Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator Reviews

• Very Impressive with some caveats (updated)

  
  By ALOZL0EST01ZZ on 2007-05-13
  The latest Garmin is very impressive. However, I don't like the fact that finding some of the accessories is so challenging. For example, I purchased this GPS because I was taking a trip to California. Unfortunately, the laws in California prevent you from attaching the Nuvi directly to the windshild, so you've got to purchase a separate accessory, which I did, the Garmin Portable Friction Mount. It works great in terms of not sliding around the dash. I was on San Francisco streets and if it was going to fly off - it would have, but it was rock steady. The problem is that I didn't know that you need more than just the friction mount. There is another accessory that goes between the Nuvi and the friction mount. Because I found out about the California law just before I left, I had no time to figure out what that extra part is - so I just used a series of rubber bands to affix it to the Friction Mount base.
  It would have been easy for Garmin to spell this out, but I could find no information to let me know which part to purchase to go with the "Universal" Friction Mount or even that you needed an extra part. I still don't know what that part is. The rubber bands worked OK, but it's lame.
  
  As far as the MSN Direct, it works pretty well for the Weather & Traffic, and it does let you know about some movie theaters - not even close to a complete list - at least not in the NYC area, and then the gas prices.... At one point, when my rental car gas indicator was on E, I thought No problem - I've got the Nuvi. Well, it took me to a non-existant gas station, which was harrowing considering I was about to run out of gas and didn't know the area. It gave me a ghost gas station two different times and locations. So I'm on the fence about renewing. Also, I know of some local stations that have better gas prices that don't even show up on MSN, so it hasn't got a complete list of stations/prices.
  
  Even though, I purchased this right after it came out - it has come down in price over $160 since I purchased it less than a month ago - I am happy that I bought it. It was invaluable in getting me around S.F. and the Wine country. But, I could have been just as happy with the 660 had I known about the hiccups with MSN Direct. So, I learned that I can't totally trust the MSN, but it does still give some information. It also would have been better if you could download the MSN info without having to plug it into the car cigarette lighter.
  
  A big plus is the Bluetooth. It's invaluable - the only way to make phone calls in the car - it couldn't be easier, and a great connection. Of course, you get that with some of the previous versions of the Nuvi.
  
  All told, the 660 would have been the better purchase for me. You could take a chance that the MSN will get better in accuracy on the 680, now that the price has come down so much from when I purchased it - it might be worth the extra $.
  
  UPDATE:
  Since I first posted this review in May, Garmin wised up. The only Garmin Portable Friction Mount I could find when I purchased mine, does not go with the 680. At least not without 2 parts. From what I can glean from other reviewers, I could purchase another item to go with what I already have, but my total cost for both would be over $50.
  
  Garmin now has the correct Friction Mount in the accessories section for the 680 on their website. List price: $40.00 (#010-10908)- Amazon price: $28 (at this point).
  Don't be fooled by the CUSTOMERS WHO BOUGHT THIS ITEM ALSO BOUGHT section on Amazon.
  Check the Garmin website to be sure.
  
  
  
  

• Nuvi 680 a big disappointment.

  
  By A103GLAHHWT1YU on 2007-05-17
  I've had four Garmin GPS units over the years (1 aviation, 2 auto, 1 marine). Each unit has been terrific and Garmin's after sales support is, without question, the very best I've received from any company. Garmin has always proven to be the "ideal model" in my customer experiences with the company. Given my wonderful experiences with Garmin products and support, I was excited to use the Nuvi 680 in my extensive travels.
  
  My enthusiasm was short lived and was quickly replaced with frustration. The 680 was continually lost, directed me to a hotel it thought was located on the median of a major interstate (1/2 mile from the actual hotel), wouldn't find major cities or close restaurants and hotels. It wasted far more time than it saved. While the MSN Direct was interesting, in the end the information it provided was marginally helpful at best.
  
  Things I liked in the 680: beautiful screen was easy to read in all light conditions; touch screen worked very well; menus were easy to use; all the pieces fit together nicely; the unit is thin which is what initially attracted me to the Nuvi--very nice for travel.
  
  Cons: the 680 was totally lost and I used it in several states over many hundreds of miles of driving. I flew into Memphis and when I typed in "Jackson," the 680 gave me cities named Jackson all over the US, but wouldn't list Jackson, MS (200 miles away--and the state capital of MS, for heavens sake!).
  
  When I typed in "Hilton" it gave me a list of Hilton hotels 250 miles away from my current location. I gave the unit plenty of time to acquire satellites and know where it was. I tried all the menu options, e.g. "from current location," etc. to no avail. I hit "GO" to a BBQ restaurant and the 680 took me 15 miles to a large public park without a restaurant anywhere to be found in or near the park.
  
  I'm a Garmin fanatic, but I regrettably returned the unit as it was completely unusable and sent me on wild rides. Perhaps I received a bad unit--I hope so! Now I'm out shopping again, . . .
  
  
  
  

• Very, very, very nice GPS system.

  
  By AE88D7OM7YU99 on 2007-06-22
  This is a nice little unit. I used to program GPS applications so I have used a few. The software running this unit is great. The GPS algorithms for finding the shortest or the longest route work excellently. I tested with 4 separate routes. When you deviate from your route the unit is a little slow to pick up on it, 2 or 3 seconds depending on how far you have moved, but then it starts recalculating and gets you back on track.
  
  The maps are easy to read and the views (2d and 3d) are easily switched and zoomed.
  
  The MP3 player works great. It plays music and when it needs to give a voice command it pauses the music and tells you what it needs to tell you. The FM tuner works well too. Although if you come in range of a station the station takes over.
  
  The hands free calling works great. As soon I as I get in the car it finds my phone. If music is playing, it is puts it on pause until you are done on the phone and then turns it right back on.
  
  The user interface is very intuitive and user friendly. I have hardly needed to use the manual or help.
  
  The MSN direct features work good also. They take some time when you first turn it on to download all the information. The traffic feature has worked well. The data has been up to date so far. If it tells you a road is closed, LISTEN TO IT!!!!! We decided not to and sat in 4 hours of traffic because we thought "No way could the turnpike be closed." We could have totally avoided it.
  
  The movie data in my area have all been up to date and have included some theaters I didn't know existed. The gas feature usually has data (prices) that is a day or 2 old, but it did list all the gas stations in my area.
  
  At first when I used the suction cup mount I thought it was defective because it kept falling off. After reading the directions, I discovered that I need to clean all the dust of the window before trying to use it. Since I have discovered that little trick it has worked great. We have used it in our 2 cars and truck.
  
  We do yard sales on Saturday and my girlfriend had to make maps with MapPoint every week. Now we just put the addresses in as we go.
  
  Having a GPS like this definitely changes the way you travel. Running errands is great. I type in the name of the store I want to go to and go to the closest one. Then type in the next one. I have discovered a lot of store locations I didn't know about.
  
  Over all the purchase was definitely worth it.
  
  
  

• Garmin Nuvi 680 GPS

  
  By A3E9X195L4302M on 2007-05-17
  I have three hand-held GPSs and two cars with factory installed GPS. The Nuvi 680 beats them all.
  Once you get hooked on using a GPS, it becomes indispensible.
  I like the 3D cartoon-like display on the Nuvi 680. It is much easier to read at a glance. The 2D displays on the other GPS units cannot display the names of all of the cross roads because there is not enough room on the display and they are written along the road at odd angles. The Nuvi 680 gets around the problem by showing the name of every road as you approach it on the banner bar at the top. That way it does not need to show every minor road, only the major ones. This is a great improvement.
  The other features on the Nuvi 680 are: Bluetooth hands-free cell phone (my factory-installed GPS units have this also - a great feature), MP3 ( I have over 300 hours of music recorded on the SD card), JPEG ( I have not used this, and I am not sure this is a safe feature anyway), POI ( These are easier to access on the Nuvi than on other units and are very helpful), and MSN Direct( It displays storm warnings automatically- this was helpful in Chicago while I was there), Sound output on the car's speakers (this is good, but you must select an unused frequency and it is is very hard to find one in large cities. I would like to see Garmin extend the frequency range below the FM band like my car is capable of to get highway messages).
  If it was not for the fact that GPS is bundled with many other good features in factory-installed cars, I would opt for the Nuvi 680 as the preferred GPS unit.
  
  

• Simply Outstanding!

  
  By A1R2E0BY0JJCMI on 2007-05-07
  The Garmin 680 Nuvi does it and does it so well. The MSN Direct is very well intergrated into the units functions - the gas pricing is especially helpful - just tune to gas pricing and stations in the area are listed with milage, price and direction.
  
  The Bluetooth phone system is my favorite - it downloads your phone's contact list and also keeps records of phone calls and even has a text messaging function.
  
  The SD card once loaded with books, jpegs, and MP3s works very well.
  
  The FM transmitter also works well.
  
  All around a hard to beat GPS system with all the bells and whistles.
  
  
• Very Impressed
  By AIMOBG42K2F1M on 2007-04-29
  Overall very impressed with the Garmin 680. The maps and display are very easy to read, the tts sounds great, and it seems very accurate. So far the MSN Direct has proved valuable, routing us around stopped traffic, helping us find the best gas prices, and accurate weather. Yes, it is pricey, but proves you get what you pay for. If you don't need/want the bluetooth, fm transmitter, msn direct (680) or integrated traffic receiver (660), then just get the Nuvi 650 and save some money. Despite the price, I am really happy with my purchase. I wasn't expecting much from msn based on other review, but in Atlanta it has worked great! Also, I wasn't really anticipating using or being interested in the bluetooth, but I'm hooked, very convenient. Call Garmin tech support, not only do they usually pick right up, they are friendly, helpful, and knowlegeable about their products, unlike some competitors.
  
  
• long time gps user - nuvi is a major failure
  By A1QLQP0OB1R8YR on 2007-04-14
  I've used magellan tech for years. Garmin has been all the rage, so I got the 680. My first take was possibly prejudiced by the magellan, but I could only choose fastest way, not most or least use of highways. OK, it's different. Took it on a road trip to DC. It always skipped the freeways. Always. I could understand skipping due to traffic, but it took us in one way and out another, and they weren't even close to each other. Took 45 minutes and 45 turns to leave dc. Leaving it took us the wrong way down a 1 way street. A clearly marked local access only during 3 hours of the day street. One of the times I missed the turn (there is an occasional delay and it can be hard to tell where to turn with lots of smaller blocks) and went behind our hotel. We still had a circle and some other 1 way street issues to get to the right place. Waiting for the light, I steered away from the hotel in my lane and it said I arrived. Frequently it had us following the route for several (up to 10) seconds when we had made an obvious wrong turn. Accuracy was generally around 300 to 500 feet and start up time was up to 5 minutes. This was with the external antenna and no line of site issues. The msn traffic and other info is useless. It is only good for yesterdays info, takes hours to download and is only useful in major metro areas. Pass on this technology for a good while. Pass on garmin software as well. This lost on start up, accuracy and routing. Oh, and it gets mad when you make it recalculate route. It was actually funny. Like I was frustrating it. I could almost hear it mumbling and swearing.
  
  
• It's really nice GPS, But Pricey
  By A2KZHEJEPFC8S8 on 2007-04-06
  I think this is the complete GPS device what I really want. The feature I like...
  1.Very quick detection if miss a turn, Better then Nuvi 360.
  2.FM Transmitter.
  3.MSN Direct Traffic, Weather and .... This feature requires improvement.
  
  I don't like the Price as well as the size. Another thing there is no way to change the battery, so if battery dies you are stuck.
  Thanks Shahin
  
  
• Fantastic
  By A3S51LX0QI0GVP on 2007-05-02
  I have enjoyed this device greatly in my recent travels. It has been invaluable in business. It has also been wonderful on weekend "leisure" trips. When I take those trips I love to avoid the highways. I can set the avoidances in the navigation menu to try to avoid highways and it'll keep me off the interstates and more on the backroads. I've discovered some great restaurants this way! If I'm on a timetable, though, I just tell it to take the highways and I'm off on the fast track. It can route differently, depending on timetable and situation. In short I would be lost without it now that I own one. The only thing I don't like is the suction cup mount for the windshield. It does not hold that great or long, but there are alternatives.
  
  
• A Big Hit and a Little Miss
  By A3BKNXX8QFIXIV on 2007-09-19
  Purchased in May, 2007, have used the Garmin Nuvi 680 for short and long trips, near home and across the country. It is an expensive, top-of-the-line GPS, but mostly justifies this cost with its slew of helpful features.
  
  Production Quality:
  The Screen is bright, colorful and crisp. It's large touch screen is easy to view when driving and even automatically switches to display differently for night and day. The touch screen is accurate, though users with big fingers may hit a couple wrong keys on the touch keyboard, especially when the car is moving. Menus are easy to navigate and most items appear in the logical, intuitive place. The included mount works well, but has fallen off a few times. There are many voices to select from and all sound clear and easy to understand. The leather case included is nice for stowing or carrying the GPS without worry of scratching. Overall, very polished product with little oversight.
  
  Features:
  The Nuvi 680 is loaded with features. Some features are common to most GPS - Points of Interest Database, travel related software tools, multiple stops en route, option to take a detour at any time, preview of route, zooming in/out & changing view of map. I cannot compare to other devices, but these features all work quite well. Though the POI database can be slow to find a particular place by spelling and occasionally a place is found in an incorrect sub-category. Anyway, the main feature that sets this GPS apart is the MSN Direct Service...
  
  MSN Direct - Traffic:
  Traffic reporting is the big draw here above other models. However, it can take 15 minutes or longer (around 20-25% of the time not working at all) for the traffic information to update when you plug in the GPS. If you keep in plugged into your car, often your wait time will be less, but you will still occassionally be left in the dark. When traffic reporting is functioning, you will get a semi-realistic estimate of the time delay and acess to brief details regarding all delays in the area. It's tough to say for sure, but I believe the rerouting usually saved me a good 10-30 minutes at least half a dozen times. Yet, it seems like there were as many times or more where I should have been rerouted and was not. Hopefully the firmware update I just received will fix these issues. One simple suggestion I'd have is to let the user know when they've been automatically rerouted and to show both routes and ETA's on the map screen.
  
  To illustrate - On a normally 3 hour trip we hit 2 hours of traffic, while 30 minutes were predicted by MSN and only after an hour into the trip (but before the traffic jam). We were rerouted around some of the traffic (maybe 30 minutes time saved), but if the correct delay had been predicted, we probably would have been shown a detour shaving off even more time. So while certainly better than a regular GPS, left some room for improvement.
  
  MSN Direct - Weather, Gas, Movies:
  Unlike traffic reporting, Weather, Gas and Movies information is useful even if it is several hours or even a day or two old. Usually gas prices are correct or within a few cents. Movie showtimes I haven't used much, but seem correct. The weather, I've tried the most, and is probably 90% accurate, maybe more. These features can be pretty helpful, though I rarely drive out of the way for gas.
  
  Ease of Use:
  The startup time (to acquire satelites) is a fairly quick, almost always under 5 minutes, usually under 2 minutes. The route calculation is even faster, almost always under 1 minute, usually under 20 seconds. GPS is highly accurate, despite my regular driving through crowded criss-crossing streets. Once in a while, it may take a few seconds for the GPS to register a turn, but hasn't caused me any problems. Recalculating of route is very quick when you miss a turn, enough to make the next turn. Guidance through directions are easy to pay attention to, with well placed reminders and clear graphical presentation when there are many places to turn off or road splits. It certainly beats mapquest!
  
  Overall:
  I'm glad I bought this GPS. While I would highly recommend it, I believe for some, the much cheaper Nuvi 350 is a better buy. The traffic reporting is currently hit or miss and so you may find yourself listening to the radio for traffic anyway. However, if you can't stand traffic and are planning to use this for many years to come, you'll eventually get your money's worth. And hopefully some time in the future the firmware will be optimized and MSN Direct will have a comprehensive reporting system.
  
  
• The MSN Traffic is a disaster
  By A1YS8YORHSHQ1P on 2007-08-19
  You could not pay me enough to go through what I have with my Nuvi 680. I mainly bought it to help with work commute. The advertised idea of instant traffic reports was highly appealing to me as the commute can be a problem. I paid a lot more for this unit solely because of that capability through MSN direct. I have now had the unit four months and the traffic report has only worked for maybe 10 days. Even when it worked, it was unacceptably slow.
  
  My first problem was out of the box. The entire unit froze when I activated it online. Calls to Garmin resulted in a finding I had a defective unit, so I went back to Best Buy and they replaced it.
  
  The replacement unit then worked for about five days before I went on vacation. I was able to see traffic reports for Phoenix, and I did get movie times, gas and weather. I was unhappy, however, because it was taking 15 - 20 minutes to download this information each morning, so I was already committed, traffic wise, and so it was of no help.
  
  I was then on vacation for three weeks. When I returned, I found it would no longer connect to MSN Direct. No data downloaded. It took three calls to MSN Direct and two to Garmin to figure out that the antenna was defective, so I had to wait for a replacement (an annoyance is that you have to send in the bad piece first and then they send you a replacement). It still didn't work! More calls revealed that because I had signed up (and paid money to) MSN they had to cancel my account and reactivate with the new antenna's activation code.
  
  It worked for three days. I was traveling and then tried it a few days later. It has now stopped working again! Again, I find myself without data.
  
  I am trying to decide whether to demand a refund, toss it in the trash or try again to get them to help me fix it.
  
  I estimate I have made ten calls to MSN Direct and five to Garmin. I have spent a dozen + hours just trying to get traffic data - the data I bought the unit for. This unit is a disaster if you are buying it to see traffic. Ironically, the rest of it is nice and workable and does what it promises. But I would buy a lesser unit for a third of the price if all you want is navigation.
  
  
  
• Good but not great navigation, traffic feature meh
  By A3COXRUY6JPML5 on 2007-08-10
  I upgraded from a c330 streetpilot model after the 2008 maps were released on the 680. I live and work in NW Atlanta where there is alot of traffic, and was intrigued by the traffic feature. I also wanted a handsfree bluetooth speaker for calls in the car.
  
  Navigation- 4/5-noticable improvements with the upgraded maps, however still somewhat lacking for areas with frequent construction (i.e. Atlanta). The Garmin has difficulty with large shopping malls and strips with long paved roads leading away from an intersection. Example is a Costco that has been present for a few years listed on the map as being right off a large street; this is not true however, as the store is situated a quarter mile up the road among several other stores/resturants. It also occasionally recommends long routes instead of simply turning at an intersection; this typically happened on 4-lane streets/state highways. Unit doesn't have a feature letting you program a favorite route. Points of interest not very reliable for shops less than two years old or been closed within the past two years. For locations that are not experiencing rapid urban sprawl it is very reliable.
  
  Bluetooth-5/5-required a firmware update to my treo 650, however afterwards worked flawlessly. You can dial and receive calls through the GPS. Much safer than fumbling with the phone.
  
  MP3-5/5-works fine as a podcast or MP3 player through the built-in speaker or FM transmitter to your car stereo.
  
  Traffic-2/5-most disappointing part. The feature is limited strictly to the basic interstate highways. That's not too bad except the time estimates are also way off in my opinion. As an example the unit displayed road construction causing an estimated 1 min delay with the highway listed in green (green for light, yellow medium, red heavy) so I decided not to detour. This resulted in 15 minutes of sitting in stop and go traffic for 3 miles. Another major goof is the lack of traffic coverage for I-575, a major 6 lane highway in NW Atlanta used by thousands of commuters but not covered. Forget traffic coverage of major secondary roads used as alternates for commuters. So your stuck being unable to compare the traffic conditions to let you pick your poison each day. I guess it's better than nothing and would be useful if there was a major accident, however in its current form it is minimally useful in avoiding stop and go traffic. Take the 6 months additional discounted MSN service for $10 when you first sign up and pass on the lifetime service as it is tied to the unit and not the owner.
  
  My suggestion to Garmin for future updates is for the unit to display two routes whenever you select a location. This should be incoporated with the traffic function which needs to include at least major side roads used by morning/afternoon commutes. It gets annoying when I select a route to work and the unit every single time picks the same route that goes through the heart of traffic which I always ignore. Better yet how about the unit remembering and updating trip times based on time and day of the week? You could at least teach the unit of how silly some of its suggested routes are in real life.
  
  
• MSN traffic useless in New York City
  By A3KMBNI7BS96KX on 2007-08-31
  MSN traffic is very inaccurate for New York City and takes a long time to load. Signal also seems to be very sporadic in Manhattan and Brooklyn. It always gives erroneous information for inbound Holland Tunnel due to some MSN mapping issues. Four times it took me to Holland Tunnel only to find myself stuck in worse traffic than GWB or Lincoln. I gave it a good try for 2 months and I gave up. The gas price, movie, and weather info are also inaccurate or out of date.
  
  I ended up buying the GTM 20 receiver and was able to hook the Nuvi 680 to use TMC Clear channel traffic. The traffic info on TMC is MUCH more accurate. The FM signal for TMC is much stronger.
  
  If you live in NYC, you would be wise to get the Nuvi 660 instead (it uses the TMC Clear channel traffic info). I have no issue with the GPS itself.
  
  
• NUVI 680; Beauty and the Beast
  By A3PJAT57GBF13U on 2007-08-30
  I passed my Nuvi 350 onto my college bound son and thought that I would "treat" myself to the bells and whistles offered by the 680. I was looking forward to the MSN feature as I live and work in the NY/NJ Metro area and am always concerned about traffic issues. It took almost 1 week to get MSN working - countless call to MSN, who wanted NO responsibility for their product and told me that Garmin would resolve the issue. Garmin ran through the standard Q&A and told me that as soon as I spotted the "green bars" to stop and wait up to 20 minutes while MSN booted itself. The prospect of stopping on the Turnpike or Route 80 for 20 minutes was laughable. Anyway one morning I tuned on the Nuvi and MSN was working!! The coverage on Staten Island and directly west of Manhattan, including NJ Turnpike, Rte 80, Rte 78, Rte 287 and Rte 280 has been very good and 3 days ago it save me a 90 minute wait on Rte 287. However on a trip to Delaware (DE) and yesterday to Boston it was USELESS! Delaware I can maybe get over, but Boston - you have to be kidding me. All the way through Connecticut I was getting nothing; on I90 towards Boston nothing. However when I left Boston and headed back to NY after about 50 miles on I90 all of a sudden dozens of icons appeared in and around Boston. I was still seeing the Boston icons as I was crossing the Whitestone Bridge and seeing NOTHING for NYC - I even turned the unit off and on in the hope that it may help. Also traveling from Staten Island out to Brooklyn, there is never a problem, even though the Belt Parkway is at a standstill all the way to JFK airport.
  The Bluetooth feature is first rate and I like the Audio Books feature - BUT - I can get these features on cheaper models.
  I will be returning the unit to Amazon this week as I cannot justify almost $700 for a device that doesn't deliver what is most important to me, the traffic in and around NJ and NYC - basically it's no better than my XM-Radio standard coverage on the NY Traffic Channel.
  
  
• BEWARE old map versions from old stock. Wait before purchasing
  By A26FEEWUT51TLH on 2007-07-21
  Received new Garmin 680 from Amazon in early July and discovered map versions were already out of date. 680 was running V8. Friend had purchased a 660 from a local store in June which had V9 updated maps preloaded. Called Garmin who told me it would cost me $80 to purchase the new maps. Needless to say that I have returned my 680 to Amazon and will be buying the 660 locally for $499 plus taxes.
  
  
• Excellent device -- hard to beat
  By ASLGDVP343DJF on 2007-07-04
  I think this product works just as a GPS should work -- accurately and simply. The screen is outstanding. The computer is fast doing recalculations and so far, no misdirections. The only fault I find is that the device MUST be plugged in to the cigarette lighter to use the MSN traffic and weather functions. I did not realize the FM receiver was in the charger and not the device itself. This somewhat defeats the "cordless" aspect of the device. But it's so much better than OEM systems in cars -- not to mention quite a bit less expensive.
  
  Update -- a little con: there is a flaw in the text to speech function. The computer voice reads "Dr." as "Doctor" not "Drive" -- that's understandable, except when refering to traffic directions!
  
  
• Mostly a disappointment
  By A1ITD3RGNBKRKI on 2007-07-07
  I wrote a much larger and more comprehensive review, but Amazon somehow dedicded not to publish it. Let's try again.
  
  I rate the device as two stars for the following reasons:
  
  - The navigation functionality of the device is by far the best feature. (go figure) For the most part, it works well, reads street names correctly, and has generally good ideas about navigation. This is where my likes for this device end.
  
  - The device, either when it gets lost or when you make a wrong turn seems to quickly recalculate a new navigation plan. The problem is, it makes impractical turn requests, such as turning in 100 feet when you are driving at 40 MPH! Of course, you miss that turn having not had the chance to cross 4 lanes of traffic in such little time and at that speed, it recalculates again, and the cycle repeats. Eventually you pull over or simply turn the thing off.
  
  - The device gets lost, a lot. It frequently puts me on Main St instead of Elm (I live in Dallas, TX), or thinks I'm traveling north/south when I'm actually driving east/west. And, then the recalculation cycle begins, etc, etc.
  
  - The device takes forever to find the satilites and seems to loose them easily within Dallas proper. It seems to take a lot longer on the high precision mode, but in low precision mode the device is so in accurate it can think I'm blocks away from where I actually am an the navigation becomes absolutely worthless. It works better in the suburbs.
  
  - The Nuvi 680 has an annoying penchant for recommending you drive against traffic on one way streets the wrong way, in particular Continental ave in downtown Dallas. Ignoring the device's request to endanger myself and break the law, this, of course, begins the never ending recalculation cycle mentioned above.
  
  - Unless set to "shortest path", the Nuvi will *always* direct you to a navigation involving expressways, even if it's miles out of your way. In Dallas, this is almost never the "fastest way" as we have many major surface streets that offer "green wave" stoplights and are better for navigation, in particular during busy weekday hours. Set to Shortest Path, the Nuvi does much, much better, but will recommend side streets with tons of stop signs and turns instead of a reasonable compromise of using a major avenue like Ross, Gaston or Live Oak that are only a block or two out of the way. I can only imagine the device has the same failures in other cities if it's this bad in Dallas.
  
  - I bought the device to help me avoid traffic. Using the MSN direct and following the device's advice, I've been jammed in more bad traffic than I ever did before I owned it. Mid day last week, the Nuvi recommended 635 between the Tollway and 75. Now, anyone that's been in Dallas for 2 months knows this is a stupid move -- take Forrest instead. Well, no traffic problems were shown, so I took the Nuvi's advice and promptly sat on the roadway for 20 minutes. This is unacceptable that a decade-old piece of knowledge about the city isn't in the database. $10 says next month when I'm in Boston it routes me right through the big dig.
  
  - The MP3 Player is a travesty. First, it will only play classical and jazz CDs that have a "low level". Pop CDs play very, very distorted. The output level to the FM transmitter is also very low, so you will find yourself *cranking* your radio to hear anything. Don't switch stations if you like your ears!
  
  - The FM Transmitter is really weak. My antenna is only about 3 ft from where I mount the Nuvi, but the reception is noisy, has interference, is waaaaay less in level than other radio stations (I know that's unavoidable to some extent) and sounds so bad I just can't stand to use it. This is a real disappointment in the device.
  
  My recommendation is to purchase a basic navigation system without the frills and MSN direct, which mostly don't work in a satisfactory manner, and save yourself the extra money.
  
  
• My 3rd Garmin in a month, and I'm still missing that Nuvi 650
  By A3G50F5BB1J2CS on 2008-02-12
  I recently received a 650 as a gift. It was a beautiful device. I then decided to get more bells and whistles and got a nuvi 750. Big mistake. The 750 was buggy so I returned it, too many updates to it, etc. POI's were missing. I then decided to return the 650 and get my wife and myself the Nuvi 680. It's has the same beautiful screen as the 650, all the POI names show up, parks, golf courses etc. However, the 680 bluetooth for some reason is not compatible with the bluetooth on my Treo 755p (Sprint). I did get it to work but it freezes my phone the first 2 attempts, then works on the 3rd attempt. My wife has a Blackberry Pearl-8100, from t-mobile, which is on the compatibility list but the Nuvi 680 never finds it or recognizes it at all, go figure. The phone that shouldn't work now does, the phone that should work never has. MSN Direct is typical Microsoft bloatware and undelivered promises. It takes days to receive any data, then looses it if you turn your 680 off for 2 days or more. Microsoft hasn't done anything right since Office '03 or XP. They are all talk and don't really deliver much of anything. MSN Direct gives me movie times for Oakland and SF, 45 miles away, but has never found the AMC-15 exactly 1 mile from my house! Explain that. Gas prices usually show up with no gas station name and no address. Very useful. Traffic reporting is another joke, I won't even get into that. It does give weather info, but I could get that every 12 minutes on my local AM CBS news station. I'm giving it 4 stars only because I love the screen, the color and sharpness of the text and the great job it does as a GPS unit, displaying POI names, etc. It's a great GPS but does everything else rather poorly, and MSN Direct is not free forever after the free trial. I should have stuck with the nice, simple Nuvi 650. Get one at the big box store online while you still can for $299. I got the 680 in their store for $399, it was recently $479 (and still is online). If I weren't so tired returning and buying these things I would just go back to the Nuvi 650. It doesn't require any updates and works great. Also, remember this. I have found that with the bluetooth feature, as simple as bluetooth should be, still continues to be a pain, either crashing my phone or not finding another phone at all. These companies sometimes offer more than they can realistically deliver, but overall the 680 is a nice machine that would be better if it were not for the bluetooth problems and the MSN Direct. I should have known to stay away from anything that Microsoft was involved in. If you want a GPS device without too many gimmicks get the Nuvi 650, or a 6XX series without the MP3 player.
  
  After using a couple of months, I found a new problem. When using the bluetooth feature with my Palm Treo phone, I notice old address book data on my Nuvi. It's like it brings in the very first address book it ever synced with my phone. I have deleted numbers, corrected typos on my phone, but the Nuvi 680 still shows the old data and numbers. I called Garmin and they say it's coming from my phone, but it's not possible because I completely erased everything on my phone (phone software update). I believe the Garmin has a hidden file somewhere that stores phonebook data and it is not updating. My phone had a major firmware update that wiped out everything, so how did the Garmin find an address book that was wiped clean from my cell phone?
  
  
• Save Your Money, Do Not Buy This Product
  By A2OEFQ2N1E92WN on 2008-03-08
  My advice is to save your money and not buy the 680. The MSN feature is worthless and unreliable. I live in Minneapolis (where there's supposedly a strong signal) and yet the MSN system has gone "inactive" seven times in the six months I've owned the 680. Each time means a long wait while MSN re-sends the signal, and the inconvenience of not having the feature work. I have updated the software, pushed every button MSN has suggested, and still the device continues to fail.
  This is the worst major purchase (defined as a product over $500) that I have ever made. So do yourself a favor, and don't make the same mistake I made buying Garmin.
  
  
• Garmin 680
  By A27KH3XEYHBLBA on 2007-05-30
  This is a marvel.
  I travel the roads trying to avoid major Interstates and the Garmin 680 has never let me down.
  I download books and enjoy them as I drive.
  This is a great product.
  
  
• not what I expected
  By AV61FB09JAZ3Q on 2007-11-27
  After purchasing this unit I took several trips trying to use the GPS to guide me. I will never buy another Garmin unit. For most of my trips, I wouldn't have been able to get there using only my Nuvi. There were several streets that the Nuvi couldn't find, streets that were there for decades. For example it was a nightmare trying to guess the Garmin abreviation for County Trunk V. I tried Cty V, Cty Trk V, V, etc. Luckily it was a location I have been to so I was able to drive there without directions. Once I arrived, the street did show up on the map as County Trk V. I constantly have problems in MI with the mile roads, for example trying to enter 6 1/2 mile road etc. I can never figure out the specific spelling or punctuation of a road. Sometimes I had to zoom to it on the map and then tell it to go there--this only works if you already know where you are going and then why would you want a GPS? I found the traffic/weather updates only worked in downtown Chicago, no other place in a 200 mile radius had signal. Another thing that bothered me is the directions along a US highway I was told to take an exit and follow a county highway that weaved through towns and then get back on the original US highway 40 miles later. On the way home it saved me 20 minutes to ignore the Nuvi and just stay on the US highway!
  
  
• A Brilliant Piece of Work
  By A2EE4JL55H7XU4 on 2008-02-27
  The Garmin Nuvi 680 is my first true auto unit on top of handhelds used for work. This is my real experience out of the box.
  
  A friend and I traveled 300 miles in a rare trip to Atlanta, GA to see "Lord of the Dance", staying with area family. Truth is truth, I am a LOUSY road warrior who DESPISES driving in Atlanta. Computer map printouts are near useless around the perimeter because one must know about and PLAN lane changes, sometimes very quickly. I have NO experience with locating the Marietta theater, which already has me sitting on nails, and we unexpectedly discover some Atlanta friends are also going to the show. This creates dinner plans to a restaurant within a half-mile of the theater, but it may as well be 100 miles because I don't have a clue where IT is, either. Now I'm sitting on knives, knowing we better leave for dinner and the theater at 12-noon if we are going to make the 8:00pm show at all.
  
  Instead, we spend daylight at some I-85 shopping centers where I buy the Garmin Nuvi 680 to raise our odds. Here is what happened.
  
  Out of the box, Nuvi immediately locked on to the 'birds' INSIDE our host's house ... impressive. In 10-minutes, I had it ready in the car. Nuvi's street address entry is VERY easy and ABBREVIATED, displaying the correct address with minimal entry! Cool! It only took moments for Nuvi to calculate the route and off we go for the hour ride to the restaurant. Before leaving, I touch our host's street on the screen and Nuvi lets me enter and permanently save full details about our starting point for easy call up when it is time to return.
  
  After 20-minutes, I threw our paper maps away. Apart from the basic route, Nuvi WARNED ABOUT WHICH LANES to use ('Stay Left' or 'Stay Right') and announced the turns in PLENTY of time. It even announced which side of the road to find the restaurant, which was hidden by a hill until the last moment. Bingo-bango-bongo-bam ... THERE IT IS ... right where Nuvi said, arriving within 1-minute of Nuvi's prediction for the hour ride. Nuvis 'text-to-speech' is very good, backed by top-line screen instructions.
  
  Our friends are late and the restaurant is packed. We finish with 10-minutes to make the theater, park and hike it to our seats. Oh, man, I still don't know where we are going and I'm sure we are NOT going to make it. It took 30 seconds to enter the theater address, racing off. My confidence rises as Nuvi guides us through multiple turns straight to the theater parking lot, a new facility only 6 months old. We get to our seats with 1-minute to spare; 6th row ready to enjoy the marvelous spector of Irish dance.
  
  My friend falls in love with the violinist. I'm not so selective wanting to take ALL the talented, beautiful girls home. I'm sure the ladies felt the same about the guys. The performance was teriffic, candy for the eyes and ears with arrival guaranteed by Nuvi.
  
  Charged by the performance, I tell Nuvi to take us back to our hosts house. Nuvi's first route is to enter I-285 on the right side with an immediate exit to I-75 across 4-lanes of heavy traffic on the left. NOT POSSIBLE! Nuvi quickly knows the turn is missed, reports 'Re-calculating', and guides us to a quick and easy turn-around exit that was MUCH safer. This was a lesson not to BLINDLY follow a first pick by any GPS.
  
  It gets better. The term 'Atlanta expressway' is an oxymoron, so I generally take the lesser back roads home for the 5-1/2 hour trip. Nuvi agrees rural roads are better and calculates a route I have never considered before. To my amazement, Nuvi cuts the trip time for the 300 mile trip to 260 miles and 4-hours 50-minutes. 40 minutes FASTER on superior roads which I would have NEVER noted on a paper map. We pulled onto the driveway at the EXACT time Nuvi predicted ... to the MINUTE. The display can be zoomed in/out, while a wide angle route view will AUTOMATICALLY zoom in as a turn is approached, with excellent detail.
  
  While Nuvi 680 has standard and optional features for which I have no use (e.g., Bluetooth), a few really appeal to me. Download your favorite MP3's and Amazon Audible audio books for a more enjoyable trip. The fidelity is very good when Nuvi is told to play them through a quiet, fully selectable FM frequency on your car radio, interupted by Nuvi's brief turn instructions. If you have a car stereo aux input, Nuvi can use it with an optional (Radio Shack) cable. Nuvi will run for an unknown-to-me amount of time on a lithium battery. FM broadcast is through Nuvi's 12-volt adapter cable as a transmit antenna, therefore likely required for the FM feature. When cable powered, Nuvi shuts off with ignition after a 30 second warning that offers the option to stay on with battery power. Nuvi also has a security lock feature that I have not used, yet. When away from home, a 4-digit code would be required to activate the GPS. When at home, Nuvi knows it and bypasses the code requirement. If the unit were to be stolen with this feature in use, the ONLY known way it can be unlocked is by sending it to Garmin. If you have registered your Nuvi, Garmin will know it's a stolen unit.
  
  You can touch the screen on an IDENTIFIABLE point to make an unplanned route change as a new destination or 'via' stop. Gadget geeks may like the MSN traffic, weather, gas-station, 'points of interest' features but I cannot conceive how that can be made to work well as some reviewers opine. Some things still require judgement and brain power.
  
  I don't think it is reasonable to expect any GPS to tell YOU where an unplanned destination can be found and always be accurate. Download Garmin's map updates timely, plan the trip with STREET ADDRESSES in hand and Nuvi WILL confidently guide you right to it. Does it ALWAYS choose right? Not for me. Nuvi wanted to take us down Georgia's I-95 for the last leg home. With on-going (decades) worth of construction amidst very heavy traffic with copious numbers of semis squeezing through narrowed lanes, it is an inordinately DANGEROUS highway which, despite MSN, Nuvi can't judge. Local knowledge prevails. What is marvelous is how quickly Nuvi detects the detour and recalculates the route (a whopping 3-minute difference). When it does detect a 'wrong' turn, it may first try to get you back on the original route. If you purposely miss the second turn, Nuvi gets the idea.
  
  With a Nuvi 680 on board, you can put your road maps in the trunk for emergency use and let Nuvi guide you while entertaining with your favorite music or audio books in the bargain. And if you are a true road warrior that cannot stand to be disconnected from the world with one of those goofy things sticking in the ear ... well, you get your wish, too.
  
  I suppose states that have banned windshield mounts can make the case that a driver may look too much at the GPS, despite a view into the hood, and not enough at the road. I make the case that it is far more dangerous to mount it away from the windshield, forcing one to fully look away from the road. Nuvi's verbal instructions are usually adequate and good judgment dictates looking only when necessary. Display brightness is plenty adequate day and night and fully adjustable. If you need to make ANY meaningful setting change, the socially responsible way to do it is by pulling off the road, first. If you try to do it while driving you ARE being IRRESPONSIBLE and become a danger to everyone else. It is NOT possible to do this, responsibly, while driving. Yet another of our local citizens lost their life in a head-on collision talking on a cellphone with a laptop computer running in the passenger seat. Give me a break!! The worse news is that the driver of the car he hit is also paying the price for this stupidity with a very lengthy and painful hospital stay. No one has this 'right' on public highways.
  
  Well! In the end, I did manage to 'kidnap' a beautiful doll in Atlanta and take her home ... the voice of the lady whom is now known as 'Miss Nuvi'. I shall hold her for a ransom none can pay, such is the beauty of her intellect. Indeed, the charm of Miss Nuvi's excellent features are such that I don't think it's practical to consider buying a car with a built-in unit. Why do that, when the Garmin Nuvi can be transplanted to any car any time.
  
  
• I Love This Thing!
  By ATJE929ETFFNH on 2008-03-30
  I already had two conventional GPS devices before I got the Garmin nuvi 680. To be precise, I should say before I won the nuvi in a raffle. Yes, I'm a lucky bastard.
  
  The reason I bring this up is because I would never have bought what I called a "driving" GPS, not when I had two other perfectly acceptable devices (a Geko 201 and an eTrex, both Garmins). Mainly, I used these for Geocaching and if ever I needed a real-time map, hooking the GPS to my laptop running Streets and Trips was all I needed.
  
  I'm so glad to say I was wrong--the Garmin nuvi 680 is a technological wonder that goes beyond anything I expected. First, the screen is bright and beautiful, the colors simply pop and it all stands out for readability in everything but the most direct sunlight.
  
  Second, the features on it are incredible (a built-in MP3 starts things off nicely and three free audio books from audible.com are included). Featuring a vast database of data, one can easily search for, and more importantly, find just about anything nearby: food, hotels and motels, theaters, ATMs and banks, entertainment. And with the purchase of an MSN Direct subscription--there is a one-year free subscription that comes with the GPS--you get access to the closest gas stations *with pricing*.
  
  I don't need to bore you with the feature set because that's easy to find, but I'll relate my experience in using it. Starting the device is easy: either push the power button (duh) or simply attach it to the car charger/mounting platform which is held to the windscreen by means of a pretty good suction cup that locks into place. If the car is on and providing a charge through to the charger, the device will turn on. How clever and convenient! By the way, I've had rather good performance from the suction cup, but you need to make sure that both the surface of the cup and the windshield is clean.
  
  Actually using the nuvi is easy: the screen is touch sensitive (although I wish it were more sensitive because I feel like I need to almost bang on the screen sometimes to get a result) and the device works by touching "buttons" shown. If you're not a reader of manuals like me, diving in to using it is also easy and very self-explanatory. Grandma shouldn't have too much trouble with this thing. It presents you with a logical flow to things: first, where do you want to go? At this point, that database comes into play.
  
  If it knows the city you're in (hey, it's a GPS!), you can choose to go either to an address, or you can search for other establishments and even parking. All by touching the screen. Now, for safety's sake, you understand this can get a bit distracting while driving and it's not like I haven't changed options and such while driving myself, but care needs taking when you're working the nuvi. It's dangerous to divide concentration like this and in fact, the nuvi shows a warning about this on each boot up to which the user has to acknowledge.
  
  The Bluetooth feature is incredibly useful. It offers a hands-off connection to your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone with all the usual features (voice dialing, etc.). I really found it useful because the driver actually sees the incoming phone number while driving. One pairing exercise is all that's required and from then on, anytime the two are in proximity of each other, they connect up. The sound is excellent and I found I didn't need to raise my voice when using Bluetooth. The really amazing thing is, the nuvi can broadcast to one's car radio.
  
  This means that instead of the small (although powerful) built-in speakers, you can converse with your pesky friend and hear sound throughout your car! MP3s and audio books can also be broadcast through the radio. This features is hit-or-miss for me though; there are times I can't get the transmission to work and others it works great! I'm still experimenting with this and with the various frequencies to find the best.
  
  As a GPS user, I know that GPS signals are attenuated or degraded in certain conditions--like buildings in most downtown areas. Heavy overhead tree cover will also attenuate signals, but in my experimentation so far, the logic built into the nuvi seems to handle these problems quite well: it simply "knows" which street you're on, even if it's only receiving a partial set of satellite signals. I'm not 100% sure about this, but it seems to make sense.
  
  A word (the last) on the turn-by-turn guidance and instructions. This is one feature I LOVE. Why? Well, say I have a turn coming up to the left but right afterwards, I need to be in the right lane because either my destination is on the right or the next turn is coming up on the right. Well, the nuvi handles this perfectly by giving you this exact information. That right there is the reason I'll be buying another nuvi if this one, hopefully not for a while, bites the dust.
  
  Excellent, REALLY excellent.
  
  
• Good GPS, MSN not as good, know these issues before buying
  By A26XBZ4DUWMPZC on 2007-07-13
  This is my first GPS, and I was excited that it looked like GPS's had evolved to the point they are now. I wanted the top of line and maximum coolness, and that looked like the Nuvi 680. I've had it now for 2 months, doing mostly local driving along with one vacation. I do enjoy what I got. However, it isn't as good as I had expected.
  
  Mostly in this review, I'm looking at what makes the 680 special, the MSN direct features - are these worth the extra $150 or so you pay over a nuvi 660? I have my doubts. This feels like a first generation feature - there's minimal content/presentation and it doesn't work that well.
  
  MSN Direct features:
  
  The hardware:
  
  - My MSN FM antenna built into the charger works poorly. I got quite used to seeing "no signal" even after many layouts of the cable and re-seating the plug. I would frequently do a 45 minute rush hour commute in the SF bay area down 101 from San Mateo to Palo Alto and not get a signal the whole time. Finally, with much experimenting, I found that if I unplug the charger, and lay the cable out in a straight line from my dashboard to the back seat it does reliably get a signal. Of course, that means it's not charging the battery...
  - Possibly due to the prior issue, I do not get good updates while the unit is off and attached to the charger/antenna. Typically, it looks like it's starting fresh each time I turn it on.
  - Even if I did get good updates while it's off, most of the time I don't want to leave it in the car or attached to the mount. There's been enough articles about GPS smash and grab thefts, and even Garmin recommends removing your unit and not keeping it in the glove compartment. I can stick the Nuvi in my pocket, but not with a mount and strung out antenna attached. The only place this feature is good for is in my garage.
  - Keep in mind the mount is practically required to be attached for traffic and weather data. That data expires quickly, and if you are out without the mount attached, you can't even view recent data.
  
  The content - traffic:
  
  - I'm definitely disappointed. The data seems 15 minutes or so delayed, or at least it's not reliable enough to outright trusted. Today, with a signal a good 30 min before getting on 101, it showed 3 miles of yellow and 5 miles of green. For the yellow, it was 65 mph, and then right as I transitioned to green, it went to 40 mph, eventually down to 25 mph for the first 3 miles of green. Having issues like this is very common - at least half of my yellows are wrong, although I usually travel on the tail of the rush hour commute. I kept checking until I got to my destination and even with a reboot, the colored status did not change. If the status is red, I've found that to be fairly reliable, consistent with a ~15 minute delay.
  - An annoyance until you learn you can't trust it is that the traffic time estimations for traffic delays are inaccurate. It looks like it assumes a fixed speed for a red (15 mph?) or yellow (30 mph?), and there's a huge time difference between a 20 mph red and 5 mph (or even stopped!) red.
  - The incident alert detail is laughable, it's summary you'd see from the map, plus a word or too. If there were the detail you'd hear in a radio news report (5 car pile-up, road block, vs. minor bender off the side), it would have been so cool.
  - If there's an incident it will usually flag where the backup for that incident begins, not where it actually is. This is fine, but surprising until you realize what's going on.
  - It does give you a fair general idea of what the traffic situation is, but is not suitable quality for making 5-10 minute delay level decisions.
  
  The content - gas prices:
  
  - I knew going in that it only has ~50% of gas stations listed. Unfortunately, many of the ones not listed are the independents which have cheaper prices. The Arco at the Delaware St and 92 in San Mateo doesn't come up, and is often has the best in the area.
  - I really wish it would let you sort by price. That would have been cool, and it would have been so easy to do.
  - The gas prices are mostly reliable, although it's not beyond an error or two. That Shell station $0.20 cheaper than everyone else was not correct. Kudos for listing how recent the price is, although I found that old prices are equally reliable. It just means the station hasn't changed its price.
  - How I use it, is that I look at all the prices to get a feel for what's a good price now and not. Then I look around at the ones I'm passing and see if I can beat it. Around here, Arco is almost always the cheapest (they don't take credit cards), along with a independents (which vary significantly). In a hurry, it's good to know I'm not getting a bad price.
  - Around home, the gas stations I used previously were really the cheapest ones, so not as much benefit there as I hoped. It's definitely good for finding the cheap ones in a new neighborhood.
  
  The content - weather
  - Works reasonably as advertised, but for someone spoiled by weather.com, the content does feel small. Current/today, and the next three days, no more.
  - At times it will report "San Mateo" instead of the more detailed Redwood City/San Carlos, etc. Probably it needs more time to download.
  - Occasionally, it will come out with a "Severe weather warning", and the time that warning expires. That's cool, but what isn't there is detail on what the warning is about. I got one on a sunny clear day that was staying that way. Maybe it was for high winds? Something specific to Half Moon Bay? Not a clue.
  
  The content - movies
  - I thought I'd never use this, but lo and behold there I was, vacationing and wanting to see Ratatouille. Sad to say it never was able to pull up all the nearby theaters, even after I left the GPS in the car all night with the antenna attached (the manual claims 6 hours to download everything - ugh). I wound up checking the times on my Treo.
  - It would have been cool if there was a sort by time/next showing feature. It's 1pm, and I want to catch the next available showing. What I had to do, is look at the each of the theaters to get the times and after looking at the nearest 8 or so, figure what the best time was. It would be so much better to see when the next showing is on the right side of the line that is showing the theater name.
  
  MSN direct conclusion report card:
  - Hardware/delivery mechanism of content to the device: D
  - Completeness of the content: C
  - Accuracy of the content: non-traffic B; traffic D
  - Presentation of the content on the device: B
  
  Non MSN direct features (i.e. Nuvi 660 equiv):
  
  Regular GPS functional is very good. It has worked indoors, so it's great at keeping a signal, and usually warm boots to have GPS location within 30 seconds or so. Cold boots are more like 5 minutes.
  
  Routing is good, with caveats. I use "faster time" for route preference. The caveat is the routing appears to use a fixed speed based on the road size. So it has no knowledge of traffic lights or local off-major highway traffic hot spots that can seriously change what route may be desired.
  
  The map is good, but you can encounter one-way streets or road breaks that aren't on the map. GPS does not replace looking at the road.
  
  Feature Loves:
  
  - Bluetooth speakerphone - although it does have trouble staying connected to the when the phone is not a call
  - Surprisingly, I love the ETA feature for a route, and it is extremely accurate if you mentally add the time you'll be sitting at red lights along your route.
  - I love having an MP3 player in this, but see the notes about it under Annoyances.
  - Great form factor
  - Screen is nice bright and visible
  
  Feature Annoyances:
  
  - MP3 player playlists/searching - The songs/albums/playlist are displayed as a list, 4 at a time. No problem if you've got 10 to look through but put a $15 2GB card with 400 songs and 50 playlists. Some type of foldering/hierarchy setup would have been nice.
  - A LOT of places of interest aren't listed. Just going down a main road, it has something like half of the restaurants and a third of the stores. It is better with the major chains, but not perfect.
  - I wish the points of interest had a mode where they could display bigger on the screen. Say I'd like see all post offices near my route over the next 20 miles. Right now, I can only see all POIs in near max zoom in, and even then they are 8x8 pixels or even worse a 4x4 pixel dot. I have to try 3 or 4 times at my desk to get my finger exactly on that icon to get the info. Garmin could take a clue from Tomtom here.
  - The FM transmitter is all but useless - The SF Bay area has no suitable blank spots, but even away from that, it didn't overcome the static suitably to make it an enjoyable listening experience. Best if you have a car that can use the audio out port.
  
  Conclusion:
  GPS functionality: A
  Other features: A
  
  
  
• GPS is Great; MSN Direct Works Poorly; Don't Buy Nuvi 680
  By A2QRXQPHDMFCQV on 2007-08-09
  GPS part is great, works well, touch screen is very sensitive, display is sharp, controls are intuitive and route calculation is quick. MP3 player and Bluetooth work like they are supposed too. POI database is reasonable but not extensive. Windshield suction cup does not stick very well, comes off midst of driving.
  
  MSN Direct part is hit and miss and does not work consistently. MSN FM receiver is built into the vehicle power charger which is supposed to power and charge the unit while driving; but it does not do that. I have to bring it inside to charge on the AC outlet. Battery life is 6 hours and if you are on a long driving day, you are out of luck, as recently happened to me in LA. After working for about 30 minutes or so MSN Direct will lose connection. GPS gives an error message that FM receiver is not connected even though all the cables and connections are in place. But Microsoft works on a different paradigm, that things do not work all the time!
  
  Unfortunately, I am beyond the return period, otherwise I would trade it for Nuvi 660. Or look at Navigon 7100 which provides lifetime of free traffic. My advice is not to buy Nuvi 680, instead look at these 2 and other alternatives.
  
  
• Don't leave home without it
  By A1ZUPXUG7UM2QR on 2007-09-07
  2,500 miles into a summer driving trip, our new 680 has transformed our route planning, swept away the challenges of navigating unfamiliar territory and unexpected detours, and has made exploring side roads enjoyable. The user interface is very well executed, with lots of convenience at your fingertips. It relegetes the book of maps to secondary importance.
  Tapping in a bunch of favorites for a trip, directly into the GPS can be a bit tedious. So I entered all our key stops (Points of Interest) for the entire trip into "My Places" on poi-factory, and downloaded them as one file, first onto the PC, then onto the GPS. The Bluetooth interface with your cell phone is slick, making the GPS a hands-free speakerphone, with your entire cell phone directory displayed on the GPS screen, and voice dialing intact.
  While driving along, if someone needs to make a pit stop, just search for fast food restaurants or a gas station, and it'll list them in order of distance from you, and indicate whether you're approaching or have passed them. Choose one, touch the "Go" button, and it'll guide you directly to it, then put you back on the road to your destination.
  The MSN Direct service functions only in major metro areas and is imperfect, but can be a time saver. One time, because of a construction zone traffic tie-up, it routed us off an Interstate for about 4 miles, then back on. It's not perfect, but it's amazing. Every once in awhile, it gets confused, but then, so do I. If you don't need the MSN Direct service, get the 660 for less money, but otherwise the same features.
  
  
• Nuvi 680 Great - but MSN Direct Stinks
  By A2WAPVDIMA3J82 on 2007-09-16
  I love my Nuvi 680, but I think I would have liked the 660 better. My only dissatisfaction with the 680 is with MSN Direct not really with Garmin. Although Garmin did accept my premium dollars for the MSN Direct features. Garmin should offer to swap the MSN Direct receiver/power cord with the TMC FM receiver power cord so those of us that purchased the 680 for the real-time traffic features can actually receive them. The problem is with MSN Direct.
  
  MSN Direct reception in the Chicago-land area is pitiful. MSN Direct tells you that when you call them with difficulties registering and downloading. Isn't it odd that no one tells you about this known issue BEFORE you purchase this item for delivery to a known reception trouble area? So even though you are not receiving a reliable MSN Direct signal, your "free" subscription (which is really included in the premium price you pay for this unit) continues to expire. Until MSN Direct can give me green bar signals on a reasonably regular basis, my subscription should not be decremented on a daily basis.
  
  From what I have read since, the TMC traffic reception is in fact better. But now I would have to purchase, at more additional cost to me, the TMC power cord / receiver just to get the same functions provided in the 660 out of the box. OK, I would not have movie times, gas prices, and weather, but since MSN Direct can't seem to transmit those to me anyway, at least I would have updated traffic. Had I bought the 660 in the forst place, I would even have some spare $$$ in my pocket.
  
  If you look at the Garmin site, it seems they are also unhappy with MSN Direct, as the new units coming out this fall will use TMC.
  
  The Garmin 680 unit itself is excellent. I love the main GPS features, the Bluetooth mobile phone connection, but all of these are available in lesser priced units. I paid a premium for the MSN Direct features that CAN NOT BE RECEIVED, at least in my area. MSN Direct could not possibly be more arrogant on the phone. Garmin assistance personnel on the other hand, could not be nicer, although they can not be expected to fix the MSN Direct issues.
  
  Just as a note, the audio output to an FM channel "works", however in my area there is no decent FM station to utilize for this function, so we are stuck with unit audio.
  
  Call MSN Direct BEFORE you buy the 680 or any other unit with MSN Direct to get some assurance that there is adequate reception in your area to make use of the features you are paying a premium for. Otherwise, buy the 660, or wait for the newer models coming out this fall that will offer a nice mark my parking spot feature, helping you find your way back to your car in large parking areas.
  
  
  
• Garmin Nuvi 680
  By A1HIH9SFGPAOPJ on 2007-07-24
  Awesome product. I have both the Nuvi 680 and the 350. I think the 350 is a much better value. The screen size difference (Nuvi 680 is 1 inch larger)is nice. The other bells and whistles on the 680,unless you live in your car 24/7 are not worth the significant price increase.
  
  
• MSN Direct service ruins this equipment
  By AO0I7GFX319ON on 2007-07-29
  This unit is beautiful to look at but has major flaws in the MSN Direct implementation. I bought this unit mainly for the Traffic feature - which has proved useless and terrible.
  
  PROS:
  * Big beautiful screen.
  * Speakerphone is excellent, although Bluetooth can be buggy.
  * Satellite acquisition is very fast.
  
  CONS:
  * Before you purchase, do a search to see if your area is covered by MSN Direct - and do NOT trust the MSN maps on their website. Coverage in NYC, NJ, and Staten Island is terrible - basically non-existent and useless - even though the MSN Direct website shows full coverage. I am on my third MSN Direct receiver after being sent 2 replacement cables by Garmin, and all three have had the same issues. California seems better.
  
  * MSN Direct Traffic (when it is actually receivable) content is often completely wrong in and around New York City - particularly on weekends, and especially for the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels.
  
  * Charger cable needs to basically be attached to the unit (which is only possible by using the vehicle mount) continually for content to be updated. This makes removal from the vehicle undesirable in order to get updated content, but of course leaving the unit in the car raises that danger of theft. A catch-22.
  
  * If the charger is disconnected from the Nuvi unit for more than a day or two, a reconnection process appears to take place and the Nuvi does not have new usable information for 20-30 minutes.
  
  * Cannot program custom avoidances for undesirable roads/areas.
  
  * No saving of routes.
  
  SUMMARY:
  The unit looks beautiful, but it's features are sorely lacking and definitely not worth the premium price charged for the MSN content.
  
  
• Well designed GPS, but too expensive w/ useless features
  By A3CUX8G6FBO2PW on 2007-08-07
  The Nuvi 600 series GPS's have very clear and bright widescreens. They're the perfect shirt-pocket size. The menu's are intuitive and the touchscreens make using them easy. Navigation is generally very good. Overall, they are well designed products that are highly useful.
  
  The negatives: The MSN Direct feature on the 680 is worse than useless. It routes _to_ traffic jams by sending you off major roads to even more severely clogged secondary roads. I've been repeatedly stung by this and finally gave up and turned off the navigation option to bypass heavy traffic. Also, the MSND data is untimely and erroneous: it'll show heavy traffic ahead that has already cleared or won't show it when it's there.
  
  Weather data is also untimely: I've experienced two storms (one quick and fierce where it'd have been good to get off the road) and the 680 showed a weather alert _after_ these storms had passed! Listening to the radio or looking at the sky provides far better weather info.
  
  The FM audio output is also useless. There are rarely usable frequencies in major metro areas, and if you travel any distance, you'd have to fiddle for a long time on the side of the road to get a frequency in a new area. Listening to static gets annoying real quick. And of course, you can't listen to the radio... just static.
  
  I haven't used the bluetooth.
  
  Save a couple hundred $ and get one of the cheaper 600 series Nuvi's, like the 650. I'm a techie who wants all the features, but, this is just being honest. Europe's Galileo GPS stuff is coming on line in a year or so, and better traffic data services will also arrive soon (i.e. HD radio). Apply the savings towards the next generation of GPS.
  
  

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