A widescreen display, preloaded maps, bluetooth, an FM transmitter, hands-free calling, and Enhanced MSN Direct service put Garmin's new nuvi 780 squarely into the premium GPS category. Sure, other GPS manufacturers offer similar features on some of their models, but unlike many competitors, the nuvi 780 manages to integrate a bevy of sophisticated features while still maintaining reliability and ease of use.

Mounting the nuvi 780 in the Car

Like other Garmin GPS units, mounting the nuvi 780 in the car is a simple matter that doesn't require any professional installation. Simply attach the windshield mount to the glass, dock the GPS, and connect the power to the cigarette lighter. The secret to Garmin's highly effective mount is its simplicity: simple, lightweight and very few moving parts makes for a reliable, solid connection that holds-up well to normal wear and tear.

Locate the area on the windshield where you want to mount the GPS, then press the suction cup mount against the glass and lower the locking lever into place to secure the mount to the windshield. The nuvi 780's 12v adapter is also the MSN Direct receiver, used for receiving real-time traffic data, movie listings, gas pump pricing, weather, news, and more, and has its own internal rechargeable battery. MSN Direct data is only available when the 12v adapter is connected to the nuvi 780 and is in a coverage area for MSN Direct.

Depending on your vehicle setup, the L-shaped angle of the GDB 50 power/MSN Direct adapter may make for a snug fit; in my car's main 12v cigarette lighter adapter, Garmin's plus just barely cleared the ash tray. The 12v adapter connects to the cradle instead of the nuvi unit directly, making it that much simpler to dock/undock the nuvi 780 from the windshield mount.

Once the 12V power adapter is connected to the cradle, it's ready to be snapped onto the tip of the windshield mount. To connect the cradle to the mount, you simply press the cradle onto the mount until you hear it "click" onto the ball of the mount. Together, the two pieces (cradle and mount) form a socket and ball type joint that can easily be angled into the desired viewing angle. There are no screws to loosen, or levers to unlock - adjusting the nuvi is simply a matter of applying slight force and adjusting the cradle.

With the windshield mount, 12v power, and cradle assembled, we're ready to mount the nuvi 780. Fit the bottom of the nuvi 780 into the cradle and tilt the nuvi back (towards the windshield glass) until it snaps into place, as shown above in figure 28. To release the nuvi 780 from the cradle, press the release button located on the underside of the cradle, and tilt the nuvi away from the mount. Docking and undocking the nuvi is extremely simple, and even easier than previous Garmin nuvi models, thanks to the improved windshield mount/cradle design.

The nuvi 780 is a handsome looking GPS. With just one wire (12v power cable) visible, the 780 is a sleek, modern looking GPS that doesn't clutter up the dashboard with lots of wires or oversized mounting hardware. Garmin's windshield mount is excellent, holding the nuvi securely in place, even when driving at highway speeds. Adjusting the viewing angle of the mount was easy (even with one hand), thanks to the innovative mount design that doesn't require any knobs or levers when making adjustments.

Traffic

Technically speaking, Traffic is part of the MSN Direct offering, but since real-time traffic data is such an important feature, it warrants its own section in this review. Access to real-time traffic information and the ability to navigate around traffic jams is a major selling point of the nuvi 780, and one of the features consumers are most interested in; after all, the thought of avoiding traffic jams and intelligently routing around them is an appealing proposition indeed. Unfortunately, traffic data is generally limited to major highways and cities, is delayed, and is still far from perfect.

If a traffic event is received that will impact your current route, the nuvi 780 displays the corresponding icon in the lower-right hand corner of the map display, as shown above. Tapping the alert displays additional information about the traffic event, shown below. This screen displays an overview of the traffic problem, and marks the problem area with the appropriate traffic icon.

Tap the traffic notification bar at the top of this screen (the gray bar that reads: "1 min delay 15 mi ahead"), and additional details of the traffic issue are displayed. Tapping "Avoid" forces the GPS to find an alternate route around the traffic problem. Note that if the nuvi receives a traffic alert and finds a faster route with less traffic, it will automatically prompt the driver with a message asking if you want to route around the traffic (a message saying "A better route is available").

Garmin's traffic integration in well implemented and easy to use. My biggest complaint was with data accuracy; more often than not I found MSN's traffic data either wrong or missing, resulting in avoiding traffic jams that don't exist, or the nuvi telling you the road is backed up as you sail along at 70 MPH. In fairness, this isn't unique to MSN Direct - virtually every traffic-enabled GPS I've tested to date suffers from the same limitation. Hopefully, over time the data accuracy will improve and coverage areas expand, making traffic data a more valuable feature. Currently, traffic data is better than nothing, but it's still got a long way to go.

Finding an Address

The nuvi 780 allows you to input a destination address a number of different ways; probably the most common method is to use a street address. In the following example, I'll enter a destination address in New York City: 135 Central Park West. It doesn't get much simpler than this: after powering on the nuvi 780, the Main Menu screen appears. From here, you can view the map, search for an address, adjust system settings (wrench icon), or adjust the volume (speaker icon).

Also notice that the Main Menu displays the GPS signal strength, Bluetooth icon, battery level, and current time. Outside temperature is also displayed if you are located in an area od MSN Direct coverage (and the 12v MSN Direct antenna/power plug is connected). To begin entering a destination address, tap "Where to?" from the Main Menu.

Most of the time you'll probably be driving to a street address (as opposed to a business name or intersection). After tapping on Where to? from the Main Menu, tap on Address to begin inputting a street address. The nuvi 780 automatically chooses the State you are currently located in (Connecticut, in this case). If your destination address is in a State other than your current location, you'll need to tap on "Change State/Province".

After tapping on "Change State/Province", the nuvi 780 prompts you to enter the name of the State or province of the destination address. Spelling the State is straight forward. Use the on-screen keyboard to spell out the city name; one enough letters have been entered, the nuvi GPS will automatically produce a list of possible matching States to choose from.

I'm entering a destination address in New York State, so I type out N-E-W-space, and the nuvi 780 automatically produces a short list of matching States (just one, in this case) to choose from. I tap on "New York" and continue on to the next step. The nuvi 780 feels fast and responsive, allowing me to enter the city name as quickly as I can type, without any annoying delays or sluggishness.

However, I did find myself wishing that the text entry system was more like Magellan's QuickSpell system, which dims out invalid letters as you type, only allowing you to press keys that would spell a valid city name. TomTom also has a similar text entry system. These systems reduce the likelihood of misspellings and make text entry generally easier and faster, and would be a welcome addition to the Garmin nuvi product line.

Entering the city name is identical to the process for entering the State name; once enough letters have been entered the nuvi automatically produces a list of results. Also, just like the State entry screen, tapping on the folder icon in the upper left corner displays a short list of recently found city names. After tapping M-A-N on the on-screen keyboard, nuvi produces the results list, shown above. I'll tap "Manhattan, NY" to continue. Note that nuvi would have accepted either "New York" or "Manhattan" as valid city names. Like most GPS units, the nuvi 780 asks you for the house number before the street name, which some people find confusing at first.

One downside of entering the house number before the street name is that the nuvi cannot list the valid range of house numbers on a given street, as Magellan's GPS units do. For example, if you're trying to get to a house on "South Main Street", Magellan's GPS units will ask for the street name first, then show you the valid range of houses along South Main Street, allowing you to pick a house number even if you're not sure of the exact address.

The final step in entering the destination address is the street name. In this test I'm entering an address on "Central Park West" in New York City, so I start to spell out C-E-N-T-R-A-L... When entering a street name, you only enter the main portion of the street name, and allow the GPS to search for possible matches. For example, if you are looking for "North Main" street, you would only enter "Main" as the search criteria, and the GPS would product a list of matching street names, such as "South Main Street" and "North Main Street". Note that tapping on the folder icon in the upper left corner displays a list of recently used street names.

With the address fully entered into the nuvi 780, the address can be viewed on the map by tapping Show Map, saved to the address book by tapping Save, or routed to by pressing the large green Go! button. Tapping Show Map in the previous menu displays the destination address on the map. This is a nice feature as it allows you to see what the streets will look like at the destination address before you start navigating. Tap on the green Go! button and the nuvi 780 starts routing to the destination address.

Creating and Using Routes

Garmin's nuvi 700-series is the first nuvi to support multi-destination routing with route optimization. Many users, myself included, felt the lack of multi-stop routing on previous nuvis was a major omission, and I'm very pleased to see Garmin has added this feature to the nuvi 780.  Creating, editing, and activating routes are all performed via the Routes menu. To access the Routes feature, tap on Where to? > Scroll down to page 2 > Routes.

The first time the Routes icon is tapped the nuvi reports that no Routes have been created, and asks if we'd like to create a Route.The first step in creating a Route, or multi-stop trip, is adding a starting point. Tap Add New Start Point. Adding addresses to a route is identical to the process for entering any other type of destination; you can use street addresses, POIs, recently found addresses, saved favorites, intersections, or coordinates as entries on a Route. Tapping on the green plus icon inserts another location to the route, while tapping on the red minus icon removes that location from the route.

Once all the desired locations have been added to the Route, tapping Next causes the nuvi to calculate the route. Route calculation is quick, taking no more than a few seconds. Once the route has been calculated, the planned route is displayed on the map. Note that the last location in the Route is marked with a checkered flag. The nuvi also displays the distance and time for the planned Route. Tap Save to store the Route and make it available for use and/or optimization. By default, the nuvi saves Routes using the starting and ending location names. You can rename the Route to something more significant, like "Family Trip To Disney Land", as well as re-order the stops by tapping Edit... Or, tap the green Go! button to start navigating to the first location in the Route.

Tapping on Optimally Reorder Points reorders the stops so that you are driving to each location in the most efficient manner. In other words, you're not driving back and forth or in circles, but making the taking the most logical order. This feature is especially helpful for drivers who regularly visit multiple locations in one trip, such as realtors, delivery drivers, and contractors. You can also manually reorder the locations in a Route by tapping on Manually Reorder Points. Recalculate allows you to change the route preference to calculate by faster time, shorter distance, or off road. Tapping Delete erases the Route.

Canceling the Route

Tapping on the Menu button while navigating to an address brings up the Main Menu, shown above in figure 97. From here, you can stop routing to the destination by tapping on Stop, or detour around a problem area by (such as a traffic jam or closed road) by tapping on Detour. Including the Stop button is a nice feature. I've tested a lot of GPS devices and have found that canceling a route can be a surprisingly difficult task. For example, TomTom's GPS units don't have any way to cancel the route (you can make it appear by switching the TomTom to "Advanced" mode, but under the default menu there's simply no way to cancel the current route).  In my testing I found the detour function worked adequately, although there are no options for how far you want to avoid the current problem, or ability to choose from a list of alternate routes, or exclude specific roads from the trip. But it does provide a quick and easy way to get off the current road if you run into a problem.

Saving Your Current Location

Tapping on the vehicle icon on the map screen brings up Garmin's updated "Where Am I" screen, shown above in figure 98. This is a great feature that provides one-touch access to your current street address (or closest valid street address), nearest intersection, and exact coordinates. Garmin's well designed location screen also provides one-touch access to nearby hospitals, police stations, and gas stations. Tapping Save Location Saving your current location adds the current position to the nuvi's Address Book, and allows you to assign a name the location.

Conclusion

Spend a little time with Garmin's nuvi 780 and it quickly becomes apparent why Garmin enjoys the lead position as the #1 GPS manufacturer in North America (by a wide margin). The nuvi 780 displays the kind of refinement, reliability, and ease of use that comes from years of testing and fine-tuning. Functionally identical the the nuvi 760, Garmin's nuvi 780 adds MSN Direct services to an already outstanding GPS. If you already own a nuvi 760, there's little point in upgrading. However, if you're considering the nuvi 760, the nuvi 780 is only slightly more expensive (about $60 more, as of this writing) and adds some handy MSN Direct features, such as local gas prices, movie listings, weather, news, stock quotes, and local events.

New to the 700-series nuvis are multi-destination routing with the ability to optimize (sort) the stops by distance, tracklog support, a "Where Am I?"feature, and "Where did I park the car?" feature. Combined with Garmin's best of breed routing engine and unmatched ease of use, the nuvi 780 is an excellent choice for novice and power user alike. At its core, the nuvi 780 is an outstanding navigator that continues Garmin's tradition of delivering top quality navigation in a simple, easy to use package. As an added bonus, the nuvi 780 includes a host of multimedia features that are well integrated into the navigation experience.

There's still room for improvement in the nuvi 780's underpowered FM transmitter, and POI searches could be faster, but Garmin has done a good job listening to customer feedback on earlier GPS units, and added some top-requested features to the nuvi 780. Conspicuously missing, however, is a route exclusion feature -- the ability to avoid specific roads or highways from a planned route. I also found the new on-screen keyboard design slightly more difficult to use than previous nuvis, as the keys are smaller.

If you don't care about the new features the 700-series brings, the nuvi 680 provides identical routing and still has the MSN Direct features for about $100 less. But if money is no object, and you're simply looking for the best GPS available (or you've been waiting for a Garmin nuvi that finally has multi-destination routing support), the nuvi 780 is unbeatable in terms of quality, features, and ease of use.