Garmin nuvi 765T GPS Review

Jeremy's Rating:

Garmin nuvi 765T is one of the best selling portable vehicle GPS devices on the market today. Like all other Garmin products, nuvi 765T is sleek, sturdy, and fully of features. With its affordable price tag, the nuvi 765T is among one of the top choices for anyone considering buying a GPS.

What Are The Most Useful Features?

Garmin nuvi 765T, as in other nuvi 7×5′s, comes with a whole list of advanced features such as photo navigation, route planning, 3-D building view, emergency and car locations, etc. But one thing really stands out and puts the 765T ahead of its competitors is the Lane Assist feature.

Lane Assist shown in upper left corner

No More Worries About Lane Changes

Have you ever been caught driving on the wrong lane and having to make a quick lane change in the mist of heavy traffic so you don’t miss the exit?

Or, were you ever flustered in a unfamiliar place not knowing which lane you are supposed to be on?

Well, no more with nuvi 765T’s Lane Assist.

What this particular feature does is it helps alert you to upcoming lane changes ahead of time so that you have plenty of time to prepare yourself to change lanes. This is great as it helps to make intersections that you may not be familiar with very easy to navigate.

As show in the screen shot, the Lane Assist appears in the upper left corner and highlights the lane(s) you are supposed to be on.

Also, as we all know, making a sudden lane change at the last second can be very dangerous and at times can even cause fatal accidents. Therefore, the fact that this particular feature works to help ensure both your safety as well as the safety of other drivers on the road makes it a truly excellent product.

Another sub-feature of Lane Assist is the Junction View as shown below. This is a realistic 3-D depiction of the actual signs and roads. However, Junction View is only available in selected metropolitan areas.

Junction View

Avoid Traffic Jams

Another thing that is really great about the Garmin Nuvi 765T GPS is that it has a feature built into it that helps you to avoid traffic jams!

When you’re on your way to or from work or there’s somewhere else you need to get to in a hurry, being stuck in a traffic jam can be quite frustrating. Fortunately, with the nuvi 765T sitting in traffic jams will be a thing of the past!

Its FM traffic receiver will provide you with alerts about upcoming road construction and other causes of traffic delays, and it will also provide with you suggestions for alternate routes that you might want to take.

When nuvi 765T receives traffic information, it displays a traffic icon in the upper left corner of the map. The color represents the severity of the traffic (Green: low, Yellow: medium, Red: high).

Unlike some other Garmin models, the FM Traffic Receiver is integrated into nuvi 765T’s power cable. It also comes with free lifetime traffic subscription so there is no need to buy anything extra to enable this great feature.

To receive traffic information, the nuvi can’t be on battery. It must be plug in to an external power source and you need to be within the range of an FM station transmitting traffic information.

I found a nice video on YouTube demonstrating the Traffic Reporting function. It’s for the nuvi 265WT but works exactly the same on nuvi 765T.

Hands Free Calling with Bluetooth

This is another great feature and is one of the many functions on the nuvi 765T that you would not normally associate them with a GPS. Just pair up your mobile phone with nuvi and it instantly becomes a hands-free device. The internal microphone is in the front of the nuvi. It also imports phone book entries from your cellphone.

I personally don’t use it a lot since my car has Bluetooth integrated into it but if your car doesn’t, this would be a great feature. With nuvi 765T you don’t need to have a separate hands-free device that takes up space and a power outlet.

Another things that comes in handy is the ability to dial any Point of Interest (like a store, gas station, restaurant, etc.) directly from the nuvi. This is great if you are on the road and need to check store opening hours.

I am a big advocate of not using mobile phones while driving but if you must, be sure to use a hands-free device.

"Where Am I" tells you exactly where you are

Emergency Locator

The “Where Am I” feature tells you your exact location. It’s great if you need to inform emergency personnel where you are. It also shows you the nearest hospitals, police stations, and gas stations.

I can’t tell you how many times I went into a mall and forgot where I parked when I cam out. No problem with nuvi’s Garmin Locate. When you remove nuvi 765T from the windshield mount, it automatically remembers your location. Take the nuvi with you and later you can navigate on foot to find your way back with nuvi’s help.

Route Planning

You can save up to 10 routes in the nuvi 765T. Each route let you specify via points. The nuvi will automatically sort the destinations to give you the most efficient route. You can even preview simulated turns.

I wish I had this back in the days when I was a real estate agent. I used to enter all the houses I need to show to the client into Mapquest, looked at the locations and manually decided on the order of the houses I wanted to visit, then entered them into my Garmin iQue.

I can see this would be a very useful feature for delivery people, real estate agents, sales people, or anyone just need to run some errands.

Bright 4.3-inch Color Touch Screen

The display of nuvi 765T is bright and readable under sunlight. The color automatically inverted to the “night mode” after sunset so it’s easier to see at night.

More Than Just A GPS

There are a ton of functionality included in nuvi 765T that go beyond navigation. The photo viewer let you look at pictures and slide shows. It has a MP3 player and if you subscribe to Audible.com, you can play audio books with the nuvi. The audio can also be played through your car’s stereo rather than nuvi’s built-in speaker. You can do so in one of the 2 ways – use the audio out connection or its wireless FM transmitter.

Other tools like world travel clock, currency converter, unit converter, and calculator are also nice to have. The nuvi 765T also adjust the clock automatically based on the time zone you are in, which is great if you are traveling long distance across different time zones.

How Much Should You Expect To Pay?

When nuvi 765T first came out, the price tag was around $500. Now that GPS has become almost a commodity and the price of 765T has fallen dramatically to around $200 – $250. The best price I found is on Amazon.com at below $200 with free shipping. Check the price when you are reading this as it may have dropped again.

What’s In The Box?

• nuvi 765
• FM traffic receiver with vehicle power cable
• Vehicle suction cup mount
• USB cable
• Quick Start manual

What About Map Updates?

The nuvi 765T comes with Garmin’s nuMaps Guarantee – you get one free map update but you must register your nuvi within 60 days.

You can also buy the updates. For around $50 you can buy a one-time update; or if you prefer, for around $90 you can get map updates for the lifetime of your nuvi device.

Does It Include A Warranty?

Yes. The Garmin nuvi 765T comes with a one-year limited warranty.

765 or 765T?

You may have seen some places label it as nuvi 765 while others as nuvi 765T. What’s the difference between the two?

Well, it turns out that the model number shown on the box is 765T but it’s 765 on the device. The “T” represents the Traffic Receiver that’s included in the box but not part of the device itself.

Must Have Accessory

Portable Friction Mount

I highly recommend buying the Garmin Portable Friction Mount to go with your nuvi. I really dislike the suction cup windshield mount that comes with the nuvi 765T. I feel it obstructs the view and it’s hard to reach when you need to touch a button on the screen.

The friction mount works very well in my experience. It stays on the dashboard without any problem. It does not block the view like the windshield mount. And you will not have the power cable dangling high from the windshield. In addition, you can easily take it to another vehicle if needed.

Also, as GPS becomes a popular target for thieves, it’s better not to display any evidence that a GPS might be in the car. When you are leaving the car you can easily remove the friction mount from the dashboard and hide it under the seat. It’s not so easy to do with the windshield mount.

What Others Are Saying?

Customer reviews on nuvi 765T are generally positive with most reviews on Amazon are 5 or 4 stars. Here are some of the comments to date:

• “An Excellent GPS device”
• “I am very pleased with the product so far…”
• “Great GPS that I would highly recommend.”
• “The nuvi 765 does everything I hoped it would, plus…”

Any Complaints?

One customer stated the MP3 player does not play well through car stereo. Some customers express concern about the battery life is too short. The specification from Garmin is 3 hours of battery use before the need of recharging. If you are using it for navigation, I would suggest always plug it into a power outlet.

Where Can You Buy The Garmin nuvi 765T?

The best place to buy Garmin nuvi 765T is Amazon. They have the best price available and their customer service is unbeatable. The shipping is free. I also really like their no-hassle return policy. They even pay for the return shipping in most cases. Click here to check the latest price on Amazon.

Need To Compare Garmin nuvi Models?

Not sure which nuvi to get? You are not alone. There seems to be a new nuvi coming out every week and they are all very similar in features. If you are not sure, there is a comparison tool on Garmin’s web site that will help you. You can compare different models side-by-side and see the differences in features and functionality.