Home > Consumer Reviews > Garmin Nuvi 765 Traffic Widescreen Satellite Navigation System with Full EU Mapping & Bluetooth

I have owned most of the different Sat-Nav makes over the last year or so and always liked Garmin, but have had a TomTom Go 920 for a while. This Chrsitmas, I thought I'd treat myself to the new Garmin. For a week, i thought I'd done well, but slowly the faults came to light.

The Good
1. Garmin's maps (from NavTeq) are always one-generation more up-to-date than the TomTom. There are omissions (all sat nav maps are way behind paper ones), but Garmins are good.

2. Route accuracy has always been excellent with Garmin

3. TMC now seems to be much quicker to lock-on and gets much more data than my old Garmin 660

4. Scroll speed is MUCH improved - very smooth and quick


The Bad
1. The lane guidance often has font sizes you can barely read and is not on-screen long enough to properly assess. The dithering on the image is very noticable, too - you CAN see it in Amazon's pic, but it looks worse in real life.

2. The Bluetooth was very unstable with my Samsung, the I-Phone (both generations) and the LG Prada. In all cases it would re-boot or simply switch off. As there is no reset button, it was hard to figure out what to do next!

3. Garmin still gives later 'turn warnings' and fewer directions overall than my TomTom. Only you can say if that's an issue for you.

4. The Speed Camera warnings show fixed and mobile sites. Many people like this, but it means in my part of Derbyshire, I have a camera warning constantly - wherever I go! The updates are very expensive, too.

5. Many (but not all) users have reported sudden, uncommanded, shutdowns of their units.


The Ugly

1. The unit looks great, but is VERY susceptible to fingerprints.

Overall, it's a good unit, but compared to TomTom, Garmin just haven't moved on far enough, or fast enough. Maybe in the next generation (which might be why the 765T is only a refresh rather than a complete new model)

The Beautiful

Garmin have now released software v3.0 (you need to load WebUpdater from Garmin), which fixes many of the issues that users had problems with. Best news of all, though, if you have the funds, is that Garmin will now provide you with lifetime fresh maps (4 per year for the life of the unit) for £99. You will need a good broadband connection, though - downloads ara around 3GB each!

Think carefully before choosing this well-regarded GPS. Mine died the first time it was mounted in the car, and could no longer even be powered on. In mid June, the gps forums have been inundated with anguished posts from 765t owners all over North America and Europe who have watched their units die. An automatic update bug seems to have caused this havoc, and on the 25th June the Garmin support site led with news of a mandatory update issued that day for the 765t to fix the problem.
So, if you go for this unit, when you unpack it DO NOT SWITCH IT ON.
Download the WebUpdater from the garmin site, attach the 765t to a usb port on your computer, and register the device. (At this stage, it is not functioning as a gps, but as an external usb drive.)
On registration, it will receive a software update. After that is done, your computer screen will tell you updates are available: click on update now. The gps firmware will be updated. It is only after you have safely removed hardware for the 765t connection, that the gps will restart and install the firmware.
Amazon replaced my dead unit and I have run the above routine on the replacement. I am leaving the gps attached to the usb port to give the battery some charge before safely removing hardware, and completing the update procedure. This is essentially what I did with the first unit, except that I switched it on, and it seemed to be working indoors.
If the unit refuses to power on, it has to go back to the factory for repair (at your expense), and the current turnaround is claimed as 10 days.

I have been using the Nuvi 765T for three weeks, having previously owned a Garmin Nuvi 760 Satellite Navigation System which found its way to my mother in law.

Like the 760, the 765T is a "premium" navigator, in that it has detailed maps for the whole of Europe, integrated traffic (note the reception is patchy, but is useful if you do a lot of motorway journeys), a stereo bluetooth connection, photobrowser, FM transmitter, etc. I have loaded the whole of the Good Pub Guide and have pub reviews and locations conveniently to hand.

The 765T is considerably more expensive than the 760 and for this you get:
- more up to date (dated 2009) maps. This is a good thing. For example most roads now have the speed limits coded and displayed on screen - useful in changing 30/40/50mph areas.
- a faster satellite lock i.e. less than 10 seconds provided it has been used in the last few days.
- a faster screen update (around 4Hz), smoother scrolling screens and customisable fields on the display.
- 3-D rendering of buildings and some landmarks.
- lane assist for selected motorway juntions - this is a still screen which appears on the approach to (most) M-way junctions image to guide your lane positioning. This is shown in the pic above.

After owning the 760, I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed by these extra features. They are helpful for the most part and improve the look of the device, but I'm not sure they warrant the extra cash. It has a more powerful processor and more storage but this is offset by the need to process 3-D maps, so overall it doesn't appear lots faster. The rendering looks good but doesn't add to the drivers understanding of the route. It's a great gadget if you must have the latest, but the 760T is better value and does 90% of the work.

(added 11/11/08) I've been using this device for a couple weeks and I have grown to like the smoothness updating of the display and also the traffic display has been upgraded from the 760. I think this would be 5 stars if it was cheaper, and didn't overlap so much with the 760.

I bought this Sat Nav with intention of using it on my motorbike and car. As usual Amazon never failed to impress me with their delivery service, 3 days ahead of their predicted delivery date which was fantastic. I compared this sat nav to the rest of the Garmins and for the price and spec, you got more for your money. I also compared this to the tom tom rider and the garmin zumo's. The tom tom can't be plugged into my bike intercom via the 3.5 mm jack, instead you have to rely on the bluetooth scala stuff which is'nt good for touring as you can't charge the bluetooth stuff on the move. The zumo's did have a 3.5 mm jack point so i could plug into my bike intercom, however, compared to the nuvi 765, the zumo's did less and you were paying double the price of the nuvi 765 just to be waterproof. I had read some of the reviews on the nuvi 765, about it crashing etc, however, I have now had mine for about a month and use it everyday for my 40 mile commute to work and have'nt had any problems. As soon as it arrived i charged it up and downloaded all the updates from garmin, however, for some reason windows vista does',t like the nuvi 765, it loads the software on to vista ok, but when you plug in the nuvi it recognises the SD card as removable storage but won't sync the actual unit with the garmin software, however, the unit does work with windows XP perfectly. Being a biker and using this unit is'nt a problem, the unit is thin enough to put in the map compartment of my tank bag. I also have a lighter socket which i put on my bike, so have permenant power, however it did last about 4 hours on battery power. The sat nav bit is as good and accurate as my old tomtom rider V1, if not better, the audible speed camera alerts (mobile and fixed) are fantastic and very accurate but does need updating as it does'nt show the fixed speed camera in my village, which has been there for a few years. Its also handy that it shows you the speed limits for the roads your on just in case you forget. The route planning bit is as good as my old tomtom and does as it says on the tin. I have'nt been anywhere long enough yet to test the traffic announcments so can't comment. The screen and colours are brilliant, the information is aagain brilliant, and i can even use it through the tank bag covers with my bike gloves on. I also use the MP3 player everyday and can say that the music quality considering its coming through a bike intercom is loud enough and very good. Overall: i wish i had bought a unit like this a few years ago instead of my tomtom rider, which in comparison seems very basic. Now i have owned a garmin, i don't think i will ever by a tomtom again. Hope this review helps.

Hi all, just thought i would throw my twopenneth in to the mix. ok. i have had garmins for 8-9 years. always been happy.(thought i would upgrade to a garmin 760)great, got my unit connected to the pc,updated the maps(5 hours). good stuff you might think.???? needed some routes on it for our upcommming holiday 510 mile route.would not calculate,out of memory 2 x 760,s and a 765t later still no routes.after numerous Emails to Garmin. and various fixes(NOT) they told me that i did not have a sat-nav but a driving aid .and would not give me a refund.the problem with the unit is more stuff on it needs more memory and more proccesing power,tends to overheat and close down.not rocket science is it!!!!!(new unit never been on a car.)i did get a refund from the supplier though who were very good. so now i have gone over to the dark side (TomTom 740 go live) first one i have had. very imprest. functional ,easy to set up,sound a lot better than Garmin.quicker fixes and routing. So if anyone from Garmin are reading this (GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER,IF THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT CUSTOMERS, LONG LIVE TOMTOM)customer service means exactly that.you have lost a life long customer. all i wanted was a working unit.
BYE and be Lucky