Editorial Reviews:
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Travel throughout North America without loading any more maps with the Garmin nüvi 680 Personal Travel Assistant with MSN Direct. Plus, you can receive door-to-door directions while staying on top of local weather, traffic, and more with nüvi 680. The device features a colorful widescreen, hands-free calling, and an FM transmitter, then takes it up a notch by adding dynamic content from MSN Direct, as well as a convenient digital travel kit that includes an MP3 player with sample MP3s, audio books, a picture viewer, a world clock, currency and measurement converters, a calculator, and more. 
This pocket sized personal travel assistant has a super bright, sunlight-readable color screen. See side view. | 
Easy control via the simple touch screen. | 
Weather reporting available with bright, colorful graphics. | Despite being loaded with features, the nüvi 680 still allows you to navigate with ease. This unit comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded NavTeq City Navigator NT street maps for North America, and includes a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel stops, ATMs and more. Simply touch the super-bright, sunlight-readable color screen to enter a destination, and the 680 takes you there with either 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. This navigator voice even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road, and can concentrate on your driving to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. In addition, the 680 accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras, and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs that require your special consideration such as speed zones and safety cameras. Speaking of keeping you safe, the nüvi 680 lets you make hands-free calls so you can talk freely during your worry-free driving. By integrating Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker, you can pair your nüvi with any compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free while staying focused on the road. You no longer have to fumble with your phone's handset to answer a call or dial a number, just tap the 680's screen and you're instantly connected. And with 1-touch dialing for your POIs, you can quickly and conveniently call ahead to make reservations or get needed information. 
Simply insert a memory card to enjoy pictures, songs, and audiobooks. | 
You can also use the mini-USB port for tranferring files directly to the memory card. | The new nüvi 680 lets you get localized information with dynamic content from MSN Direct, making it one of the most resourceful navigators available. Using the included receiver and free trial service to MSN Direct, you can check your local weather, avoid traffic backups, compare local gas prices, and even check movie times and locations, all while you travel. Easy and virtually fool-proof to use, the MSN Direct receiver is plug-and-play portable so you can quickly connect to your navigator unit when you are out and about. All of which can be customized with configurable vehicle icons that let you choose individual car-shaped icons in a variety of colors that show your position on the map. In additional to all this functionality, the nüvi 680 includes many must-have entertainment and travel tools such as an MP3 player, an audio book player (subscription to Audible.com required), and a JPEG picture viewer so you can take your favorite music and pictures with you wherever you go. This unit also features a world travel clock with time zones, a currency converter, a measurement converter, and a calculator so that wherever you travel it will be easy to know what you are getting and keep track of your costs. The MP3 player lets you browse music by artist, album, and/or song, while the optional audio books may be purchased from Audible.com which features over 70,000 hours of audio programs. What's more, the nüvi 680 allows further customization via optional software such as a travel guide, savings programs and language translation on plug-and-play SD cards for all your travel needs. The Garmin nüvi 680 comes with a built-in, high-sensitivity, WAAS-enabled GPS receiver, and lets you view and operate it via its bright, LCD TFT touch-screen, wide-screen display that measures 4.3 inches (diagonal) and has a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels with 64,000 colors and a white backlight. As a whole, the nüvi 680 measures 4.9 x 2.9 x 0.9 inches (W x H x D), and weighs only 6.2 ounces for easy portability. This unit provides you with from three to seven hours of battery life (depending on use) via its rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and comes with Garmin Lock, which is an anti-theft feature to protect your investment. While you can add software via the SD card slot, the Garmin nüvi 680 also lets you interface via high-speed USB for loading data, though users should note that, like most USB mass storage devices, this unit is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me. 
The nüvi 680 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel stops, ATMs, and more. |
What's in the Box
Garmin nüvi 680 with MSN Direct, City Navigator NT maps for North America (preloaded, full coverage), MSN Direct receiver with integrated vehicle power cable, 1 year of free MSN Direct service, vehicle suction cup mount, an AC charger, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk, a USB cable, leather carrying case, quick reference guide, and owner's manual.
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Reviews :
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Evaluation:  
Conclusion: Fun Gadget, but perfect by no means, Take a map too.
Review: On its maiden voyage, I traveled about 20 miles from my home, I live in the country. I then touched the "Go Home" box, thinking that it would back track what I had just traveled since it was the fastest route home. With in 30 seconds it misidentified the county road I was on. A minute later it told me to turn left onto a gravel road that ran along the paved road for a few miles.This happen a few times. And yes it did route me the long way home. And yes places are no longer there that the 680 say are. Yep just what most of the reviews say! But I think that's the nature of the beast of most GPS systems. But I can't tell you how many times I've stopped at a busy intersection looking for a street sign and couldn't find one. This will help and the hands free "Bluetooth" worked well.I also liked the "View Map" feature, it gives you the the map, the streets and the direction you are traveling. Overall, with a good map and the Garmin 680 it will make the trip more reliable and for sure less stops at the gas station asking for directions. Do you need all the bells and whistles this has? Really , most of us don't. So save yourself a couple hundred bucks and get a basic GPS. It will get you there just as good. But by all means, don't forget the map.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Garmin 680 with dated maps
Review: Nice and what I expected (not had a GPS before) but the maps are dated and never did receive the warranty information I was told had been mailed. I have trouble seeing road signs and this should be a huge help and I like the large screen.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: A great navigator
Review: The garmin is great. Easy to use, easy to see and a much better buy for a navigator rather than one that comes in your car and costs 3 - 4 x's as much. In sharing our garmin with others, they now have gone out to get one as well. The unit is quick to make adjustments and is extremely handy in finding resturaunts or other locations on the fly. The larger 4.3 inch screen is a must for these while the smaller screen is more difficult to use. The touch screen works well and the menu/search program is easy to navigate. The only negative we've found is sometimes maps aren't as up to date as we would like, but this has happened only a couple times. We aren't big travelers either but still use it enough that we are very happy to have it.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Nuvi680
Review: The GPS gives some really stupid routing directions, the MSN direct service does not work well, but I think it is the GPS unit or cable, to find out I have to pay shipping to send the unit back to garmin and in a month they will have it fixed and sent back, would be nice if they could just exchange it espically since I bought it new a little over a month ago. The GPS is easy to use, lots of POI but some stores have been closed for 3 years and still list them.
Evaluation:
Conclusion: Easiest to use ~ very inuitive
Review: I purchased this model NUVI to replace a 2008 Toyota NAVS system. It has found addresses when the Toyota's could not. The instructions are clear, it recalculates fairly quickly. I cannot compare it against more expensive Garmins because they have features I did not need.
PRO's. It takes an SD card which can be loaded with MP3's and Pictures. Interestingly it provides good background music in a hotel room when we travel so long as we use a power cord. Because the battery lasts so long we use it as a hand held rather then a mounted unit. (Our choice)
CON's. The voices that guide the traveled route are not as clear as they should be, however they do give you several choices of voice to use.
All in all I am glad we bought this unit. Rather than fight over who gets to take it for the day my wife bought her own NUVI 680 :)
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