DriveSmart 76, 7-inch Car GPS Navigator with Bright, Crisp High-Resolution Maps and Garmin Voice Assist

I've been a TomTom customer for at least 30 years so I was very disappointed with my inability to find new product on Amazon. Tried a generic brand mobile navigator which worked OK but got tired of searching for audio route directions via FM radio signal. I chose Garmin as a last resort because I've always been biased toward the brand due to my preference for TomTom. After purchase I was quite surprised with the variety of features it has and how user friendly it is. • This model is the first mobile navigator I've owned which features Bluetooth compatibility. I really enjoy not having to sacrifice listening to my music playlist or music app to hear route instructions. THEY PLAY SIMULTANEOUSLY via my Android! • This Garmin even remembers locations I visit around the same time daily and issues a text prompt on the screen upon startup should I choose to visit the location prompted. • I also like the ease of inserting stops along the route to my final destination. • I originally feared the 6 inch screen would be too small since the generic brand screen of my previous navigator was huge. I needn't had worried. The screen image is clear, offers needed map information without excess and audio guidance is precise. At first I couldn't understand why I heard no audio instruction at all. (I'm one of those people who reads instructions as a last resort.) Took me a week to discover the mute/unmute setting in one of the menus. The only thing about using this Garmin that annoyed me was the windshield mount. I quickly replaced it with a compatible dashboard mount. Otherwise I have nothing but praise for the Garmin Smartdrive 66. Highly recommended.

I use this Garmin daily and is a great product. I enjoy the combination of dash cam and gps map all in one. The size makes it easy to see. It has an alarm for forward collision and lane drift. I have used this Garmin on a 6 state vacation road trip and it's accuracy was spot on. It also had a speed display of my vehicle and a posted speed for that section of road and the speed display turns red when I go faster than posted speed limit. The mount to window surface is secure and much better than earlier models. This Garmin is user friendly. Originally I had both a dash cam, and also a GPS which took up 2 locations on my windshield. The video from the dash cam part is great. This combination brings 2 items into 1 and keep my windshield view open and unobstructed. It is worth the price.

I've been using this for over a year, and it's been fantastic. In case this review is appearing in the wrong place (because for some reason, Amazon is grouping reviews for different Garmin devices together), I'm reviewing the Garmin DriveSmart 86. If you think this is your dad's Garmin, you couldn't be more wrong. It merges the best aspects of smartphone navigation (traffic updates, points of interests (POIs)) with the excellent Garmin features. If you don't drive a lot or don't use a GPS a lot, you don't notice the problems with smartphone navigation. But use it enough and you'll notice how much better Garmin is. Do I always think Garmin navigation is always better? No. But on average, I feel 60-70% of the time it's better. Now, if I'm in a heavy traffic situation or if I'm in a very unfamiliar location, I will run both at the same time and then decide based on my prior knowledge of the area and my instincts to determine which one to trust at any given moment. Here's some pros for the Garmin. You don't need any cellular reception in order for the navigation to work. This came in quite handy when I was in areas of poor reception like rural areas. Sure, with smartphones you can download maps but that requires some preplanning. The Garmin is still the best for letting you know ahead of time what lane you should be in which comes in handy when you need to switch multiple lanes multiple times in short succession. You can also have both the map and some text turns at the same time so you can see ahead of time what your turns will be. The 86 has a fast CPU so it doesn't get laggy like older Garmins. It looks great in both vertical and horizontal orientations and for the first time, I feel like the 86 works better in the vertical orientation because of the better viewpoint. The screen is beautiful. The response and touch is great. If you connect the 86 to your smartphone via the Garmin Drive app, you now get all the benefits of the smartphone with realtime traffic (provided by Google I think) and the much bigger database of points of interests. So if you ever thought the Garmin POIs were too small or out of date or if you thought the search engine in the Garmin device was too weak, you can search in the Garmin Drive app and push that location to the Garmin GPS. Same for traffic. Garmin real-time traffic was often too slow to update but now with Garmin Drive, you never miss out on traffic alerts. If it's in Google, you'll find it in Garmin Drive. Of course, if you use Garmin Drive, you will need cellular reception but only while you're searching initially for the location. Once the Garmin is navigating, no cellular needed. The Garmin has so many options on how to pipe the audio. You can separate what type of audio goes through the Garmin and what goes through your car. So if you want phone to go through the car but nav instructions to go to the Garmin, you can. If you want everything to go to the car, you can. If you want phone and music to go to the Garmin but nav instructions to the car, you can. I send nav audio to the Garmin and everything else to the car because I've always hated the up and down volume when smartphone nav sends out nav instructions. You don't have to worry about draining your phone battery. It's easy to use the phone while navigating on the Garmin. The Garmin now uses USB C and the car charging cable also has a USB passthrough if you wanted to charge something else. The only negative (and I don't know if the situation has changed) is that at the time, there was no dashboard mount for the 86. Only the included window mount. The window mount is good but if you don't regularly clean the windshield and the mount, the Garmin will fall off.

Okay so I bought this cause it was on sale and it works awesome in the car...no complaints. Then I 3D printed a mount for my motorcycle. Yes I know it's not meant for this but I'm not paying over $800 for a bike gps. I use this Garmin every trip. Bluetooth to my helmet and phone with Google drive so I get up to date traffic. 10,000kms and still amazing. When it rains I eather put it away or put a zip lock bag on it. If you need a GPS for whatever this one is fantastic.

On top of purchase price you then have to purchase at great cost NZ Maps.

Muy bueno, no tan intuitivo en su manejo como los viejos Nuvi y es algo difícil de registrar el dispositivo y actualizarlo via Wifi, yo lo hice todo con el cable USB conectado a la computadora y con la aplicación de garmin (garmin express). SI TRAE MAPAS DE MEXICO. 100% recomendado.

No anuncio do produto está descrito que o adaptador 12V teria DUAS SAÍDAS USB e recebí um adaptador com UMA saída... O resto do GPS está OK.

The item was excellent! Large, clear screen, easy to read, and provides all the important points of interest on the map.