Garmin GPS - Help me decide: Nuvi 650 or wait for the 7xx series.

Author

Help me decide: Nuvi 650 or wait for the 7xx series.

ELEGEND_YVR

2007-11-24, 3:33 pm

I have Streets and Trips 2007 on my laptop and Iguidance as well, but
it's actually quite tedius and cumbersome to take on road trips or
travelling abroad.

I am undecided on the Nuvi 650 vs 7xx series. I am looking for a
consensus on which I should get. I am very tempted to get the 650 now
because Costco.ca has it on sale for $349 +shipping and taxes ending
this weekend. My dilemma is I won't be using the GPS at all until the
summer. By then a new map will be available. I am also concerned that
these deals with GPS units won't be passed onto us in as much in the
near future because the Canadian dollar is dropping against the US
dollar. Costco's return policy has changed to a maximum of 6 months
(soon to be 3 months) for electronics.

I am still not convinced that the internal antenna is equally good as
the externa on Garmin unitsl. This new chipset replacing SiRF is also a
concern on some 7xx units. However, somebody mentioned that an external
antenna can be had to improve reception. How much more are we talking
about for an external antenna? The durability of the cradle is also an
issue. When travelling and use a rental car, we would mount and remove
the cradle considerably.

TomTom was a consideration but their maps of Canada are not that good.

Lastly, as with my experience with the 350, on freeways it often would
not prompt me be in the correct lane to take an exit or to avoid one. So
many times we missed an exit while travelling because the Nuvi 350 was
too "slow" in advising us. Has this improved with the 7xx series?

Any thoughts?

2007-11-24, 10:33 pm

If I didn't plan to use my GPS until next summer, I would wait to buy.
The competition is only going to get more rabid. In six months there
will be even better models on the market and the new chip you speak of
will have been given detailed reviews by then.

Time = improvements and more purchasing information. I see GPS
following the TV pricing trend - you can always buy a pretty nice one
for less than $500 ;-)

The external antenna is about $25 US. Try your GPS without it. If
you're not satisfied, buy an external antenna. I use one (Gilsson) and
it works beautifully (and improved reception greatly) for me, but I have
a pre-SiRF GPS (Garmin Map76CS).

Garmin releases updated maps once a year. I've never felt the need to
update.

Sorry, don't know much about the Nuvi :(

ELEGEND_YVR wrote:
> I have Streets and Trips 2007 on my laptop and Iguidance as well, but
> it's actually quite tedius and cumbersome to take on road trips or
> travelling abroad.
>
> I am undecided on the Nuvi 650 vs 7xx series. I am looking for a
> consensus on which I should get. I am very tempted to get the 650 now
> because Costco.ca has it on sale for $349 +shipping and taxes ending
> this weekend. My dilemma is I won't be using the GPS at all until the
> summer. By then a new map will be available. I am also concerned that
> these deals with GPS units won't be passed onto us in as much in the
> near future because the Canadian dollar is dropping against the US
> dollar. Costco's return policy has changed to a maximum of 6 months
> (soon to be 3 months) for electronics.
>
> I am still not convinced that the internal antenna is equally good as
> the externa on Garmin unitsl. This new chipset replacing SiRF is also a
> concern on some 7xx units. However, somebody mentioned that an external
> antenna can be had to improve reception. How much more are we talking
> about for an external antenna? The durability of the cradle is also an
> issue. When travelling and use a rental car, we would mount and remove
> the cradle considerably.
>
> TomTom was a consideration but their maps of Canada are not that good.
>
> Lastly, as with my experience with the 350, on freeways it often would
> not prompt me be in the correct lane to take an exit or to avoid one. So
> many times we missed an exit while travelling because the Nuvi 350 was
> too "slow" in advising us. Has this improved with the 7xx series?
>
> Any thoughts?
>

Jack Yeazel

2007-11-24, 10:33 pm

ELEGEND_YVR wrote:
>
> I have Streets and Trips 2007 on my laptop and Iguidance as well, but
> it's actually quite tedius and cumbersome to take on road trips or
> travelling abroad.
>
> I am undecided on the Nuvi 650 vs 7xx series. I am looking for a
> consensus on which I should get. I am very tempted to get the 650 now
> because Costco.ca has it on sale for $349 +shipping and taxes ending
> this weekend. My dilemma is I won't be using the GPS at all until the
> summer. By then a new map will be available. I am also concerned that
> these deals with GPS units won't be passed onto us in as much in the
> near future because the Canadian dollar is dropping against the US
> dollar. Costco's return policy has changed to a maximum of 6 months
> (soon to be 3 months) for electronics.

Here is a review-in-progress comparing the 760 to the 660:
http://gpsinformation.info/nuvi/660/760.html
We 'sorta' recommend you wait until the 780 comes out with
MSN Direct Traffic, which is superior in several ways to TMC
traffic...

> I am still not convinced that the internal antenna is equally good as
> the externa on Garmin unitsl. This new chipset replacing SiRF is also a
> concern on some 7xx units.

The 700s use SIRF...

> However, somebody mentioned that an external
> antenna can be had to improve reception. How much more are we talking
> about for an external antenna?

I could detect no difference in the sensitivity of the 760
from the 660...

> The durability of the cradle is also an
> issue. When travelling and use a rental car, we would mount and remove
> the cradle considerably.

The 700 cradle is a different design and stronger than the
600s...

> TomTom was a consideration but their maps of Canada are not that good.
>
> Lastly, as with my experience with the 350, on freeways it often would
> not prompt me be in the correct lane to take an exit or to avoid one. So
> many times we missed an exit while travelling because the Nuvi 350 was
> too "slow" in advising us. Has this improved with the 7xx series?

As far as I can tell, they are the same...

--
Jack

Get general GPS information at:
http://www.gpsinformation.net/

ELEGEND_YVR

2007-11-25, 4:33 am

Jack Yeazel wrote:[color=darkred
]

Thanks for the link. MSN Direct Traffic is not of any use because in
Canada we don't have MSN Direct Traffic coverage or any real-time
traffic coverage at all except listen to the radio :(. At best, we
could use the MSN Direct feature for about a week while travelling in
the US.
[color=darkred]

Apparently some do, some don't as mentioned in this [long] thread. Pay
particular attention to the post by Orlando Realtor:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/...48&whichpage=64[color=darkred]

Others have, as indicated in the above thread.
[color=darkred]

Some reports indicate it isn't (from the gpspassion.com thread above).

Jack Yeazel

2007-11-26, 12:33 pm

ELEGEND_YVR wrote:
>
> Thanks for the link. MSN Direct Traffic is not of any use because in
> Canada we don't have MSN Direct Traffic coverage or any real-time
> traffic coverage at all except listen to the radio :(. At best, we
> could use the MSN Direct feature for about a week while travelling in
> the US.

Then there should be a cheaper nuvi 700 that doesn't have a traffic
receiver...

>
> Apparently some do, some don't as mentioned in this [long] thread. Pay
> particular attention to the post by Orlando Realtor:

Yeah, I hear from him quite often...

> http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/...48&whichpage=64

All I can say is that the 600s and 700s use the SIRF receivers...

>
> Others have, as indicated in the above thread.

I wonder how they can tell; there is no satellite page in the 700s...???
I noticed in that discussion that the 700 sensitivity generally seemed
very good...

>
> Some reports indicate it isn't (from the gpspassion.com thread above).

It is certainly different... It has two "pegs" that stick up into the
700 unit to hold it firmly in place (which the 600s don't have), and the
spring release is noticeably stronger...

Also in that thread is a discussion about WAAS... Our nuvi 760 has no
WAAS selection... This is like the very first StreePilots! The
argument was, it had permanent road lock, so wasn't necessary... I have
given my 660 to Allory; I'll have to ask him if it has WAAS...

--
Jack

Get general GPS information at: http://www.gpsinformation.net/

road apple

2007-11-26, 10:33 pm

In article <474B0649. FFC92E56@finalapproa
ch.net>, Jack Yeazel
<jack@finalapproach.net> wrote:

> ELEGEND_YVR wrote:
>
> Then there should be a cheaper nuvi 700 that doesn't have a traffic
> receiver...
>
>
> Yeah, I hear from him quite often...
>
>
> All I can say is that the 600s and 700s use the SIRF receivers...
>
>
> I wonder how they can tell; there is no satellite page in the 700s...???
> I noticed in that discussion that the 700 sensitivity generally seemed
> very good...
>
>
> It is certainly different... It has two "pegs" that stick up into the
> 700 unit to hold it firmly in place (which the 600s don't have), and the
> spring release is noticeably stronger...
>
> Also in that thread is a discussion about WAAS... Our nuvi 760 has no
> WAAS selection... This is like the very first StreePilots! The
> argument was, it had permanent road lock, so wasn't necessary... I have
> given my 660 to Allory; I'll have to ask him if it has WAAS...

My C650 has WAAS on or off selectable.

Jack Yeazel

2007-11-26, 10:33 pm

road apple wrote:

> My C650 has WAAS on or off selectable.

-And also the c550 and the nuvi 660 (Allory tells me), but I see no
evidence of WAAS on the 760...

--
Jack

Get general GPS information at: http://www.gpsinformation.net/

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