in being a little more gas conscious. See my post "Got ecoRoute?..."
Garmin Nuvi 265WT - Widescreen and Lifetime Traffic
Garmin has a nice widescreen entry with the Nuvi 265WT, that offers a lot of capability in a lower tier model within reach for most GPS buyers. The Nuvi 265WT was announced in August 2008, along with the Nuvi 265T and Nuvi 275T.
The Nuvi 265WT offers Text to Speech and LifetimeTraffic with a departure from the older 3-month free trial and a monthly subscription after that. This is TMC based traffic service that is served over the FM airwaves. The Nuvi 265WT has the newest Garmin interface that I like a lot - it has subtle changes that make a big difference. The distance to turn is in the upper left corner with the turn indicator next to it - easy to see and quick too. The speed limit indicator is down the left side also making that time glancing at the left side of the screen pretty productive. I used this interface extensively in reviewing the Nuvi 255W, the sister unit to the Nuvi 265WT, and thought that it was a big improvement to the overall system. For more information on the Nuvi 255W, and the new Garmin interface, see My Full Review of the Nuvi 255W.
The new Nuvi 2x5 models come with the enhancements that you get with the rest of the 2x5 line, including:
New faster processor, making for a faster routing and map drawing.
New shaded elevation maps.
Garmin HotFix capability to automatically calculate and store satellite locations so that you will be able to turn the unit on and go a lot faster greatly reducing satellite acquisition time.
Geolocated Picture capability - Download geotagged photos to the Garmin to be able to navigate to a loaded picture; works with Google's Panoramio photo sharing community and Garmin Connect Photos website.
With all of these features, the Garmin Nuvi 265T, and 265WT seem to be a very well appointed and well targeted to the masses. The Nuvi 265WT will expand to a 4.3-inch screen, and Bluetooth Handsfree capabilities to work with your compatible Bluetooth phone.
The Nuvi 265WT has text to speech turn directions; "Turn left on Main Street."
The Garmin Nuvi 765T is one of the newer widescreen GPS units (Announced in August) in the Nuvi line at this writing and offers several key upgrades over the Nuvi 760 offering that I think are useful and worth consideration when shopping for a GPS. I firmly believe that text to speech and widescreen GPS units are worth paying the additional money for, and being at the high end of the Garmin line, the Nuvi 765T has both. That's not all though, as Garmin has seen their way to adding in a few other goodies to keep people interested and enticed enough to put the Nuvi 765 high on their list.
Let's take a look at the features of the Garmin Nuvi 765T to see what it has to offer....
The Garmin Nuvi 755T, 765T, 775T and 785T were recently announced and will be available on the store shelves here in the coming weeks. I was able to get my hands on a Nuvi 755T unit ahead of their launch for a review of their new offering that includes a nice handful of including an updated interface that I think makes the dead easy interface even easier and more intuitive to understand; kudos to Garmin for this subtle but well done change. It makes understanding where to go and what to do even easier while rocketing down the highway. The unit also offers 3-D buildings as well as Lane Assist, a reality like image that helps you understand what to do in difficult highway interchanges. The Nuvi 755T, 765T, 775T and 785T also offer faster routing calculations and faster map drawing.
Finally, Garmin offers free traffic updates with an ad-supported model that I was a little hesitant about. After a couple of weeks of using the unit, I can offer that it's not a terrible thing. Read on for more details and the full review...
The Garmin Oregon family of Touchscreen handlheld GPS devices were announced just a few weeks ago, and I have been fortunate enough to be playing before they were available to the public (The Oregon line is expected to ship in the 3rd quarter of 2008). The unit offers the breakthrough of a touchscreen interface on a rugged handheld that can be taken into the woods, rained on and still give you directions to the cabin, the geocache or just back to the car. The Oregon line sits firmly at the top of the Garmin handheld series with a set of features that are pretty strong, and for some units, wireless capabilities to make it possible to communicate between units and accessories (Heart rate monitor for instance). The base model, the Garmin Oregon 200 offers the same touchscreen interface, a smaller amount of memory, and no preloaded maps. The Garmin Oregon 300 adds the wireless features, and electronic compass, a barometric altimeter as well as some more memory onboard. Finally when you get into the Garmin Oregon 400t, 400i, and 400c, you keep the wireless capabilities, but also add either Topo, Inland water ways, or Coastal waterway maps respectively; hence the t/i/c designator.
The Oregon line uses a high sensitivity GPS chipset, has a 3-inch touchscreen and is HotFix capable, which is to say that it can remember where satellites SHOULD be in the future, so start up time (the time it usually spends looking for those same satellites) is minimized. The interface, while touchscreen enabled, is very much a carry-over from the recently released Colorado series (See my review: Garmin Colorado 400t Full Review). I already have a pretty good idea of the functionality from using my Colorado 400t. The Oregon is also an inch shorter than the Colorado due to the antenna sticking out the top of the Colorado.
The big questions in my mind were going to be around visibility of the touchscreen, and the overall usability of the touchscreen interface.
The Garmin Edge 705 is a great little Bike computer/GPS unit that brings data capture to a new level. With the ability to capture not only bike computer information, but to combine it with location specifics, wrapping in the wireless data capture of a heart rate monitor and a cadence meter, the Edge 705 rocks. By GPS standards, the unit is small, maybe not small in the bike computer world, but unless you are climbing the Alp d'Huez during July, you won't notice the added weight. The Garmin Cycling Team must think they are great - the Tour de France starts Saturday for them - Good Luck!
The Edge series has been around for a couple of years, but the Edge 605/705 series made two huge leaps in capability. The Edge 605/705 now offers mapping and in my mind this was a big disadvantage of the original 205/305; something that is worth paying up for in the 605/705. I think it makes all the difference. The Edge is also now in color, which as a veteran of the original Garmin eTrex monochrome days, I can say that without a doubt, the change makes a huge difference in the readability of the screen. It makes a difference on the trail with an eTrex and makes a difference on the road with a color Edge.
Finally, the Edge 705 offers wireless sharing; an innovative feature that I think is a total luxury, and one that I have been wanting for a long time across a lot of Garmin models. When you are hiking or biking, being able to show up and immediately share what the route plan is with everybody there is a huge deal. In this case though it means that you need a lot of like-minded friends who also see the value of dropping a few hundred bucks on a GPS enabled bike computer. For those of us here at GPS Lodge, we think it's totally justified.
I like the Garmin Edge 705 that I have in for review right now, and it appears that I am not alone. Wired Mag has a review up of the Edge 705 calling it the Holy Grail for cycling enthusiasts, and for good reason. The thing grabs a signal, dumps a ton of information your way, tells you where to go and when you are done, allows you to analyze the data collected from the heart rate monitor, the cadence sensor and if you are really into it, you can get power readouts if you add a compatible powermeter. The sensors are all wireless and the edge is smaller than a deck of cards.
The Colorado 400t recently launched into an ever expanding category of handheld GPS units, where Garmin has had a long track record of offering solid handheld capabilities in a package that suits customers well. I have been using a Garmin handheld for close to 10 years, and in that time, I have used them to navigate up mountains on hikes, navigate to geocaches around the country and navigate across New England on week-long bike rides. Over that time, I've assembled a wish list that pretty much got erased with the release of the Colorado series. The Colorado 400T comes with a lot of key features that make using it a pleasure.
There are a few big features that make the Colorado 400t a hot handheld: Big color screen, shaded Topo maps, easy access to features with the Rock n Roller wheel, wireless sharing of information with other Colorado users, advanced geocaching features, and the ability to set up profiles allowing you to set up preferences for different uses.
There were a couple of key questions in my mind going into this review: Is the Rock n Roller wheel really something that is easy to use, are the interface changes usable and intuitive for a longtime user, will the interface give me any new advantages over what I already have, and is the screen size and overall size of the unit an issue versus my trusted eTrex Vista unit.
Just announced at CES 2008, the Garmin Nuvi 780 is the new widescreen navigator from Garmin that has the MSN Direct version services built in. Being part of the 700 series, it includes a lot of the high end extras that you'd expect including text-to-speech, maps of North America, 5+ Million POI, Bluetooth Handsfree and the ability to do optimized routing. This Nuvi 780 was equipped with the SiRF chipset.
As you start to get into higher end GPS units, you start to add features that are certainly advanced and can make life great if you are an intensive user of the GPS. For instance, the Nuvi 780 has advanced routing features that allows you to input several locations and allow the Nuvi to optimize the route. Something road warriors will appreciate. For me, the MSN Direct services make it pretty obvious that gas prices are going to be a must have capability going forward for any connected GPS.
GPS Market Share Changes - Big Moves Through Discounting
According to NPD, market share of the GPS market moved around a bit in the last three months of the year. The same big names were there, but the percentages moved. Sure the big loser in share is Garmin - they had the market share to lose.
Unit Share Oct - Dec 2007
Garmin - 37%
TomTom - 27%
Magellan - 19%
Dollar Share Oct - Dec 2007
Garmin - 45%
TomTom - 24%
Magellan - 15%
So What?
Since Garmin's dollar share is higher than its unit share, that says that they held higher average prices across the holidays. TomTom with their low prices on the TomTom ONE ($129 - $149) had temporary price reductions to gain market share during the quarter. Pretty shrewd. Garmin on the other hand discounted steadily, but now can afford a lower priced option (the Nuvi 200) that is selling online for about $185. Clearly their fuller high end sold well also.
Magellan was in a similar place to TomTom, discounts and lower priced units going through the sales channel.
The big deal for TomTom is that once they have the consumers in their brand, they may just see their consumers trade up to more expensive devices down the road, as they stay competitive with new innovations and smart marketing.
In the end, the earnings are coming out later in February; we'll see how the strategies paid off in terms of near-term profits. Did the expanding market lead to better profits for all? Long-term, the market will just get more competitive and better prices for better units.... stay tuned.
From 2006 - the numbers were a little different...
Another review posted on the Garmin Nuvi 760 and again it gets high ratings. I think that it was great, and clearly the best Nuvi that Garmin has put out yet.
With the new slim design, and the lack of a flip up antenna, the Nuvi 760 looks like a good place to start, and on top of that it maintains all the great features you enjoyed in the Nuvi 600 series.
The multi-segment routing AND optimization is a good feature, as well as the Bluetooth phone interface.
PC Mag clearly thought these were compelling features too in giving the unit an Editor's Choice rating. The only big downside that they talked about was the quality of the traffic updates. I think that they were a great start, and I recommend them to anyone who regularly drives in traffic, but there is a lot of room for improvement in the entire traffic reporting area, not just on Garmin. I personally look forward to that coming change.
The Garmin Nuvi 700 series was launched at the top of the Garmin line to make steps forward in both design and functionality. The Nuvi 750/760/770 units are a change vs. the Nuvi 650/660/670 units with a thin design losing the flip up patch antenna of the Nuvi 600 series, and adding some functionality that is nicely useful.
"I would rate it a Top Pick for GPS buyers"
The Nuvi 750/760/770 is a widescreen unit with a bright screen, not marginally bright, but plenty bright for sunny days. The 760/770 series also comes with a TMC traffic receiver that is integrated into the 12V plug. It has maps of North America pre-loaded.
I have been driving with the Garmin Nuvi 760 for about two weeks now, including a trip to New Jersey that had me navigating in unfamiliar territory, from the Philadelphia airport, up to the Princeton area, and back. The Nuvi 760 did a very good job of getting me to where I was going with comfort and confidence. I of course expected this; it's a Garmin.
Garmin Nuvi 205/255 Full Review
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