Customer Reviews

Very good
The other Amazon listing of the 750 was removed, along with dozens of reviews. I will try and summarize the pros and cons and issues people had mentioned.

When turned on, the unit takes around a minute to load the maps. Solution - turn the unit on when you exit your house. It will be ready by the time you hook it up and start your car. Some had complained it took a long time to acquire the satelite, I have not experienced that.
I suspect that was a problem with the older firmware and has been corrected.

The manual is on line, not in the box. Not all the features are intuitive so its worth reading the manual. There are small things you might miss otherwise - such as converting the type pad to QUERY, or how to block toll roads, etc. The unit is rather easy to use, so its not like you will miss all that much if you don't read the manual.

The voice is clear and easily loud enough to hear. I also tried it out on the car speakers via the FM transmitter and it worked fine. (My antenna is in the rear, the GPS on the dashboard).

The calculated routes work though not always "the best" as there may be slighly shorter routes using some side streets.

- Driving to Ikea bypassing the toll roads it missed a short cut on routes 1/9 that would have saved a couple of minutes - not a big deal.

- driving locally it wanted to put me on faster main streets rather than side roads even though the route was longer and would have hit 1 or more stop lights. I know the local streets and my way would have saved a couple of minutes. Still - thats not a big deal. I dont care about a couple of minutes if I am lost - just want to get where I am going in a reasonable amount of time.


What I want out of a GPS is:
1 - if I get lost I have "someone" helping me get to where I need to go, even if its a few minutes longer
2 - if I make a wrong turn - I want to know ASAP

I usually first look at the route via Mapquest or Google maps. You can transfer your destination from your PC to your GPS The point is added as a favorite. You can not download a planned route, just individual favorite stopping points.
*BUT - what you can do is create a route out of these saved intermedaite points, to optimize your route. Lets say you want to go form A to B but don't like the plotted route. Download 1 or more points from mapquest/google maps and set those as intermediate points. A -> C -> B


You have the ability to block a road. I haven't used it but I read in other reviews taht it blocks the entire stretch of road, as opposed to redirecting you to the next exit. That is a negative that makes this feature less useful.


The maps can be zoomed in and out for various levels of detail. Obviously you should not do that while driving, but its very useful if you pull over. The screen could be bigger to see more of the maps, but then it would cost more, so its ok as is.

I needed to go to an elementary school on town, and I only knew the approxiamte location. The POI (Points of Interest) showed a little picture of a school bus in the area - guess what that was ? :-)
But the elementary school near me wasn't shown. Not really a problem as usually one has an exact stree address.

One samll gripe -
I found the magenta road route covered up the POI in one mode. It would be better to have them "on top of" the selected route. If you are driving and get hungry and pull over to look at the POI - Restaurants - its hard to see them with the magenta route on top. You can stop the route, but then you must reenter it. Probably not a big deal, (it will be in the recently selected list), but annoying since it would have been easier to have the POI on top of the route. Maybe someday this will be fixed with a firmware download.


The map is functional, though you have to zoom in and out a bit if you want to study different parts of the route in detail. (its better to first study where you wnat to go with mapquest/google maps). Since you move the map by dragging different parts you need to zoom out then in. Of course if you first plot the course with mapqust you will have a good idea of the route. I don't really need the "bread crumb" option of showing how much of your route you have covered.

By pressing the turn and other boxes you get a more detailed listing of the route. This is of use if you want to review the route, but in all honesty I just look at the plotted route and compare it to mapquest.

The car moves across the map in very small jumps (like a sixteenth of an inch). This doesnt bother me, although others have said other brands (TomTom 730) are smoother.

When I first got the unit in December 2008 it lagged (it was slow in detecting wrong turns, and in announcing turns). Once I hooked it up to the PC and updated the firmware it was much improved. It no longer lags, and if you miss a turn you will hear "recalculating" in a much shorter period of tiem, based on how far you are form the correct raod. Still not as fast as the TomTom (from what I have read) but still improved.

All in all the 750 does all I need it to do. For the price (right here on Amazon) its the best value I've seen.

PS - Some of the complaints I read in the earlier reviews are unfounded.
Such as:
- you can change the type pad from ABCD to QWERTY
- you can see all the turns by pressing some of the text areas on the display
- you can go to the top level of the menu by holding down the menu key

Best of the best
I will start this review by stating that I am a professional navigator, a perfectionist, and a tightwad. I have been retired for a number of years and finally decided to get a GPS for the car. I bought Garmin because I have used their commercial units for deep sea navigation and have always been happy with them. I spent a lot of time comparing the various units and opted for the Nuvi 750. I don't need Bluetooth or the traffic routing. I really don't care about using a gps as an MP3 player or putting photo's on it either. The 750 was so close in price to the various other wide screen units with fewer features that I figured it was the way to go. I also really wanted the FM transmitter since I am hearing impaired and read in other reviews that the speakers were tinny sounding and not very audible. So, here are a few things to consider before buying this brand and particular unit. I hope you find the following helpful, and that it makes your selection process a little easier.

pro-ish:

1) Support, support, and again support. A product is only as good as the support that comes with it, and Garmin gets an A+ from me. I sent an email to Garmin with a question and got an answer within one day. When I called Garmin to ask a few more questions , I got a human operator immediately. This tech rep was based in the U.S. and was able to answer all of my questions fully and clearly. I was impressed. The support alone would cause me to buy a Garmin. (A friend of mine has a Tomtom, and he is having a hard time reaching anyone for help with his unit.)

2) The FM transmitter is a nice feature, but really isn't worth bothering with. If you use it, you will a) have to listen to static hiss, b) have it fade in and out, c) have to change stations as your location changes, and d) won't be able to listen to the radio or your tapes/cd's. If you want more volume than the Nuvi speaker puts out, just buy an inexpensive portable travel speaker and plug it into the Nuvi headphone jack. The FM transmitter is a great idea, just not that practicable.

3) The Nuvi speaker. I would prefer more volume, but the speaker is perfectly adequate for the job as it is. My wife can hear the directions just fine, and I can make out most of what it says, even with my hearing impairment. There is really no need to listen over the radio or use an external speaker.

4) I have gotten a few odd routings, but Mapquest gave me the exact same directions. I think it is just a matter of personal preferences. You get used to driving on certain roads, and that's that. Update: I wanted to check just how much longer the Garmin route was compared with my usual way of driving to the library. I knew Garmin was longer. I would have bet money that my way was better. Garmin routing shaved off .6 miles and 1.5 minutes off my route. That was for a 4 mile trip. I am humbled!

5) The unit arrived just three days after I placed my order with Amazon, even though I had it sent with free shipping. It should have taken 5-9 business days. Maybe because Christmas was so close?

6) I really didn't want to wait till the next day to try using the GPS. So, it's 11 pm and I am standing out on the front lawn expecting to be there for up to a half hour while the unit initialized. That process took less than 10 minutes. I really should have timed it. When I came back into my house, I didn't lose satellite reception. That was a surprise.

7) The unit did come with the latest maps and firmware. When I went to the Garmin web site, I didn't need to download anything.

8) I have had no problem getting a satellite lock. By the time the maps load, the unit is ready to navigate.

9) I deliberately missed a few turns, wanting to see how fast a new route was calculated. Rerouting occurred before traveling more than 100 feet. There is adequate time to adjust and make your next turn on your new route.

10) Being able to switch mode from automobile to bike to pedestrian to off road is a fantastic capability.

11) I love the way the screen adjusts itself automatically at sunset.

12) The routing with multiple stops is an excellent feature.


Con-ish:

1) A case should have been included with the unit. It didn't have to be a great case, but it should have been there. I found that my old hand held calculator case is just about a perfect fit. It's just enough protection so that I don't have to worry about scratches when I carry it in my pocket.

2) Should have included an AC adapter. I bought one when I bought the GPS. Way overpriced. Still, glad to have it.

3) No instruction book. They can include a 50 page booklet with instructions in 10 languages on how not to cause myself grievous bodily harm with a lithium ion battery , but can't include a full instruction booklet? The quick start guide is a waste of paper. They should have gone with the complete manual. I did call them up, and they are sending a full manual to me.


Conclusion:

The only way a person like me could get the perfect GPS is to design one myself. That being said, the Nuvi 750 is the next best thing. The price is right, the functions are excellent, it looks and feels substantial, and it works like a charm. I would highly recommend Garmin and in particular the Nuvi 750 to anyone interested in buying a GPS. By the way, I bought the air vent mount and am very pleased with the way it fits the vents. Much better than mounting on the window in my opinion.

Just amazing
I've used lots of GPS devices over the years - handheld, for hiking, boating, flying; built in in various boats and aircraft.....but I never had one in the car. I always thought they were a bit of a ... toy.

When I got the Garmin Nuvi 750 I was surprised: First, there was no manual to speak of (the garmin 530 aircraft GPS manual is many hundreds of pages). Then, at how intuitive the device is to use. Finally, I started using it - and was able to find destinations pre-programmed into it (post offices in towns I was just visiting, etc).

I've had it two weeks, including a thousand-plus mile drive across N. America (in 3 states, a province and two countries) and wouldn't want to be without it. Forget about maps or map books, this is the thing to have.

The friction dashboard mount is a very highly recommended piece of equipment too. It keeps the Nuvi exactly where you want it on the dash and allows quick removal for storage.