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Garmin Nuvi 765 review

  • V2Evo96
    V2Evo96
    14 years ago

     

    Review of Garmin Nuvi Model 765 GPS –long winded review but I wanted to cover as many areas as possible.
     
    ORDER PLACING AND SHIPPING:
    The order from Exeltek (Mt Waverley) was placed on Friday at 3.30pm before the Queens b’day holiday weekend. I had the unit in hand on Tuesday the day after the QBD holiday to my address in Gippsland via Aussie Post.
    I have never received a shipped item so quickly especially considering there was a holiday included. Ten points to Exeltek for processing and shipping, and the unit arrived in black bubble wrap, well sealed.
     
    Recommended retail price is around $475 (+/-). The best price I could get from other suppliers was $429, but I paid $375 plus $11 shipping so (to me) it was well priced. This may be due to the 765 model being freshly discontinued by Garmin as the ‘new’ versions come out—at the usual introductory higher price.
    My research showed that reliability and quality of the 765 was generally held in high regard by many users on two wheels so the fact it is discontinued didn’t concern me at all.
     
    I wasn’t initially impressed with their on line ordering system though. It wasn’t user friendly and they use a credit card processing system provided by “E-way”. It actually looked a bit suss so I stopped the on line order and called the business to get a better feel for who Exeltek actually are.
    After discussion with one of their reps I felt goods enough about it to go ahead and order from them on line, purely for immediate receipts and record keeping of the order and future communications (which weren’t needed).
     
    IN THE BOX:
    USB cable;
    Dash mount adhesive disk;
    Window mount suction cup;
    GPS cradle- snaps to cup or dash mount;
    12v power cable (which inserts to the GPS cradle); and
    Vouchers for 35 tunes and 1 E-book download.
    Note: No SD card is provided in the kit.
     
    FUNCTIONALITY:
    The unit acquired satellites very quickly—less than a minute on first boot and the maps (Australia and NZ provided) loaded quickly.
    After doing a trial run I registered the unit with Garmin and checked for the free map upgrade--- not needed as map supplied with the unit is current for now.
     
    Registration and map check was absolutely painless—totally unlike the experience I had with Route 66 (see Aldi GPS report below). The Garmin site is fresh and easy to use and numerous options exist for add ons. The software updates can be easily checked when the unit is plugged in to the site, and a 60 day map upgrade exists.
     
    The 765 menu use is easy to use and generally intuitive overall-- some functions can be user customised to individual preferences for backlighting, cursor, language, map views, pointer, volume, etc. which is fairly standard across the range of many better quality GPS units.
     The display screen quality is bright and clear. The matt finish doesn’t reflect glare and the factory calibration for touch screen accuracy was spot on. Calibration can be adjusted by the user if needed.
     When you arrive at your destination and unplug the 765 ‘hot’ from the cradle it automatically stores your last position which, by example, you could use to locate your vehicle in a large parking lot (provided is hasn't been ripped off).
      
    MUSIC MEDIA:
    This unit can play MP3’s through either a line out to the auxiliary input in the HD Harmon Kardon unit (or any other system with an aux input) or via the built in FM transmitter which is quick and easy to tune.
    While listening to music through the 765 either by SD card or the inbuilt memory (1.027Mb), the directional voice will cut in while explaining the turn, then cut back to music when directions are complete. This is the primary reason I decided on this particular unit.
     
    OTHER MEDIA:
    General photos, E-books, and POI tagged photos can be loaded into the 765 for POI use or showing pics etc. A Bluetooth phone connection is also available to make hands-free calls from the 765. I wouldn’t use the phone function from my bike but could come in handy in a car.
     
    BATTERY LIFE:
    Like most battery powered devices, the advertised battery life is is generally longer than during actual real time use. The advertised life is about 4 hours but I got 2 hours out of it with the volume and backlight turned up to 100%. The life might be lengthened by 20-30 minutes or so if the backlight and volume is turned right down.  
     
    BIKE USE:
    This unit is not water resistant. I intend to carry a ziplock bag and a rubber band if I get caught in rain; or I’ll remove the unit and put in my rain suit pocket and let the FM transmitter provide directions.
    I also plan to put it in the tour-pack to see if it can read the sats and transmit FM from inside.
     
    The mount appears fairly robust and there is a clip lock to hold the unit in the mount cradle. I plan to mount the suction mount on the fuel door on the UC, and initially use a zip tie for security to ensure it all holds together.
    As the unit will be used in other vehicles, the power cable and aux cable will be neatly secured to the handlebars temporarily for bike use.
     
    The only drawback I see is that the 12V power cable clips into the cradle mount to supply power to the 765. That means if the 765 is removed from the cradle, the cradle power pins will be exposed to the elements.
    Just thinking ahead but the best fix may be to just bag the lot with a ziplock bag. The jury is out on this one for now but I’ll come up with something.
     
    Well that’s it—if any anomalies come up I will re-post to this, but so far so good. I'm a happy camper with this one...
  • V2Evo96
    V2Evo96
    14 years ago
    Thanks to both of you for for your comments. Part of my job is to write technical documents so I just structured it as I would like to read it in a report or a magazine review. It took about 30 minutes to think it through and put it on paper.

    By the way the advertised battery life is 3 hours, not 4 as I stated above. Overall I'm very happy with it-- tried the bluetooth hands free calling in the car the other day-- worked fine although the called party could hear the "road noise" in the background.
  • V2Evo96
    V2Evo96
    14 years ago
    TEST UPDATE::
    Loaded music on an SD card which worked fine. Very easy interface to go from the map / menu / mp3 player. Attached the GPS mount with the suction cup onto the UC tach faceplate and can still see the tach needle, then used an AUX patch cord to go into the Harmon Kardon AUX input and the 12v power into the ciggie lighter on the fairing. As I will use this in multiple vehicles I arranged the AUX cord and 12v power into a tidy arrangement behind the GPS for a neat (as can be) temporary installation. The MP3 songs sound a whole lot better playing direct from the SD card than they do from a burned CD through the HK unit.

    I have a ziploc bag in the glovebox and can fit this over the mount and GPS unit and zip the bag together with the exception of the area that covers the mount.
    I haven't tested the unit on battery power from the TourPak using the FM transmitter but it should be fine if the transmitter isn't too far away from the radio-- will get around to trying this someday....

    All good so far.
  • kmoulds
    kmoulds
    13 years ago

    I have one of these mounted to my Glide via a RAM mount system and powered by the cigarette lighter on the front right lower of the bat wing fairing.  It is a great unit but not guaranteed for wet weather.  I purchased mine from GPS OZ as a demo model and saved some money, well back then I did as the price of GPS units has really droped from a couple o f years back and they keep getting better and better.

    Anyway I highly recommend the Nuvi 765.

    Kymbo

  • Rocky2010
    Rocky2010
    13 years ago

    Don't mean to crash your post, noticed that you purchased a Garmin Nuvi Model 765 GPS.

    I have a Garmin Zumo 660 GPS which I have on my bike, this unit is designed for motorcycle use also car use as well. Noticed that there was mention of the cradle when the device is removed the pins are exposed. Garmin Zumo 660 cradle which is supplied with the unit has a waterproof sealed cover which you clip into the cradle when the unit is removed. Regarding the Zumo 660 being waterproof, I rode in torrential rain for almost 6hrs and the unit kept working with a problem.

    Also the Garmin Zumo 660 GPS is smart it knows its mounted on the bike so the menu system is glove friendly making the keys are larger, when in the car the keyboard size is reduced. Just wanted to know why you purchased the Nuvi over the Zumo when you are going to use it on your bike also, just curious.

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