Home > Consumer Reviews > Garmin Nuvi 770 Satellite Navigation System

Having just purchased a new 7 seater people carrier (C4 HDi Exclusive 7 seater) to cope with hubby, our two newly adopted kids 5 dogs (and grandma when she visits) I deliberately didn't go for the OEM SatNav (which was around £1500) and since I was aware this unit was going to have bluetooth handsfree I saved myself another £200 there.

As we travel to the US quite a lot (I'm American) I wanted something capable of dealing with both continents.

Out of the box initial thoughts were just how slimline this model is, the other (and only gripe) is that the in-car charging connector is on the right side. Whilst ideal for driving stateside it looks a little awkward when mounted and charging at the same time on a RHD car.

OK, back to the review, it picked up a satellite signal immediately in my convervatory & the clarity is brilliant. I'm used to driving two cars with SmartNav and whilst that system is very functional (even with the touch screen) it's hardly feature-rich (& no I don't work in marketing!)

The one rather nice feature is that it gives roadnames for sidestreets as you pass (even if you don't have a route programmed). I've lived in this part of the UK for 5 years and in the last week I've become more familiar with my immediate neighbourhood.

We're in the US next month so we'll get the opportunity to try it out on some really long drives and test it's usefulness over there.

I also like the fact that you can buy city modules for it and use it in pedestrian mode...so we shall in the spring when we take weekend trips into mainland Europe.

I tried tuning the satnav into my stereo using the in-built wireless FM tuner but in truth this was a little crackely so I ended the connection. The SD card viewer is brilliant and will allow us to view snaps taken on our digital camera via a slightly larger screen, clarity once again is impressive. Bluetooth Handsfree operation is very good and I can see myself using this unit increasingly even in the cars with a universal bluetooth and smartnav.

Overall we are very pleased considering we purchased it for £299 inc VAT and with free delivery :O)

If this is the way portable GPS is moving then I don't see how car manufacturers can charge the type of premiums they do for an OEM system, why not just integrate one of these units??

100% recommend, particulalry for those who travel to the US often.

Regs

Amber & Mark

I bought a Garmin iQue 3600 when they first came out, and when it worked it was a great little unit. When it didn't work (which was more frequently than I would have liked) it had to go back to Garmin for warranty repairs. I am now on my fourth (yes, fourth!) new iQue 3600. And it always had a knack of failing at a time when I needed it most.

So, for Christmas, my wife bought me a TomTom 920T. Their top-of-the-range model. It's a nice unit, but I found it very difficult to enter a destination address unless I know the exact street address and post code. Even then it didn't always find the location. It couldn't find our house, and we've been here for almost 20 years (and on the all-important electoral roll).

I couldn't find a way to easily enter (say) a location on a map as my destination. The TomTom had many unnecessary features: for example you can download dozens of voices to give you the voice prompts. But basic features, such as finding a destination address, didn't work well.

My TomTom started to behave erratically within two weeks of using it. The 920 would give no warning that it was about to shut off, and then it was gone. (I was told by TomTom support that I needed to keep looking at the battery icon.) When charging, and when driving on a "bumpy road," the TomTom would just shut off. According to TomTom support this is a known fault in some models, and they told me to return it to the store. I did, and got a full refund for it.

So I used my refund and purchased a Nuvi 770 from Amazon.co.uk. The Garmin software is, in my opinion, much better than the TomTom software. Much more intuitive, and much more flexible. I was a happy camper!

But the Nuvi 770 has now started to act up. It now says it can't unlock its maps. It let us down today: this added 90 minutes to our journey as we had to revert to back-up paper maps.

I called Garmin support. First call answered quickly. The lady told me I needed to update the firmware. I asked her, "How do I know what version of firmware is currently installed?" She didn't know. Clearly "update the firmware" is her standard answer for everything, and it helps to clear customers out of her queue.

I did find out (by myself) what version of firmware I had, and, yes, a new release came out at the end of January. So I updated the firmware, and the map lock problem persisted.

Another call to Garmin, and I spoke with a different person. This "unlocking/locking" problem is apparently well known: he sent me a confusing Word document on how to create gmapprom.unl files with Notepad and add a 25 digit serial number. When you finish doing that, you need to create a gmapprom1.unl file and add a second 25 digit number. The Word document was confusing at best, and I didn't buy the relatively expensive Nuvi 770 to spend time, a couple of weeks after receiving it, creating esoteric files by following confusing instructions.

The problem now seems to be cleared, but the only real test is to take it out on the road again. We will also take a print-out of turn-by-turn instructions as a back-up: the fact that we feel the need to do that speaks volumes.

If the problem comes back in the near future I'll return this unit to Amazon.co.uk for a refund and will try something else. Perhaps this unit isn't that far out of beta testing to be completely reliable. Just a thought . . .

Upsides: Good clear display and audible instructions (which is what I wanted). Map content for street names seems to be excellent. Occasionally the routes chosen seem non-intuitive, but all have worked very well. Traffic rerouting has kept me away from problems successfully several times already. Four stars rather than five because -
Downsides: Only able to store 12 routes (unless they can also be stored on memory card?) Speaker volume could do with being a bit louder (usually have to use at 100%).
Amazon advertise the 770 with Perfect Partner 12V vehicle adapter cable, but the unit comes with this (incorporating the traffic information antenna) which makes the advertisment misleading.

I bought the 770 for a two week trip to Southern California. I wanted an easy drive from LAX to the first hotel and for onward journeys. It was great. We did have paper maps to begin with, just to be on the safe side. By the end of the two week period we just started driving and then switched on the unit which soon picked up our route and guided us wherever we wanted to go. The Garmin (Jane) was even a source of entertainment with her prompts and orders. We did wonder whether when we returned home Jane might start to organize our life beyond navigation.

We have since had the unlock maps problem (the unit still worked)but sorted it in minutes. It is just a case of creating a text file that contains the unlock code on the website, once you have registered your device. Because we had already registered it was easy to go to the website and copy and paste the number into a text file and put on the unit via a USB cable.

Upgraded to Garmin 770 and sold my TomTom 910. The TT 910 is a far better unit in most respects.

The 770 is now faulty after 10 days use, can't unlock maps. An issue that Garmin tech support is aware of. The fix they sent me i.e. two unlock codes, did not resolve the problem. Sent back to Garmin for repair. Postage at my expense!
A replacement unit sent by Garmin. This went faulty after five days of use (another software problem).

I have always preferred Garmin GPS systems - but not after this one.

Best advice - avoid this one...go for a TomTom instead!