New to auto GPS - some info please!

I've had a variety of handheld GPS units ever since they first came on
the market, but am now considering buying the NUVI 750 for my car.
Looks like a lot of fun but I have a few questions first:

1. I live in Canada and also travel to the US. Can the unit be set to
read distances in kilometers as well as miles?

2. When using my current handheld GPS in the car it gives distance to
the next waypoint only in a straight line. Does the 750 give actual
road distances to the next turn etc.?

3. I have read comments about the FM transmitter being weak, but does
that depend on where the car's FM antenna is - mine's in the front so
I assume that would be good?

4. Does it show altitude?

Would greatly appereciate any comments and tips!

eachcornerpulling wrote:


        I havenn't checked with Nuvi but all my older Garmin GPSes have Km/Mi
option. I have Nuvi 680 and just looked and can't find the information


        That's the OLD Garmin, the newer will hi-lite the route then guide you
turn-by-turn. The auto-route is much better than the straight-line style,
except in the woods or no map then the straight-line can be handy.


        The FM transmitter is kinda OK but I don't see any benefit so I don't use
it. Also, I don't think the FM transmitter is matter much about the antenna
but wherever you can get a STRONG *free* FM signal to get a clear sound.


        Garmin has been going downhill on each newer model they release to public,
or most Garmin users don't have much idea what older model or series has
that newer doesn't have. Or Garmin has been removing lot of good features
of older Garmin to replace with lot of useless junkies.

        I know the older Garmin StreetPilots shows altitude but haven't seen on my
newer Nuvi-680, but I haven't tried different view's to see what else it has
to offer.


        But you should be ok, it's bad but ain't too bad.

"eachcornerpulling" wrote in message

Well on my Nuvi 780, you just go into System, and there's a Units setting to
change from Miles to Kilometers. So at least in the 700 series you can
change this. I would think you would be able to do this in all the other
ones also.


If you were using a Plain GPS without Maping software, then the only thing a
Hand held uint would do is stright lines from one point to the next. That's
also what my Garmin GPS 60 does.

The Nuvi will tell you the distance to the next turn on the lower right Box
and speak the name of the road your going to be turning onto. On the lower
left Box it'll show your arival time. They may go up a bit or down a bit
depending on speed and traffic condidtions. It's generally pretty close
for me. If you puch on the lower right box where it tells you how far until
next turn, you can scroll though the whole route. A small picture on the
left and the distance and time along with where to turn is shown on the
right half.
A car navigation unit and a basic hand held device are 2 almost complettly
differnt units for completly differnt uses.


Mine works in my truck with it in almost the center of the Dash. But it's
not the best, and it doesn't sound all that great. My XM Skyfi Units FM
transmiter is a whole lot better but I don't use it either. I installed a
Modual into my Factory Radio to give me 2 Direct Inputs. One I use for the
Skyfi, and I had a spare. I plan to plug the Nuvi Directly into my Radio.
Far, Far better sound that way. I havn't had a chance to do that yet. I
did try using my Nuvi on my Motorcycle using a BLuetooth wireless headset
with built in FM Radio, and yet My Nuvi being about 3 feet from my Helmet
was piss poor in reciving the Nuvi signal. When at home and less
interferance. Out on the road is was completly worthless. So I'm also
directly wired into my Helmet now and it sounds 10000 times better. Quite
frankly I don't know why that worthless FM transmiter is there. I guess
just so they can say it has one, but really it's pretty poor. Do you have
a Car Radio with a Aux Input? That would be the best way. How about a
Cassete tape port? That would be the second best way to get a Casette
Adapter and plug that cord into the Nuvi. I really wouldn't count on the
FM Modulator. The Goverment has been cracking down on them being to
powerful, expecally with XM and Sirius and I think Garmin went the Totally
safe route!!!


I know if you go into the Satallte page it will show Elevation. It will
also show Elevation if you go into the Where Am I section. You just don't
see it on the Main screen. You can go into those Sections and then go back
to the main map without screwing up your route your currently doing.

I have the Nuvi 780, and you should have pretty much the same features with
the 750 other then the MSN Direct.

On Fri, 16 May 2008 20:33:46 -0700, "JBDragon" <JBDragon at someplace

better. Quite

Many thanks to you and the others who answered my questions - I also
got a helpful answer direct from a Garmin dealer.

I gather the 700 series does have an audio output jack and so I guess
that if the FM transmitter doesn't work well in my car I can always
fix up a connection somehow to get input into my car stereo or even
direct into an ear bud.

So my order for a 750 will be going in soon...:-)

"eachcornerpulling" wrote in message

Ya it does have a Audio out port. The only thing is I wish it was also part
of the Mount and not on the GPS. It would make it better when putting it on
and off the mount then having something else to plug and Unplug on the GPS.
There is one for the Remote Mic if you buy that to plug into the mount it's
self. My XM Skyfi Unit just lifts right out of the mount and I don't have
to unplug the Antenna, Power and Audio connections. I think Garmin went
Halfway in that Respect. The Power port and Remote mic ports are in the
mount, but the Remote antenna and Audio out ports are on the GPS it's self.
With all the pin connections on the bottom of the Nuvi, what's a few more?

I also wish that they would link to a Bluetooth Headset and not just to a
phone for hands free operation like the ZUMO's.