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Is the Garmin Nuvi 760 GPS a Good Choice?
A good way to help decide if a product -- like the Garmin nuvi 760 GPS -- will satisfy what you want is to read a good review about the product. However, I've sometimes bought things that received good reviews by experts only to find out that the product had shortcomings missed by the reviewer.
So when they are available, I like to get the impressions of people who have actually bought the product. And the easy way to do that is to go to a merchant, like Amazon, and check if buyers have left comments about their experiences with the product.
Let's take a look at the range of comments at Amazon for the Garmin nuvi 760 GPS and see if this device is a good GPS choice.
As of this writing the Garmin nuvi 760 GPS has 598 customer reviews. On a scale of 5 stars (1 = worst, 5 = best), the 760 has earned a rating of an impressive 4 stars. Even more telling is that more than half of the reviews gave a rating of 5 stars. This seems to represent a lot of very satisfied buyers.
However, we can't stop here if we want to get a more reliable picture of the 760. I find two things very useful when doing an investigation like this. I like to see what the general attitude is of buyers who gave 4 and 5 stars. This helps me get a good idea of the very best features of a product.
I also like to look at complaints given by the buyers who gave a rating of 3 stars or fewer. The greatest value in looking at these lower ratings is that sometimes shortcomings of the product are revealed that may not matter to most people but might be a deal breaker for me.
The Highest Ratings for the 760 GPS
The first 5-star review that comes up compares the 760 to its cousin the Garmin nuvi 660 GPS. From this review we learn that the 760 has clean fonts that make it easy to read street names. Also, the zoom feature works well even when there are lots of roads close together on the map. The lack of an antenna makes it easy to use the first time. Further, despite it's lack of an antenna, the 760 locks more strongly to the GPS satellite than does the 660, which has an antenna. Finally, the 760 GPS allows you to creates multiple viapoints to make it better at creating alternate routes.
So far, so good.
Browsing through other 5-star reviews reveals that many people find that the display is bright and easy to read. Other common themes (and popular features) are the ease in initially setting up the device, the 760's snappy response, it's simple user interface, and the good routing capabilities of the 760. Buyers also indicate that the Blue Tooth interface works well.
The device certainly seems to offer a lot of value for these buyers.
The Lowest Ratings for the 760 GPS
A look through several of the 1- and 2-star reviews reveals instances with the device quitting working. Also there were complaints of having to reset the device too often. Some people found the FM transmitter feature to be of almost no value, while others did not think the Blue Tooth integration worked very well. Several reviewers complained about the sound quality. There was also more than one complaint about the routing being poor.
Apparently one common feature on some GPS devices that the 760 lacks is a chime that rings just prior to its speaking the next instruction. People who complained about this shortcoming had apparently come to depend on this feature with other GPS systems they had owned.
When Reviews Contradict
It's interesting when a feature will be praised by some and dissed by others. That can often lead to confusion about which view most nearly represents the reality of the product.
For things like devices stopping working, if there are just a few complaints (as compared to the number of positive reviews), then I generally take this to mean that overall the quality is good but occasionally a person ends up with the inevitable device that just didn't get built quite right. On the other if these quality complaints predominate, then I assume the product is generally poorly designed.
I take a similar approach for issues related to sound quality, because people's perception of sound quality is pretty subjective. What one person calls poor sound quality can be another person's great quality. So I assume that the majority opinion on sound quality probably represents the view of the average person.
In the area of routing -- is it good? Or it is bad? This too is partially subjective, so it will depend to some extent to what you expect a GPS device to be able to do. And your perception will depend on what you've been used to in the past. However, with devices like the 760 GPS, the routing also depends on how accurate the maps are for a particular geographic area. Some areas will have better maps than others, and the GPS device will be limited by the available maps. Overall users seems to like the routing capabilities of the device.
The Bottom Line
On balance the actual buyers of the 760 GPS give rave reviews for the device. It boasts ease of use, a bright display, and easy inital setup. Some users experienced quality issues in the form of the device failing prematurely or poor sound quality or routing. For people especially sensitive to sound quality, this device may not be a suitable fit. For everyone else, chances are good that the 760 GPS will provide you a pleasing navigation experience.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Favero
