Accessories

garmin nuvi 880
I ORDERED THE NUVI 880 GPS,I THOUGH IT WAS COMING FROM AMAZON,BUT IT CAME FROM ELECTRONICA DIRECT. SO IAM VERY HAPPY WITH THE NUVI 880 GPS,BUT I HAVE A PROBLEM, I LOOKED ON AMAZON THE DAY THAT I RECEIVED THE 880 GPS AND I SAW IT FOR $739.00, SO I CALLED ELECTRONIC DIRECT TOO ASK FOR THE SALE PRICE AND THEY WOULD GIVE ME $15.00, AND MAY-BE ANOTHER $36.00 CREDIT. BUT I PAID $799.99. THEY WOULD'NT GIVE ME THE SALES PRICE.(I DON'T WANT TOO DEAL WITH ELECTRONIC DIRECT ANY MORE. BUT I WILL SHOP AMAZON.COM--------THANK YOU VERY MUCH, JENNIS H. DANIELS--

Good GPS, but some issues found
I purchased this unit because I wanted the MSN Direct link with updated information, traffic, etc as well as the ability to 'talk' to the GPS while driving and these features work great. Where I find my greatest disappintment is with the advanced waring of upcoming turns or exits on the highways. I have found several times the information spoken is not correct and it comes much too late to make any changes. What I mean by this is the unit tald me to stay to the left for an exit, but once we got to 20 feet before the actual exit it said to exit on the right. I also feel the announcements for turns should be given with greater distance from the turn or exit. It seems that you are always at the intersection or exit before it lets you know "This is where you turn or exit". I wish Garmin would make it announce with a little more time or distance from the turn or exit. I hope I have said this enough. Overall the rest of system seems to work well. (I was told by a friend as a comparison the 660 calculates routes much faster than the 880) I hope Garmin comes up with a firmware update to change the announcment distance to give you time to react.

Good, but not great
I got the Nuvi 880 for my new vehicle. I decided that off-the-shelf solution was cheaper than factory installed. In my previous car (a Mazda3) I was using the factory installed navigation system.

I got the Nuvi 880 primarily for the voice recognition feature.

I find though that my Mazda navigation was smarter and more user-friendly than the Nuvi 880, even though it didn't have voice recognition.

VR works well. You need to turn down the radio though so that it can understand you. There is a small library of words that it understands. But for me, VR is well worth it because the unit is placed well forward of the dash, out of reach for me. One gripe though is that when you ask to spell the location or category, it gives you a keyboard to type, and you can't 'say' the letters. That is really annoying for a unit that's supposed to be accessible via the voice commands.

The MSN feature is ok. You can get weather info, movie times, and traffic updates. Though I don't think I will be continuing after the free subscription period expires.

One thing to note is that there is an annoying 'clicking' sound after you pair the unit with a bluetooth phone. Don't know how to get rid of it.

Another thing I don't like about the 880 is that it's not as smart as my previous nav system. For example, I recently entered a request to go to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor in Jackson, NJ from Rockland County (NY). The google route takes you down the Garden State Parkyway, to I95, then to I195. Highway all the way, for a total trip time of 92.1 mi - about 1 hour 41 mins. The 880 decided to make the route: GSP to RT9 thru Freehold NJ then to Monmouth Rd. The trip distance is definitely shorter 80.0 mi, but it was a much longer trip time with all the stop lights I had to go through. When I realized the error, there was no way to get back to the highway. I wish there was a way to program the route like my old nav system (eg., stay on highways, etc).

Nuvi 880
Garmin nüvi 880 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

This is my first GPS and overall, am enjoying it and have found it to be a great tool, especially in metro areas. I enjoy the features of MSN Direct as well. I purchased this unit in mid-July directly from Amazon. I tend to like more fully featured units as I appreciate technology. I was willing to pay more for this unit (versus the 850 for example) to try out the extra features.

I used the unit locally (smaller city west of Grand Rapids, MI) for a week or so before I took it out of state to Virginia for a family trip so that I would gain a decent understanding of its abilities and features by seeing how it would route me to work and other known points before trying it in a larger, unknown metro area. The unit was a real help, even within the Norfolk Naval Base.

Some frustrations:
Unit needed to be "reset" twice already. Once it simply locked up and the other, although it recognized and added the remote, it would not allow it to function. I followed all the instructions, new remote battery - no help. Reseting (removed GPS battery) cleared both issues.

Internal speakers are difficult to hear and people on the receiving end mention the clarity of my voice is not all that great thru the bluetooth connection. This is true even with no radio, no fan motor, no passengers talking, etc) Like another reviewer, I am also hard of hearing and found that using the FM option does not help much for a variety of reasons. Have to really turn up the volume on the radio to even hear the nuvi and quality was not consistent. Thank you for the tip of plugging into the AUX jack, which I have on my 2008 CRV - I will definitely try that. One thing that has helped with the sound issue it that, after experimenting a bit, I am able to locate the unit on my windshield next to and at the same level as the rearview mirror. This gets the unit as close to me as possible and gives me a clear line of sight. One learning point - on some cars, the "dot patterns" on the windshield around the rearview mirror on some cars are printed on the inside surface which the suction mount will not stick to - so you have to position the unit lower and farther away. On my car, I eventually found out that the dots are within the glass which allowed me to better position the unit as mentioned above.

WebUpdater - I am a Mac user and had to spend quite a bit of time getting the software to recognize/find my unit. I tried using a Dell laptop as well but got the same result except that it kept telling me that I might have to change an interface setting (somewhere/somehow) to "Garmin" or "Host" which I was not anxious to experiment with. Garmin does tell you that you might have to update the software on older models (which I did not expect the brand new 880 to be !!!) before WebUpdater will work. Unfortunately, they don't tell you your options for doing such - you have to nose around. After several hours, I was able to find and get thru a back door by going thru the "Additional Software" section on the Garmin website and found a link specific to the 880 to update the software. Once I updated the software to version 3.00 (from 2.50 as received), I connected my nuvi back to my Mac and everything now works fine. Better instructions would have saved hours here.

I am also a little surprised on how long it takes for the unit to find a sat signal. Not sure of other brands performance in this area though.

Not sure if any make or model would do better but when in situations where one turn or instruction needs to be followed quickly with another instruction (to turn again in a short distance or stay left for example), I found that the unit would sometimes be giving the second instruction after I already had to execute the move. Other times, traveling the same route, it gave both instructions right up front so that you knew that you had to pay extra attention.

Note to Judy - I also experienced the same "unit already registered" problem. There are multiple codes in the battery compartment of the unit that are "8 or 9 characters long". I got the same message using one number and then was successful using the number directly under the barcode. You think that maybe they could be a little more specific in the instructions on where to find the right code ???!!!

Overall a very helpful unit and would recommend to anyone. The 850 might be the better and less expensive choice for most.

Great GPS!!! ........unfortunately poor customer service
After having used several GPS products Garmin has really outdone themselves on this
one. The voice recognition has preformed almost flawlessly. Any faults I
can attribute to myself by trying to give too much information when searching
for places. The less spoken the better. I have a tendancy to provide too
much detail for the query, which causes it to think too long. Again I count
this as user error. You learn very quickly the ease of use with Nuvi 880 is
a very natural progression. I wouold highly reccomend this to anyone
looking for the best.
I did find pricing a little less on other web sites but chose
Amazon.com thinking if If I had any issues they would correct them.
Unfortunately, they did not stock the unit as is the case
on many items and when I had some minor issues with the purchase
regarding shipping charges, open box etc. Electronica Direct the seller
used by Amazon did not respond to my concerns and were somewhat arrogant
whithout even addressing my issues. That being said, I would not let
this get in the way of a truly GREAT GPS. Shop around for pricing though.