GPS,
nuvi 885T reviewed - speech recognition 'great,' detour function 'not so much'
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:06AM
posted Jan 23rd 2009 10:06AM
Sure, when we first caught wind of Garmin's nüvi 885T a while back it seemed like the hotness (if your measure of hotness begins and ends with a GPS), but how does it really stack up? GPS Magazine just got their hands on one of these bad boys, and they've been kind enough to share their thoughts with us. "Great," they say, "if speech recognition is your number one priority." Besides voice recognition, the reviewer was really into the Enhanced MSN Direct (traffic, fuel prices, flight statues and more), the ever-useful Where Am I? feature, MP3 playlist support, lane assist, and well behaved Bluetooth. Problems? For starters, MSN Direct for this model costs $50/year (or $130 for life), while many cheaper nüvis get it gratis. Additionally, a few oversights -- there is no way to exclude a specific road from a route, for instance, and a very limited detour function -- and this reviewer thinks that some users would be better served by another Garmin, such as the nüvi 7x5. But don't take our word for it -- for the exhaustive review hit the read link.
Update: Then again, maybe it is too much to ask for users to get free, unlimited MSN Direct. According to Garmin tech. support: "No Garmin unit receives MSN information gratis. Some do have a free trial period, but Microsoft does not give the information out for free." Thanks for the heads up, guys!
Update: Then again, maybe it is too much to ask for users to get free, unlimited MSN Direct. According to Garmin tech. support: "No Garmin unit receives MSN information gratis. Some do have a free trial period, but Microsoft does not give the information out for free." Thanks for the heads up, guys!
Great....
yet another GPS device
NOT SO GREAT !!
TomTom Rules...... PERIOD
@Chilly TomTom's are great, no doubt. But their traffic models are not so great. Aside from 2 wires (antenna and power) running out of two different jacks, there is the very poor accuracy (Garmin's isn't much better unless you have the MSN direct feature).
Also, the interface is sometimes irritating, like getting to the volume control. And the list of compatible smartphones leaves a lot to be desired. The TomTom's are good, but head to head, I'll take my Garmin 785.
A decent detour function as well as accurate and _wide spread_ traffic function are the two biggest needs in a GPS. Lane Assist is also very nice.
But, I _hate_traffic with a deep burning psychological homicidal passion and in the NYC, NJ & Philadelphia areas, traffic is deplorable.
The screen still looks like a cartoon.
And look at all of the streets without names on them.
That's the thing I hated most about my Nuvi - very little street name detail.
You may want to hit the + (zoom) button.
You can also just enable maximum detail.
Hmmm..seems like chicago downtown.
Chicago downtown indeed. And not too far from my apartment.
Yay! I work right there!! Big bowl reppin!!
I almost got the 880 for my dad last Christmas (essentially the 885T without lane assist or the detour feature) but decided against is when I read all the negative reviews that bashed it for it's slow route calculation time. Unless they swapped out the processor for something faster, I'd imagine the 885T has the same issues.
Long story short, I went with the 765T, which has all the features of the 885T, minus speech recognition. MSN wasn't free there either, so I'm not exactly sure which "cheaper" models you guys are talking about.
You can get free lifetime traffic on cheaper Garmins, using NAVTEQ FM TMC traffic, just not free MSN Direct.
From garmin.com:
The following products include a traffic receiver and free lifetime NAVTEQ Traffic in the box:
nüvi 265T, nüvi 265WT, nüvi 275T, nüvi 755T, nüvi 765T, nüvi 775T
MSN Direct is really more geared for the people who are interested in being somewhat web connected. It's similar in a few aspects to internet smart gps units because you get other things like movie times, weather, gas prices, sending addresses and pois from the web, local events, so on and so forth which tend to be worth it. Some units even come with free Navteq traffic built in, with the ability to add MSN as well (which requires a receiver built into the part that attaches to your lighter).
When you cut down to it, it's really a matter of preference.
The free trial period for the MSN Direct is three months, after that it's $49.95/month.
http://www.voice-gps.com