22. Bluetooth and Hands-Free Calling

The nuvi 710, 760, 770, and 780 support Bluetooth, and can be paired to your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone to become a hands-free device. As an added bonus, you can combine the Bluetooth functionality with the nuvi 780's internal FM transmitter for hands-free calling using your car's stereo system instead of the GPS' internal speaker.

When you receive an incoming call while your phone is paired with the nuvi 780, the nuvi displays an "Incoming Call" alert, which also displays the name/number of the caller. You can then tap Answer or Ignore, and use the internal microphone on the front of the nuvi 780 as a hands-free speakerphone.

The nuvi also supports a number of useful in-call features, such as call-waiting, transferring the call back to your cell phone, and muting the microphone.

If you're navigating to a destination, the nuvi silences all navigation prompts for the duration of the phone call (but still displays the map and visual prompts), and then resumes audible prompts once that call has ended.

Figure 103: Accessing the Bluetooth Menu

Before you can make use of any Bluetooth features, you'll need to pair the nuvi 780 with a Bluetooth enabled cell phone. In order to pair the phone and GPS, the two devices must be within 30 feet of each other.

Garmin has a website setup where you can check to see if your mobile phone is compatible with the nuvi 780: www.garmin.com/bluetooth, and see which features will work with any given phone.

I had no trouble pairing a Blackberry 8800 as well as an Apple iPhone.

To begin the pairing process, make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone, then tap Tools > Settings > Bluetooth, as shown above in figure 103.

Figure 104: Bluetooth Menu

Tap Add to begin searching to Bluetooth devices within range of the nuvi 780.

Figure 105: Don't Forget to Turn on Bluetooth on Your Cell Phone

Before the nuvi begins searching for devices, it politely reminds you to make sure the phone's Bluetooth is turned on and set to discoverable.

Figure 106: Nearby Devices

Within about 30 seconds or so my Blackberry 8800 showed up on the nuvi's Nearby Devices screen, shown above. Tap OK to continue the pairing process.

Figure 107: Phone Passkey

When the nuvi attempts to connect to your cell phone, you'll need to enter a passkey -- after all, you don't want anyone in the world to be able to connect to your phone. The cell phone will alert you that a device is attempting to connect, and prompt you to enter the passkey. Enter 1-2-3-4 when prompted on the cell phone to complete the pairing process.

Figure 108: Ready to Make Phone Calls

Once the phone and nuvi have been successfully paired, the "Ready to Make Phone Calls" message is displayed.

Figure 109: Main Menu With Phone Feature Enabled

Now that we've successfully paired a cell phone to the nuvi 780 via Bluetooth, the phone icon now appears on the Main Menu.

Figure 110: Phone Menu

The nuvi 780 can access the phone book and call history on your cell phone, as well as lookup and dial Points of Interest, call the saved home phone number, use voice dial (provided your phone and carrier support this feature), or dial a number using the on-screen keypad.

Each time your cell phone connects to the nuvi, the phone book is automatically downloaded. Note that it may take a few seconds before the Phone Book icon appears, as the nuvi must finish downloading the phone book before it appears.

Figure 111: Calling a POI

When looking up a POI via the Phone menu, the large green Go! button is replaced by the Dial button, shown above.

When looking up a POI via the normal address entry page, the regular green Go! button remains, but a small telephone icon also appears on the POI details page that allows the nuvi to call the POI directly from that screen.

Figure 112: nuvi's Dial Pad

You can also tap Dial from the Phone Menu to use nuvi's on-screen dial pad. This can also be handy for voicemail systems, banks, or any other telephone system that requires you to enter numbers and passcodes.

Figure 113: Accessing Your Phone's Call Logs

Once paired with your phone, the nuvi can access the call logs on your cell phone via the Call History button from the Phone Menu (shown in figure 113).

Figure 114: Setting the Home Phone Number

The Call Home icon on the Phone Menu is a handy shortcut for quickly dialing the stored home phone number.

Figure 115: Phone Status

Tapping on Status from the Phone Menu displays the screen shown above in figure 115. It can be useful to view the remaining battery life and/or cellular reception on your phone. Note that this battery indicator is displaying the battery life of the connected cell phone, and not the nuvi.

Overall the hands-free speakerphone quality on the nuvi was acceptable but not fantastic. Things were fine when calling from a parked car, but the internal speaker isn't loud enough to hear callers when traveling at highway speeds. And when using the nuvi's FM transmitter to broadcast sound over the vehicle's stereo system, callers complained of hearing their own echo.

The echo effect that callers sometimes hear seemed to go away when I used an external microphone. Garmin sells a microphone for around $15 that connects to the nuvi 780's cradle. Callers reported that my voice was clearer when using this optional microphone and that they no longer heard their own echo when talking.