Garmin nüvi 670 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator | List Price: $1,099.99
Discount Price: Too low to display
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Platform: Not Machine Specific
Brand: Garmin
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Pre-loaded with complete Navteq maps for all of North America and Europe
- 4.3-inch, touch-screen TFT LCD display with 480 x 272 pixels of resolution
- Bluetooth for hands-free calling; Integrated receiver for traffic data
- MP3 player, photo viewer, world clock, currency and measurement converters, calculator and more
- Weighs 6.2 ounces and measures 4.9 x 2.9 x 0.9 inches (W x H x D)
Love it. I don't have to get lost anymore [Posted on 2008-10-29]
This (nuvi 670) is my first GPS. I love it. It directs me to most places. The reason why I gave it a 4 is because the map on my GPS is old and it does not have some of the new highways ( I bought it 4 months back). However it has directed me very well in cities like Boston, NY, CapeCod, St. Louis etc. However it is not very good on rural street roads because the map is old. It does not stick to my windshield. But this is not an issue. I am happy with it, it directs me pretty well. In St. Louis it directed me in the opposite direction on a one way street. But when I did not go on it, and went the opposite way it "recaluated" and directed me to the highway (which is what I wanted). When ever possible I back it up with printouts form mapquest. But I have yet to use these backups. I am happy with it.
Garmin Nuvi 670 [Posted on 2008-11-02]
This product has more features than I'll ever use but those that I have used perform very well. Purchased for 4.4 inch screen and European maps. The 'voice' of the unit is very clean and understandable.
Awesome [Posted on 2008-11-02]
Simply awesome. A great GPS for a great price. I really love it. Very easy to use.
Very happy with this device [Posted on 2008-11-11]
For 11 trips to Europe, I have used a Garmin e-trex connected to my lap top with a RS232 to USB converter, a Y plug in the cigarette lighter to power both the laptop and the e-trex, and Mapsource software on the laptop. A lot of gear, hard on the navigator (laptop on the lap is hot and uncomfortable) but very clear maps and some neat features (like saving tracks easily, making slides out of screen prints to really annotate my trips, etc. Finally decided to upgrade, picked the 670 because the screen size to price ratio was the best I could find, and it had European maps included.
The really good:
Arrived early; booted up right out of the box and found satelites faster than the e-trex, pretty intuitive interface (although I did eventually read the manual on disk,) mounted easily in the car and worked very well on a test drive in the states. Maps were old; went on line and got a USA update free - took a while to download but no problems. Didn't try to update the European map. I have read that I maybe could have gotten a free upgrade, maybe not, but I was very aware that Garmin had already discontinued the model and wanted to see if old maps were a problem. More in a minute. The device took up a lot less room than my old setup in my carry-on, leaving more room for a change of clothes and some necessities - which I needed but that has nothing to do with Garmin -
When we got to Milano (Nuvi recognized Milan, but did better with Firenze than Florence) booted right up and found satelites in 30 seconds without being told we weren't in the USA anymore. Navigated us out of the airport and for the first half of our trip beautifully. Initially set the voice to Italian (my wife and I are both reasonably conversant) but quickly changed back to English - no reason to make the driving harder.
Trip time estimate was really good, directions were excellent; a little harder to set a more scenic route than the old set-up but quickly learned how to add an intermediate point to get a route off the autostrada when we wanted to. Incidentally, suction cup mount stayed on for thirteen days without a problem. Got to Bergamo, then Firenze, through Firenze's complex streets to the stadio to seek tickets for a soccer match (couldn't get them but again not a Garmin issue) then down to Val d'Orcia without a single glitch. Very, very happy.
The Good:
Day trips all around Tuscany with no problems. Didn't do great with finding our kind of restaurant (menu only in Italian, no-one outside hawking tourists, local food, no pizza for pranzo) but no worse than most guide books and we did eat very well on our own. On a very foggy day in the hills/mountains of Tuscany took 40 seconds to find satelites and accuracy was a little off - a couple of times went 3-4 hundred yards before finding out we were on the wrong road - the right one having started out parallel but heading up hill not down. Although U-turns on winding roads are not fun, this was only occassional and we did fine. Had recorded about four gigs of music on an SD card - two problems: Rhapsody does not recognize the NUVI as an MP3 player so demanded money to allow a download to the card. This could be worked around but was irritating. The other is that playing music through the Nuvi speaker is an ear hurting experience. Playing through the FM worked but the FM antenna was in the rear window and it was never great sound. Acceptible, and we enjoyed the drives none the less.
The OK:
Back to Firenze fine, but Firenze to Bologna was where the old maps were a problem. Lots of new construction near Bologna and the Nuvi got terribly confused. Finally shut the voice off and just followed the signs. Once off the Autostrada it was fine, but I couldn't figure out how to get it accept the track we had taken as an acceptible route for the several times we traversed this area.
The not okay:
Marked the location where we parked outside the old part of Bologna, then used the Nuvi to get back to the car later in the day. If there's a way to get it to set a pedestrian route I couldn't find it. Walking the "wrong way" on a one-way street caused the voice to exclaim "re-calculating" every block, much to the amusement of the other pedestrians. I would think that bicyclists and hikers would want a non-auto function. Finally, nothing on the Garmin site gives a clear answer on how (if possible) to get the Nuvi to interact with my MapSource software. Making the device much more user friendly is great, but I could do stuff with my old set-up that I can't do (yet) with the Nuvi. There should be a difference between easier and dumber.
Overall, a great upgrade. I'm home now, and going to see what I can do about upgrading the European maps. If I can get it free, great. I knew when I bought it that I might have to pay, so I won't be too upset if I have to. I'd get the same model again without hesitation.
Karen leads the way... [Posted on 2008-11-17]
This is a great product. The Bluetooth and MP3 player work flawlessly. I have found that I can be confident in the route given by the GPS. I'm sometimes confused as to why it will choose a long route to get from point A to point B. However, it always gets me where I'm going.
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