Should I Do It?

I have the 885T and have been very pleased with it. A lot of nice features like user replaceable battery, almost instant on when turned on and MSN Direct but most of all the voice activated navigation and control feature is something I have grown to not be able to live without.

I like the unit a lot better than my prior units and it has a lot of the features I liked and that were on my 760 plus lane assist, junction view, customizable area avoidance and road avoidance plus the displayed items on the screen are more comprehensive and complete.

Always and twice if you like it!

Thanks for the quick review. I have a 550 now and am thinking about upgrading soon. This helps steer me in the 885T direction.

i'd get a smartphone and garmin mobile XT. the garmin GPSrs now just suck. they used to build them solid like the 60CSX and GPS V but the new ones are just flimsy plastic bits and die easily.

GPS's are now like computers. If you keep waiting, then the next Bell or Whistle will appear in the next model and you start waiting all over again.

In the meantime, you could have been having a blast with a new toy.

I bought my 885T in June and I absolutely love it! I upgraded from the bottom of the line, a Nuvi 200. I too looked long and hard before making the plunge. I was seriously considering the 500 or the 550 as they both did routes and spoke street names - the 2 things I really wanted. But the price on the 885 was close, and it really is a better unit.

Having MSN makes some things really easy, especially planning routes in Bing Maps. If you transfer a Bing route using the wireless method, it transfers directly to Routes - no import from My Data needed.

I had a completely different experience with the 885T. I upgraded to the 885T from my old C-550 which stopped working after many years of great service. No doubt there are great features on the unit including voice recognition, lane assist, but the best feature was the ability to selectively detour by excluding specific roads on the route, a feature which has been missing on Garmin GPS units for a while. The first 885T I bought would repeatedly freeze while navigating for no reason requiring removal of the battery to reset it. Additionally the touch screen was slow to respond. When I pressed the screen it took a couple of seconds to register. I thought the unit was defective so I returned it for another. The second one had the same issues so I made sure the firmware/software was current but that didn't make any difference. I had to return it again. I'm back to using a spare Nuvi 350 that I kept. There is definitely a problem with the firmware/software for the 885T. This is not the quality I expect from Garmin. My advice is to avoid the 885T. Good luck.

If you want Garmin, buy a cheapest model you can because it works as good as expensive one, you get what you pay for, means nothing with Garmin, except of paying extra for more problems!

I'm waiting until Thanksgiving to make my new purchase. It is just a few weeks away, and I expect sales to be on! Even if they are not, your purchase will not be more expensive than now and the delay is only a few weeks.

I agree with jakells, if you can wait, Thanksgiving traditionally brings some real bargains.

As for the "no" comments, keep them in perspective. Garmin is a good company that has, like any other company, had some problems with some of their products. That being said, they also have excellent customer service. I've got 2 765T's (wife & I) & have had quite a bit of trouble with mine & none with hers. Garmin's been great to deal with & I now seem to have a working unit & feel that it was well worth the hassle. I've posted my experiences in various threads on this site simply to help others who might be having the same experiences. Always remember that a large percentage of people in forums are those with problems who are looking for help or just to vent. There are thousands of happy, satisfied customers out there who are much less likely to take the time to post their lack of problems.

Good luck!

After a month with my new 775T, I'm very happy with my choice. I tend to not make snap decisions on major purchases, and research, and compare products before I buy. It's never steered me wrong.

So did they refund a few bucks for your trouble?
Both products should have performed exactly the same out of the box, Garmins quality control sucks as long as we are keeping things in perspective.
If you feel Garmins are worth the hassle when they are defective or get defective firmware updates then all I can say is your easy to buy for on Christmas.

I guess I am pretty easy to buy for now that you point it out.

I'm realistic. Over the years I've had some great products & some lousy products. On that scale, Garmin rates fairly high. I had some initial problems with my 765T but their customer support was better than most in regards to trying to get it fixed. Perfect? No. Closest I've found to perfect in this world is my wife. But I really like the design, interface & function of the unit & it's gotten me where I need to go.

I'm guessing that you're a "glass half-empty" sort of fellow.

Cheer up little guy! Life's too short.