Garmin nuvi 755T Review (GPSmagazine.com)

21. Media Player

Figure 104: Media Player

The nüvi 755T's Media Player supports MP3 music files, and M3U playlist files. You can create playlists directly on the nüvi using the Media Player, or copy playlists over from a PC/Mac.

To access the Media Player, tap Tools > Media Player.

The Media Player itself is relatively straight forward:

Browse - browse the available MP3s by artist, genre, song title, etc.
Tapping forward or rewind skips to the next/previous song. Holding either of these buttons down fast forwards or rewinds.
Pause - pauses the current song
The repeat and shuffle icons are located above the Source button
Source - switches between the nüvi's internal storage and the SD card slot

Figure 105: Browsing the Media Files

MP3 files can be browsed by title (All), Album, Artist, or Genre.

You can also create a new playlist by tapping Playlist > Create New Playlist, and selecting the songs you want added to the new playlist.

Figure 106: Choosing a Song or Songs for Playback

Within the browse view, you can tap on a song to select just that song, or tap Play All to play all songs.

Figure 107: Music Playback While Navigating

When listening to music or an audio book while navigating, a shortcut to the Media Player is placed in the lower right portion of the map screen, as shown above.

Figure 108: Listening to Audiobooks

When listening to Audible purchased Audiobooks, the media player supports bookmarks

22. Keeping the nüvi Up-To-Date

Every few months or so, Garmin releases software updates for the nüvi GPS. These firmware updates fix any bugs or problems that have been discovered since the GPS was released, and deliver new features to the device.

You should periodically connect the GPS to your PC/MAC and run Garmin's WebUpdater utility to ensure your nüvi is running the most current software.

Garmin's WebUpdater software can be downloaded from Garmin's Website. The utility automatically checks the model number connected to the computer (via USB), the version of software currently installed, and the version available for download. If a newer version is available on Garmin's website, the WebUpdater will ask if you want to install the new version.

nuvi 755T, Connected to Garmin's WebUpdater Utility
Figure 109: nüvi 755T, Connected to Garmin's WebUpdater Utility

Once you've downloaded and installed WebUpdater, connect the nüvi to your PC/MAC using the included USB cable. Then launch WebUpdater. You should see the nüvi 755T listed under Device Information, as shown above.

Figure 110: WebUpdater, Updating

If an update is available for your nüvi, WebUpdater will automatically download and install it for you.

Figure 111: WebUpdater, Successful Update

Once the firmware download and install is complete, WebUpdater searches for any additional available updates, such as new vehicle icons, voices, traffic receiver firmware updates, and more.

Figure 112: WebUpdater, Additional Updates

Check the boxes next to any additional updates you want to install, and click next to complete the update process. When the update finishes, quit WebUpdater and disconnect the nüvi from the PC/MAC.

Though not required, keeping your nüvi up-to-date ensures that you have the latest software installed, and keeps the GPS performing at its best. You should run WebUpdater periodically to check for available updates.

23. Pros

Significant set of new features make upgrading from older models worth considering
Easy to use, well designed, user interface
Best looking 3-D lane guidance of any GPS to date
Speed limit information displayed on the map
Improved traffic reporting options now include traffic map, traffic search, and traffic on route
Ability to customize the data field on the map to show distance, remaining time, direction of travel, elevation, or time of day
Fast frame rate makes for ultra smooth scrolling map when navigating
Automatic map zooming adjusts the map zoom level based on your speed and the current maneuver
New upcoming turn indicator displays direction of next turn, and/or lane guidance
Well designed map screen
Transparent 3-D buildings and landmarks on map makes navigating cities easier
Large POI database of 6 million entries
Rubber-like protective coating around the plastic case offers some protection against scratches and scuff marks
Excellent windshield mount
Stores the last 50 recently found places in the Recently Found menu
"Where Am I" feature provides one-touch access to your current location, as well as nearby hospitals, police, and gas stations
MP3 playlist support
Ability to listen to MP3s or Audio Books while navigating
When listening to a song while navigating to a destination, nüvi pauses the song playback to announce navigation prompts, then resumes playback
Track log recording
Supports multi-destination routing with route optimization (ability to sort the locations by distance)
Automatically stores the position where the nüvi was last undocked from the mount, creating a "where did I park the car?" waypoint you can use to walk back to your car
High sensitivity GPS receiver is even stronger than the reference (SiRF StarIII equipped) nüvi 660
Good text-to-speech quality
Good routing engine
Good customer support

24. Cons

Typo-prone on-screen keyboard thanks to small-ish keys
Manually panning around the map tediously slow
Searching the POI database for a specific business name (by spelling the name via the on-screen keyboard) is slow
Cannot sort Favorites alphabetically; saved addresses always listed in order of closeness to your current location
Can't customize the colors or layout of the map
Hopelessly underpowered FM transmitter is almost useless
Touchscreen not as sensitive as it should be
Touchscreen is a fingerprint magnet
3-D Lane Assist not yet available for most highway intersections
No way to exclude a specific road or highway from the planned route
Can't customize the information displayed the left bubble on the information bar (it always displays the current speed. You CAN customize the right bubble, however)
Internal speaker isn't loud enough
Very Limited Detour function

25. Conclusion

Garmin's nüvi product line has matured to the point where surprises are rare, and the 755T is an evolutionary, incremental upgrade to what was already a class-leading GPS.

The 755T lacks the Bluetooth features found on the 765T, and the MSN Direct features of the 785T. But it has all of the same top-notch navigation capabilities and features found on the more expensive models, making it the smart choice for those looking for the best possible GPS, but don't care about Bluetooth.

The 755T is easy to use, chooses smart, logical routes, is equipped with a very high performance GPS receiver, has the best map screen of any GPS available today, and is reasonably priced. When friends ask me which GPS they should buy, this is the GPS I recommend. Those planning to make use of Bluetooth for hands free calling should look at the nüvi 765T instead.

The nüvi 755T series replaces the nüvi 750, and offers a number of significant improvements. Compared to the older nüvi 750, the 755T offers:

Free lifetime traffic
Lane assist
3-D buildings
Faster route calculations
HotFix for faster GPS acquisition times
Faster screen refresh rate that makes map scrolling much smoother

Several new map screen enhancements make the 755T easier to use than it's predecessor, the nüvi 750. The nüvi 755T now displays an upcoming turn indicator on the map screen, and can also show arrival time, remaining drive time, remaining distance, direction of travel, or the current time.

The 755T's new 3-D Lane Assist renders upcoming highway exits in almost photographic detail, and does indeed make complex highway intersections easier to negotiate. Unfortunately, 3-D data it isn't yet available for most highway intersections, so 3-D Lane Assist only appears infrequently. This will likely improve over time with mapping updates,

Transparent 3-D buildings and photo-realistic landmarks, available when driving in larger cities, bring a new level of realism to the map screen. And speed limit information is also now displayed on the map (when available).

Traffic alerts are displayed in an intuitive way, and it's now possible to view traffic conditions along the planned route, as well as in surrounding areas (this isn't possible on the nüvi 750).

Physically, the nüvi 755T is elegant and simple. All 7x5-series models share the same 4.3-inch widescreen display, and black rubber-coated case. A headphone jack and SD memory card slot allow the nüvi 755T to function as a basic mp3 player with expandable storage, and an internal FM transmitter can pipe audio through your vehicle's stereo system.

The 755T, 765T, and 775T models include Garmin's GTM 20 FM traffic receiver, and free (ad-supported) lifetime traffic, while the 785T uses MSN Direct and requires an annual subscription.

Like its predecessors, the nüvi 755T benefits from Garmin's high quality windshield mount, large POI database, and unmatched ease of use.

The 755T does a good job choosing routes that make sense, and gracefully handles missed turns, automatically recalculating a new course within a few seconds of missing a turn. I noticed improvements to the 755T routing logic compared to the older nüvi 660 and 760.

HotFix technology dramatically reduces the time it takes the nüvi 755T to determine its position, and GPS sensitivity is excellent on all the nüvi 7x5-series models. The 755T's GPS receiver outperformed even the venerable nüvi 660 (which is equipped with both a fold-out patch antenna and SiRF's StarIII receiver). The 755T had no problem maintaining GPS signals, even in challenging conditions like New York City, and was always ready to navigate within a few seconds of powering on the device.

The new map screen refreshes at a much higher rate than any previous Garmin nüvi, and map scrolling is ultra-smooth. However, manually panning and zooming the map is tediously slow, as is searching the POI database for a specific business by name. .

Compared to other GPS device on the market, Garmin allows relatively little customization. For example, you can't change the map colors (other than the default Daytime and Nighttime modes).

Also sorely missing it the ability to browse a list of all upcoming turns and exclude a specific road from the planned route.

The nüvi 755T's internal speaker isn't nearly loud enough to use for hands-free phone calls, and the FM transmitter is hopelessly underpowered. A workaround is to use a cassette adapter to connect the nüvi's headphone jack to your vehicle's tape player, or audio input jack if your vehicle has one.

The nüvi 755T's free lifetime traffic service is advertising sponsored, which isn't nearly as bad as you're probably thinking. Depending on your own tolerance level for advertising, reactions to the news that the 755T's traffic service is ad-sponsored traffic will range from apathy to outrage. I fully expected to hate yet another intrusion of advertising into my life, but quickly found that the ads are intelligently enough displayed that most users will hardly notice them. The ads are contextual, occupy a relatively small portion of the screen, and never block any navigation information. There are no pop-up style ads, either.

The nüvi 755T brings a number of important new features that do actually improve the navigation experience, make it easier to see where you're going, and warrant upgrading from earlier models.