New Garmin Dezl 760

We have the smaller, earlier Garmin in our trucks. The only complaint has been sketchy local routing (what GPS doesn't?). If I needed to replace one of these, I'd probably get the 760 just to not have to relearn everything.

With the latest map updates they've also gotten kind of twitchy around thru truck restrictions (versus a regular one, as-in trucks prohibited altogether). For example, entering metro ATL from the SE on I-75 NB on a route to I-285 WB. On the last 2 miles before the ramp the Garmin will just about go into spaz mode trying to circumvent the I-285 WB ramp, coming up with all sorts of crazy surface street routes. That ramp technically being inside I-285 is the only reason I can think causing this.

 

I honestly couldn't say anything about the Garmin 7" model, but I do know that I wasn't happy with their 5" model and got the Rand 720 which I really like a lot.

 

Out of curiosity, what do you like better about it?

 

I just bought my Garmin Dezl 760lmt in ABT store for $368. But its store only sale. Review later....

 

What and where is an "ABT" store?

 

Abt.com Glenview, IL

 

Have one in the truck as I "speak".
And......

So far so good. It is veru much improved over the 560 even....eye candy includes a couple of different dash-boards with interchangable data cards. Add on main map page buttons for blue tooth, exit guide, weather radar etc and these are user selectable (weather radar is an add-on through smart link and I will get to that) traffic is free and one can go HD traffic with the purchase of GTM 60 power/ traffic rds receiver. The unit comes with the GTM 36 cord and provides traffic access at the normal refresh rate. The traffic has been augmented over the 560 and again, can be accesed directly from the map screen by placing a traffic button the screen.

Gps constellation signal aquisition is right on par with Garmin's highend receivers and has been fast and reliable so far. I havn't had any issue with the unit not finding the constellation. Routing is fast and rerouting takes no time at all. The two modes are fastest time and shortest route with the usual avoids- ferries, dirtroads etc as the 560. Same alert pop-ups which are still independent of wether one is following a route or not ( the weigh station alert is not working. Garmin told me they expect a fix in the next software update or the next). Garmin added state border and change of speed limit alerts which appear in the banner alert window top of the screen.

This device offers special services through a droid app called Smart Link ( no iPhone app yet). These are subscription based services. There is advanced traffic features that allow viewing of traffic cams in selected areas. The weather service offers animated radar for your location, NOAA forcasts for your location and, selected favorite cities of your choice. There are also up to date road conditions. The weather alert shows watches and warnings on a map and and alerts will pop up on the main screen ( was in Nashville yesterday and got freezing rain advisories). There is also a service that will show you fuel prices on your route or around you and will allow routing to these locations ( I am not subcribed to that one).

I'm impressed. But I expect high quality from Garmin since that is all they do, make navigational products for land, water, and air. If I remember I'll get on the laptop and write a better review. This is being done on my phone and is killing my thumbs.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

First of all, thanks for the detailed review of the new 760. I knew they'd come out but already equipped with 560LMT in two trucks. At this point I can see this as being a great upgrade for a failed unit, but not quite enough to entice me to drop $400 just to get one. For those that might consider a swap, I did notice fine print on the 760 product overview about the bundled lifetime subscriptions (maps, traffic) not being transferrable if you sell your old unit. Not a huge concern if you keep one through it's useful life, but would diminish the resale value if you're like me and will sometimes upgrade technology more frequently for the sake of new features. Thinking of the product registration and update process I already use, I can see that would be problematic if I were to sell an old 560 after upgrading.

This is certainly the difference between Garmin and others. By leveraging and adapting already proven technology and methods to a new market sector (commercial trucking), they've short-changed user-specific functionality and a degree of flexibility. I would suppose that many of the changes that we in the trucking world might benefit from would affect the entire platform. That would suggest a longer development cycle to bring changes in, and some things just won't ever be implemented.

I personally chose to buy the Garmin products due to having owned several other non-trucking models along with their market leadership. As-in they have been around a long time and I can expect some degree of ongoing support and continuity with upgrades. I expected a familiar interface that would behave in a similar fashion, including both things I liked and disliked. In that regard, their trucking product has met expectations.

About the only disappointing thing in my opinion is a few glaring examples where they fail to connect the trucking features that are overlaid on the Garmin platform with a real world use case. The HOS feature is the best example of this. It looks great on paper, and I'm sure there were many hours of development time and thought invested to bring that feature into production. However, it wouldn't take too many days riding along with an actual OTR driver to see how useless this feature is. Other features that might be useful or add value are buried in too many menu layers or not intuitive enough to discover through routine use.