I was looking for three must have features in a GPS. A 4.3" screen, text to speech and full North American coverage including Canada. The Garmin Nuvi 650 offered these must have features at an attractive price. The 4.3" screen is a must and the text to speech is not perfect but amazing clear. It recognizes Canadian Postal Codes which are more specific than 5 digit Zip Codes. One plus on the Nuvi 650 is the fold out antenna which allows better satellite reception. I consistently receive full signal strength indoors! Lack of an AC adapter is not an issue. You can charge the unit via the supplied USB adapter or the DC car adapter.

I highly recommend immediately registering the unit at the Garmin website while it's connected via the USB adapter. The first thing it did was update the firmware in my GPS to the latest version. These firmware updates are free for the life of the unit. The next thing it did was offer to update my 2008 mapping software to the latest 2009 version for free for the first 30 days. Both of these updates were effortless and I was assured I had the most current version of all firmware and mapping updates available. This is a major advantage of Garmin over its competitors.

Garmin has the most intuitive menu system. A novice can be using all of its powerful features immediately. I did a quick check of all the local Points of Interest (POIs) in my area and was amazed at the depth of the database. I discovered things in my local area that I didn't even know existed. It's reassuring to know that anywhere I travel the POI database is both extensive and current.

As a general observation, these GPS units are a marvel of miniaturization! The incredible amount of information stored in this tiny package is absolutely astounding! I can't imagine traveling without a GPS guiding the way. The Garmin Nuvi 650 is an excellent choice for someone not needing all the bells and whistles but still insists on all the must have features at an outstanding price.

I got this from my parents this past Christmas and used it recently to go look at some possible wedding locations with my fiance. We had printed out some directions from Google, but we would have gotten lost if we hadn't had this thing with us. It was great! I set it so that it has a guy speaking with an Australian accent and it warns you about 3 times before you need to turn or keep left/right. The screen is plenty big and I didn't have any problems putting things in. You also don't always have to finish inputting the street name or city because it usually knows which one you are talking about before you're done and it gives you 3 or 4 to choose from based on what you put in. This is my first GPS and this one was definitely perfect for my needs.

P.S. The navigation systems aren't perfect by any means and any GPS is going to have a few "mistakes" about where it wants you to go. These may cost you a few minutes, but I think that the majority of the time these things are pretty accurate.

Before the Nuvi, the only GPS I'd ever used was a Garmin hiking GPS, which I purchased in 2004. It wasn't extremely easy to use, and installing maps on it was awkward. So for the longest time, I didn't bother looking at automotive GPS units, especially Garmins.

My parents recently got a Nuvi 650. They're in their 60s and not extremely technologically savvy. Yet they were able to use it right out of the box, spending minimal time reading the (very short, well-written) "getting started" guide that comes in the package. They are retired and spend every winter RVing around the country, so the Nuvi is an extremely useful device for them.

My wife and I got to see their Nuvi 650. We were impressed with how well designed the interface is. It's very intuitive. The screen is big and bright and easy to read in any light. We and my parents experimented with the auto-nav features and found it did a great job navigating us through complicated routes.

I got the bug to buy an automotive GPS and did my research. A recent Consumer Reports issue (Dec 2007, I think, also available online) has a great review of automotive GPS units. Four of their top 5 are Nuvis (the other is a TomTom).

I ruled out the TomTom because the suction mount it comes with isn't as good as the Nuvi's mount.

I considered the Nuvi 660 (which adds bluetooth and a traffic receiver, but is a lot more expensive). The traffic info requires an extra cost subscription (after a free trial period). The bluetooth wasn't attractive to me for these reasons: 1) I will only use my GPS for road trips and occasional visits to an unfamiliar part of the city I live in, yet I use my cell phone all the time. 2) My car stereo already has built-in bluetooth features and, after trying them out, I ended up not using them.

I ruled out the cheaper Nuvis for two reasons. Some of them have smaller screens: 3.5", whereas the 6xx series has a 4.3" screen. Second, on some cheaper units, the voice directions do not include street names ("turn left in 500 feet"), whereas on the Nuvi 6xx series, the voice directions tell you what street to turn on, as well as how many feet or miles or whatever.

So I settled on the Nuvi 650.

Before making the purchase, though, I was concerned that this particular model was introduced 3 years ago - a long time for a technological gadget. More importantly, I worried that the maps on it would be from 2004. I emailed Garmin customer support, they replied in 24 hours and said that Nuvi 650s are now shipping with the latest maps - the 2008 City Navigator North America NT mappping software. If, by chance, I happen to get a unit that doesn't have the latest maps, when I register my unit online I will be able to order a free update to the latest maps.

Based on this, I ordered a Nuvi 650. Sure enough, it came with the 2008 maps.

Despite that this model was introduced 3 years ago, my wife and I find it very well-designed and it meets our needs very well. As others here have noted, the auto nav is not always 100% accurate - but that's true with any automotive GPS. You always must travel with a good atlas, and of course, your cell phone.

The Nuvi series is great: there are lots of different ones with different features, something for just about everybody. Some reviews of the 650 complain about this or that feature missing -- fine, then look at the Nuvi line -- there's probably a Nuvi with the feature you want.

Nuvis are easy enough to use right out of the box, for people who don't like reading manuals. But for those that do, it's worthwhile to spend 20-30 minutes reading the manual and tinkering with it.

If you plug it into your computer using the included USB cable, it shows up as a drive in Windows explorer. You can drag and drop your favorite photos onto the photo folder of this "drive", and then view them on the Nuvi as a slide show. You can pick one of them to be your splash screen, which you see when you first power up the unit or plug it into your computer. You can drag and drop your favorite MP3 files to the Nuvi, and play them on the Nuvi's internal MP3 player. The Nuvi has an audio output jack (which takes a standard earphone sized plug), so you can play the Nuvi's sound through your car stereo if it has an auxiliary input jack.

You can change the auto icon that represents your vehicle on the map; there are quite a few to choose from on the garmin website. You can change the voice that gives you directions; the English speaking voices include an American female (the default) or male, a British female or male, and an Australian female or male. My wife likes the British male voice the best. If you're multilingual or traveling abroad, you can switch to one of many foreign language voices.

Since the Nuvi 650 is not the latest and greatest, shop around and you should be able to get a great deal. We got a fantastic deal from c o s t c o d o t c o m. (Trying to avoid the censor.)

One last tip: The Consumer Reports article I mentioned said that thieves love to break windows and grab GPS units (and iPods, etc). The article said that you should not only take the unit with you when you park somewhere, but also remove the windshield mount - some thieves will see it and assume you left your GPS in the glove compartment, and break your window to find out.

I did a tremedous amount of comparison research (including Consumer Reports, GPS review web sites, and Amazon reader reviews) before deciding on the Garmin 650. I was looking for a GPS that had a 4.3 inch screen, spoken street names, was reliable and accurate, was pocket-sized, and wouldn't cost me a fortune. Amazon had the 650 for a great price before Christmas so I bought two, one for my 60-something parents (who had never used a GPS before) and one for myself. After doing a brief run-through with my parents on how to use it, add favorite locations, etc., they were off and driving! They have had no problems with the 650's easy-to-use screens. The arrival time is always right on, and the spoken directions are clear and given with enough lead time that you can exit or slow down for the coming turn with no problem. The spoken road names make it absolutely clear which road you should turn on and it eliminates the need to look at the screen to see the name of the road. Due to its small size (slightly larger than a deck of cards), when we arrive at our destination, I remove the 650 from its mount and slip it into my purse.

The other thing I really like about the Garmin is the extensive Points of Interest listings (such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals, amusement parks, Post Offices, etc.). It is like having the Yellow Pages for every city with you at all times but better! If you want to go to a Point of Interest, the 650, unlike the Yellow Pages, will tell you exactly how to get there. This is very useful when you are somewhere unfamiliar and are looking for a restaurant, for instance. You simply scroll through the restaurants in that city (you can search by type of food to make it quicker to scroll through), choose the one you want, and hit "GO" to get the directions. The phone number is also included in the listing, so you can call ahead to make reservations if you like. You can also enter the name of a favorite store, and it will give you all locations of that store near you, mileage from where you are, etc. This came in handy at Christmas when I was looking for a certain item and couldn't find it. Rather than driving to all the stores and/or calling information for the numbers for local stores, I simply searched for stores near me and called them from 650's Points of Interest listings. What a time (and gas) saver!

Garmin also has the "Garmin Garage" available on their web site. You can download different vehicles to make your road trip more fun, such as a convertible sports car, an SUV, a boat, a Christmas light, etc. We downloaded a blue-nosed reindeer for our Christmas trips. It's a fun little extra, very simple to download and install, and totally free.

Overall, I would recommend the Garmin 650 wholeheartedly for anyone due to its simplicity and accuracy, plus it is a lot of fun! However, I would recommend buying the Bean Bag Mount that Amazon sells separately rather than using the windshield mount that comes with the unit. The Bean Bag Mount is much easier and quicker to use.

I must say that when I was looking for GPS Units, the Garmins were at the top of my list and at the top of Consumer Reports' list as well. The question was, did I need the features of the 660? It made the decision a little easier when I got the 650 for Christmas! My rationale, before I got the 650 for Christmas was that maybe I didn't need all the features the 660 offered over the 650. Here is what I deduced;

* For my own purposes, Bluetooth connectivity was not a big deal - I was not going to be using hands-free calling for my phone thru this device. This, however, may be useful for some, just not me. I have a Jawbone for my Blackberry and absolutely love it. There is no way I'm talking through a GPS. :)

* The FM Transmitter seemed like a good feature, until I read some reviews that the crowded FM band is a bit of an issue and that the weak power of the transmitter from this device would not give you enough power to overcome whatever signal is coming over the station you're tuned to in the FM spectrum. This will yield static sounds.

* The 650 does not come with an AC Charger, Leather Carrying Case, or Full Manual on CD. The 660 does come with these items. I ended up buying two of the items from a local retailer for about $50, total.

With this being said, I think the 650 was the way for me to go. If you want all of these extra features, then the 660 will be the way for you to go.

Bought this unit after comparing to the 660. I have driven lots of vehicles with built in GPS. The 650 user interface is terrific, and a joy to use.

You don't need documentation, it is straight forward if you read what is on the screen before you press 'buttons' on the touch screen. The touch screen interface is very very easy to use and the large size of the icons really helps in not fat-fingering.

The unit feels like it is feather light, at least, to me.

You don't need an AC charger since it can pick up power from the included USB cable that you will use to connect it to the computer for upgrades etc.

The case that comes with the 660 is useless because it is a slide in case. If you take it out of the car to use on foot, this case design is useless, you need a case with a flip up cover (read online that Blackberry flip up cases fit, but I need to research this).

I believe that I cannot use the 660's FM transmitter since the family minivan is mostly running DVD Player sound over the radio, so cannot tune to an FM channel anyway.

I already have a Plantronics bluetooth ear piece for my cell phone (which I can use when walking around on foot without carrying a 'loudspeaker' nav unit in my hand !!!) so don't really need the 660's bluetooth either. Also if you are driving your colleagues or family around, and you really need to take a call, do you need to broadcast it over the Nuvi - buy a bluetooth ear set.

For the delta price savings 650 is fine compared to the 660 unless you really need feature rich system in which case you should probably buy a 680 with traffic alerts.

I did not need the friction mount unit as I mounted the included adhesive disc on top of the center stack on my 2008 Chrysler Town and Country (you suction cup mount the unit on top of this disc for easy removal), but I believe that it would be a good buy.

After reading many user reviews and Consumer Reports I purchased a Nuvi 650 for what I considered a reasonable price. I familiarized myself with the GPS and then took a trip through 4 states. I found the screen to be very readable in daylight and in the night. The spoken name voice commands are a real benefit when coupled with the visual display. I wouldn't buy one without that feature. The Nuvi told me when to turn with adequate time to make a smooth turn in all cases. It was accurate to within 60 to 100 feet. The touch screen is easy to use when changing or inputting data. However there are some problems which stem from the mapping software. In 2 cases I was directed to turn left into a destination driveway instead of to the right. That is a minor problem but still needs addressing by the data vendor. Also I was unable to go to one destination by a direct route no matter what I selected. This was probably due to a new portion of highhway just recently opened and probably was not yet input in the maps. One last thing was inability to find a street address in a neighborhood approximately 3 years old. I have to state however that the same problems were true on Mapquest so it is just a matter of required updates. These problems are minimal when one considers the overall function and usefulness of this GPS. Fortunately Garmin has a web address to contact for complaints and suggestions. As Consumer Reports stated in their GPS Review-Oct 2007,"We found minor errors on most maps. There is no substitute for local knowledge." Point well taken. I would recommend this Nuvi 650 based on my experience with it. If one wants Bluetooth capability then look at the Nuvi 660. If a smaller screen is desired then consider the Nuvi 550. The basics are the same and only the extras are changed. Yes I know I had to print the manual. That's okay. There is one in the box that is a basic manual and I keep that one in the car.

I bought my first GPS-Garmin 650 this thanksgiving. I am using it for almost a week now. Here are my first impressions.

Good

1. Text to speech. GPS speaks street names in a natural voice. No need to keep looking at the screen.

2. Bright screen. Even in bright sunny day, the screen is bright enough and easy to read.

3. Ease of use. Anyone with little bit interest/knowledge of gadgets can use this. No need to go through manuals for most of the stuff. You just get it.

4. Auto Complete feature. While typing city name, after typing first couple of characters, it just gives you all matching city names. No need to type in complete names. Very nicely designed.

There are couples of other features like MP3 playback, audio book etc. I don't use them much as the audio quality is below average.

It has JPEG viewer as well, but I think its most useless feature a GPS can have. If you are driving, you are supposed to keep your eyes on road and not a slideshow. Garmin could have put efforts in some other direction like adding voice recognition support.

Bad:

1. Bugs: This product is not gone through QA for sure. Here are the bugs I could find in first 5 days of use.

i) Once you enter wrong pin, there is no way to re-try without switching it off completely. As soon as wrong PIN is entered, screen freezes.

ii) If it is finding satellite signals, and you enter destination and ask GPS to give you direction, that's it. GPS would never catch satellite signals. If user is not allowed to search for destination while it is searching for signals, User should not be given a screen to enter destination.

iii) Search results are totally random. I searched for 'Best Buy' couple of times (each time while my car parked at same place), listings are not same order. And in any case, it never returned the nearest Best buy store.

iv) When it "recalculates", it doesn't come up with optimal route. for e.g. I asked it to give me route for point A to point B , now I stopped at C which wasnt on route to B from A. so at point C, it 'reculated' route to point B. but that wasnt the same route if I ask it to give me a 'fresh' route to B from C.

2. There is no touch control to switch it off. At times, I feel it is required to switch off device. The only way to do that is to keep the physical power button pressed for couple of seconds.

Overall, a good device. Works as expected for most cases. IMO Its little expensive.

I own a Magellan Maestro 4040 for my own personal vehicle as i do a lot of traveling and can't stand to read map quest as i am driving. The one feature on the Magellan that i like is how you want to get their. The Garmin Nuvi 650 doesn't have that feature. It picks the best route for you. I bought the Garmin for my wife and she loves it. The maps are up to date, its fast to find stores, shops, banks, restraints. it will look up any place you want to go by spelling it. A GREAT PRICE.

I'm agree with one of the reviewer that people tend to complain about everything. Even with a GPS worths thousands of dollar, they still find thing to complain. anyway, this Nuvi 650 is an excellent unit, i live in So Cal area and it pick up signal in less than 10 seconds, mine come the 2008 map version, so i know it has 6 millions POIs preloaded. Even if you get a older map version, Garmin will give you a update map DVD for free. Built in MP3 player is a great function because when i hook it to my external FM transmiter, i can listen to MP3 while navigating, and hear the turning instruction through my car speaker, very COOL. I strongly recommend this GPS to everyone