Garmin nüvi 650 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
by Garmin
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List Price: Our Price: $319.00 You Save: $430.99 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $64.99 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 650 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Nuvi Learning Curve
Summary: 5 Stars
The Nuvi 650 itself proved to exceed my expectations once I was able to access its features.
First problem I had was the manual was a .pdf document stored in the Nuvi and accessible only by computer. Manual was unreadable. Could not access Garmin support online even though I had registered my Nuvi online. Waited 15 minutes on the phone for a tech who told me problem was with my computer and that a printed manual was not available. Also said the reason I could not email Garmin was that the website was down. Turned out my older version of Adobe Reader had to be updated in order to read the manual. I then booklet printed the manual for field use.
The included suction mount is a waste of time. After the third fall to the floor I bought a friction mount which has proven satisfactory for use on my dash. The Nuvi can be quickly moved out of sight at a gas stop. At the end of the day the mount easily disassembles for storage. I bought a case for the Nuvi as none is included.
The 650 does not have an FM transmitter. The onboard speakers are adequate for speech but not for enjoyable music. MP3 is the only format supported. As I had used WMA format in my Rio I have a bit of converting to do. I was able to use an FM transmitter originally purchased for the Rio to connect the Nuvi to my vehicle radio. The 660 and above include an FM transmitter but at the cost of several hundred dollars due to the included traffic FM receiver.
Finally noticed an active link on the email from Garmin that confirmed my registration. I was able to use the link to email a Garmin tech who was VERY prompt in responding to my queries. He also provided a FREE DVD of the City Navigator NT for installation on my computer. Very good online support but telephone support could use some improvement.
I use the Nuvi every day. Sometimes just to see if I can do something such as moving my location somewhere else and then finding local amenities. Cross country trips ending in Canada can be routed. Has not failed me yet. Even revised some of my local travel routes. Happy with the purchase.
Amazon was a little disappointing as it took them 5 days to finally ship the purchase and UPS took 4 days to deliver for a total of 9 days. My past experience with free shipping is that an item normally shipped in two to three days so normal delivery is within a week. Prime is not a solution for me as very many items are not eligible.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment and hope it helps the learning curve.
Customer Review: Grandpa says -- buy it for Grandma; you'll love it
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I have been using Delorme on my laptop for a couple of years. My wife was often the navigator and is not as computer savvy as one needs to to be to use the Delorme software. It's very comprehensive while navigating and very sophisticated for trip planning. However, my wife had a hard time dealing with the user interface. I needed to acquire an easy-to-use GPS system to eliminate some of the marital discord we had on our many trips.
I tried a LOT of GPS units at local stores, including Circuit City and Costco. After hours and hours of playing around with the units I came to the same conclusion as many reviewers on the internet -- the Garmin has the best-in-class user interface. Magellan is close behind, while the Tom Tom is solid third. Most of the others I tried had confusing user interfaces at best.
One of my requirements was having the voice speak the street. The Delorme did this for us and I knew it how useful that feature is. I was about to purchase the Nuvi 350 when the price of the 650 dropped dangerously close, and the display is significantly larger. You need to compare them side-by-side to realize how much larger the display is on the 650.
Results? We took a 1,200 mile trip right after Christmas to a place we had never been, and used the Nuvi 650. Our experience? It's not perfect, but it's great! It's especially strong around town -- it's fast, gives plenty of warning for an upcoming turn, and recalculates very quickly when you goof. On the highway part of the trip, it did give us one quirky portion for the route. We checked it against a map and realized it was nearly equivalent in distance but took us off the interstate for about 80 miles, then put us back on the same interstate. When we ignored the exit, it immediately recalculated -- and said the trip was now three minutes longer.
We found that the unit had a fix from the satellites very quickly -- 30 seconds or less -- and that the position was always VERY accurate.
Oh, did I say the display was easily visible in bright sunlight and that the voice was loud enough that we didn't have to turn the radio down to hear it. It's really a nice addition. It'll never replace the Delorme software for trip planning, but that's OK. I'll use the Delorme and my wife will use the Garmin Nuvi and we'll both be happy.
Customer Review: cool toy
Summary: 5 Stars
i drive for Eco Cycle in Boulder CO. most of the places we go are already known. some arent. there is always something new in the world of recycling and always a new place to go get the stuff. there was one time i was so lost that i had to call the customer to come and find "me". i wasnt that far away, i just was'nt familiar with the area and exactly how to get there. usually when we get a new account or a special pickup, we'll do a mapqwest or google map printout to get me there. they always will show the highway and town and address im going to.
DUHHHHH????
i got that part.
BUT, its not fun trying to look at a blurry piece of paper from a printer with directions so small you cant see em and shift a 10 speed freightliner at the same time
where i get lost is in the short game.
thats where the gps comes in.
finding a specific address.
i love you mapqwest and google maps for getting me to the ballpark
thank you garmin for finding my seat.
the 650 is a no frills gps. all it does is get you there.
thats the whole point.
my new nuvi 650 came brand new in the box. has the 2008 maps already on it from amazon. thats most likely good enough.
but NO, i had to get the free 2009 maps.
i went to the garmin website and downloaded my free 09 map upgrade
took 1 1/2 hours to download with a 6mb dsl connection.
that didnt bother me, i made dinner and watched a movie.
tried to put it on the device and failed.
im pretty stupid at computer stuff.
i can email, ebay, and look stuff up. thats about it.
so the next business day i called the garmin help line and talked to the lovely glenda. the 09 maps wouldnt load because of a "space" issue on the 650 itself. this turned out to be a fun project though.
after deleting about 99 percent of the preloaded languages on the unit,
we finally got it done. so now im good to go.
the machine is easy to use
easy to see
and will get you real close to grandmas for thanksgiving
if not inside the turkey itself
Customer Review: Excellent product with great POI Database
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm new to GPS devices so I asked around and was recommended to the Garmin line. I bought my son and myself the Garmin Nuvi 650 and we are both very happy with it (found them online at a box warehouse for $299 each, delivered with tax and shipping for around $325 each). Took the unit out of the box, battery had plenty of juice in it to play around with it for a while. You just turn it on, and in less than 1 minute we were ready to go. It reads in the satellites and you set your home location and that was it. Very impressive, as it knows to the foot exactly where you are, announces streets just before you get to them, and if you take a different route than recommended, it just recalculates in seconds. It even shows train tracks coming up on the screen, and next thing you know you went right over those tracks. As your driving around it shows parks on the screen, golf courses, etc. so that was kind of nice. NO CD or other software to load. In fact there was no CD in the box. Found a nice leather case for it at Best Buy for $19. Now all we need is an inexpensive carrying bag from Target. I did notice that the database has a few outdated restaurants and such, but that's understandable considering how much developments change, restaurants move or close, etc. Some newer shopping centers I couldn't find though they have been under construction for over a year and we have the 2008 maps. The 4.3" screen on this thing is gorgeous and the voice announcing the streets is pleasant. We're both extremely happy with this Nuvi 650. However for the price it should have included a case and at least an AC charger. You have to charge from the USB of your PC or plug it into the cigarette lighter adapter in your car. A permanent screen protector would have been nice too, since they put one on there that has to be removed and tossed. Adding these omitted items will add at least $50 to have the complete setup. I also bought the larger friction mount to use the UPS on the dash or floor, since they are illegal to mount on the windshield in California. This works out really nice.Customer Review: Excellent GPS!
Summary: 5 Stars
Overall, I have been impressed with the Nuvi line. I have had three different Nuvi's and a Magellan 760. I returned the Magellan 760 and bought the Nuvi 350, but later returned it for the 360 because of the Bluetooth, which did not work well for me. Finally, I've settled on the Nuvi 650. It is relatively lightweight and can fit in my back pocket of my pants. I have had this Nuvi for about 8 months. The Nuvi has a nice set of functions. It excels at strong satellite reception and the main function, route generation. Most of the time, the directions it provided were accurate. I recently took it on a three week road trip to the Eastern part of the US (I'm from Phoenix) starting in Baltimore going as far south as Atlanta then back up to Baltimore. For the most part, the directions were accurate except a time or two when looking for a hotel and Costco. I recently updated my map to the 2009 version. It seems to have a lot of the newer areas in Phoenix, but of course, not all of them. There were some addresses the Nuvi couldn't find for houses that have been around since the late 1990's. Not sure if that is because a couple of those addresses might have been on county islands. I purchased the dashboard mount for the Nuvi, which works very well. Below are my pluses and minuses for the Nuvi 650:
Pluses:
- Nice screen size
- Strong satellite reception, even indoors
- Touch screen was sensitive to light pressure
- Relatively small and lightweight
- User friendly
- Love all the different languages and car symbol options
Minuses:
- Wish it was able to remember the last 2-3 previous cities so you don't have to type in the city each time (although it does have quick spell) when you type in an address
- Voice sounds a bit robotic (Magellan 760 sounded more life like)
- Acquisition time sometimes seems to take a long time if your starting location is different then when you turned off the Nuvi, especially if you're in another state!
- Wish it had a case