New Garmin nuvis

http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2008/08/garmin_announces_7_new_nu...

Lifetime traffic? Interesting, I wonder if this will have some trickle down, well wishful thinking I guess.

The lane assistance feature looks pretty cool in the picture on the gpsmagazine link.

Here in the UK, you already get 'lifetime traffic', on units like the 760.

Its availability (or not) is probably down to the Service Provider and the deal that Garmin have managed to do with them. Maybe they've switched Providers for the new units?

That certainly looks like an impressive line-up with a great new set of features.

I know that you always want to keep improving, but sometimes, it seems like the Garmin models are disconitnued or obsolete as soon as they hit the shelves.

It really fuels the dilemma of "Should I buy now, or wait for the new one?".

With the new features on the 7x5 units, and not offering a new replacement with these features on a voice recognition NUVI, I agree it's going to hurt the sales of the current 880.

Tim

I think Garmin is scrambling to try to keep market shares. And to do so they seem to feel they need to produce 1,000 different Nuvi models.

Not counting discontinued Nuvi models which are still sold, Garmin will have 26 different Nuvi models!!!

I can't imagine how confused the average consumer would be if they had to choose from among 26 different models. And think about retailers trying to decide which of those 26 models they should carry!!

Why doesn't Garmin wise up and consolidate their line down to 10 or so models? Then they can focus on improving their models rather than coming up with new bells and whistles.

Amazon already has them for pre-order and a list price $50 over Garmin's MSRP...to try to make you think you're saving money.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/27/garmins-new-nuvi-7x5-and-...

I know what I want. The larger screen and bluetooth. Everything else to me at least is fluff. MP3 and jpeg viewer... can give or take. Traffic? Cell phone + google maps has been my friend and from what I hear about MSN it updates pretty slow so not sure how useful that will be.

I wouldn't mind the new 775T but at $600 I will settle for the 660 at $300. Talk about an evolving market. wow.

I do like the voice on my week old 880 and it works perfect for me thus far. We are able to do everything related to navigation on the fly without any safety issues and it is very fast in calculating and recalculating.

But I have to admit the lane assist and 3D buildings are neat features on the 7X5. Since I paid much less than the 775T retail for my NIB 880, I am not as aggravated by the new Garmin models as I would have been if I paid close to the ridiculous 880 retail.

The 3D buildings look like they'd get in the way for me. I don't use the current 3D view so I don't think I'll have to worry if I get one. $499 though...is this worth $200 more than the 750? The lane assist looks like a great feature. In L.A., the lanes are easy to miss on some freeways.

HAS YOUR NUVI BEEN DISCONTINUED? -
-----Oh Where, Oh Where Did My nüvi Go?

on Page 5

Garmin NUVI TRICKS, TIPS, WORK AROUNDS, HINTS, SECRETS & IDEAS

WEB site

http://snipurl.com/garmin_gps_tricks

Gary Hayman

Lifetime traffic is a nice feature!

I have trouble with my traffic receiver working reliably (metro Phoenix in areas where it works sometime and sometimes it doesn't). I don't know if it's the receiver or the service, but I've tried all the tips and tricks suggested in other threads to no avail. At this point, a life-time traffic receiver wouldn't be a huge selling point to me.

The lane assist is going to be killer man! How many times have you found yourself in a strange city trying to navigate only to find yourself in a turn lane when you wanted to go straight?

GPS certianly helps and recalculates the route quickly, but it's still annoying. So the lane assit feature is certianly going to be worth it's weight in gold!

When the 755T comes out, well my wife will be inheriting my nuvi 200. I can't wait!

I'm trying to think how can lane assist can actually work. If I drive on a road parallel to my route, the nuvi often thinks that I'm still on the previous road. The road lock is really strong, it will only realize that I'm off the road when I signficantly drive away from the old road.

Given most lanes are parallel, and closer than a road, how the heck can it know?

Well I have to say it's about time on the lane assist, nothing like being the hind teat on that one, also the Lifetime Traffic is no brainstorm on Garmins part. they just want to keep some of the up coming Christmas business and Black Friday isn't that far off now isn't it. I bet they price that one out of the ballpark though and won't even compete with other manufactures during the season.

Bob