» Garmin Nuvi 600, Nuvi 610 and Nuvi 650 GPS Auto Navigation Review

The Garmin Nuvi 600 series has 6 models sharing most features. Standout features for the three Nuvi models being reviewed and the entire Nuvi 600 series include:

• A large 4.3 inch TFT widescreen,
• mp3 player,
• audio book player,
• picture viewer,
• world travel clock, currency & measurement converter, calculator,
• Garmin Lock (anti-theft),
• preloaded maps for immediate use - solid state internal memory,
• SD card adapter for storing and loading new maps, music and image files.

The difference between the Garmin Nuvi 600 models is in some cases only the maps that have been pre-loaded. Out of the three models being reviewed, the Nuvi 600 and 610 both come with regional maps only. The Garmin Nuvi 610 distinguishes itself by being the only one of the three to have Bluetooth for hands-free cell phone calls. The Nuvi 650 is the only model with text-to-speech capability for reading text such as street names.

Garmin Nuvi 600s WQVGA TFT Touchscreen Display

A recent Consumer Electronics Association report GPS- Exploring Ownership and Interest revealed that ease of use and display quality strongly influenced owner satisfaction with a GPS device. The Garmin Nuvi 600s all share a quality 4.3 inch, 64K, color, TFT touchscreen display with WQVGA resolution (480 x 272 pixels). A larger screen makes picking up visual navigation instructions while driving much easier.

Both 2D and 3D perspective views are available for viewing maps. Apart from the on/off switch and rotary volume control knob, all other navigation control is through the touchscreen. Now that the iPhone with its “finger touch” operated touchscreen has been a consumer mobile electronics success, expect to see more rapid adoption of this interface design approach.

Operation and GPS Maps

All three Nuvi 600 models being reviewed come ready to go with map data preloaded. Both the Nuvi 600 and 610 come preloaded with City Navigator NT map data for one European region or country while the 650 comes with full coverage of either North America or Europe. City Navigator NT maps contain a wealth of information including highways, interstates, business and residential roads as well as attributes such as turn restrictions, speed categories and other navigation features

Entering destination can be initiated by selecting a POI (points of interest) or entering the address manually. The POI database features some six million points of interest including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, attractions, entertainment, shopping, emergency services, post offices, camp grounds, movie theaters and ATMs. The European version can come with a preloaded safety camera database containing the location of safety cameras for parts of Europe.

Rather than just announcing to turn left or turn right the Garmin Nuvi 650 has text-to-speech capability for pronouncing street names so there is no need to check the display for confirmation.

Users can search for addresses and points of interest (POI) and upload their own POIs. A useful selectable feature is a proximity alert which notifies the driver of upcoming custom POIs. Up to 500 waypoints with name and graphic symbol can be entered. Software features include a trip computer, resettable odometer, timers, average and maximum speed outputs.

If you want to plan your route while out of the car, the three Nuvi models have an internal lithium-ion battery with a respectable 7 hour life. All units come with an AC charger and a 12-volt power adapter for in-car recharging.

SiRF Star III GPS Receiver Chip

GPS capability is provided for all Garmin Nuvi 600 series receivers by a SiRF Star III chipset. The SiRF Star III family was considered a breakthrough innovation GPS chip architecture for its impressive performance improvements to the GPS receivers.

For the best position accuracy, the SiRF Star III chipset is a WAAS enabled (which improves accuracy) although, its inherent accuracy makes the WAAS enabling less important. Accuracy for the SiRF Star III is 2.0m for position and with 0.01m/s for velocity accuracy. Hot and warm autonomous times to first fix (TTFF) are less than 1s and less than 35s respectively.

It has recently been announced that the SiRFstarIIITM architecture will provide the GPS-based location awareness for products based on the new Intel Ultra Mobile Platform 2007. The Ultra Mobile Device reference design will offer manufacturers of mobile devices in consumer electronics, wireless, automotive and computer industry a comprehensive, turnkey, location-enabled solution they can employ to drive down the cost and speed the development of next generation location-aware ultra mobile devices.

While the SiRF has been an almost ubiquitous component of mobile GPS navigators, it has new competition in CellGuide’s ACLYS ultra-minature GPS co-processor which is claimed by CellGuide to have a 70% cost advantage over conventional dedicated GPS receiver chips. The co-processor also gains size and power consumption reduction advantages by outsourcing the most intensive GPS processing requirements to the host processor. This development may well have been the catalyst for a recent announcement from Intel of SiRF’s involvement in the Ultra Mobile Platform.

Multimedia Capabilities

Multimedia capabilities of the Garmin Nuvi 650, 610 and 600 include an MP3 player, Audible Book Player and a Photo Viewer. The MP3 player has some useful menus enabling users to see album art and browse music by the artist, album, song or genre. Music can be dragged-and-dropped from the SD card. It’s possible to wire your Garmin Nuvi into your car sound system using an audio output jack and enjoy larger speakers and surround sound. The Audible book player comes with a subscription to Audible.com from where you can download from their library of some 35,000 books.

Bluetooth Wireless Technology

Bluetooth wireless technology enabled cellular phones can be combined with the Garmin Nuvi 650 for safe hands-free mobile phone use while keeping ones eyes fixed on the road. Incoming phone calls pop up on the 650’s display and a tap of the touch screen accepts the call. As with other systems, any other audio is automatically muted during phone calls. Calls can be made using the nuvi’s touchscreen keypad. A handy convenience is being able to access phone numbers associated with the POI making it simple to call ahead.

Garmin Lock

Garmin Lock is an anti-theft feature included with the Garmin Nuvi 610, 600 and 650. The navigation unit is disabled until a specific 4-digit PIN is entered. You can also drive to an “unlock” location where it will unlock without a PIN code.

Comparison of Garmin Nuvi 600 Series Models

Other models in the Garmin Nuvi 600 series include the 660, 670 [LINK] and 680.

An integrated FM transmitter is common to the 660, 670 and 680.

The Garmin Nuvi 660 and 670 are identical except for the preloaded maps with the 670 having European maps as well as US + Canada
(transatlantic).

The Garmin Nuvi 680 (premium model of series) has the addition of MSN Direct to specification for the 660 and 670

Comparison of Different Garmin Nuvi Auto GPS Series

• 200 series (200, 250, 260 and 270) - entry level series which is light on the budget with a basic 3.5 inch screen QVGA (320 x 240 pixels). Series features integrated antenna. No multimedia features or Bluetooth.
• 200W series (200W and 250W) - W is for widescreen with a step up from the 200 series to a 4.3 inch WQVGA (480 x 272 pixels) widescreen. No multimedia features or Bluetooth.
• 300 series (300, 310, 350, 360 and 370) - 3.5 inch screen in common with 200 series Multimedia playback and Bluetooth features available.
• 600 series (600,610,650,660,670 and 680) - Step up in screen size and resolution from 300 series to 4.3 inch WQVGA Flip up patch antenna
• 700 series (710, 750, 760 and 770) Latest series with most features and 4.8 inch WQVGA screen. More extensive route planning features. Series features integrated antenna and sleeker, thinner design than the Nuvi 600 series. All have integrated FM transmitter and are Traffic ready. All come MSN Direct compatible.

User Reviews and Price Comparisons for the Garmin Nuvi 650

The Garmin Nuvi has been at the top of Amazon’s GPS bestseller list for a long time and has an excellent customer rating and lots of user reviews to consider.
Garmin nüvi 650 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

You can also read user reviews and check prices at Buy.com
Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS System w/ Preloaded Maps - 4.3 Screen

Compare prices with Nerds.net
GPS, NUVI 650, CITY NAVIGATOR NORTH

Butterfly Photo always have competitive prices
Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS Vehicle Navigator 0100054070

Resources

Garmin provide an extensive FAQ database for their GPS products.

You can compare the different features of different Garmin nuvi models using Garmin’s comparison database which gives you side by side comparisons with differences highlighted.

Garmin nuvi 650 Owner’s Manual

Garmin Nuvi 650 Quick Reference Guide

Specifications Garmin Nuvi 600, Nuvi 610 and Nuvi 650 GPS Auto Navigators

Technorati Tags: Garmin Nuvi, mp3 player, audio book player, picture viewer, Garmin Lock, Nuvi 600, Garmin Nuvi 610, Bluetooth, Nuvi 650, text-to-speech, GPS, City Navigator NT, Intel Ultra Mobile Platform, ACLYS, ultra-minature GPS co-processor, CellGuide, Garmin Lock