GPS’s started with 1 now have 3
StreetPilot 2610
For more than 3 years I’ve had a Garmin StreetPilot 2610 in my Truck. Used it every day.
What I really liked about it was the Remote Control. Now you are not supposed to program it while driving and sticking your hand out to touch the screen can be deadly (literally), but with the remote, I found if I held it way down by my side while driving I could watch the road and take quick glances at the device as I slowly entered something. Didn’t do it often but it worked when necessary. Any time I had to do anything more complicated, I just pulled over or had the passenger do it.
Nuvi 790
Recently it was time to upgrade. The cost of GPS’s are way down from when I got the first one. I look a lot and finally picked up a Nuvi 790. I liked the ability to add an 8gb SD card, put a ton of music on it and use POI’s (Points of Interest) locations sets into the memory so that I could see them as I drove along. Things like Circle K Stores, Costco’s and even Walmarts.
Took the unit on a trip to Laughlin and it worked great. However, there were a couple things that really bothered me… #1 when using a route, the current speed is replaced with the Arrival time… I’ve been using the StreetPilot for years to see my speed and this was going to be very hard to get used to. #2 no remote. Just switching to another screen requires you to reach out and touch the device. I didn’t like that. so three weeks after I got the 790 I moved up and gave this one to my wife to use…
Nuvi 885T
I got a Nuvi 885T…… very much like the 790 but with some enhanced features.. #1 It always displays the current speed on the screen. I now have the speed of the vehicle back where I have been used to seeing it for years. It also on major roads puts the speed limit right next to it.
#2 Voice Control. using a button you put on your steering wheel, you can then speak commands to the unit to switch screen, and do functions. This gave back the ability to make changes while driving without the deadly reach out and touch issues.
You can tell it to play music, switch to map view, even get a Weather Radar map from MSN Direct.
It like the 790 has Bluetooth which I use occasionally to link to my phone when driving for handsfree usage, the ability to add a SD card (I again used an 8gb card).
One disappointment with both the 790 and the 885T was the FM Transmitter. It is basically useless. I already had an FM transmitter that I used with a music player in the truck and just plugged the cable from it into both of the Nuvi’s to hear them over the speaker system. With the music player and tons of MP3’s in memory, I get all the music I need while still being able to hear voice directions, Speed Camera alerts, traffic alerts and other info from the unit.
While I left the StreetPilot in my truck most of the time, both of the Nuvi units are taken out when I get out. I used the dash disk for my truck and my wife is using a Garmin BeanBag mount which works really well, much better than I thought it would.
She is on a trip to San Diego right now, giving the Nuvi 790 a whirl right now.
The old faithfull StreetPilot will be a hand me down to one of the kids that don’t already have a GPS in their vehicle.
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