« Magellan RoadMate 1430 Review | Main | Garmin nüvi 785T Video Walkthrough »


October 24, 2008

Garmin nuvi 785T Review

Own this GPS? Rate It Now!
GPSmagazine Rating: 4.5 of 5
Buy this GPS from Amazon

Main Menu, With MSN Direct Enabled
Figure 80: Main Menu, With MSN Direct Enabled

Once MSN Direct is activated and you are within a coverage area, the nüvi 785T automatically begins downloading traffic, weather, news, and other content. Notice that the Main Menu now displays the outdoor temperature at our current location.

Address Confirmation Page, With MSN Direct Enabled
Figure 81: Address Confirmation Page, With MSN Direct Enabled

Once MSN Direct is activated and signals are being received, the address confirmation page, shown above, will display the current weather at the destination address.

Receiving Traffic Information
Figure 82: Receiving Traffic Information

When you are receiving traffic information, a green traffic icon appears in the upper-left corner of the Map page.

When calculating the route, the nüvi 785T considers current traffic conditions and automatically optimizes the planned route to avoid traffic delays.

Traffic Alert Received
Figure 83: Traffic Alert Received

If a traffic alert is received that will impact the planned route, the traffic icon changes color to indicate the severity of the traffic conditions on your route:

  • Green = Traffic is flowing normally
  • Yellow = Traffic is slightly congested
  • Red = Traffic is heavily congested or stopped

The traffic icon also displays how much time the delay has added to the trip.

Tapping the traffic icon on the Map brings up the Traffic page, shown below.

Traffic Page
Figure 84: Traffic Page

The Traffic page allows you to view traffic conditions the following ways:

  • Show Traffic Map - displays traffic conditions on the map. You can manually scroll around and see all traffic incidents on the map
  • Traffic Search - lists all traffic delays that have been received, sorted by distance from your current location
  • Traffic on Route - displays the traffic incidents along the current planned route

Traffic Search
Figure 85: Traffic Search

Touching Traffic Search displays a list of all traffic alerts that have been received, listed in order of closeness to your location. More details can be viewed for each incident by tapping on the alert.

Traffic Incident Details
Figure 86: Traffic Incident Details

The nüvi 785T automatically attempts to avoid severe traffic when an alert is received. However, you can also manually avoid certain traffic conditions by touching Avoid on the details page for a given incident.

Avoid Traffic Confirmation Page
Figure 87: Avoid Traffic Confirmation Page

In most cases, the nüvi 785T will then display a confirmation message stating that the optimal route is already taking traffic conditions into account, and asking if you want to route around this problem area anyway. This is because the nüvi's internal routing logic has already determined the optimal route, and thinks it's best not to avoid this traffic event.

Traffic on Route
Figure 88: Traffic on Route

The Traffic on Route page displays the current traffic alerts that have been received along your planned route.

Most Popular Reviews

GPSmagazine 2009 Back To School Buyer's Guide