I already had two conventional GPS devices before I got the Garmin nuvi 680. To be precise, I should say before I won the nuvi in a raffle. Yes, I'm a lucky bastard.

The reason I bring this up is because I would never have bought what I called a "driving" GPS, not when I had two other perfectly acceptable devices (a Geko 201 and an eTrex, both Garmins). Mainly, I used these for Geocaching and if ever I needed a real-time map, hooking the GPS to my laptop running Streets and Trips was all I needed.

I'm so glad to say I was wrong--the Garmin nuvi 680 is a technological wonder that goes beyond anything I expected. First, the screen is bright and beautiful, the colors simply pop and it all stands out for readability in everything but the most direct sunlight.

Second, the features on it are incredible (a built-in MP3 starts things off nicely and three free audio books from audible.com are included). Featuring a vast database of data, one can easily search for, and more importantly, find just about anything nearby: food, hotels and motels, theaters, ATMs and banks, entertainment. And with the purchase of an MSN Direct subscription--there is a one-year free subscription that comes with the GPS--you get access to the closest gas stations *with pricing*.

I don't need to bore you with the feature set because that's easy to find, but I'll relate my experience in using it. Starting the device is easy: either push the power button (duh) or simply attach it to the car charger/mounting platform which is held to the windscreen by means of a pretty good suction cup that locks into place. If the car is on and providing a charge through to the charger, the device will turn on. How clever and convenient! By the way, I've had rather good performance from the suction cup, but you need to make sure that both the surface of the cup and the windshield is clean.

Actually using the nuvi is easy: the screen is touch sensitive (although I wish it were more sensitive because I feel like I need to almost bang on the screen sometimes to get a result) and the device works by touching "buttons" shown. If you're not a reader of manuals like me, diving in to using it is also easy and very self-explanatory. Grandma shouldn't have too much trouble with this thing. It presents you with a logical flow to things: first, where do you want to go? At this point, that database comes into play.

If it knows the city you're in (hey, it's a GPS!), you can choose to go either to an address, or you can search for other establishments and even parking. All by touching the screen. Now, for safety's sake, you understand this can get a bit distracting while driving and it's not like I haven't changed options and such while driving myself, but care needs taking when you're working the nuvi. It's dangerous to divide concentration like this and in fact, the nuvi shows a warning about this on each boot up to which the user has to acknowledge.

The Bluetooth feature is incredibly useful. It offers a hands-off connection to your Bluetooth-enabled cell phone with all the usual features (voice dialing, etc.). I really found it useful because the driver actually sees the incoming phone number while driving. One pairing exercise is all that's required and from then on, anytime the two are in proximity of each other, they connect up. The sound is excellent and I found I didn't need to raise my voice when using Bluetooth. The really amazing thing is, the nuvi can broadcast to one's car radio.

This means that instead of the small (although powerful) built-in speakers, you can converse with your pesky friend and hear sound throughout your car! MP3s and audio books can also be broadcast through the radio. This features is hit-or-miss for me though; there are times I can't get the transmission to work and others it works great! I'm still experimenting with this and with the various frequencies to find the best.

As a GPS user, I know that GPS signals are attenuated or degraded in certain conditions--like buildings in most downtown areas. Heavy overhead tree cover will also attenuate signals, but in my experimentation so far, the logic built into the nuvi seems to handle these problems quite well: it simply "knows" which street you're on, even if it's only receiving a partial set of satellite signals. I'm not 100% sure about this, but it seems to make sense.

A word (the last) on the turn-by-turn guidance and instructions. This is one feature I LOVE. Why? Well, say I have a turn coming up to the left but right afterwards, I need to be in the right lane because either my destination is on the right or the next turn is coming up on the right. Well, the nuvi handles this perfectly by giving you this exact information. That right there is the reason I'll be buying another nuvi if this one, hopefully not for a while, bites the dust.

Excellent, REALLY excellent.

My advice is to save your money and not buy the 680. The MSN feature is worthless and unreliable. I live in Minneapolis (where there's supposedly a strong signal) and yet the MSN system has gone "inactive" seven times in the six months I've owned the 680. Each time means a long wait while MSN re-sends the signal, and the inconvenience of not having the feature work. I have updated the software, pushed every button MSN has suggested, and still the device continues to fail.

This is the worst major purchase (defined as a product over $500) that I have ever made. So do yourself a favor, and don't make the same mistake I made buying Garmin.

We took this GPS to Hawaii and it exceeded our expectations. We entered our destination addresses, and it guided us there with voice prompts that were timely and clear. It lets you know how far you will be going on a given road, which direction you'll go when you do turn, and it tells you when the turn is coming up. It also tells again to turn when you come to the intersection. It tells you the name of the street you are turning on, too. It also gives you them in writing at the top of the screen. This is all particularly helpful when the street names are unusual and many are similar to each other (as the Hawaiian ones are to me). At night it is not always possible to read street signs, and the GPS is helpful here because it lets you know you are approaching your street when you are. The map also gives you a pretty good picture of the roads, so you know how sharp a turn is, etc. This can be especially useful on winding roads.

If you don't follow its instructions, it is quite prompt in recalculating and telling you how to get back on track.

It was also very helpful for finding restaurants and shopping.

We haven't used the MSN much yet, as Hawaii didn't have coverage where we were (Honolulu does though). In covered areas, it seems to work fine (though I have yet to be in an area that has traffic reports).

Before I got the device, I was not sure if it was Macintosh compatible; it is. Also, the product info I saw didn't tell me you can set it to pedestrian mode, but you can. I'm not sure how much difference it makes, but we tried it off road, and it seemed to work.

I was planning to get Garmin GPS for quite a while, but didn't feel urgency to do so. In the middle of December I noticed that Sharper Image runs special promotion $449.95 for Garmin Nuvi 750. Research revealed that 750 model doesn't have Bluetooth. Comparison through Garmin.com shows that 680 is probably the best model for USA. "The COOLEST Gadget".

I got ready to order 680 model through Amazon for the best Internet price of $555, but luckily went to the local COSTCO store. Believe it or not, it was there for $479.99.

I have played with it for only a few hours, but so far it is great. The only disappointment is that GPS didn't transfer Phone Book from our two cell phones PPC-6700 and HTC Touch. Otherwise it seems to be very easy to use and really helpful.

I used the Garmin Nuvi 680 GPS on a five thousand mile six week RV tour of National Parks in seven states. Bottom line: the Nuvi has room for improvement for RV drivers.

I was frustrated when I tripped over inaccuracies in the Garmin's maps, especially since I had updated the unit just before my trip. I was routed to several businesses that failed over two years ago that are still listed. A couple of RV parks had bad addresses that took me touring the town at the end of a long day. There were a small number of bizarre but obvious misroutings that looked like the old Vermont farmer telling Nuvi that "you can't get there from here", and we drove on 3 or more roads that looked more than a year old which Nuvi didn't know. In general, I estimate that the map database contained an error for every 250-300 miles we travelled. Garmin would do well to have an easier method of reporting these errors to help alleviate user frustration - maybe a "thumbs down" button to tell Garmin/Navteq that there was something wrong: even if users don't have time to detail the error, maybe enough problem reports will help locate inaccuracies and give users some recourse other than getting angry at the GPS.

I wanted the product to be more "RV friendly". Nuvi has several automobile service categories, but I could never figure out how to look for an RV park as easily as I could look for a motel, nor could I find repair shops specializing in RV repairs unless there was "RV" in the name (and Nuvi's search function threw in many red herrings such as names including "seRVice".)

I found a woeful lack of detail in National Parks (e.g. for seasonal services.) There were many roadside attractions missing altogether. Nuvi has a "truck route" navigation preference, but no "scenic route" for those of us willing to drive farther and slower for prettier roads. Altitude information is hard to locate, and slope information doesn't seem to exist (which is important when you're towing a load). I couldn't figure out how to download any routing information to allow the unit to keep track of where I went on my vacation (even the "Recently Found" waypoints would be useful). I wanted search categories for pets/vets, and for "Doc-in-the-box" businesses separated from hospitals.

The MSN Direct coverage is almost useless for the RV kind of cross-country driving we did, and its lack of comprehensive movie theater coverage makes it disappointing for local use as well. I'll be looking for WiFi features in my next GPS. Specifically, I want a WiFi locator that can tell me if I'm in range. And once Nuvi connects to WiFi, it should update information useful to me, such as podcasts and traffic info for my commute.

Most of the user interface is useful and optimized for getting places, but there are numerous rough edges. For example, looking up by address requires spelling out the city each and every time (yuk!) And why can't Nuvi import my address book from my email? The "Nearby" and "Spell" buttons seem to be magically implemented (now you see them, now you don't). Looking up a City doesn't sort the list by closest match, so it can take some time to scroll down and find the one I'm looking for. And you should abandon hope for phonetic spelling: if you can't spell where you want to go, you'll struggle to find it.

The map display needs some attention, especially for the long stretches of cross country travel. With almost nothing else on the screen most of the time, Garmin could do well to tune the route display to be more useful (e.g. next feature plus next town with services). For routing lists, Garmin could also break up the long stretches of interstate highways with intermediate towns (e.g. "100 miles US-15 to Provo UT" might be divided into ""50 miles US-15 to Salt Lake City UT; 50 miles US-15 to Provo UT").

For all these minor weaknesses, the Nuvi product line is solid and easy for auto touring. Garmin simplifies and optimizes the user interface to facilitate getting you wherever you want to go. As of this writing, the Nuvi 680 attempts to be the most comprehensive "Digital Travel Assistant" in the product line, and begs for the kind of enhancements tuned to distance traveling and to be polished to justify the premium price.

I previously owned the Magellan 670 and thought it was good; but in next to the the Garmin Nuvi 680 it is not even close. First the reception on the Nuvi 680 (even w/o an external antenna is great) the Magellan would lose the satalite all the time even with an external antenna. Then the Nuvi tells me of traffic problems ahead of time and the ability to down load books and get weather. The Nuvi 680 is better that the units in the new cars. Garmin 010-00540-25 Nuvi 680 Travel Assistant

I used this device on a 2500 mi trip right after I got it and really enjoyed it. It did a few odd things (trying to route me onto some backroads off the main road, on a route I knew) for some reason that was unclear, but overall it did the job well. Easy to enter destinations in unfamiliar areas, and it does pretty well at getting you around, though sometimes it seemed to miss the interstate in favor of adjacent streets/roads. It is very easy to use and has a lot of nice features. Recalculates rapidly and updates directions. Display/touch interface are very good. I like how it projects your arrival time -- on a 850 mi 14 hour leg it projected an arrival within 2 minutes of actual arrival, when I first entered the destination!

The traffic update feature worked well, where it worked (a limited number of metro areas), and it works well at home, when I pay attention to it!

Some of the less expensive units probably have many of the same nav features, but I like this one. One feature I would like to see (and it might be there) is a pause feature for when you get off the road to get gas or eat -- that drives it crazy trying to make you get back on the road and it gets kinda annoying listening to it tell you to turn around, etc.

Nice unit, strong recommendation.

Purchased in May, 2007, have used the Garmin Nuvi 680 for short and long trips, near home and across the country. It is an expensive, top-of-the-line GPS, but mostly justifies this cost with its slew of helpful features.

Production Quality:

The Screen is bright, colorful and crisp. It's large touch screen is easy to view when driving and even automatically switches to display differently for night and day. The touch screen is accurate, though users with big fingers may hit a couple wrong keys on the touch keyboard, especially when the car is moving. Menus are easy to navigate and most items appear in the logical, intuitive place. The included mount works well, but has fallen off a few times. There are many voices to select from and all sound clear and easy to understand. The leather case included is nice for stowing or carrying the GPS without worry of scratching. Overall, very polished product with little oversight.

Features:

The Nuvi 680 is loaded with features. Some features are common to most GPS - Points of Interest Database, travel related software tools, multiple stops en route, option to take a detour at any time, preview of route, zooming in/out & changing view of map. I cannot compare to other devices, but these features all work quite well. Though the POI database can be slow to find a particular place by spelling and occasionally a place is found in an incorrect sub-category. Anyway, the main feature that sets this GPS apart is the MSN Direct Service...

MSN Direct - Traffic:

Traffic reporting is the big draw here above other models. However, it can take 15 minutes or longer (around 20-25% of the time not working at all) for the traffic information to update when you plug in the GPS. If you keep in plugged into your car, often your wait time will be less, but you will still occassionally be left in the dark. When traffic reporting is functioning, you will get a semi-realistic estimate of the time delay and acess to brief details regarding all delays in the area. It's tough to say for sure, but I believe the rerouting usually saved me a good 10-30 minutes at least half a dozen times. Yet, it seems like there were as many times or more where I should have been rerouted and was not. Hopefully the firmware update I just received will fix these issues. One simple suggestion I'd have is to let the user know when they've been automatically rerouted and to show both routes and ETA's on the map screen.

To illustrate - On a normally 3 hour trip we hit 2 hours of traffic, while 30 minutes were predicted by MSN and only after an hour into the trip (but before the traffic jam). We were rerouted around some of the traffic (maybe 30 minutes time saved), but if the correct delay had been predicted, we probably would have been shown a detour shaving off even more time. So while certainly better than a regular GPS, left some room for improvement.

MSN Direct - Weather, Gas, Movies:

Unlike traffic reporting, Weather, Gas and Movies information is useful even if it is several hours or even a day or two old. Usually gas prices are correct or within a few cents. Movie showtimes I haven't used much, but seem correct. The weather, I've tried the most, and is probably 90% accurate, maybe more. These features can be pretty helpful, though I rarely drive out of the way for gas.

Ease of Use:

The startup time (to acquire satelites) is a fairly quick, almost always under 5 minutes, usually under 2 minutes. The route calculation is even faster, almost always under 1 minute, usually under 20 seconds. GPS is highly accurate, despite my regular driving through crowded criss-crossing streets. Once in a while, it may take a few seconds for the GPS to register a turn, but hasn't caused me any problems. Recalculating of route is very quick when you miss a turn, enough to make the next turn. Guidance through directions are easy to pay attention to, with well placed reminders and clear graphical presentation when there are many places to turn off or road splits. It certainly beats mapquest!

Overall:

I'm glad I bought this GPS. While I would highly recommend it, I believe for some, the much cheaper Nuvi 350 is a better buy. The traffic reporting is currently hit or miss and so you may find yourself listening to the radio for traffic anyway. However, if you can't stand traffic and are planning to use this for many years to come, you'll eventually get your money's worth. And hopefully some time in the future the firmware will be optimized and MSN Direct will have a comprehensive reporting system.

This is another upgrade for me as far a GPS's. This is replacing my 60GSx and I have owned all of the (plus) products, and have never been dissapointed with Garmin. I was on the fence between the 660 and the 680, but this price at amazon is too good to pass up and I am glad I went with the 680, the MSN service seems to be working out well so far after a week, where all of my GPS units would have been staying home I use this one every day for the traffic, it changes the road color to traffic flow, red for very slow, yellow and green for normal speeds as well as construction and accidents, so it's a very cool toy, cough cough I mean device that I need haha. Anyway if you are thinking about a TomTom? I don't know if they have changed something in the past year, but I am thinking that the only people who like them are people who have never owned a garmin because TomTom's are simply not accurate in the US, I had one for a week, the reason I bring this up is because the 680 is kind of like a tomtom with all the bells and whistles, but it will actually get you to your destination. If you are on the fence between the 660 and 680 and have the extra $90.00 I would say go for it, but the 660 I think is the same unit without the MSN, oh and I used the gas price option yesterday and it worked, saved 10cents a gallon, so this thing will pay for itself in 180 fill ups, thats about 5 years lol.

I had a Mio that could not even find my home and I made the mistake of taking it to Chicago with me...for any of you who have a "not so good" GPS Navigation system - the turn right the U TURN WHERE POSSIBLE voice is very annoyoying - my Mio had me lost all the time. The Garmin 680 has been fantastic - I love the "take next right on Washington Blvd" instructions that make finding your way in a city you don't know so much easier. I will be back in Chicago shortly and am expecting to be able to find my way around with no issues. Unit is a little pricey but worth it if you love to travel and hate to be lost.