Need help deciding on Garmin Nuvi Traffic model

I have to say I am not impressed with MSN traffic. I find around Seattle that the traffic updates generally fall into two areas...

Common knowledge....alerts for traffic areas that are always bad.

Wrong information or outdated information....alerts that have no validity at the time of day they are given or are just plain wrong.

I have yet to receive an alert that caused me to properly reroute that saved me time.

I have received many alerts with absolutely idiotic rerouting attempts. For instance, the freeway is jammed...a common alert, reroute constantly calls for taking the next exit into an area of town where no traffic data is available, but where all the freeway traffic is coming from. Just because MSN does not know about the local traffic it seems to assume that it has to be better than where you are. A huge data lack fault.

I am not going to subscribe to MSN when my trial ends (soon).

One feature that my 780 has that is no longer offered in the new models is showing the next coming cross street. Apparently the 7x5 series shows you the road you are on....this is essentially useless in my view. Knowing the next coming cross street makes my 780 invaluable. Having on the smaller street labels to squint out does not work nearly as well.

For this one feature alone I would try and find an old 7x0 model over the new offerings.

I would also likely elect for a model with the free FM traffic as free useless data is better than paying for useless data

I have the 760 but they don't make it any more bummmmer. I also have the life time trafic and have found that it is no way accurate. It will give an alert trafic delay in 2 mile ect and when I get there there is no delays or traffic. So don't buy into the hype on the gps trafic it's not worth it.

I've mentioned before in other threads: this is hit or miss. For example, yesterday on a Sunday afternoon in Houston it said that there was traffic on I-59 from downtown to IAH. There wasn't--in either direction.

What I have found more accurate and useful is when a road is completely closed. Getting home late the same night in Cleveland, the I90 bridge over the Cuyahoga River was completely closed for overnight repairs. The 1490T knew that from the start and re-routed me even though I was unaware of the closure. It was equally accurate in St. Louis last month for the same reason.

Thanks for the advice folks .. looks like traffic is a hit or miss deal. For now I will rely on my Blackberry and traffic on Google Maps. If I see good deals on a 265WT, I will pick it up and try that.

I think that traffic on Google Maps is much more accurate and faster updated, i have a 755T and he tell that is traffic when i am already on the traffic.

I must say, that MSN did save me once when there was a major accident and I would have been stuck in it for hours. Usually the traffic reports through MSN just force me to check other sources, when I might not normally (i.e. XM radio, 1010 WINS, etc).

I have a MSN receiver with lifetime traffic and I had a FM receiver with both Navteq and Clear Channel services and from my experiences in Arizona, California and Nevada travels the MSN is superior for traffic. In the Tucson area MSN is much better with good coverage even on the smaller city streets in areas the FM never ever covered.

At $50/year or $100/lifetime, it just wasn't worth it for me. I rarely drive on the highways, and when I did, the traffic feature never reported enough of a delay to attempt to avoid. On my C580, the only supported services are traffic, weather, gas prices, and movie listings. It was interesting having them, but just not worth the price. If I had a fancier unit that supported news, stocks, weather radar, local events, airline arrivals, etc., I would have given it more consideration.

In addition, I doubt the receiver will survive another two years. The connector on the first one broke after 6 months, I've made it 18 months on the second unit, and its battery lasts only 1-2 days between full charges.

To make it worse.... you can't even buy the "Lifetime" traffic from MSN Direct any longer.

They have stopped offering it.

So far, I have experience with MSN Direct and XM NavTraffic, and I'm not impressed with either one really, but at least I got SOME information from MSN Direct.

And MSN Direct offers more things than Traffic and a very plain weather report, Unlike the XM NavTraffic.

I wouldn't ever recommend the XM NavTraffic to anyone.... It was totally useless in my opinion.

Had the Nuvi 765T navigating me home last Sunday in the north Chicago suburbs. It navigated me onto I-88 and we immediately ran into a huge traffic jam which added 20 minutes to the ride home. Checked the traffic info on the unit, and it said there was no traffic enrout. Go figure. Seems to be wrong more times than correct.

MSN traffic for me is like the little boy who cried wolf...the majority of the time it is false or irrelevent....so you get to the point that ignoring a traffic warning is the "right" response.

Every single night I drive home (late night, well after rush hour) I get a traffic warning 7 or 8 miles ahead on one particular street....come on....the road I am on is not 7 miles long...where is this phantom traffic?

I am somewhat glad MSN has discontinued the lifetime traffic subscription...there is no way I would pay for such inaccurate traffic and the other stuff is just fluff.

Better to listen to the radio for traffic.

When I was coming home from vacation in Delaware, on Sunday, I was on a two lane road with what I would call very light traffic when the traffic alert lit off, it advised me that I would have a five minute delay. Not being familiar with the area I decided that a five minute delay was not a problem plus it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

When I got to the area in question traffic was stopped. There had been an accident, but the traffic backup was not enough so I could see the fire equipment. Because the traffic was light I could not gauge how long before I got there accident happened but I feel it had not been too long. Because I had a GPS I could rout around the accident on a short detour other had not found.

I guess sometimes you get lucky.

You may already abondoning this posting, but. For what it is worth, I like my 765T, mostly for the capability of creating a long route MY way. It does the free traffic reports hit and miss. But, it has correct traffic reports more times than it has been wrong. The delay times are pretty close to right, but a couple times I had delays that the 765 did not even report. But, I accept this as just a product of the imperfect world we live in. So, the 765t is about as good a pick for traffic alerts as you are gonna get, especially for free. My only problem with the 765t is the touch screen. It sometimes misinterprets screen commands. hint: Recalibrating it a few times made it much better.

I just purchased a 765T and so far I'm pleased with it. I haven't put the traffic portion to the test yet, that'll have to wait for my next trip. I also agree with the touch screen. It seems to be flaky at times. I'll have to recalibrate it a few more times to see if that clears it up.

Wow, they must have just changed that in the last week or so. I wonder what that means for the service long-term...

Just look at the new Nuvi 1690. nuLink appears to be Garmin's direction now. The 1690 doesn't even give you a MSN or other traffic service option.

Yes... it has been in the last week or so they stopped.

Either they are gettin gready to phase it out/abandone it, OR.... they decided they would make more money by NOT offering a lifetime sub.

I don't know why they stopped selling the lifetime, but The onyl way I'd buy that service is with a very resonably priced lifetime sub.

Garmin is offering TOTALLY FREE TRaffic with extremely unobtrusive ads that pop in and pop out.

And if you want to get rid of the ads, you can get the FM LIFETIME for $60.

MSN Direct will have to greatly improve their traffic reporting and ad to their other information services before I would pay $50/year for it.

I have a 760, but changed it to MSN for the traffic. I really am happy with it.

I agree with the many posts regarding the hit and miss nature of the traffic reports. However yesterday driving downtown in Toronto it did spot heavy traffic and rerouted me to a very fast alternative. Probably saved me 20 mins.

When I was looking into the MSN direct service, they were still offering the lifetime subscription ... but their caveat was that they would only promise service through something like 2012. After that, they wouldn't guarantee service. And, if service terminated before then end of three years, they'd offer a prorated refund.
Perhaps the reason they're only offering annual subscriptions is because they're actually shooting for that 2012 date!

I have a Nuvi 660 and recently renewed my traffic. The FM Traffic is what I chose. It was more expensive than the SM Nav, but covered more cities. And those were the cities that I frequent.

here in NYC my 265WT has done great I just had to trust it. Have avoided some major road work by using side streets prior to seeing the traffic. Just had to trust the little garmin. Commercials ad very few. Worth it to me to have the free traffic service.

My 765 has the free traffic service & it's worth every penny!

It often says that there is a :01 delay -can't tell you the headaches that this warning has prevented (tongue firmly in cheek). It has, however, helped me once, when it successfully routed me around an accident that my Dad's TomTom, with him in the car behind me, did not. Love the unit overall though.

Looks like the 765T refurbished is going pretty cheap on Newegg ($199.99). Will pick it up and give it a shot. Newegg has a great return policy if unit does not function as advertised. Thanks for all the advice!

i just got a 765t also but haven't had the opportunity to try out the traffic reports.

Notice posted on MSN Direct website as follows:
"Why is Microsoft ending MSN Direct services on 01/01/2012? The delivery of location-based services in the U.S. and Canada has evolved since Microsoft began offering MSN Direct in early 2004. Leveraging unused FM radio spectrum to broadcast data represented a step forward in 2004, however, many choices today including WiFi, Cellular, FM RDS and other digital networks are now readily available and are continuing to grow in popularity. Despite good initial MSN Direct adoption, these alternatives have significantly reduced demand for MSN Direct service. As such, Microsoft has made the decision to focus future U.S. and Canada investments on these existing network connections and discontinue the MSN Direct services business. Microsoft will continue to explore new ways to leverage the efficiencies of FM digital broadcast in other applications and markets going forward."

Just used my 765T for the first time on Saturday, 10/24. It was right on in suggesting alternate routes through Staten Island due to heavy traffic. There was bad weather all day so I guess the traffic service had plenty of lead time to send out the warnings. Still, it had better alternate route suggestions than my 350 w/traffic. John

Navteq traffic is now available in the Tucson area.

I have a receiver with both the Clear Channel and Navteq traffic subscriptions.

In the Tucson area the Navteq traffic is far better than the Clear Channel and the two main reasons I have found are the following:

1. Navteq has 24 hour 7 day's a week coverage and Clear Channel covers only rush hours on weekdays only.

2. Navteq covers all the major City streets plus the freeways and Clear Channel covers freeways and rarely ever any other major streets.

Garmin is offering TOTALLY FREE TRaffic with extremely unobtrusive ads that pop in and pop out.

And if you want to get rid of the ads, you can get the FM LIFETIME for $60.

MSN Direct will have to greatly improve their traffic reporting and ad to their other information services before I would pay $50/year for it.
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I had a GPS prior to my 765T that ran on (free) Clear Channel traffic. The updates were significantly better. Faster, mush more accurate, and more frequent. I never lost coverage, throughout the Carolinas.
On teh flip side, I used the Ad-based Navteq traffic that came free with the Nuvi, and I sat in 2 B2B jams in 2 days, with only a mild (yellow - 2 min delay) warning on one. The other jam wasn't even reported.
Last night I purchased the $60 Clear Channel traffic and it was dead accurate this morning.

If you rely on accurate traffic data and want fast, frequent, and correct data, spend the $60 (lifetime!) and get Clear Channel. they've been at oit longer than anyone, and it shows!

I've had beeter luck with MSN direct traffic than FM traffic. I drove the entire east coast from Boston to Florida with two garmin units this past summer and the MSN direct did a better job identifying traffic than the FM unit.

My question is - were the FM traffic units the free Navteq or the paid Clear Channel? Huge difference! (see my comment above)

Keep in mind that Microsoft is discontinuing the MSN Direct for lack of revenue. They're supposedly giving pro-rated refunds on lifetime subscriptions. My point is would you base a purchase on something that's going away?

Just my $.02!