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ZX14NINJA
Canada
854 Posts |
 Posted - 16 juin 2008 : 06:13:34
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UPDATED 20090405TOPIC - GARMIN NUVI 8X0 - USER REVIEWS
ASR (Speech Recognition) - HotFix (SIF v2) ? - DEM Maps - Dual Speakers
Software at 20081217 : Main unit/v4.40 - GPS/v2.80
Useful links :
Product pages on the Garmin site : 850 - 860 - 880
Games for nüvi 8x0 : >> link <<
UPDATED - comments and pictures by GpsPasSion >> HERE << on page 9.
1. COMMENTS - 33 POINTS AND COUNTING
So I got the Nuvi 850 in my hands now and have had a few days to play with it...here are some of the things I've noticed.
1) The screen is brighter and sports a much greater viewing angle; doesn't fade from most angles, unlike its predecessors.
2) When powering up after a few hours of being unplugged and off, it immediately comes on and goes to the main page, with no delay. I don’t know at what point it does a full boot from scratch, but after 2-4 hours, it comes on instantly to the main page and has already acquired sats, within only 2-3 seconds of power up. I noticed after a night of being off however, it does perform a full boot. In that case, sat acquisition is about 45 seconds in most cases, just like a 7XX.
3) Speech recognition is excellent, but in Quebec, having the unit in English and trying to get it to recognize a French name is quite difficult. An example of this was when I called up a POI called Mont Village (a restaurant), which is actually called “Mon Village”, but is incorrectly named in the database. I asked it to find the “Place name” and in the end, it wanted to hear “Montana Village”, so it seems it sees the word “Mont” is short for Montana”. There are many examples of this I’ve seen on the 8XX, but it works well for the most part. I imagine it will have many of these same issues regardless of the locale it’s operating in. Time, map revisions and firmware updates will eventually address all that. It does however recognize speech surprisingly well, but the environment has to be quite. An open window will cause the unit to not respond at all. All commands on any page can be accessed by voice command and some of the voice commands will work even when not listed on the current page.
4) “Auto Zoom” is now a feature that can be turned on or off, as the user pleases. I have noticed that the unit has a tendency to get stuck at certain zoom levels, even though the vehicle may be slowing down. It sometimes takes a moment or two for the screen to change zoom levels, compared to the 780 next to it. No big deal and will get resolved in time I'm sure. The zoom seems to be a bit higher than the 7xx series at every level.
5) Auto dimming (timed) backlight is once again a user adjustable feature.
6) Map draw seems to have some inherent delays from time to time with nothing in the Micro SD slot, but it’s nothing drastic and I’m sure will be addressed with F/W updates.
7) The alarm clock is a nice feature as well.
8) Battery life at full screen brightness with 15-second auto dim gave me only about 4 hours while stationary after one full charge cycle; not fantastic, but the interchangeable easily accessed battery makes life very easy. Replacement/spare batteries from Garmin are very inexpensive. They are 3.7 Volt @1100ma. I expect with a few more charge cycles, the battery life will improve somewhat.
9) Screen transitions are quick and seamless; the unit has not yet crashed or hung.
10) The “Where am I” feature comes up when you click the current location on the view map screen.
11) “View POI’s” is now a feature which the user can turn on and off and it seems to work all the way out to a 500 Meter zoom. I’m sure many users will love that feature.
12) More street names show up on the map view screen as well, depending on the zoom level, but no screen clutter.
13) Pressing the direction icon now takes you to the trip detail page; same as the speed icon (not while routing).
14) One of the better features is the new screen with the very wide non-fading viewing angle capability; way better than any previous screen IMO.
15) A new “Audio Mixer” now allows the user to separately adjust Voice, Phone and Media and the FM Modulator forces you to agree to the legal use of it on the first access…cute. I’m not sure why the phone is adjustable, considering the 850 is not Bluetooth…must be a firmware bug.
16) The 8XX series uses a totally different cradle, not compatible with the 7XX series.
17) Pressing and releasing the Sat View icon for only one second takes you the view Sats screen, instead of the 5-second press required on the 2XXw and 7XX models.
18) Favorites/Saved locations are now (user) grouped and the user can define many different groups.
19) Photos can be added to favorites as well as phone numbers.
20) The dropdown memory list in the address search bar is now gone and the unit no longer automatically picks up street names with just a few characters entered, but it seems to start seaching discreetly as characters are entered, causing the search results pane appear much more rapidly (No, the characters do not start to disappear as text is entered).
21) The start page for the address search now has 3 buttons, "Spell city", "Search All" and "Spell Postal Code", rather than the 2 (combined) search buttons from previous models.
22) Out of the box, F/W version is 2.50 with gPS F/W at 2.60m and Audio F/W at 1.40
23) FreeType is now used on the device (www.freetype.org) which utilizes a highly portable, small and efficient font and graphics rasterization engine.
24) There are a plethora of pre-loaded games included in the unit (11) -- totally useless for me...
25) POI searches are not any quicker on the 850 than on previous models.
27) (GPS Passion took #26 for the DEM display, see below) -- When you press and hold the delete button on an address search, it now deletes the entire line entry (a very welcome re-introduction).
28) USB 2.0 -- about to update now; Webupdater DOES NOT yet work on the 850; cannot find device -- bug.
29) Custom avoids - our old friend from back in the 2610 days, has been re-introduced with some new added flavor now...see the pics below. You can avoid roads and areas with a new and very intuitive interface.
30) Sound is nothing close to a 2XX/7XX in terms of audio quality. The 8XX is missing everything over 1K...really needs a tweeter or at least better speakers. It's barely stereo and it really lacks imaging, but I don't use the internal speakers for MP3 in any case. There's a cute little dancing visual EQ as the music plays. 
31) A bug I just noticed -- when traveling on anything except a major interstate or highway, the green information bar DOES NOT indicate the upcoming intersecting roads ahead. On an interstate or highway, it will indicate the next exit, but anywhere else, it does not. I noticed this while the unit was side by side against my 780. I could not get this feature to work by performing a reset to factory settings either. I believe this is not by intent, but just a software glitch.
32) There seems to be an initial 2 minute longer ETA on every route, over the 7XX. This changes as you get closer to the destination and eventually parallels the 7xx.
33) Side by side against the 255w, the 850 does not calculate routes nearly as quickly, nor does it have the same map drawing capabilities, seemingly unique to the 255 series, which are smooth drawing and continuous (like the TomTom units), rather than the 1-second map updates we are used to with the rest of the Nuvi lineup. Routing takes less than 1/3 of the time on the 255w compared to the previous models. It seems that the 255 series uses a much faster processor, or totally different code.
Much more to follow in the next few weeks...
2. PICTURES
Ok, you asked for pictures -- here they are, so far....
You will notice some things in test mode, like the ability to change the emulation on the USB ports, which I tried to but could not acquire the correct diver for...and when test mode is invoked, you get two additional icons ("USB Switcher" & "Test") on the settings page, which stay there until the unit is rebooted...
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Edited by - ZX14NINJA on 24 juin 2008 06:13:36
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IsLNdbOi
580 Posts |
Posted - 16 juin 2008 : 06:46:50
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| Thanks for the review! What do you think of the dual, front speakers? What firmware version did it have out of the box? Have you tried going into the hidden menu and changing the microphone gain? |
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nuvipilot
34 Posts |
Posted - 16 juin 2008 : 09:54:48
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quote:
NO NEED TO QUOTE A MESSAGE DIRECTLY ABOVE YOURS, SERVER SAYS THANKS ;-) GPSPASSION TEAM
I have played with 850 in the local Fry's - the dual speakers are there, but unlike the screens on-line from various reviews, they seem very small and kind off pressed in. Looks like they take the sides of 7xx frame and made holes on both sides. I am not sure if they are louder than one speaker, but with two speakers you do get stereo sound, so I expect the sound quality to be better. |
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ZX14NINJA
Canada
854 Posts |
Posted - 16 juin 2008 : 14:30:09
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| I have not yet had a chance to play any MP3's through the unit so the true sound quality is not known to me as of yet. I did play with the hidden test pages and they are quite different from the previous models. The test page format is very different from previous models. Microphone gain can be adjusted through the test pages but I'm not yet sure if the effect is permanent, though I suspect it would be. |
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gpspassion
87495 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 00:16:58
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Thanks for the multi-point analysis, if you get a chance pictures would be great (you can use this method to show them in the first message).
A few questions, using your numbers :
1. Compared to the 7xx ? That's impressive, it already had one of the brightest screens around !
3. Thanks for the real life testing, the early reports did seem a bit too "rosy" compared to existing VR solutions (TomTom GO 930, Navigon 8110), that would qualify as "annoying"...
6. No 4hz screen updates like on the 2x5 series then? Wonder why the high end units are not getting that "cosmetic" feature !
10. The vehicle icon ? Like on the recent nüvis then ?
16. Different cradle, same "flat" connector though?
20. That's too bad, I thought it was a nice addition on the 7xx series. It's stil there on the 2x5 too.
26. A new one, I take it you were not too impressed by the DEM maps in 2D mode above 8 miles either ?
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Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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ZX14NINJA
Canada
854 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 01:53:32
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1. Yes, and this one is a bit brighter, but with a much better view angle!
3. The reports are not lying, but there are F/W updates needed to address nagging issues.
6. Not from what I can see, but need more side by side testing against my 780.
10. Identical
16. Yes, same connector, but wider and slimmer cradle with more pins; same style though.
20. I don't know why, but it does seem to start searching in the background. The character entry is a bit more sluggish though.
26. Not really.
I'd bet the small annoyances will be resolved quickly. |
Edited by - ZX14NINJA on 17 juin 2008 02:01:00 |
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IsLNdbOi
580 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 02:11:42
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The cradle's connector has more pins? Maybe the 850/880 can send audio through it's connector...
What F/W version did your 850 come w/ out of the box? |
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gpspassion
87495 Posts |
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IsLNdbOi
580 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 02:38:52
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Ah thanks. Missed that one. I'm confused though, "Out of the box, F/W version is 2.50 with gPS F/W at 2.60m and Audio F/W at 1.40".
2.50 AND 2.60? So did it come with that massive update installed already? |
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gpspassion
87495 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 02:46:37
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What do you mean ? GPS Firmware updates are never massive and much less frequent than main unit software updates. As you must have seen in many other topics there is the main unit software/firmware, v2.50 in this case and the GPS Firmware, v2.60 in this case.
Actually, v2.60 could point to the use of an MTK chipset as this is the current version of the eTrex and Colorado units, SiRF units are at v3.00s. The STM based 255 has v2.31b. Then again MTK units don't have HotFix AFAIK, it's getting confusing, any copyright indications when you boot the 850 ? |
Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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IsLNdbOi
580 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 04:28:11
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I didn't mean massive in file size. I meant massive in the number of fixes and updates; this one
did it come with this 2.60 out of the box. |
Edited by - IsLNdbOi on 17 juin 2008 04:30:28 |
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ZX14NINJA
Canada
854 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 04:53:28
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No, it came with 2.50 as I indicated...i just updated to 2.60 now.
More good news -- since the battery is now removable, I believe permanent device lockups are bound to be far and few between. I locked up the unit (took quite a bit of messing around to do that) and it froze on me. I could not get it to shut off, but a battery pull fixed that immediately. When I put the battery back in, the unit powered up with full sats, with zero delay.
I have not found any copyright text other than "Garmin and or any of its subsidiary's"
The splash screens indicate 2008 DMTI Spatial and 2008 Navteq. |
Edited by - ZX14NINJA on 17 juin 2008 05:40:27 |
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SergZak
USA
1575 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 05:38:45
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@ZX14NINJA
Thanks for the screen shots.
Ah, custom avoids are something I truly miss being in the nuvi series. My lowly Quest had them and now they reintroduce them in the 8xx series. But there's no way in hell I'm paying $800+ to get them back. 
The new unit & it's features does look fantastic though. I envy those who have managed to get one. |
nüvi 3790T, nüvi 855, nüvi 765, nüvi 760, nüvi 750 |
Edited by - SergZak on 17 juin 2008 05:40:52 |
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ZX14NINJA
Canada
854 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 05:55:21
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| Just wait a few months until the price drops down...sell your 760/350. All in all, it's a great unit and does what it's intended to very well...especially the voice command. |
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nuvipilot
34 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 07:01:07
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quote:
Originally posted by IsLNdbOi
Ah thanks. Missed that one. I'm confused though, "Out of the box, F/W version is 2.50 with gPS F/W at 2.60m and Audio F/W at 1.40".
2.50 AND 2.60? So did it come with that massive update installed already?
Did you see any immediate changes once you installed version 2.6?
Also how do you get to test pages? |
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nuvipilot
34 Posts |
Posted - 17 juin 2008 : 07:08:14
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ZX,
What map version, 850 comes out of the box?
Also you have mentioned about audio - you think this is correctable with Audio firmware update? |
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[TOPIC] Garmin nuvi 8x0 - User Reviews - v4.40
