Thoughts on switching from the 680 to the 760

I have the Nuvi 680 but, don't know if the 760 would meet your needs. I would suggest you take a look at www.cnet.com for reviews and information about the 760.

Henry

I have the 760 and like it. But it is from the same basic "generation" of Nuvis as the 680 (I think) and as such is a little old as far as personal electronics go. I would not be surprised if the 760 got discontinued soon. There is a pretty big price jump to the latest and greatest 7x5 series.

Personally, when I upgrade, I want to jump at least a couple levels, to allow for more longevity before I feel the need to upgrade again.

If I was making the decision today, I would pay more for the more powerful 765 than the 760. Weigh carefully the features and cost.

Most of the new features on the 765 are gimmicks. However, if you really want the latest gadget and don't mind paying a premium, then get the 765. If you want a good GPS device which is reasonably priced, get the 760.

This is a very complete review of the 760:

http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2007/10/garmin_nuvi_760_review.ph...

Newegg.com is a very trustworthy seller that I have bought many things from and has it for $290 with free shipping now:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16858108...

To further qualify my question.

I just bought the 680 from Costco (for our trip down to MD) and since I shop there all the time and know a few of the reps, they told me that they are going to have the 760 available for sale this week.

Since my 90 day return policy isn't up yet (only had the 680 for maybe a month so far) and the 760 is only $40 more then what I paid for the 680 that I should trade up... also seems that there will be some additional sales around x-mas too... so I might want wait for them

But I know that there were some real problems with the firmware updates in a couple of the models and wanted to make sure that the 760 was good to go.

The 760 is worth a lot more then $40 in added features over the 680. With the new 4.20 firmware the problems are over. I'm running a 760 with the 4.20 firmware and everything works great.

It has a new brighter screen, multi-destination routing with the ability to optimize (sort) the stops by distance, good Bluetooth integration, real time traffic, tracklog support, a new "Where Am I?" and "Where did I park?" feature.

The 680 and the 760 were the same price about a month ago and that still holds true as of today at Costco. 349.95.

Of course, you would be losing the MSN Direct and it's features, If that's not a problem for you. Personally, I am going to wait for the 785T to possible come down in price during Black Friday. Then, I can keep MSN Direct and also get Lane Assist. I've seen it for $499 but hoping to get a $399 price for it.

Go for the 760. Return the 680 and make the switch.
You won't regret it.

You can get MSN Direct for $85 including shipping. So if you find a good deal on the 750 or 760 but want MSN, you can always add it later.

Regarding MSN, it works well as long as the car adapter stays charged and RF connected. I you remove it from the car (i.e. take into office and loose RF connection, or adapter battery runs down' lasts around 4 days outside of car) then MSN data is lost. When RF is re-established, traffic info comes back to life in a few minutes, but the other gas/movie/etc. stuff takes 4 to 24 hours to re-download. In my case, I down-graded from 680 to 660 because MSN data was not up to date when I needed it. I only really wanted the FM traffic. In addition, TMC lifetme subscription is now $60 compared to MSN at $50/year. Again, when travelling to another city in another state, the MSN gas/move/etc will not be available for 4-24 hours, which doesn't help if you just drive through without staying the night (in my case). If I had the chance to switch from 680 to 760, I would jump without hesitation. In short, depends how you expect to use the GPS.

Hope this opinion helps...

The lane guidance option in the 765 may be worth the differnece in price. My bf has a Tom Tom with that feature and it makes the most complex interchanges understandable.
Jen

OK so I got the 760, but is it safe to do the latest firmware upgrade?

If it's at 2.x, update to 3.x. You can find the older updates here:
http://www.gpsinformation.org/perry/nuvi/

If it's at 3.x, I would stay on that version for now.

If it's at 4.0 or 4.1, then update to 4.2 since 4.0/4.1 have various issues. There still seems to be some remote problems with 4.2 and there is really nothing in 4.2 that is worth updating for.

I have a 750 at v3.1 and a 760 at v3.2 and have no desire to update at this time.

Caution: if you use WebUpdater to update, it will install the newest version & will give you no choice. To avoid updating (if you choose to do so), after WebUpdater has finished and with the nuvi still connected to the PC, access the nuvi drive and delete the file in x:/Garmin/GUPDATE.GCD. This is the update file that the nuvi will use to update the firmware the next time the nuvi is powered on. If you delete the file, no update will occur.

The firmware files listed at the link I posted are direct updates & don't use WebUpdater. Choose the one you want to install and run the update file.

I just received my Nuvi 760 on Tuesday and was disappointed when I discovered that the 760 has an issue when waypoints are transferred using Garmin's Mapsource software.

I have a large Mapsource waypoint database on my PC that I use to keep three units current. Each waypoint includes a name, a symbol and an address and phone number in the comment field. When I transfer my waypoints to my Nuvi 760 using Mapsource only the name and symbol are displayed. It is not real helpful when only a name shows up with no street address or phone number. transferring the same database works fine on my Nuvi 350 and my StreetPilot 2720. I can send waypoints to the 760 using Google Maps and MapQuest, but not Garmin's own software.

I ended up saving my database as a .gpx file and loaded it to the Nuvi as a custom POI file using POI Loader. All of my waypoint data shows up when loaded this way, but it is not as fast to get to the custom POI's compared to my favorites. This is a huge oversight in my opinion and I have expressed my feelings to Garmin. I hope they resolve this problem soon.

BigTinVA - if you want to save the waypoints as favorites instead of custom POI, then just copy the gpx file directly to the gpx folder on your Garmin. When you turn the unit on it will add the waypoints to your current.gpx file, which is where the favorites are stored.

Thanks for the reply GadgetGuy2008. I tried that last night, but I renamed my .gpx file to "Current.gpx" and put it on my 760 overwriting the existing file and nothing happened. I had the gpx directory backed up before I messed with anything so I just copied the original file back into the directory. Do I leave MY file named whatever I want and just copy it to my Nuvi gpx folder?

I'm surprised that none of the four people at Garmin even brought this up when I was on the line with them yesterday. I even spoke with their software support folks.

Edited to add: I just copied my .gpx file into my Nuvi 760's GPX directory and restarted it. The Nuvi did load my file into the favorites, but it still didn't show the information that I have typed into the comments field of Mapsource so there is no difference between sending the file using Mapsource or copying the file manually. Also, if I use Mapsource and receive the file back from the Nuvi, the comments field contains only the exact text from the name field. Definately strange. Does anyone else have different results?

where did you see it for $499.

That sounds about right for the 7xx series. Only the 3xx series supports the <cmt> data that Mapsource writes. Mapsource can't access the address fields that all the other units support. From memory, I recall that the 7xx series duplicates the name to the <desc> field...

You may find that the (free) functionality in GeePeeEx Editor can do what you want. (See the File | 'Import' and 'Export Favourites' functions. I'm aware that the documentation doesn't currently cover these )

Thanks for all the help everyone.

I got the 760 and upgraded the firmware to 4.2, along with the bluetooth and traffic receiver updates. Glad I did, as my phone wouldn't connect with it and now it works like a charm!

Been a week and no nasties so far.

Got one for $249 at Costco.
Decided to spend the extra $50 for the bluetooth.
Hoping the update will sort out the reports of bluetooth being too soft.

I can't give you anything in the way of comparison. However, I really like my 760. I've had it about 7 months and I've been very happy with it. I had problems with a rental car power outlet causing my first one to burn out, but it wasn't the Garmin's fault. Garmin replaced it under warranty easily, so kudos to there customer service, too.

I like my Garmin nuvi 765T quite a bit. GPSmagazine.com has the most informative review I found of the newer **5 series http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2008/11/garmin_nuvi_765t_review.p... so you can read all about them and see if it is worth the difference in price. The 755 is cheaper and doesn't include bluetooth so that's probably the easiest way to get the improvements like 3D view, free FM traffic, AND multi-point routing.

Lane guidance is great but not well utilized - unless you live in a major metro area you probably won't see much of this feature.