This article reviews the Garmin Nuvi 770 satellite navigation system. The Nuvi 770 is at the high end of the Garmin Nuvi range and is packed full of features.

If you compare it to the likes of the Nuvi 250W it is over £100 more expensive. So what extras do you get and is it worth the extra money? This review will try to help you decide.

The Nuvi 770 is identical to the Nuvi 760 except it has transatlantic maps covering both Europe and North America, whereas the Nuvi 760 just has European mapping. If you don’t need the North American maps then go for the Nuvi 760, it is about £30-40 cheaper.

In a nutshell the Nuvi 770 offers the following features not seen on the Nuvi 250W:

• TMC Traffic Module to help avoid traffic congestion and road blocks
• Bluetooth support so you can make hands free calls on your mobile phone via the Nuvi 770
• FM Transmitter so voice directions and MP3 audio can be heard through your car stereo speakers
• Transatlantic maps of Europe and North America (250W has just Europe)
• Multiple destination routing, which includes automatic sorting to provide an efficient route for things like deliveries or sales calls
• Trip log which records where you’ve been on the map
• Marking of your last position when the unit is turned off (useful if your car is parked in a huge car park such as an amusement park or shopping mall and you can’t remember where the car is parked)
• “Where am I” feature that gives your current location, nearest address, nearest intersection, along with quick access to Points of Interest (POIs) for the nearest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations
• MP3 player

All of these features will be covered in more detail later in this article.

Box Contents

This is what you get in the box.

• Garmin Nuvi 770
• Preloaded City Navigator® NT maps for North America and Europe (full coverage)
• Vehicle suction cup mount
• FM traffic receiver with vehicle power cable
• Dashboard disk
• USB cable
• Leather carry case
• Quick start manual

Detailed Specifications

• Unit dimensions: 4.8″W x 3.0″H x .8″D (12.2 x 7.6 x 2.0 cm)
• Display size: 3.81″W x 2.25″H (9.7 x 5.7 cm); 4.3″ diag (10.9 cm)
• Display resolution, widescreen: 480 x 272 pixels
• Weight: 6.2 ounces (176 g)
• Battery life: up to 5 hours
• USB connector
• SD Card Slot
• Speed camera warnings out-of-the-box
• Speaks road numbers as well as street names, e.g. “Turn left in 200 yards onto the A4” and “Turn right in 200 yards onto West Street”
• MP3 player
• Picture viewer
• Qwerty or ABC keyboard
• FM transmitter

First Thoughts

The Nuvi 770 looks pretty much like the Nuvi 250W. It has the same great looks and easy to operate user interface. The wide screen plus the slim and compact looks make it a pleasure to use.

A USB cable is included, something that was missing from the 250W. You also get a leather carry case, very useful for an expensive sat nav system like this. The carry case will easily fit in a coat or jacket pocket.

The quick user manual covers most of the information you need to get started. I personally would have preferred a bit more information in the manual, especially regarding how to configure the various settings. You can though download a full user manual from the Garmin web site which covers everything in far more detail.

GPS Signal

GPS reception has always been excellent across the Nuvi range and the 770 is no different. A satellite signal was established in around 1 minute the first time it was switched on, this was standing inside a building.

Some sat nav systems require you to stand outside for ages before an initial signal is established, which can be a bit of a pain, so it is nice to see a system work out of the box with no fuss.

If your inside a building and a GPS signal cannot be found then it will prompt you whether to continue searching for a satellite signal. If you say ‘No’ then it switches to ‘Indoor’ mode. This is a good idea. It means the Nuvi won’t waste battery power trying to continually find a GPS signal.

Maps

The Nuvi 770 includes full coverage of UK, Europe and North America, right down to individual street level. If you spend a lot of time driving around both Europe and North America then you will welcome this coverage.

Navigation

All the normal navigation features you would expect from a sat nav system are supported, such as being able to plan routes by the fastest or shortest route. There are also options to plan journeys by bicycle or pedestrian routes on foot. There is also an ‘Off Road’ mode which provides point-to-point routes without regard for roads.

Full postal code entry is supported. Alternatively. if you don’t know the postal code then you can spell the city, street name and house number. If you want to navigate to a particular Point of Interest (POI) such as a food outlet, fuel station or car park then you can do that too.

By default it will search for POI near your current location, but you can also specify to search for POI near a different city. This can be useful if you need to find a hotel or restaurant near your destination.

The Nuvi 770 stores a list of recent destinations and you can also save your favourite destinations for easy access later. You can also save your home address if required. If you want to navigate to a set of co-ordinates you can do that too.

The Nuvi 770 also supports multiple destination routing. You can enter multiple destinations and the Nuvi will automatically sort them into the most appropriate order. This can be useful for things like deliveries or sales calls.

If you take a detour or wrong turn whilst travelling then the Nuvi 770 will automatically recalculate the route and get you back on track. I tested this feature several times and it worked fine.

The following image shows the main map screen.

The maps are clearly laid out and easy to read. At the top of each map is a green text bar. If you press this then it will display the route in text only mode. This can be useful for seeing the next few turns on your journey. You can scroll through your entire journey this way if needed. You might want to do this for example to find a complicated step on your route.

At the bottom left of the map is a trip information button which displays the estimated arrival time. If you’re just driving around without a route planned then this button displays the current speed. If you press this button then the trip log is displayed, displaying information such as total journey time, maximum speed and average speed.

At the bottom right of each map is the turn button. If you press this button it will display the Turn Page which shows in more detail the next step of your journey.

This is basically a combination of the map view and text view on one screen which can be useful at times. If you’re just driving around without a route planned then the turn button displays your current direction.

The Nuvi 770 also supports a simulator mode. If you plan a journey indoors where there is no satellite signal then you have the option for the Nuvi to simulate the journey for you. Bear in mind though that this will get tedious for a long journey.

In my tests I used the Nuvi 770 on cross-country trips from Wiltshire down to the South coast, and also urban driving along the M4 corridor.

The voice directions include not only the road numbers, for example “Turn left in 300 yards onto the A4”, but also street names, for example “Turn left in 300 yards onto Western Avenue”. This is the first system I’ve tested which has both road numbers and street names included. On the whole it worked pretty well. The voice sometimes sounds a little digital (computer-like) if that makes sense, but overall I found the pronunciation of street names quite acceptable.

The use of street names extends to your favourite destinations too. If you save a favourite destination and call it “Uncle Jacks”, then the Nuvi 770 will include that in the voice directions, for example “Arriving at Uncle Jacks on left”. Quite clever really.

On the whole the system performed very well, getting me to my destination every time without any problems. The routes selected by the Nuvi 770 were OK, but they were not always the routes I personally would have chosen.

The Nuvi sat nav systems only offer you the option of either using the fastest or shortest route. I personally would have liked to have seen a couple more route profiles. The Sony nav-u systems for example offer an optimum route profile which uses a combination of fastest or shortest route if it offers a reasonable savings in journey time.

The mapping software on the whole is very accurate, although I did come across a couple of odd things which were probably down to the particular road I was driving along. On one occasion the map failed to detect that I needed to turn left at a T-junction (it thought it was just one continuous road), and on another occasion it kept saying “recalculating” for about one minute, almost like the road I was on didn’t exist. I was driving along cross-country routes at the time but it just goes to show that not every sat nav system has perfect mapping software, even expensive models like this one.

This wouldn’t put me off buying one of these. Every sat nav system I’ve tested has some minor quirks, but they’re all normally good at getting you to your destination. It’s just when you consider the price tag for the Nuvi 770 you expect a system like this to be almost perfect.

Pedestrian and Off-Road Navigation

The Nuvi 770 can be used in predestrian mode. From the main screen select Tools –> Settings –> System and set the Usage Mode to Pedestrian.

You need to set the routing profile depending on where you intend to walk. From the main screen select Tools –> Settings –> Navigation and choose the appropriate Route Preference.

If you plan to walk just along roads and streets then use either the ‘Shorter Distance’ or ‘Faster Time’ route profile. This can be great for walking on foot in large towns and cities.

If you want to walk wherever like, regardless of whether there are any roads, such as across a field for example, then use the ‘Off Road’ route profile. The Nuvi 770 can also remember where you parked the car. If you’ve parked your car in a huge car park, such as those at an amusement park or mega mall, and you’ve forgotten where you parked, then you can use the pedestrian off-road mode to find your car.

In my tests the pedestrian mode worked a treat, it will even tell you how fast you’re walking.

Screen

The widescreen is just like the other Nuvi widescreen models and is equally impressive. Garmin have put some thought into the usability of the device and this can be seen with the on screen controls which are clear and easy to read. The screen is easy to read both at day and night and I didn’t observe any problems with screen glare.

Volume

The volume level can be adjusted from the main screen, but it does not offer automatic volume adjustment depending on the speed you’re travelling. Some systems for example will increase the volume when driving at high speeds so you can still hear the voice directions.

I found the speaker on the Nuvi 770 fine and didn’t find this an issue. I set the volume to around 80% and that worked pretty well.

Bluetooth

The Nuvi 770 can be paired up with a bluetooth phone. This can be useful for making hands free calls via your Nuvi. The Nuvi 770 will automatically download your phone address book. You can then start making and receiving phone calls via the Nuvi 770, you can even send and receive SMS text messages.

Here is an example of scrolling through the phone book, the image shows the O2 contacts from my mobile phone downloaded by the Nuvi.

Just like any bluetooth device, you need to make sure your mobile phone is reasonably close to the Nuvi 770. Garmin recommend that your mobile phone is no more than 10 meters away from the Nuvi, that distance should be fine for most vehicles.

I found the bluetooth feature worked very well. I recommend you set the Nuvi volume level to around 70%, any louder than that and the person at the other end of the phone will likely get some feedback, plus their voice will sound too loud on the Nuvi speakers.

I tested out both the phone and SMS features from the Nuvi and it worked perfectly every time. My only complaint was that I could not get voice dialling to work. If your mobile phone supports voice dialling then you should be able to phone someone by just speaking their name into the Nuvi, but I never got this feature to work. This may have been down to my phone but after about half an hour trying I gave up.

A nice feature I liked is the ability to dial a Point of Interest (POI) such as a restaurant. Simply search for the POI on the map and then touch the dial icon to make the call.

If you want to store your home phone number so you can quickly call home then you can do that too. Personally I never used this feature since I already had my home phone number stored in my phone address book.

TMC

The Nuvi 770 comes with a free lifetime traffic subscription provided by TrafficMaster. I’ve tested out TMC before on the Sony nav-u range and found TMC reception patchy, for example it was non-existent where I live. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find the Nuvi 770 working far better in this department. I can even get a TMC signal at home, something I never could with the Sony range.

The following map shows the TMC coverage you can expect.

The TMC antenna is attached to the vehicle power cable which isn’t a bad idea, as it is one less thing to possibly lose when carrying all the equipment around.

Garmin in my opinion though haven’t put much though into the usability aspects on TMC reception. In order to ascertain whether you have a TMC signal, you need to look at the connector that plugs into your cigarette lighter socket. The connector has an LED light which indicates if a TMC signal is available. A green light indicates TMC is being received and a red light indicates no TMC signal.

In order to see this light you need to take your eyes completely off the road which in my opinion is dangerous. Garmin really should have displayed an icon on the screen to show if TMC was available, like other sat nav systems do.

If there is a traffic problem ahead then the Nuvi 770 will display an icon indicating the problem, these icons cover the following categories: road construction, road closed, slow traffic, accident, incident and travel information.

The TMC traffic icons are also displayed on the map when not navigating a route. This can be useful when you’re driving along familiar routes and just want a warning of any hold-ups ahead.

If you’re navigating to a destination then it also displays an estimate of how how much time has been added to your journey as a result of any delays.

When calculating the route the Nuvi will examine any traffic problems on your route and optimizes for the shortest route. You may end up still being routed through a traffic problem if no sensible alternative exists. If the delay is severe enough though it will recalculate the route.

In my tests so far I’ve found the TMC signal to be excellent. I’ve used the Nuvi 770 along the M4 corridor and had no problems at all. I’ve yet to encounter any traffic problems in testing so far, so I have been unable to review how accurate the traffic information is, but I will update this review later once I find out.

FM Transmitter

The Nuvi includes a wireless FM transmitter which allows voice directions to be broadcast through your FM car stereo instead of the Nuvi 770 speakers. You can also use this feature to playback MP3 files stored on the Nuvi too.

The important part is selecting the right FM frequency to use. You need to choose a frequency not used by any other radio stations in your area, otherwise you get too much interference. So you need to use a bit of trial and error before you get a decent result.

You can either manually choose an FM frequency for the Nuvi to broadcast on, or you can let the TMC traffic receiver select a frequency automatically for you. I let the Nuvi automatically choose a frequency for me. The first frequency it selected was too close to the same frequency used by Radio 2 which meant too much interference, so I had to let the Nuvi choose another frequency about 5 times before I was happy with the results.

Even when I had selected a decent FM frequency with no interference, the voice instructions didn’t sound as good on my car stereo speakers as they do when coming through the speakers on the Nuvi. I need to experiment more with the FM transmitter but so far I’m not a huge fan of it.

The other thing to remember, you may select a decent FM frequency for the Nuvi to use at home, but once you drive further afield you may enter a region where another radio station broadcasts close to the same FM frequency used by the Nuvi, which means you would need to re-tune the Nuvi to use another frequency. This is not going to be practical if you’re driving through a part of the country you’re not familiar with. The last thing you want is to not hear the voice instructions whilst driving due to radio interference.

I think there is more potential for success with manual tuning. Selecting a frequency right at the beginning of the FM frequency band may be more successful, such as 88FM or lower. But even that is not guaranteed to give success.

Safety Cameras

The Nuvi 770 comes with speed camera warnings out-of-the-box. In my tests I found the speed cameras worked well. It detected both fixed and mobile safety cameras. It also detected average speed cameras like the ones you see in motorway roadworks.

When approaching a safety camera the Nuvi 770 will issue a warning sound and display a text warning on the map.

The Nuvi will also detect safety cameras when not navigating a route. This can be useful when you’re driving along familiar roads and just want to switch the Nuvi on and use it as a speed camera detector. I tested this out along the M4 and it worked fine.

You may want to consider updating the safety camera information every year or so, to keep up with any new safety cameras being put up. You can do this by purchasing a new subscription from Garmin. It currently costs £30 (40 Euros) which in my opinion is expensive.

For a much cheaper alternative you can try looking at the following link:
Speed camera plugin for Garmin.

Windscreen Mount

The windscreen mount is just like the others in the Garmin range. I have always liked the design used by Garmin. It is very easy to use with few moving parts so little to go wrong. You simply press the suction cup against the windscreen and then press the lever to apply the suction.

The Nuvi cradle then snaps onto the suction cup using a ball and socket mechanism which allows you to twist and turn the Nuvi into whatever position you like. The Nuvi clicks onto the cradle with little effort and is held securely. To detach the Nuvi from the cradle you simply press the release button on the cradle and pull the Nuvi away.

Garmin also include a dashboard disk if you want to attach the Nuvi to the dashboard, but be warned, the dashboard disk uses semi-permanent adhesive when attached and will be very difficult to remove later.

System Tools

If you press the tools (wrench) icon on the main screen there are a large selection of options that can be viewed and customized. These are outlined below.

Where Am I?
Press this button and it will show your current location as a set of co-ordinates, including current elevation. It also displays the nearest address and nearest junction. There are also quick launch icons to show the nearest hospitals, police stations and fuel outlets. You also have the option to save your current location so you can navigate to it later.

Unit Converter
Use this tool to convert any unit of measurement, such as area, distance, speed, temperature, volume and weight.

Currency Converter
Use this tool to convert from one currency to another.

Calculator
Provides a simple calculator interface for performing quick addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Language Guide
The Nuvi 770 comes with a sample of the Garmin Language Guide. These guides contain common words and phrases, such as ordering food in a restaurant or asking directions in a foreign language. You can get the Nuvi to speak these phrases aloud. This can be useful if you’re travelling around Europe and don’t speak the local language.

It also includes bilingual dictionaries so you can quickly convert a word from English to Spanish, German, French, Italian or Portuguese. You can also convert the other way, such as Spanish to English.

World Clock
This tool will show your current time, plus 3 other time zones. You can also display a world map showing which regions in the world are currently in daylight and nighttime.

My Data
This screen quickly allows you to set your home location, delete your favourites and clear the trip log.

Routes
The Nuvi 770 allows you to store up to 10 routes. This screen allows you to view all your saved routes.

Picture Viewer
Use this tool to view pictures you’ve uploaded to the Nuvi. You can scroll through each photo, show each photo full screen or do a slide show. You also have the option to display one of these pictures when you power on the Nuvi 770 if you don’t like the default Garmin logo.

Media Player
You can upload MP3 files to your Nuvi and then play them back through the built-in media player. The media player also supports audio books which you can purchase and upload to the Nuvi. Copying the MP3 files to the Nuvi is straightforward. The Nuvi appears as an additional hard drive when connected to your computer. You simply copy the MP3 files to any folder you like on the Nuvi.

Help
If you’re stuck with any aspect of the device then use the help screen to get help information displayed on the screen. If you don’t have access to the online manuals, such as out in the open somewhere, then this screen can come in useful.

Settings

This screen allows you to customize a huge selection of settings.

System
Here you can set the unit of measurement, miles or kilometers,the usage mode – automobile, bicycle or pedestrian, keyboard layout – ABCDE or qwerty, and GPS simulator on or off.

Navigation
Here you can set the route preference – fastest time, shortest route or off-road, and avoidances – U-Turns, major roads, toll roads, traffic problems, ferries, car share lanes and unpaved roads.

Display
Use this option to set the colour mode – automatic, daytime or night-time. Enable or disable the screenshot facility and set the brightness.

Time
Set the clock to either a 12 or 24 hour format, set the time zone and enable or disable daylight saving.

Language
You can set the voice, text and keyboard to a large selection of languages from around the world. In the UK the Nuvi 770 comes with a female voice.

Map
Set the level of detail displayed on the map, the map view – track up, North up or 3D, the vehicle icon, and hide or show the trip log. You can also view the map info which shows which maps are loaded on the Garmin.

Security
Use this screen to enable either the Garmin lock or safe mode.

Bluetooth
This screen allows you to manage your bluetooth connections.

Volume
You can set individual volume limits for both voice directions and the media player from this screen. There is also an option to enable the FM transmitter from this screen.

Proximity Points
This screen allows you to disable the safety camera feature should you wish to do so.

Points of Interest (POI)

The Nuvi 770 has a massive POI database, just like the other Nuvi range. You won’t be disappointed in this department.

The following POI categories are supported: food, fuel, transit, lodging, shopping, bank/ATM, parking, entertainment, recreation, attractions, hospitals, community and auto services.

For many of these categories you can then refine your search further. If you search for entertainment for example, you can limit the search to sub-categories like bars, cinemas, theatres, etc.

If you use the “Where Am I” feature mentioned earlier you can also search for nearby police stations. If the POI you are looking for doesn’t fit into one of these categories then you can just spell the name.

By default the Nuvi will search for POI near your current location, but you can also search for POI in any other city you like.

If you’re already navigating to a destination then you can ask the Nuvi to search for POI along your current route or near your destination. This can be useful if you want to find a hotel or fuel station for example near your destination.

You can update the POI database on the Nuvi by using this link:
Garmin POI loader.

Summary

The Nuvi 770 is a top notch sat nav system. It looks good, has easy to use on screen controls, has a huge POI database and the TMC reception is the best I’ve tested so far on a sat nav system. The speed camera and bluetooth features worked impressively well too.

The Nuvi includes transatlantic maps, meaning you can use this system in both Europe and North America straight out of the box. If you’re a frequent visitor to both sides of the Atlantic you’ll welcome this. If you don’t need the North American maps then go for the Nuvi 760, which is identical in spec but just has European maps, and is £30-40 cheaper.

All these features do come at a price though, at around £280 it is a lot of money. There are systems half this price that will perform just as well getting you to your destination. If you’re the type of person who likes top of the range models with lots of features then there is very little to complain about.

I’m not convinced the FM transmitter is a useful feature, and in my tests it didn’t perform very well. When you consider the price tag I think the Nuvi 770 is a little overpriced, but if you’ve got the money you won’t be disappointed. The Nuvi 770 really is a superb unit.

Pros

• Wide screen
• Strong GPS signal
• Easy to use touch screen controls
• Speed cameras warnings out-of-the-box
• TMC signal excellent
• Voice directions include road numbers and street names
• Huge POI database
• Full map coverage of Europe and North America

Cons

• Expensive
• FM Transmitter not as good as I was expecting

Where to buy

Buy the Garmin Nuvi 770 Widescreen Sat Nav from Lemon Digital. Quote “Technical Itch” when ordering for a special price promotion discount.

Buy the Garmin Nuvi 770 Widescreen Sat Nav from Amazon.

Buy the Garmin Nuvi 760 Widescreen Sat Nav from Amazon.

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