Garmin GPS Receiver

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

I decided to buy the 3760 after having the 250W Garmin for several years. I wanted a GPS unit that would warn me of traffic issues and could route me otherwise, and also one that had a sleeker design. The only problem I had with my 250W Garmin was that it took a long time to pick up satellites and then route me to the place that i wanted to go. The 3760 has upgrades like a better design, sleek, can be hand held horizontally or vertically and it does look like an IPhone. You can also use it as a walking navigation system which is neat, although I’ve always just used this as a car navigation. However, I must stress that one of the other reviewers was correct: It does NOT have any accuracy in letting you know in advance that there is traffic or providing any type of traffic updates. So because I live in NJ, (land known for being a constant parking lot), it never warns me that there is an accident ahead and a lot of traffic and never once has routed me to another way to go to avoid all of the traffic which was one of my main reasons for buying this unit. Now, that being said, I did try to adjust all of the traffic settings on the unit to ensure it was turned on, but it still does not work to update me in advance of the traffic. NOT WORTH $400! I think that it is worth it if the traffic updates would work like it claims to do. I’m debating whether to return it for a new unit or just return it for an older Garmin (like the 765) which everyone claims to work well, and it’s cheaper, too because it’s an older model. The other features of this unit were fine, it picked up the satellite signal very fast, and it could locate all of the addresses I placed in the unit to travel to, even confusing areas of New York, NJ and Connecticut with no problems.

Updated as of September 5th:

I ended up returning the 3760T unit and only received a $320 refund from Amazon. While I am annoyed I wasn’t refunded the full amount I paid for the unit (I paid $400 initially), I decided to suck up the $80 loss and look for a better Garmin GPS unit. I have re-read my review above and have additional comments for anyone considering buying this unit:

Cons:
The unit, just like other Garmin 3700 series units, somehow gets extremely hot when you use it even for just a short while. It almost seems like it is burning and that was alarming because obviously high tech devices should not be so hot to the touch. It is also a very delicate unit, if you do not handle electronics carefully in general (and I know I’ve dropped my cell phone/ipod once or twice by accident), this is not the unit for you.

Currently:

I ended up buying a Garmin 1490T factory refurbished unit from amazon, and so far, I love it! Once I received it, I opened the amazon box. Since the unit is refurbished, it didn’t come in a ‘new’ box, but it was definitely nicely packaged, and well I don’t buy items for the packaging anyway. Just to let any readers know, I have never bought a refurbished product electronically, so I was weary about the effectiveness of the 1490T refurbished, but I read a lot of reviews on Amazon before making my decision and when I found I disliked this unit so much.

Once I received the 1490T, I had to call Garmin Support (unfortunately the wait time was ridiculously long, about 45 minutes until I spoke to someone over the phone, so add in adequate waiting time if you ever want to call Garmin for help). I had to tell them I just bought a 1490T factory refurbished item on Amazon and that I wanted a free upgraded map to be provided
in the unit. I had to provide proof of purchase to Garmin by scanning over my receipt and once Garmin received this via email, I received a 2011 map upgrade for free. It took about 2 hours of time to download from the Garmin website (but this updated map was provided by Garmin for free and was ultimately worth it.) The 1490T has a wide 5 inch screen. Once the new map updates were placed in the unit, the 1490T was great – it showed traffic updates, connected with signal satellites right away and routed me correctly, and it was even able to route me to a baseball stadium in Philadelphia (I didn’t have the exact address of the Phillies baseball stadium on hand, but I was traveling to Philadelphia from NYC), and all I had to do was go to the points of interest, sports stadium, and it showed up. I am happy with this purchase because I only paid $178 for this unit, compared to the $400 I paid for the 3760 (minus the $80 I lost since i had to return it). So I recommend going with a refurbished unit like the 1490T if you want something just as good. I would just suggest that once you receive it, to upgrade the maps to the 2011 version and then it should work well. I know it sounds like a pain to do all of the steps above to make the 1490T refurbished unit working well, but it is worth it, in my opinion.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

The first thing you will notice is the screen; sharp, bright and viewable in almost all conditions. Garmin adopted an iphone design (aka iphone 4) and some of the gui. You can see it landscape or portrait mode depending on how you are holding it. You can also use two fingers to zoom in and out, change perspective and even rotate the map. Though after trying the unit, it was hard going to other gps interfaces. You flip through lists with a finger, and even has some inertia to keep the list moving. The downside is that sometimes it is hard to select, because it tries to move the list. The unit fits into your shirt pocket, but you might want to get a sleeve to keep it from getting scratched. Unlike the iphones, the 3760′s screen gets smudged from oily fingers.

Something happened to my unit’s databases, though I was able to test the maps and navigation. In general it works like most garmin units, but couldn’t sort the current route nor saved trips. Not sure whether all my difficulties where related to the problems I was having, but the unit kept taking me close but not to the actual locations. Usually told me that the destination was on the wrong side of the street. Their pos database is one of garmin’s biggest advantages, however unlike tomtom which know their poi aren’t very extensive, you can’t modify the poi or street database from the unit. The closest thing is to report the poi to garmin for removal, or update the phone.

This 3760 is supposed to learn about your trips, and use that information to plan a better route. Either I didn’t had enough trips, or kept going to different places, so I have no idea if it makes any difference. I was really hoping the 3760 would at least have custom avoids like the 8×5 units. This would be specially useful, for those time the unit keeps directing you through that street that is planned to be built within the next 10 years, or that street they keep working on, or the street happens to be the wrong direction.

The gps seems to work well, but in some shadow areas seems to have trouble. At one point I was stopped and the unit kept spinning my location. However, it was accurate and fast.Think that it is rather fast to reacquire a lock, because the unit has a sleep mode. I didn’t test it in a challenging place like new york, but maybe other users can share their experiences. Didn’t notice it showing my location on the wrong street or side of the access road, like the 765. Once more not sure if it was related to my difficulties, but the unit wouldn’t show where the car was parked, nor change modes (it is design to work with cars, on foot and bicycling) when plugged into the car cradle.

In general the unit is a nice gps, but garmin left out some feature that would make the user’s life easier. It is indeed nice, and did I mentioned the screen?

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

This GPS is head and shoulders better than my previous NUVI GPS. It is slim, sleek and has some really great features. I love the builtin bluetooth, the red-light camera alert is very helpful. Much easier to work with the sound. it is far more responsive and the routes are excellent. Much more improved.

However … periodically it just blanks out … loses the route and leaves me high and dry. I have to re-start it to get it back. The traffic function is laughable. I’m in the middle of San Francisco and on a regular street and the traffic alert goes off. And, when I’m dead-stopped in traffic it shows no problems. go figure. The security function has yet to work. I am supposed to be able to use it without entering a security code at my home. Hasn’t worked yet.

If I had to do it over again, I’d buy a different model. I Love GARMIN but I think they rushed this model.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

The 3760T is the best Nuvi I’ve purchased! Not sure what those who gave low ratings were doing with their units, but mine has performed flawlessly in every aspect. In just the last 2 weeks, 7 states and the UK (separate purchase for UK Maps) not a single problem. I would give it 5 stars if the MP3/Audible functions had carried over in the newest nuvi iteration.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

This unit is outstanding in the main function for which it is created – that is to get you to your location with speed, avoiding traffic, intelligent and effective routing and easy to monitor as you drive. It is a bit pricey but then I bought this as soon as the unit is in the market. GPS signal sensitivity near my home has been a problem. It takes forever to recognize where I am at very few places which seems to be a carry over from past models. Installation of software update is confusing – the instructions tell you to disconnect and that it will restart. It further says that if you try to turn the unit on or off it will render the unit unusable. However the system just simply never restarted. I had to wait for 3 days to get answer from support team to just turn it on. Well it did not install the update. I tried again, it did not restart, same set of instructions but I did try to manually turn it on and nothing sinister happened the unit had installed the update. For an otherwise high quality product this in my view is a serious weakness. Having noted the issues I would say it is a pleasure to use this product. The search of a name is excruciatingly slow which seem to be a ‘feature’ from past models. Even with all these issues which are relatively minor in my view when everything is taken into account I would strongly recommend getting this unitGarmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

Up-graded from our stolen 660 Nuvi to the 3760T. The 3760T works great, nice sized screen, easy to operate. Garmin finally has up-dated their information, our address was changed 12 years ago and it has finally showed up in their maps correctly. The product is top notch, the secondary seller (Car Toys), and shipping sucked big time; Amazon itself did OK.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

This is my second Garmin GPS. Finally upgraded the old Nuvi250. The pricing structure of the new 3700 series was hard to figure out, but I knew I wanted traffic. The base model requires an extra antenna power cord that costs over $100. The middle unit includes the traffic antenna for ony $50 more, so that’s a no brainer. I think the top model includes voice prompts, which are of no interest to me.

I use GPS all day, every day, for 5-9 routes a day as an HVAC service technician in a major metropolitan city. It is amazingly helpful to have traffic routing and tho you have to trust it and every now and then veto the routing, it is pretty clever.

I love the new slim form factor. It is SO sleek and slim, and it looks cool having my iPhone and Garmin on a twin mount next to each other. The multi touch isn’t as slick as Apple’s, but who’s it?! The resolution is great which really helps when quickly glancing at the unit while driving.

Great unit. I recommend it to others.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

After having the 3760T for over a week, I am really disappointed. First, I think the price is way out of line compared to the features listed on other GPS units at a lower cost. Also, the print showing street names is so small it it hard to see, let alone read. I had a NUVI 350 that was much better in providing larger print. I also had a NUVI 1450 with lifetime traffic that I really loved, but it kept shutting off and I had to return it to the retailer. I would have bought the 1490T but I’m afraid that it’s the 1450 only with traffic and the same circuitry and it might wind up shutting off, also. Right now, I’m not a big fan of Garmin units. Msybe I was expecting too much. Right now I think I want to return the 3760T even if it means paying the restocking fee and shipping costs.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

Not a bad GPS , typical Garmin, it is light weight , the multi tocuh is clumsy in the way it works, after you have been using and Iphone or an iPod the feel of this is disappointing. This is too much money for how it works.

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 3760T 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

Fourth Garmain I’ve owned which I treated myself to from Staples which was having a $100 off December special from my old 205W. This is still early days and have yet to access the advanced traffic features due to where I live but still very happy with the incredible high quality iPhone style graphics and superfast satellite fix at startup. Not quite so impressed with Street Names but found my original streetless “girlfriend” voice so back to normal there. Upgrading the map was a pain which took over two hours over a 3Mb/sec connection but went otherwise without incident. Love it remembers where you parked the car and of course, love the superb accurate maps. I am a happy Garmin product fan. Buy at $300.