Garmin nuvi 680 Car GPS Receiver

I've lived in the Bronx all my life and among the many perks of living in New York City, there's none quite more spoiling than the public transportation system. Since it has performed the chauffeuring duties so ably, I always felt that getting a driver's license was a pointless rite of passage. And where mass transit couldn t take me, I hitched a ride with friends, do-gooders and various well wishers.

On my 30th birthday six years ago, my friends decided a subtle but firm nudge out of my comfort zone would show me the error of my ways. I was given driving lessons at the local driving school and my birthday card came with a permit application and a driver s manual.

Best. Present. Ever.

I ll forgo the virtues of owning your own wheels and get right to the meat of it. Having never driven since the legal age, I never bothered to acquaint myself with the surrounding highways, by-ways, route markers, exit numbers, etc. I had the lousiest sense of direction and got lost more times than I care to remember. As a for instance , the Bronx Zoo is no more than a ten minute drive from my stoop, and even with online aids like Google Maps and Mapquest, I still managed to botch the endeavor.

My sense of direction has improved considerably over the years, but when I recently bought the Garmin Nuvi 360 Global Positioning System (GPS), I was overjoyed to find a device that could perform all the navigational duties for me.

Garmin has been developing GPS technology for 18 years and though it's not their most recent model, based on various reviews, the 360 model seemed to fit most of my needs. One thing that immediately impressed me about my new toy was its portable size. Weighing less than a pound and with dimensions measuring 3.9 x .9 x 2.9 inches, it can fit in your pocket or on the dashboard of your car. The bright touch tone color screen - viewable even in sunlight - measures 3.5" diagonally, taking up most of the device's real estate; and yet the Nuvi 360 still sports a power button located on top, a flip-up antenna, an SD expansion slot on the side, headphone jack, mini USB connector and a microphone and speaker to accommodate hands-free phone calling with its Bluetooth technology (more on that later).

The interface couldn't be more user friendly. The bright backlit display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels responds to the lightest touch. Big readable fonts with three main menus take you into submenus that allow you to configure the system to your personal preferences or to fine tune your navigational search.

The best way I can describe how this GPS operates is to run through the steps.

1. Power it on and touch the "Where To" tab

2. Type in the address you'd like to reach.

3. Voice activated directions including actual street names will guide you turn by turn with a reminder usually one mile before direction change and one more when approaching a turn or exit at 500 feet.

That's it. I've gone to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Upstate New York, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Rhode Island and Connecticut without once consulting Mapquest or Google Maps. The GPS technology and map directions have always been accurate. The navigation logic is in the receiver's high sensitivity WAAS technology. After some research, I found that WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) technology is the most advanced of its kind out there, owing to a network of ground stations and satellites that obtain and fine tune signals to achieve a pinpoint accuracy within 3 meters. Best of all, once the technology is built into the device, it's free and there are no monthly subscriptions or fees! This also explains its high up-front price, whose cost if you amortize over a period of say, two or three years, doesn't seem pretty steep, especially if you tend to use it as often as possible.

With all machines, you shouldn't trust them wholeheartedly (although this one comes pretty damn close). I know I'm contradicting myself, but I will say that it's a little foolhardy not to back up your directions with some other web-based mapping software. There are times when satellite reception is temporarily lost due to a long tunnel, but I never had reception issues on say, a cloudy day or rainy night. If you know where you're going, I wouldn't recommend using the GPS because awareness of surroundings will always trump technology. Case in point: driving up to my parents' house in New Rochelle, I know I can zoom straight up 95 North and get off at Exit 16. My Garmin always instructs me to begin on 95 North, then inexplicably tells me to detour onto the Hutchinson River Parkway North, only to get back on 95 North. It's a circuitous route and I'm not sure why it does that. Nonetheless, I ignore the step and the device always recalculates for me to continue on 95 North to my desired exit.

With no outside controls, virtually everything on the Nuvi 360 is operated by the touchscreen. This includes the volume control, which, while audible, should not be set to maximum as the sound begins to reverberate and scratch. You can search for various points of interest (POI) such as food, lodging, fuel, nearby parking garages, hospitals, shopping, entertainment, etc. In addition to these specific categories there's an especially handy feature called "Spell Name" whereby you can access Nuvi's database of more than six million points of interest by simply typing the name of any establishment. Nuvi generates a list of names from the device's physical location, with the nearest at the top of the list to the farthest as you scroll down. It's a fantastic tool especially when you don't have internet access handy.

The "Swiss Army" features, as I call them, include an MP3 player, travel alarm, jpeg slideshow viewer, currency converter, world clock and calculator - all neat features to have, although I haven't had occasion to use any of them. The Bluetooth technology, however, is a great, convenient extra. Just sync it with a compatible cell phone and you can talk hands-free while you drive. The sound quality is the same as the voice activated directions, so be sure to set it just below the max.

The device's portability allows you to move it from car to car, which is what I intend to do when I go to Arizona later this week (the Nuvi comes with pre-loaded maps of the North American continent, plus Hawaii). You can also change the mode from "vehicle" to "pedestrian" so a walk or a hike with this in hand will never get you lost.

Included in the package is a vehicle suction cup mount, AC charger, 12/24-volt adapter cable, dashboard disk, USB cable, carrying case, quick reference guide and a user's manual. Out of the box, the Nuvi is already charged. After placing the suction cup mount to my windshield, I snapped the device into place and it was ready to go. The AC charger allows the device to stay constantly charged, but even without it, the Nuvi lasts for a good 3 - 4 hours.

The lowest price I found for this model is still a bit steep at $404.19 (PCNation.com as of 5/24/07), but it represents one of the more solid, advanced portable/vehicle GPS navigator lines out there. It's replete with many features and its navigational accuracy is nonpareil. I ll say it with no shame or discernible compunction: I m all for machines that do my thinking for me. It really speaks to my lazy side while satisfying the gadget geek inside me. Get one if you have the extra cash and do a lot of driving/sightseeing.