Garmin nüvi 650 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator Reviews

• Nuvi 650 stripped down from the 660 packaging

  
  By A2K2LS0606F6R4 on 2007-07-28
  I have have a been a long time Garmin GPS customer including three generations of the Streetpilot. I am very pleased with the Nuvi 650 echoing some of the praises you've read here in the reviews.
  
  However for those of who are on the fence about getting the 650 versus the 660 for the extra Bluetooth, FM transmitter and traffic receiver, I want to offer you some more reasons to consider the 660. The Nuvi 650 does not include the leather carrying case, AC adapter and printed manual which comes standard with the 660 packaging ($50 value).
  
  As a an old time Garmin user, I am used to having these items come with my GPS. In addition, the Nuvis do not include CD/DVD map software nor the friction mount (must buy separately esp. for California and Minnesota). Considering how easy it is now for users to access the memory space of the Nuvi from their computers, it's much easier to corrupt the system unintentially. Thats when you'll need the original map software to recover.
  
  Don't get me wrong, I do like the Nuvi 650 over my Streetpilot 2720 for it's size, improve user interface and the SirF Star III receiver for much more reliable GPS reception. But I can only give this product 4 stars because of the lack of accessories that I find essential for my usage and yet comes standard for the Nuvi 660, 670 and 680.
  
  

• Garmin Nuvi has Glaring Omissions

  
  By A37LDHWX8QHLHN on 2007-06-05
  I have been in the market for an automotive GPS for a year or so. I have an old Garmin handheld unit that has been fantastic with many useful features. I put off buying an automotive GPS because the manufacturers are so obsessed with the dainty little 3.5 inch displays. That's great if you want to put it in your pocket, or for pedestrian use, but it's woefully inadequate for automotive use. Unfortunately, there are no reasonable options out there with a large enough screen, except for the Garmin StreetPilot 7200, which has a 7" display. And that model is way overpriced, and doesn't even have a built in battery.
  
  After waiting a long time, I decided to buy the best deal out there with a display larger than the 3.5". At first I waited for the release of the new Mio C520 with the 4.3" display. But after checking it out at Circuit City, was disappointed. The Mio has tiny faint control icons that are barely visible and spaced very close together. Plus the menu icons used tiny fonts that were barely legible. Same problem with the top banner that provided directions and cross street info. Also, the colors they chose for the controls buttons didn't have enough contrast between the button background and font; whereas the Garmin use high contrast colors on their buttons/icons and larger fonts. Even the 3.5" Garmins were more legible than the larger Mio. Amazing a manufacturer could come so close and then botch it on something so basic.
  
  Here's the pro's and con's of the Garmin Nuvi 650.
  Pro's:
  1) Bright display and good contrasting colors on control buttons/icons.
  2) Thin case that allows more versatility in mounting.
  3) Great/quick satellite reception.
  4) MP3 and JPG viewer features (which I have no need for).
  5) Great hardware/software quality and stability.
  6) Allegedly good customer support (although I haven't needed it yet, that was a serious factor).
  7) Unit powers on/off automatically with vehicle when plugged into 12 volt receptacle.
  
  Cons:
  1) Overpriced. The larger display simply does not justify the price hike over the smaller Nuvis. Even at 25% off MSRP, I don't feel it was a value. If not for restocking fees, I would consider returning it.
  2) Needs an even larger display. The reviews referring to the display as "large" and to the StreetPilot 7200 as "huge" are ridiculous. Auto manufacturers would never get away with putting anything less than a 7" or 8" Nav display in cars.
  3) Needs some type of lanyard or wrist strap for hand carrying and securing to bicycle or motorcycle. I use this GPS on my motorcycle and would like a lanyard to securely fasten the device in case it pops out of the cradle while hitting a bump or at high speed. GPSs are simply too expensive to not provide this basic security feature.
  4) At over $500, this thing should at least come with some basic padded case or preferrably a hard case with padding to protect the device and the display.
  5) Doesn't leave a bread crumb trail showing where you've been.
  6) The jpeg viewer doesn't automatically resize photos to fit the screen. To view photos requires much tedious button pushing.
  7) No north pointer in the 3D map mode.
  8) The map starts to rotate as you approach an intersection even though the vehicle hasn't started to turn. If you then stop, the map is not properly oriented and it is difficult to align what is straight ahead in the real world with what the map is trying to show.
  9) The most glaring omission is the restriction to only one via point when planning a route. This is simply inexcusable, particularly when even the cheapest hand held units have more extensive route planning capabilities. If you are planning a trip across the US, it is impossible to plan a route incorporating more than one desired stop. I generally know exactly where I want to go and which roads I want to take to get there. I want the GPS to cue me as the turns approach and to calculate trip info. Unfortunately, Garmin is bent on playing the backseat driver and only permitting me to select the final destination and one via point. It does this well if that's all you want. I'm hoping future software updates will rectify this problem.
  
  Some additional features I'd like to see in a GPS:
  1) More extensive/manual route planning.
  2) A built in electronic compass so the unit knows it's orientation as well as position when not in motion (GPS only provides position). By the way, some hand held units have this feature.
  
  All that said, the Garmin Nuvi 650 is as advertised and performs the provided features well.
  
  In summary, I recommend waiting 6 months or a year as GPS prices are dropping drastically and manufacturers are starting to offer larger displays. The Nuvi 650 has potential, and it could earn another star from me with some software updating to make it more of a value (route planning enhancements, north pointer, etc.).
  
  

• How can anyone possibly be happy with this???

  
  By AMWC3NSUXEGHN on 2007-10-18
  First of all I'd like to start this review by saying that I got this as a replacement for my TomTom One XL. I was very happy with my TomTom, the reason I needed the Nuvi was for the Mount with integrated cables and the mount design itself. This is the only system that worked in my car in the space I wanted it in. Yes, Garmin has by far the best and the most convenient mount. You don't have to dislodge the suction cup, but rather just snap the unit off and the suction cup stays in place. This was extremely important in my application. Also it has a very long battery life compared to TomTom XL. Now to the review of the device itself. How silly is it that you can not input a zip code? Garmin can't do that. It is hard to believe but every time you input an address where you want to go you have to go through the whole find city/state routine instead of just putting in a zip code. The second disadvantage is the Keyboard layout. It is alphabetic. And you have no option to change that. An alphabetic keyboard is extremely slow. TomTom has a choice between three different keyboard layouts including QWERTY like on the computer. in the NUVI When you search for address you have to go through the whole city state routine every time instead of just having an option of searching for an address in the city you are in currently. It is extremely slow to input address as well. What would take a few seconds in TomTom takes a minute or two in Garmin. The interface is very narrow minded, no customization and very few options. There is no way to plan a trip beforehand and have multiple stops. There is no way to avoid certain roads. There is no way to use certain roads. The nuvi is just point A to Point B or point A to Point B with Point C in the Middle. That's It!? TomTom has an itinerary planning option that allows you to plan the whole trip with multiple stops. Or even numerous trips. Where TomTom comes with software to update your device and to load different, map colors, voices..., Garmin gives you just one map color. TomTom gives you so much more. it is just a much more fully featured device. The Nuvi is just so basic and slow. Now on to the worst part. Accuracy is very poor sometimes. It constantly confuses service roads and highways, direction of travel and current location. In NYC it is a disaster. The routes it chooses are also idiotic. TomTom does not nearly make so many mistakes. Another really annoying thing is the road input. You have to know exactly how it is spelled in the NUVI. I had to go once to 125 Route 59 East. Half hour after getting behind the wheel and I was still in the garage. The only way I found it is through the POI search. It turns out that you had to spell it Hwy 59 West. And that's the only way Garmin knew the road. I tried RT 59, Route 59, Just 59, Highway 59, RT 59 E, Route 59 East and many many more combinations and it still didn't see it. Combined with inability to input the Zip Code, I couldn't even find it by browsing the map. In TomTom it took less then two seconds. I just inputted 59 and immediately there were options on the screen while I was still typing. The options were Rt 59 East, Rt 59 West. So easy! This is how it should be. Garmin didn't even have east, only had west. One thing I will fault TomTom on is POIs. Let's say you are looking for Costco in your vicinity. TomTom shows the name and that's it No address. If there are numerous locations, the only way to know which location you are gong to is actually go there. Now there is an update that fixes that but TomTom still does not give you phone numbers for POIs. Garmin is much better in the way POI's are organized also. ie. Restaurants are organized by cuisine; Italian, French, German etc. In the end the Negatives greatly outweigh the positives in the Nuvi. So it is back to TomTom for me. I will have to fabricate something to get it mounted in the spot I want but I can not live with the NUVI!
  
  

• Nice GPS, just a little overpriced

  
  By A1J4IAO9OCSRD8 on 2007-09-08
  We purchased this unit, our second Garmin Nuvi for moving to Texas on about 4/1/07. We have a 350 and now this 650. I'm not sure of the maps version we got and it has the matte screen. Overall, we're very satisfied but it's not perfect. We had to send the first sample we purchased back due to a dead pixel and a faulty touch screen. Ironically we had to send our first Nuvi back also. The second model arrived flawless. Since then we've made the following observations.
  
  Pros
  - Talks to you with the street names, saving having to look at the screen as often. How much is your safety worth?
  - Attractive form factor, small enough but yet large enough
  - Good battery life
  - Saves gas and time, and reduces getting lost, even around your own town.
  - Display, nice wide form factor. we are pleased with the daylight and nightime performance.
  - Startup time seems MUCH faster than the 350.
  
  Cons:
  - Seems pricy for what you get
  - Dozens of roads in the internal map software were not accurate causing much confusion when driving. This is a software map issue, not a hardware issue. Maps were not accurate.
  
  

• Outdated technology in a pretty package.

  
  By A24P6AJZA577CG on 2007-06-09
  Let me preface this by saying I'm not new to GPS, and have used an old reliable Garmin GPS-V on long road trips for several years with excellent results. Being "early" technology from Garmin, my good 'ol GPS-V suffered from some drawbacks such as slow RS-232 data transfer (no USB), small monochrome display, limited and non-expandable internal map memory (only 19 MB), and a tedious method of data entry. All that notwithstanding, it was reliable and efficient as a rock and worked great, and had many excellent and useful "extra" features. My favorite of it's many features was the efficient way it made use of routes and waypoints. Not only can it download and store many routes and many waypoints within each route from your PC, but it will constantly show me in real time the distance, time, and ETA to the next way point and/or the next turn, in addition to the distance, time, and ETA to final destination. The old GPS-V also had a ton of the usual features such as current elevation with graphics and elevation gains, trip info (distance, stopped time, cumulative mileage, current speed, average speed, etc. etc., ad infinitum.
  
  Fast forward to last week when my wife gave me a spanking new Nuvi 650 for Father's Day. Wow, what a display difference. Eye candy heaven! I loved the touch screen "buttons", the relatively large (compared to my old GPS-V) brilliant and sharp color display, the clever easy-release ball mount, and the huge POI database. I tried it out around town and it worked wonderfully. I figured that five years of rapid technical advancement in the GPS field would be mine with my new Nuvi 650. Well, guess what. A lot of my enthusiasm for my new toy came to a screeching halt when I decided to plug in a route with a bunch of waypoints for an upcoming 800 mile road trip, and realized I could only have ONE (count 'em, one!) "via" point (waypoint) between the start and end of the entire trip. Are you kidding me? That is a HUGE step backwards in GPS technology, and makes no sense at all to me unless the idea was to just quickly sell a pretty but grossly dumbed-down, idiot-proof device that was best suited to finding grandma's house across town. Considering the price of this thing, this is in my opinion totally unsatisfactory. It means on an 800 mile trip via long cross country highways like interstate 40 it will tell you the "next" turn is maybe 6 hours from now. Gimme a break. With my old GPS-V I could plug in dozens of small towns or spots I might want to see along the way, and it would keep a running display of not only how far and how long to the end of my trip but how far and how long to each of the waypoints along the way, thus breaking up (at least psychologically) a long and boring drive into something more interesting and palatable. Heck, this thing won't even store routes, period! The route you are on when you punch "GO" is the only route you get. Want another route? Want to repeat a trip, or do an "inverse" trip using the same path on return? With the GPS-V just scroll down the list of your previously downloaded routes and pick one, and you're off and running. With the Nuvi, you need to create another brand new route every time, and you are allowed only a single waypoint in that route.
  
  It is absolutely stunning to me that Garmin chose to actually build LESS technology and usefulness into this new Nuvi GPS than my 5 or 6 year old GPS-V has. What kind of technology advancement is THAT? They appear to have decided to build and sell these based on simplicity and flashiness, and on that they have succeeded, because it is super simple to use, the display is certainly very flashy and pretty, and data entry can be done by a third grader. But sadly, when you look behind all of this glitter, this is a deliberately crippled version of Garmin's own 5-year old GPS technology. What a waste. The Nuvi 650 is a '96 Ford sedan with a flashy metalflake paint job and loud pipes. In other words, it's all show and no go.
  
  My new Nuvi 650 is not totally useless, because I'll use if for around town and short trips, where I pretty much don't care about waypoints or elevation anyway. But beyond that it IS almost useless, and on my long road trips I'll continue to squint at the postage stamp display on my old GPS-V. Heck, for $600 the Nuvi doesn't even tell you elevations. Shame on you, Garmin. You got me this time, but I'll be more careful next time I buy. For serious road trip use, the Nuvi 650 doesn't cut it. As far as I'm concerned Garmin can continue to sell Nuvi's to the Ipod market, or to the folks who spend all day watching Paris Hilton footage on CNN and whose technological capabilities don't extend past using the TV remote. For serious long distance road use, it's a no go for me.
  
  I gave it three stars instead of two only because of the super-nice display and very slick touch-screen operation.
  
  
• Very Nice Travel Assistant
  By A2F25UERHUS5RV on 2007-05-23
  This Nuvi 650 is a a nice upgrade that is long overdue for me. I've been using the Garmin eMap for 7 years, and really appreciate the features of a well-made GPS. So what sets this unit apart ?
  - The design of this unit is excellent - It feels solidly made, and has a look of high quality.
  - The wide display on the 650 is bright fast, and easy to read at a glance. The touchscreen works beautifully. Response to input is quick and consistent.
  - The 3D mapping on the widescreen helps to address one of the biggest challenges using a small electronic display vs a large paper map. With the 3D perspective, you can see a field much larger than can be displayed in 2D, so there's less need to zoom out to see roads that would be beyond the 2D window.
  - The pre-loaded 6 million points of interest are amazing. In just a few days this unit has pointed out many local POIs I didn't even know existed. When I travel in unfamiliar territory, I frequently need to find a restaurant or bank or other POI and now I am confident I'll save time and aggravation, locating them quickly. Plus, the support for downloadable POI-TourGuides adds an interesting new dimension to sightseeing via GPS guided audio tours.
  - Sound output is also very good, connected to my car stereo thru the aux input.
  - Cost of the unit was a factor, and I saved some money vs the 660 by skipping unneeded features: Bluetooth, and FM transmitter.
  
  OK, I gave it four stars and not five - Why ?
  -The routing software is very good, and the voice prompts are very clear and timely, and ultimately it gets you there, but like other portable units, occasionally it will choose an odd path that is less than ideal, and send you off on an unnecessary parallel detour.
  - I miss the Tracking "bread-crumbs" feature that records your movement, and is useful for back-tracking.
  - The picture viewer displays large jpegs, and zooms them, but the initial view is small, not zoomed to fit the window. And zooming is slow. Ideally, it would auto-zoom & "remember" the zoom from the last time viewed.
  - MP3 player only plays MP3s, no support for WMA, which most of my music is formatted to. And no equalizer or tone controls.
  
  
  
• Good, but not perfect
  By AYUIU2YCXQQX3 on 2007-09-05
  Had this GPS exactly one month, so I'm still learning about it. However, it's an extremely convenient, easy-to-see, great sized navigation tool. Can easily fit in a jacket pocket to take with me anywhere. I find it helpful just about every time I use it, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
  
  But it's not the perfect answer, just a tool. You have to be aware of what it's telling you, and make decisions based on your knowledge and common sense.
  
  Pros:
  --Large, bright screen (which can switch to a dark backlight when it gets dark out).
  --Text-to-speech directions pretty clear (occasional weird pronunciation.)
  --Remembers lots of places you've been, easy to save places as favorites.
  
  Cons:
  --Need to understand what the Nuvi believes is fastest versus shortest, and when you may want to turn off highways as part of the navigation.
  --Sometimes the nuvi does NOT tell you to bear right or left as a road forks, and if you're not looking at the screen, you won't realize it (until the GPS-voice-with-an-attitude tells you that it's recalculating).
  --The precise locations of things is more of a rarity than you may think. As an example, the nuvi is locating my "home" on the street that runs 150 feet behind my house. If it's accurate to within 200 or 300 feet, that's a football field away from where you actually are.
  --It sometimes doesn't announce turns in advance (doesn't happen often, but does happen).
  --Do yourself a favor and buy (separately) the friction mount (sandbag-style) rather than bothering with the suction cup mount that's included. You'll love it, it's easy to move (either from car to car, or to put under you seat so that thieves don't see it and break in). Absolutely should be the standard mount.
  
  Additional comments:
  The 650 doesn't include a few features, such as bluetooth, that are standard in the 660 and above. If you use audio books or play music through the MP3 player, bluetooth would enable you to play through your car stereo. If you don't care about that, the 650 is a better deal.
  
  No printed manual is included -- just a Quick Start pamphlet. Do yourself a favor and go to the garmin site and download the manual right away. It'll answer a ton of questions for you and clear up things that are not obvious.
  
  
• Great Unit with a couple glitches
  By A1D37W4ZXRRMK4 on 2007-05-25
  I've only had this unit a couple days and am mostly impressed. I haven't had the opportunity to use all the features but the ones I've used have worked very well. However, there is one exception.There is a four month old highway about 5 blocks from my home and the unit doesn't recognize it. Also, there is a Walmart about 3 miles from my home that has been open for about 3 years and the device also doesn't recognize it. Actually, it sends me to a Walmart about 20 miles away. I called Garmin about these concerns and was advised that I must wait for an update to be available in the fall. Hopefully, at no cost. I understand they only update these babies once every 12 to 18 months. That really concerns me.I purchased a brand new unit with year old data. Not too smart.At the price one must pay for these products they should be updated free every 6 months, at a bare minimum. Other than the above mentioned items ,it is a pretty nice unit and I think I made the right choice. Only time will tell. One caution for everyone, Check with the manufacturer of the unit you're considering purchasing to be sure it has been recently updated, otherwise you have up to an 18 month old program in a brand new unit.UGH!
  
  
• Everything I Expected
  By AJP7A85BC2KB7 on 2007-06-29
  I had a Garmin Ique 3600 that I've been happy with for several years. My father-in-law began talking about driving from California to Oklahoma this summer. I told him he needed a GPS for the trip. So I began my research for a GPS that would be easy to use and not a complete fortune. When I got done researching I decided on the Garmin Nuvi 650. He didn't need the Bluetooth or traffic tracking capabilities of the higher units, but a larger screen than the 300 series would be a benefit. I convinced myself that I needed to test drive the unit before recommending it for him to buy (okay, rationalization to get one for myself because it seemed to be a really nice unit that my family would appreciate as well).
  
  I purchased mine for about $460. When it arrived, I was up and running within 15 minutes. The menus were intuitive and easy to figure out (good because there is only a printed quick start guide...you have to access the digital manual using the USB connection and access the file located on the Garmin with a computer). The satellite acquisition is pretty quick (really quick compared to either of my GPSs from a couple years ago). In fact, I was able to lock on satellites from inside the house! The voice commands are clear and you can choose from a male of female voice and from several different languages (which my daughter enjoyed, but following the directions in Italian, which we don't speak, was challenging although not impossible). The suction cup mount that came with the unit is adequate if you clean the windshield where you intend to mount the unit and slightly moisten the suction cup. I purchased the bean bag friction mount which is easier to use in different cars.
  
  I am very happy with the unit and had no problem recommending it to my in-laws who are not really tech savvy. My mother-in-law had the unit operating in less than an hour and they used it to get around town that afternoon. That's a testimonial in of itself!
  
  
• Garmin vs. Magellan
  By A2VGIS0K5SY9YF on 2007-07-30
  Definitely Garmin 650 wins over Magellan 4040 with the same screen size. I tried both side-by-side. Faster recalculations. Better used interface:
  - larger characters
  - shows more POIs on one screen
  - scrolls by screens (4 POIs), but Magellan scrolls by one POI
  - shows information you actually need:
  --- name of the next street you will cross (Magellan shows street you are driving on)
  --- expected arrival time
  --- etc.
  - Menu is more intuitive
  - in general Magellan was I bit late with turns notification than Garmin
  
  
  
  
• Widescreen Portable GPS Comparison
  By AONMGMGLN665R on 2007-06-12
  This review may help someone like me who is not knowledgeable about GPS and is looking for basic functionality. I was looking for a unit that is portable (so I could also use it for walking or switch cars) and has a widescreen display, so I settled on comparing a Garmin Nuvi 650 Personal Travel Assistant for North America and a Plenio VXA-5000 4.3-Inch Touch Screen Car Navigation System with Bluetooth.
  
  1. Audio - The Plenio does not have text to speech functionality, meaning the Plenio will announce "Turn left in 500 feet," while the Nuvi 650 will announce "Turn left on Main Street in 500 feet." I found the Plenio confusing if there were two possible left turns close to each other, and the display didn't always help. (See "Display").
  
  2. Display- The Plenio display appeared dim and difficult to read on bright days, even at the brightest setting. The Nuvi had a brighter, easy to read display even when driving toward sunlight. When a turn is announced, the text of the street name on the Plenio is small and difficult to read; on the Nuvi the street name is announced and the visible text is larger, bolder and easy to read. This also makes it easier to keep track of cross streets when operating in "tracking mode" rather than inputting a destination.
  
  3. Portability- The Garmin is thinner and lighter. The Plenio's suction mount is more substantial, but it has to be to hold up the device.
  
  4. Controls- The Plenio has volume up and down controls, on the Garmin these are only accessible with some difficulty through the touch screen.
  
  5. Accessories- The Plenio includes an FM transmitter, (sound can play through your FM radio) and Bluetooth; to get this functionality with the Garmin, a trade up to the Garmin Nuvi 660 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator and Personal Travel Assistant is necessary. The Plenio includes an AC charger, a useful tool in a portable GPS. If you have a mini USB AC charger, you can use it with the Garmin.
  
  6. Waypoints- The Garmin allows only one waypoint (stopover on the trip); multiple waypoints are available on the Plenio.
  
  7. **** Satellite reception- The Plenio has an internal antenna while the Garmin has a foldaway flip up antenna flap. The Plenio was totally incapable of getting a satellite fix, and therefore useless, while in my wife's car (she has a metallic layer in the windshield as some cars do); the Garmin had no such problem. The Garmin also could fix while indoors. The Garmin allows the user to turn on "WAAS" which is a combined satellite and ground GPS mode that is more accurate than satellite alone; I haven't seen that WAAS makes a difference to a basic user like me. The Garmin seems to get a fix from a cold start about 25% faster than the Plenio.
  
  8. Points of interest and maps- The Garmin maps (v.8) seemed "less out of date" than the Plenio. (maybe 2 years out of date versus 3-4 years). The Garmin has a more substantial list of points of interest (POI's). The Plenio allows you to program the unit to show your choice of POI's (such as all gas stations and/or restaurants) as icons on the map, and bring up more information ( name, phone number) by touching the icon; the Garmin will provide this information from a separate search menu.
  
  9. Map orientation- For some reason, the Plenio map orientation insists on switching from "driving direction up" to "north up" orientation and needs to be manually switched back each time it is turned on. The Plenio map displays a "compass rose", a nice feature, but it is small and unreadable when in 3D mode. The Garmin stays in the map orientation as programmed. There is no compass, but when in "tracking mode" there is a text box that gives the driving direction. (N, SW, etc.)
  
  To summarize, the Plenio had more bells and whistles which I willingly traded in for the much improved basic functionality of the Garmin.
  
  
• If I could give it 0 stars I would
  By A2KTM6FR9XP6VO on 2007-09-01
  After reading all the positive reviews about this product I decided to buy it. Well, it is easy to use but is completely USELESS. Anybody who's given this product a good review is too ignorant to realize that the name search function doesn't work. If you think you can type in a name of a business and have it come up on the screen think again. I've searched for 50-60 businesses and only 3 showed up. I would estimate less than 1% of existing businesses are included in Garmin's directory. I live in Phoenix, a huge metro area. When I type in "Verizon" I only get 4 results. On the other hand, when I search [...] I get 32 within 50 miles of Phoenix. Garmin's search feature is completely unreliable and useless.
  
  Another reason I bought this item was because I travel so much. Well, I tried it out in Houston, Dallas and Austin. Again, as expected, when I searched for businesses the Garmin came up with nothing. If you're looking for a specific place, make sure you know the address because it will not show up using Garmin's name search. Also, the chances of it providing correct directions to a destination is less than 50%. When I was in Grapevine, TX I typed in an address. The Garmin found the address but its directions only led me to the street and not the specific building. I had to drive around for 10 minutes before I found it myself.
  
  Another annoying feature is that the written directions on screen will be different from the voice directions. When I was in Austin, traveling on Mopac Expy, the screen would display directions to exit on Anderson, which was correct. Yet, the voice directions would tell me to exit on Mopac. How does it expect me to exit onto a highway that I'm currently on?
  
  Another thing that annoys me is that you cannot use the DC adapter without the windshield mount. The adapter does not plug directly into the Garmin but rather into the windshield mount. I will never buy a Garmin product again. Save your money and don't buy this piece of junk.
  
  
• Storage is not as advertized - Garmin won't answer me
  By A3NQVY00QH9GFZ on 2007-06-21
  Yeah, it's simple and easy to use. But where is the 700MB of free internal space advertised? Mine had a measly 220MB free when it was new, right out of the box. My Garmin's total capacity is 1.38GB, and not the 2GB in the literature. Why? I don't know. Garmin doesn't respond to emails and the page for registered owners to receive technical support is not working. Thanks, Garmin. If I have to spend more than 30 minutes on hold trying to get an answer, or your phone support is also not working, Amazon can expect a return and TomTom can expect some new business.
  
  Oh, and Garmin overcharged me $40 for an add-on map compared to their own advertised price... no answer to my question on that little slip up either.
  
  
• Who cares about available space?
  By A3O6MOEPSM4FO2 on 2007-06-26
  I normally never write reviews, but the person from NY who gave this product a negative due to "advertised available space", I felt it needed a rebuttle. This product is a GPS, not a PDA, MP3 player (yes it does play MP3's), or a laptop. The purpose of this product is quite clear. Get from point A to point B. If you are a local and know all the back ways, it won't compete with you. But it is very accurate and the maps are much better than the Tom Tom. I purchased a new Mio, Tom Tom, and the Garmin Nuvi 550, tested all of them on the same trip, here are my results.
  
  Mio: Reports I am off road when I'm in my driveway (house is 5 years old, in New Jersey, one of the most densely populated states).
  
  Tom Tom: Same, reports I'm off road when in my driveway (house is 5 years old, very confusing directions, when at a stop light, says "bear left" does that mean to turn left?
  
  Garmin Nuvi: Very disappointing voice, actually liked the 1/2 price Mio better. Much better directions, went from Princeton, NJ to Flemington, NJ much quicker due to the fact the MIO didn't understand when it brought me out to Rt.202 it was one way and I had to drive 5 miles to turn around!
  
  All in all, the Nuvi is the best I've had, just wished the voice sounded a little more natural. I've downloaded the U.K. speaker from Garmin, it does sound better, but not great.
  
  
• Great GPS! Now shipping with 2008 maps
  By AEGQWVR6KWBV on 2008-01-05
  Before the Nuvi, the only GPS I'd ever used was a Garmin hiking GPS, which I purchased in 2004. It wasn't extremely easy to use, and installing maps on it was awkward. So for the longest time, I didn't bother looking at automotive GPS units, especially Garmins.
  
  My parents recently got a Nuvi 650. They're in their 60s and not extremely technologically savvy. Yet they were able to use it right out of the box, spending minimal time reading the (very short, well-written) "getting started" guide that comes in the package. They are retired and spend every winter RVing around the country, so the Nuvi is an extremely useful device for them.
  
  My wife and I got to see their Nuvi 650. We were impressed with how well designed the interface is. It's very intuitive. The screen is big and bright and easy to read in any light. We and my parents experimented with the auto-nav features and found it did a great job navigating us through complicated routes.
  
  I got the bug to buy an automotive GPS and did my research. A recent Consumer Reports issue (Dec 2007, I think, also available online) has a great review of automotive GPS units. Four of their top 5 are Nuvis (the other is a TomTom).
  
  I ruled out the TomTom because the suction mount it comes with isn't as good as the Nuvi's mount.
  
  I considered the Nuvi 660 (which adds bluetooth and a traffic receiver, but is a lot more expensive). The traffic info requires an extra cost subscription (after a free trial period). The bluetooth wasn't attractive to me for these reasons: 1) I will only use my GPS for road trips and occasional visits to an unfamiliar part of the city I live in, yet I use my cell phone all the time. 2) My car stereo already has built-in bluetooth features and, after trying them out, I ended up not using them.
  
  I ruled out the cheaper Nuvis for two reasons. Some of them have smaller screens: 3.5", whereas the 6xx series has a 4.3" screen. Second, on some cheaper units, the voice directions do not include street names ("turn left in 500 feet"), whereas on the Nuvi 6xx series, the voice directions tell you what street to turn on, as well as how many feet or miles or whatever.
  
  So I settled on the Nuvi 650.
  
  Before making the purchase, though, I was concerned that this particular model was introduced 3 years ago - a long time for a technological gadget. More importantly, I worried that the maps on it would be from 2004. I emailed Garmin customer support, they replied in 24 hours and said that Nuvi 650s are now shipping with the latest maps - the 2008 City Navigator North America NT mappping software. If, by chance, I happen to get a unit that doesn't have the latest maps, when I register my unit online I will be able to order a free update to the latest maps.
  
  Based on this, I ordered a Nuvi 650. Sure enough, it came with the 2008 maps.
  
  Despite that this model was introduced 3 years ago, my wife and I find it very well-designed and it meets our needs very well. As others here have noted, the auto nav is not always 100% accurate - but that's true with any automotive GPS. You always must travel with a good atlas, and of course, your cell phone.
  
  The Nuvi series is great: there are lots of different ones with different features, something for just about everybody. Some reviews of the 650 complain about this or that feature missing -- fine, then look at the Nuvi line -- there's probably a Nuvi with the feature you want.
  
  Nuvis are easy enough to use right out of the box, for people who don't like reading manuals. But for those that do, it's worthwhile to spend 20-30 minutes reading the manual and tinkering with it.
  
  If you plug it into your computer using the included USB cable, it shows up as a drive in Windows explorer. You can drag and drop your favorite photos onto the photo folder of this "drive", and then view them on the Nuvi as a slide show. You can pick one of them to be your splash screen, which you see when you first power up the unit or plug it into your computer. You can drag and drop your favorite MP3 files to the Nuvi, and play them on the Nuvi's internal MP3 player. The Nuvi has an audio output jack (which takes a standard earphone sized plug), so you can play the Nuvi's sound through your car stereo if it has an auxiliary input jack.
  
  You can change the auto icon that represents your vehicle on the map; there are quite a few to choose from on the garmin website. You can change the voice that gives you directions; the English speaking voices include an American female (the default) or male, a British female or male, and an Australian female or male. My wife likes the British male voice the best. If you're multilingual or traveling abroad, you can switch to one of many foreign language voices.
  
  Since the Nuvi 650 is not the latest and greatest, shop around and you should be able to get a great deal. We got a fantastic deal from c o s t c o d o t c o m. (Trying to avoid the censor.)
  
  One last tip: The Consumer Reports article I mentioned said that thieves love to break windows and grab GPS units (and iPods, etc). The article said that you should not only take the unit with you when you park somewhere, but also remove the windshield mount - some thieves will see it and assume you left your GPS in the glove compartment, and break your window to find out.
  
  
• Best portable GPS for the money
  By A2F2FSKSEZB21S on 2007-08-27
  Have been working with my Nuvi 650 for over a week now. The accuracy is phenomenal even when streets come quickly after a turn. You will see many complaints about the manual and they are right. You can download it from the Garmin site before you buy it. The manual does not go into any detail, and if you are one of those that still has your VCR blinking 12, you will have problems with this manual. The interface is very easy to use and my 12 year old grandson was able to find a location and how to go to it in about five minutes without the manual. It has a good bright screen but it is easy to follow the voice directions without looking at the screen as it calls out turns by their street name. If you go off rout, it does not try to make you do a u-turn but recalculates the route in the direction that you are heading very quickly. I found the interface easy to use even with a poor manual. You will find that most mapping both hard copy and GPS are at least a year or two behind so don't be surprised when your GPS starts complaining that you are off route when you go on a relative new road or highway. There are also map errors. The maps of my town from everyone show three streets that cross RR tracks that really stop at the tracks. These streets never crossed the tracks, so there are gotcha's that you have to be aware of. A GPS may take a roundabout route, but it will get you there, The Garmin 650 is one of the best.
  
  
• POI db is way out of date and where is the routing planner
  By A2X211OZTHOTVX on 2007-07-07
  I just bought this Nuvi 650 based on all the positive reviews from the GPS sites. Decided to plan a long trip with it and guess what? You can only put 1 way point in the route? 500 way points is a little misleading. 500 favorites are more like it. Plus, a lot of the POI that have been around for 5 years in my area isn't in the database. I really must feel I need to return this unit because of the lack of ability to create a route with multiple way points and what seems like an outdated POI database. I'm still trying to decide if I can cope with using the GPS as a device with a bunch of short hops for a long trip. That sort of nullifies the estimated arrival time to final destination.
  
  
• Not perfect yet
  By A1LK8CC870ZIS6 on 2007-11-28
  I bought my first GPS-Garmin 650 this thanksgiving. I am using it for almost a week now. Here are my first impressions.
  
  Good
  1. Text to speech. GPS speaks street names in a natural voice. No need to keep looking at the screen.
  2. Bright screen. Even in bright sunny day, the screen is bright enough and easy to read.
  3. Ease of use. Anyone with little bit interest/knowledge of gadgets can use this. No need to go through manuals for most of the stuff. You just get it.
  4. Auto Complete feature. While typing city name, after typing first couple of characters, it just gives you all matching city names. No need to type in complete names. Very nicely designed.
  
  There are couples of other features like MP3 playback, audio book etc. I don't use them much as the audio quality is below average.
  
  It has JPEG viewer as well, but I think its most useless feature a GPS can have. If you are driving, you are supposed to keep your eyes on road and not a slideshow. Garmin could have put efforts in some other direction like adding voice recognition support.
  
  Bad:
  1. Bugs: This product is not gone through QA for sure. Here are the bugs I could find in first 5 days of use.
  i) Once you enter wrong pin, there is no way to re-try without switching it off completely. As soon as wrong PIN is entered, screen freezes.
  ii) If it is finding satellite signals, and you enter destination and ask GPS to give you direction, that's it. GPS would never catch satellite signals. If user is not allowed to search for destination while it is searching for signals, User should not be given a screen to enter destination.
  iii) Search results are totally random. I searched for 'Best Buy' couple of times (each time while my car parked at same place), listings are not same order. And in any case, it never returned the nearest Best buy store.
  iv) When it "recalculates", it doesn't come up with optimal route. for e.g. I asked it to give me route for point A to point B , now I stopped at C which wasnt on route to B from A. so at point C, it 'reculated' route to point B. but that wasnt the same route if I ask it to give me a 'fresh' route to B from C.
  
  2. There is no touch control to switch it off. At times, I feel it is required to switch off device. The only way to do that is to keep the physical power button pressed for couple of seconds.
  Overall, a good device. Works as expected for most cases. IMO Its little expensive.
  
  
  
• Intuitive, easy to use, large touchscreen
  By A3H2J3SMD3GEOO on 2007-06-14
  This unit, out of the several I tested at the local electronics store, was the most intuitive to use featuring three choices at the outset (all paraphrased): Where to? Show map, and Other (for other unit features such as MP3, etc.)
  
  To go to a location, you select the "Where to" selection followed by an address, store type, favorites, etc. Simply type in a few letters and the unit matches addresses, store names etc. based on only a few entries.
  
  If my luddite wife can easily use the machine to enter an address (she never could figure out my Garmin GPS V worked) then I believe it is a good choice for most people. Plus the screen size is one of the largest in the market.
  
  Also if you are looking around, Amazon had the lowest complete price (price + shipping) of all the vendors I checked online for this unit
  
  
• Great Product
  By A3IV7M9HG7VM5N on 2007-09-27
  I have had a GARMIN Street Pilot III, A TomTom910, and now a Nuvi 650. Garmin makes a great product and it works great. Better than the TomTom. More could be shown as to the levels of magnifaction and when rest areas show etc. It is very easy to add data and waypoins and Points of Interest.
  I know i will stick to Garmin.
  
  
• One fatal flaw
  By A26KF429JNYAVQ on 2007-12-20
  I just purchased this unit after been fed up with the Magellan 2200. In many respects, the Nuvi 650 is a great unit. Fast satellite pick-up, bright display, and nice, big graphics.
  
  Even with all these positives, there is one fatal flaw of this device. When you try to add an address, there is no way for the unit to remember the last city you entered (even though it remembers the last state). I do 95+% of my driving within San Francisco, so every time I enter an address, it asks me "What city" and I need to enter S-A-N--F and then select San Francisco. Try doing that EVERY SINGLE TIME you use the machine. It becomes very, very tedious.
  
  Compare that to the Magellan 2200 which, for all its flaws (slow satellite pick-up, outdated display, horrendous customer service), remembers the last city I entered.
  
  So I will be returning my Nuvi 650. The Magellan makes my life easier most of the time while causing frustration some of the time (when it can't pick up the satellite signal). The Nuvi causes tedium every time.
  
  
• Like Having the Yellow Pages for Every City With You (But Better!)
  By A1VM23I5L81FW6 on 2007-12-30
  I did a tremedous amount of comparison research (including Consumer Reports, GPS review web sites, and Amazon reader reviews) before deciding on the Garmin 650. I was looking for a GPS that had a 4.3 inch screen, spoken street names, was reliable and accurate, was pocket-sized, and wouldn't cost me a fortune. Amazon had the 650 for a great price before Christmas so I bought two, one for my 60-something parents (who had never used a GPS before) and one for myself. After doing a brief run-through with my parents on how to use it, add favorite locations, etc., they were off and driving! They have had no problems with the 650's easy-to-use screens. The arrival time is always right on, and the spoken directions are clear and given with enough lead time that you can exit or slow down for the coming turn with no problem. The spoken road names make it absolutely clear which road you should turn on and it eliminates the need to look at the screen to see the name of the road. Due to its small size (slightly larger than a deck of cards), when we arrive at our destination, I remove the 650 from its mount and slip it into my purse.
  
  The other thing I really like about the Garmin is the extensive Points of Interest listings (such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals, amusement parks, Post Offices, etc.). It is like having the Yellow Pages for every city with you at all times but better! If you want to go to a Point of Interest, the 650, unlike the Yellow Pages, will tell you exactly how to get there. This is very useful when you are somewhere unfamiliar and are looking for a restaurant, for instance. You simply scroll through the restaurants in that city (you can search by type of food to make it quicker to scroll through), choose the one you want, and hit "GO" to get the directions. The phone number is also included in the listing, so you can call ahead to make reservations if you like. You can also enter the name of a favorite store, and it will give you all locations of that store near you, mileage from where you are, etc. This came in handy at Christmas when I was looking for a certain item and couldn't find it. Rather than driving to all the stores and/or calling information for the numbers for local stores, I simply searched for stores near me and called them from 650's Points of Interest listings. What a time (and gas) saver!
  
  Garmin also has the "Garmin Garage" available on their web site. You can download different vehicles to make your road trip more fun, such as a convertible sports car, an SUV, a boat, a Christmas light, etc. We downloaded a blue-nosed reindeer for our Christmas trips. It's a fun little extra, very simple to download and install, and totally free.
  
  Overall, I would recommend the Garmin 650 wholeheartedly for anyone due to its simplicity and accuracy, plus it is a lot of fun! However, I would recommend buying the Bean Bag Mount that Amazon sells separately rather than using the windshield mount that comes with the unit. The Bean Bag Mount is much easier and quicker to use.
  
  
• Great item for the price!
  By A3CAD3VUG7SNVJ on 2007-09-21
  I've been using this for about three months and it has never disappointed. The larger screen is worth the price (about $75-$100 more than the Nuvi 350). In addition, there aren't many major differences between the 650 and the 660 (see other reviews for a detailed list of differences between the two) and you save $100+ off the price of what the Nuvi 660 is currently going for.
  
  
• Don't waste your money on overpriced Garmin
  By ADZIHK687JURC on 2008-01-10
  After reading SO many good reviews about this product, I decided to buy it and see if it lived up to the hype and planned on returning my Magellan 4040 if it did, in fact, meet my expectations. Let me say that it fell drastically short.
  
  One of the main reasons I purchased this unit was because the maps looked incredibly easy to read. I usually wear sunglasses while I'm driving so I needed a bright, clear GPS to read. I will say that Garmin does a good job in this department. However, it lacks in almost every other area. If you are on the fence between a Magellan and a Garmin, please go with the Magellan!!!! Here is why.
  
  -The magellan has a much nicer interface and is WAY more user friendly. The touch screen is extremely responsive. With the Garmin, I had to pretty much pound my fingers into the screen to get a response. The Magellan only needs a light tap.
  
  -Garmin does not automatically blur out letters as you are typing to make data entry faster. Magellan does this, and also guesses the city and street you are typing. Garmin will guess the city but will not blur out any letters. Also, *very important* Garmin does not have a zip code look up. I find this very useful with the Magellan since it saves me from entering in a long city name.
  
  -Garmin's map screen tells you the absolute bare bones minimum. It does not even have a compass on the screen to tell you which direction you are traveling!!! Magellan has a nice little orange box in the top left corner of the map screen that tells you which direction you are traveling. If you are someone who has no sense of direction, I would think this would be an important and necessary component. Garmin will tell you which direction you are traveling, but only if you push a button on the screen (lame!).
  
  -Magellan shows in the bottom left corner which way your next turn will be. Garmin does not...yet again, you have to push a button to see which direction your next turn will be. As you approach the turn, the top of the screen will tell you "right on such and such" but while traveling, all it says is "Main street to Flores Ave". Is this a right onto flores ave or a left? You won't know until you get about 500 feet away from the turn, which means you could be in the wrong lane before the the GPS tells you which way to turn. With the Magellan, the next turn is ALWAYS displayed on the map screen, which gives you much more time to prepare.
  
  -Map detail: Maps on the Magellan are MUCH more detailed than Garmin's. The maps may look all nice and pretty and colorful on Garmin, but it only shows an average of maybe 2 or 3 other major street names near you. Magellan will show many more street names near you without looking cluttered at all. I really like this feature. The maps on the Garmin can also look a little "cartoony" at times, if you will. The maps look great on the Garmin in the sunlight, which I applaud them for. The magellan daytime map can get a little washed out during the day, but with the voice prompts and the names of streets listed on the top and bottom of the screen, there should be no problem.
  
  -TTS: The TTS on the Garmin is definitely a lot clearer than Magellan's, but that is definitely not to say that the Magellan is not understandable (it is very clear). Garmin also lets you choose what kind of voice you would like to hear (accents, male/female). Magellan has a woman's voice and still gets the job done just as well. On another note, the Garmin is incredibly verbose. I was actually starting to get annoyed at how often it told me a turn was coming up, how far away it was, and the street name. It would tell me about 3 times before the actual turn came up. SO annoying. Magellan does not constantly tell you (it tells you enough to get you where you need to go).
  
  POI database: this is the one thing that annoyed me the most about the Garmin and is the MAIN reason I am returning this over-hyped product. When you type in a POI by name, it is RIDICULOUSLY slow at finding what is around you. I did a side by side comparison and typed the same POI name in both of the units and Magellan had finished MINUTES before the Garmin did. All you can see is the little rotating dots on the Garmin while it slowly and painfully grabs the POIs you looked for. I actually called Garmin support thinking my unit had a bug and that maybe that was the reason it lagged...nope. The man told me it takes that long because it needs time to search through its POI database. I dont know about you, but I don't want to sit and wait for literally 3-5 minutes for my GPS to find a common POI when I can have another unit find it in a matter of seconds. The POIs that are already listed, however, do come up a lot faster. This "lag" only happens when you search by name.
  
  -route calculation: Both units are fast at recalculating a route should you miss a turn. However, Garmin tries to make you go BACK to your original route by making you do a square. Tsk tsk Garmin. Magellan will actually put you on a new route (WHICH IS WHAT A GPS IS SUPPOSED TO DO!) instead of trying to make you turn around and go back to the original one! Another little thing I like about the Magellan is that on your highlighted route, it has several blue arrows indicating the direction you need to be traveling. Garmin has one huge white arrow, which you sometimes can't even see (in 3D mode) if the turn is further ahead. So all you see is a pink line, and you have no clue which way it's pointing. A neat thing about the Garmin is that you can go on their website and download different vehicles to make it a little more fun - the Magellan simply has an arrow, which I'm fine with.
  
  -Detour/routing: Magellan asks you each time you go somewhere whether you want the fastest, shortest, most use of highways or least use of highways. Garmin does not ask this, you have to dig through menus to find this option and it uses it for all routes. If you want to change it for each route, again, you have to dig through menus to find it. Also, if you want to take a detour, the Garmin will choose one for you. With the Magellan, when you ask for a detour, you have the choice of avoiding the next 3, 5, or 20 miles. Garmin does not bother to ask you, it just does it.
  
  -When you are approaching a turn, all Garmin does is babble on and on. Magellan's screen will automatically split, showing you the map on the right side and a picture of what your upcoming turn looks like on the left side. I absolutely love this feature. If you want to see this in Garmin, you have to press the screen while you are driving before your turn comes up. Magellan saves you this hassle. Also, on the top of the Magellan map screen, it says the name of the street you are currently on. At the bottom of the screen, it says the name of the street you need to turn on next. Garmin does not do this, it just has one bar at the top that jumbles every single turn/street name/etc into that one single bar.
  
  Trip planner - again, something Garmin lacks. You can only insert one stop on a route, whereas you can plan an entire trip with multiple stops with the Magellan.
  
  Overall, if you want cool map colors, voices, and cars, get the Garmin. If you want a GPS to do what it's supposed to do and be the most helpful while doing so, get a Magellan.
  
  
  
  
  
• Really pretty good, ..but....
  By A1AHL5P341I34C on 2007-06-01
  I don't think routing creations are as updated or necessarily best in comparisons to a Magellan 300 I had been using. I was very surprised at this as Garmin has always been , I thought, the best and I have owned five other Garmins from the little yellow Etrex to the 175C and in between. Sometimes the 'cold start' or even the 'warm start' takes way too long to start navigation for what I should think a Sirus III chip should take. The screen and imaging is very nice, etc. but I think it needs more POI's (points of interests) which many cheaper GPS units have more of in many cases. I do know though that Garmin is very helpful and probably the best out there with their customer help and support so I will be contacting them re my problems and complaints very soon and am sure they will be resolved satisfactorly.
  
  
  
• Purchased on Trial failed
  By A1MZEC5RH6A1HW on 2007-09-05
  After reading all the glowing reviews, I Settled on the Garmin nuvi 660. After picking up the 660 from the retailer, I took it home and opened and read.
  I decided on a first test to REI which was about 14 miles from my home.
  Attempting to input the address was difficult because the address included a SW and Garmin couldn't find the address. So I re-entered the address spelling out South West and it acknowledged the address by printing it out on the screen using SW instead of South West.
  Got in the auto and followed the directions of the female voice which was very difficult to understand.
  Since I have driven to this same REI for the past 14 years I knew how to get there. The Garmin had me make a left turn to get on the freeway when the exit I have always used was about 200 feet in front of me in my view. The Garmin 660 wanted to take me on a surface road for about 2 miles to get to another exit that interconnected with the one I took.
  
  As we were approaching the exit to get off which is Lower Boones Ferry Road. The highway sign reads "LWR Boones Ferry Rd. The Garmin 660 mumbled something I couldn't understand. In a few moments the Garmin repeated the exit by spelling out "LWR" then saying "Bones Road"
  
  Not very impressive for $799.95. I really want to purchase a GPS but they sure don't make it easy. Will be returning this Garmin 660 and continuing the search.
  
  
  
• Nuvi Learning Curve
  By A1CMZX7Z5X9KAD on 2007-08-25
  The Nuvi 650 itself proved to exceed my expectations once I was able to access its features.
  
  First problem I had was the manual was a .pdf document stored in the Nuvi and accessible only by computer. Manual was unreadable. Could not access Garmin support online even though I had registered my Nuvi online. Waited 15 minutes on the phone for a tech who told me problem was with my computer and that a printed manual was not available. Also said the reason I could not email Garmin was that the website was down. Turned out my older version of Adobe Reader had to be updated in order to read the manual. I then booklet printed the manual for field use.
  
  The included suction mount is a waste of time. After the third fall to the floor I bought a friction mount which has proven satisfactory for use on my dash. The Nuvi can be quickly moved out of sight at a gas stop. At the end of the day the mount easily disassembles for storage. I bought a case for the Nuvi as none is included.
  
  The 650 does not have an FM transmitter. The onboard speakers are adequate for speech but not for enjoyable music. MP3 is the only format supported. As I had used WMA format in my Rio I have a bit of converting to do. I was able to use an FM transmitter originally purchased for the Rio to connect the Nuvi to my vehicle radio. The 660 and above include an FM transmitter but at the cost of several hundred dollars due to the included traffic FM receiver.
  
  Finally noticed an active link on the email from Garmin that confirmed my registration. I was able to use the link to email a Garmin tech who was VERY prompt in responding to my queries. He also provided a FREE DVD of the City Navigator NT for installation on my computer. Very good online support but telephone support could use some improvement.
  
  I use the Nuvi every day. Sometimes just to see if I can do something such as moving my location somewhere else and then finding local amenities. Cross country trips ending in Canada can be routed. Has not failed me yet. Even revised some of my local travel routes. Happy with the purchase.
  
  Amazon was a little disappointing as it took them 5 days to finally ship the purchase and UPS took 4 days to deliver for a total of 9 days. My past experience with free shipping is that an item normally shipped in two to three days so normal delivery is within a week. Prime is not a solution for me as very many items are not eligible.
  
  Thank you for the opportunity to comment and hope it helps the learning curve.
  
  
• A Senior Citizen and the Nuvi 650
  By A16G9AWG8DPLDN on 2007-12-09
  After reading many user reviews and Consumer Reports I purchased a Nuvi 650 for what I considered a reasonable price. I familiarized myself with the GPS and then took a trip through 4 states. I found the screen to be very readable in daylight and in the night. The spoken name voice commands are a real benefit when coupled with the visual display. I wouldn't buy one without that feature. The Nuvi told me when to turn with adequate time to make a smooth turn in all cases. It was accurate to within 60 to 100 feet. The touch screen is easy to use when changing or inputting data. However there are some problems which stem from the mapping software. In 2 cases I was directed to turn left into a destination driveway instead of to the right. That is a minor problem but still needs addressing by the data vendor. Also I was unable to go to one destination by a direct route no matter what I selected. This was probably due to a new portion of highhway just recently opened and probably was not yet input in the maps. One last thing was inability to find a street address in a neighborhood approximately 3 years old. I have to state however that the same problems were true on Mapquest so it is just a matter of required updates. These problems are minimal when one considers the overall function and usefulness of this GPS. Fortunately Garmin has a web address to contact for complaints and suggestions. As Consumer Reports stated in their GPS Review-Oct 2007,"We found minor errors on most maps. There is no substitute for local knowledge." Point well taken. I would recommend this Nuvi 650 based on my experience with it. If one wants Bluetooth capability then look at the Nuvi 660. If a smaller screen is desired then consider the Nuvi 550. The basics are the same and only the extras are changed. Yes I know I had to print the manual. That's okay. There is one in the box that is a basic manual and I keep that one in the car.
  
  
• Nuvi GPS
  By A1QKW6TH0R5B7J on 2007-08-01
  Took it out of the box and I hit the Road. Got to my destination without a problem. I was just facinated by this instrument. I have been flying for the military for years and this is one of the better instruments I have ever worked with. There is no downside to this product even downloading the owners manual went without a hitch. I would reccomend this gadget without reservation
  
  
• Good but not great
  By AVNFXDCJUX5QU on 2007-11-12
  Have been using the Nuvi for about a month now. As noted elsewhere it does react slowly at times to the location, especially at higher speeds. The added book music etc is probably great but I doubt this will be important to me as I have all the radios, cd players etc in the vehicle already.. I like the portability and many of the menu options and like most Garmin products it is easy to use. Battery life seems to be reasonable and it has the advantage of being able to charge via the computer.
  The suction mount is crap and the company should refund the cost of buying a workable mount. Suction cup would not hold despite various different methods of providing a good surface for it to mount to. I prefer the bean bag mount.
  Clear screen, usually easy to manuver on it though the corners seem to take addition pressure than the rest of it to function.
  All in all it is a good unit that functions well and would recommend it to anyone along with the few points that they should be aware of before buying it.
  Amazon did its normal good job of getting the item to me.
  
  
  

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• Garmin A/C Power Cable for nüvi Portable GPS Navigators (010-10723-00)
• Garmin Vehicle Power Cable for nüvi Portable GPS Navigators (010-10723-06)
• Garmin 010-10723-02 Carrying Case For Nuvi