Review: Garmin Nuvi 750

Early last year, my wife and I decided to join the throngs of the lost, and purchased a GPS unit. I found a great deal online and purchased a Navigon 2100, a little 3.5" unit with a clumsy windshield mount and terrible GPS speed. But, I got a good deal, and when we went to Denver for 2 months for an IT internship, it saved our lives.

The last little while though, I'd been selling some old crap on eBay and decided to take the splurge and purchase a better GPS. I was able to grab a Nuvi 750 from Best Buy's eBay outlet for $100, and was a little unsure of what I would find.

The Good:
Where to start? There's a reason Garmin is one of the industry leaders in GPS technology.

First and foremost, the response time to commands is AMAZING. Granted, coming from the Navigon to the Garmin is like moving from a Geo Metro to a Corvette, of course it's going to be faster, but either way, I'm sufficiently impressed by how quick it performs.

It also finds a satellite extremely efficiently. This was my biggest gripe with the Navigon. There were times we'd be driving for 5-10 minutes before it would get sufficient reception. Driving in the same locations, the Nuvi connects on average within 1-2 minutes, most times less.

Intuition. The designers of the Nuvi software were really smart. Even the little things it does are great. Take a few examples: You start your car, the GPS is plugged in. It recognizes that and will boot the GPS for you. You start driving, but haven't touched the GPS yet, it will automatically switch to the map, showing you where you are. As you drive, it will show the next cross street, even if you aren't having it navigate. When you turn the car off, it will give you 30 seconds, after which it will automatically shut down. All of these little things make it a no-hassle, think for you approach.

Map updates. The moment I got my Nuvi, I registered it with Garmin. Imagine my surprise when I found it qualified for a free upgrade to the 2009 maps. Most places charge an arm and a leg for a map update, but Garmin handed it out. Granted, I'm sure the next ones will charge, but it was a pleasant surprise.

The mount. It's nice, it's simple, it works. Getting the unit on and off the mount is a snap. Can't say the same for the Navigon.

The Bad:
These aren't so much bad things, more just picky things. First, the rerouting capabilites are slower than the Navigon. This isn't such a big deal, but it's interesting.
The amount of data on the screen is lacking. Now I know you're not supposed to watch the screen of the GPS all that much, but on my Navigon I could get worlds of awesome data on the screen all at once while navigating: est arrival time, current speed, miles left (total), altitude, traffic, etc. The Nuvi offers most of this, but it requires going to separate screens, something I just can't do while driving.

Overall:
I like it. A lot. It was well worth the upgrade. It's lighter, faster, bigger (4.3" vs 3.5"), etc etc. I'm a happy Nuvi-er as of 2 weeks ago.