What made the upgrade to a newer model Garmin well worth it?

If you watch costco and a few other sites they have so good deals so it makes upgrading a little easier. I just got the 765t. If you do a lot of traveling I think the lane assist is a great feature. I've seen the junction view a couple times but it only pops up for a second so as I think others have said it's just ok. If they fine tuned this feature the 2 together are great in unfamiliar towns/cities.
I also like new gadgets and do some out of town work so it was worth it to me to pony up the $320 for this one. The traffic (while not used much yet) will also help in out of town trips and even around my home town.
I like the "where am I feature as well. Are these features worth $320 bucks?...To me yes..To others maybe not.

This probably doesn't apply since I actually switched to a discontinued model, but I have a Quest (four years old) and bought the 7200. What it has that the Quest doesn't is a 7-inch screen (rare on its own), the street names stated on the voice prompts, the ability to interface with XM radio (via a very expensive add-on antenna), MP3 recording, the ability to download POIs, and a slot for an SD card. And then there is also the timely traffic and weather updates you can get from XM and transfer them into the device, a feature which I am still testing.

But, having said all of that, my old Quest actually has better (more accurate) mapping software. I have the latest 2010 software loaded into the 7200 and it has steered me wrong several times; when I have entered the same address into the Quest it has guided me with no problems.

I had a sp530 and when i started to look around at the newer units the best feature i noticed was the bigger screen, that alone is worth it, and then the other things were the TTS, that is also worth it, I put about 100 mp3's on a card and connect it up to the car system which is also nice,IF you have a aux connection for the unit, I have had my NUVI 650 for about 18 months, just upgraded to the lifetime maps, so that indicated unless it dies altogeather i probably wont get another one for a while.

I upgrade to my 785t because I hated limit impose by my c340 which is 2mb for the POI. I subscribe to Garmin lifetime which is whenever their contract with NAVTEQ expire. So I thought, I need something new that I will used for more than 5 yrs or longer.

"improvements over last generation"

(background - got my 755t friday 04sep, upgrading from c340)

not in any particular order...

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- bigger screen (!!!)

- touch screen (does what you expect it to do! drags the map around! yayyyy! missed that on the previous generation)

- EASY to take the thang off the windshield - just a single button under the unit and "pop!" its off! nice!! (i just leave the mount up there on the windshield - toss the gps in the trunk!)

- having it transmit into the FM radio is cool - i'm experimenting with that though, whether i like it or not - see, i like the radio too - and at this point, its either one or the other

- "eco" thing - calculates your fuel efficiency etc

- the map just moves "smoother" (nice!)

- photo realistic lane-assist - its really impressive the first few times you see it

- the antenna is more sensitive - i get signal inside parking structures whereas before it would whine about lost signal, then ask.. "are you indoors" and then.. i had to tell it yes i'm in america - yes that's the time - yes yes yes (just gimme my gps back dammit!)

- this is BIG (to me): the "next turn" it reports really is... THE NEXT TURN! it annoyed me how the c340 would report every darn merge or junction along the way when in reality i was getting on the I-5 and staying on the I-5 for the next 15 miles - listen, I DON'T NEED TO KNOW its 0.7 miles from the offramp to the 163!!! just tell me when i gotta get off the 5!!!

these next-gen gps units do that! (yay!)

- on-screen keyboard is in QWERTY format (nice! thank you! finally!)

HOWEVER! the touch screen "could be" improved - you gotta pretty much be RIGHT ON the letter - you gotta go back and correct yourself when it gets it wrong

at least now, you can move the cursor back and correct teh one wrong letter - on the c340 you had to delete ALLLL those rightly-typed letters, correct teh error, then type in the rest of the POI or address you're looking for

- it remembers recently searched POIs - its in a little folder to the left of the text-entry box - nice!

(would be nice if there was an in-line autofill/memory like on computers so you can start typing, it recognizes past searches/favorites and offers those suggestions - they've still got room to improve!)

- you can put a LOT more info into POI details - if you're gonna use that feature - you might be able to enter a lot of that info in via mapsource or some of these other POI editors - dunno.. i haven't played with that yet - but still, pretty impressive

- with the bluetooth-capable units (mine's not) you can call a POI right from the gps - that would be nice, sure would make calling ahead to order take-out easier!

- oh! this is BIG... it annoyed the HECK outta me how the turn arrow on the c340 would be off the screen when approaching a turn! the auto-zoom function on the c340 would zoom in so that i couldn't see what frigging direction i would be turning! grrrr! well... this gen of gps got that figgered out (thank you!)

believe it or not, i actually like to mute the damn gps - i want "help" i don't want DICTATION - *I'M* driving goddammit! so.. i really rely on the visual indications of the gps - and when it hid the frigging arrow head from me, i would always have to reach up and MASH the zoom button to permit me to see what the heck i needed to see!

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anyway.. that's all i got for the first couple days using this thing

good luck lil duck!

Thanks for the "blow-by-blow" list. I currently have a Nuvi370 and am considering upgrading to the 7xx series, just not sure if it's worth the money or not. One other reason I can see doing the upgrade is to do lifetime maps afterwards- the newer units should have more storage capability internally (besdies the SD card ability).

Mark

I was coming back through downtown Chicago Monday, and XM said traffic was moving with no major delays, so of course I get there and the back-up was horrible-at least an hour to go through until I got up near my house. Bad enough to knock my mileage down from 51.1 to 50.5, sigh.

Routing capability and a vastly superior screen/display on the 760 (vs. my 360). The traffic feature is pretty darn slick when on roadtrips, too

I have a c340. Just a few weeks ago I bought a 765t. It works really well with Mapsource to configure my map, and take the route I WANT TO GO. Works really well once I got Mapsource properly installed on the computer. If you are tird of your GPS taking you on off the beaten track routes. Then, get the 765t and use Mapsource. Just be sure to tie the routes down with plenty of waypoints so it will keep the GPS from recalculating another route.

thanks for all the wonderful input. I can see... no pun intended that a larger screen in itself would motivate me to upgrade.

IMO, I would get a 760 or 780 so that you get the last working generation with reasonable screen detail and the upcoming cross streets in the banner box.

The 760 comes with a traffic receiver (not lifetime) and the 780 with MSN-Direct, which one can sign can up for lifetime service for a one-time payment of $99.

Both have speed limits, tracklogs, Bluetooth, FM modulators, Garmin Locate (it will walk you back to your car if you remove it from the cradle before it shuts off) and so on.

It does not have lane assist, but unless you are a long distance driver, you probably have a pretty good idea how your interchanges work.

MSN Direct is neat in that you get traffic, weather, news, stocks, gas prices, movie scedules and so on if you are in one of their coverage cities. The 780 comes with a 3 month trial subscription, so you can decide whether you want it or not.

The latest generation of Garmin navigators has really done the public a disservice.

Note too that there are all kinds of issues with CNNT 2010.10, much of which seems to have been resolved with the subsequent map release (2010.20) My 760/780 has 2009 which works for me.

I love my SP2720 but should I upgrade?
Should I upgrade the maps or look for a newer unit for use on my motorcycle and car?

Going from a SP2720 to a nuvi will be quite a shock for you as you'll loose ALOT of user-configurable options, useful on-screen map info, configurable data fields, visible map detail (Garmin cuts more detail out on every new series) etc, etc. You'll gain some, like screen size, portability & a few new options but those may not be worth it.

Your best bet is to go and try a nuvi for yourself in a retail store such as Best Buy & see if the changes will affect you for the better or the worse.

You may just decide that the changes won't be worth it so a map update may be the better upgrade.

Only you can decide.

Last week I upgraded from a Nuvi 350 to a 1490t. I wanted the bigger screen, louder audio (the 350 for me was not quite loud enough with the AC on full blast and the stereo on), and lane assist. Plus, the lifetime traffic service is nice to have.

Finally, I had not updated the maps on the 350 since I bought it 3 years ago and it was missing areas around town. I could not see spending the $s for a single map update, or certainly not a lifetime for the 350. So, the 1490t was the choice and I am very pleased with it. I immediately got the lifetime maps (although it qualified for one free update when I first logged into Garmin.)

I also ditched the windshield mount after reading about rising GPS thefts - went with the Garmin beanbag.

I upgraded to an 885t because I was interested in using the MSN feature showing weather radar on my route in areas where that reception is possible. However when in the Radar Image map mode, the map is stationary so you eventually "drive off" the map. Also liked the idea of using voice commands. Voice command works nicely, but is really useless if driving a convertible with the top down - which for me is most of the time I'm in my DHC Solstice I gave the 760 to my wife for use in her car.

actually, this isn't the case

i thought it was, but i'm correcting myself - it still shows you irrelevent turns (ie - when your action is to stay on your current road, it tells you to "turn" straight

grumble.. grumble..

From 330 to 750
For quite a number of reasons:
Size
Customizable Routes and route transfers from other sourced
Text to Speech
Larger Screen
Portability (use when walking & will store in pocket)
Went with 750 because I don't need or want Bluetooth.

To hold "Junction View" touch the upper left of the screen that shows the "Lane Assist".

"Junction View" is a zoomed subset of "Lane Assist", that's why it only shows briefly.

I agree it's a great feature, but the quick transition back - even before you've entered the junction - is not very well done.

You upgraded the wrong object. A friend with a new C70 has flawless bluetooth with the top down. But it's from the Volvo factory, not the Garmin factory.

If you waited this long already, I would wait a little longer for the 1690.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=64339

Finally some sort of 2-way communication between the GPS and the internet.