skyview18's Full Review: Garmin GPS 76 Handheld GPS Receiver
I've added some update at the end as a result the resent trips I took.
This is my third GPS unit and this time I decide to keep it. The previous two are the Garmin eTrix Vista and the Magellan Meridian, I end up return them to the store, detail about those two units are in their review, so you can check it out if interested.
The price of GPS Map 76S is bit expensive, 399 US. The case of the unit is almost identical to the GPS76 and GPS Map 76, not too impress at least to me, and I fill it is a little bit too big while holding it on my hand. The other complain is that the button are on the top of the screen, so if I am using only one hand to operate the unit, it usually block my view of the screen. The unit isn’t very attractive compare to the eTrix and the new Magellan SporTrak, but again, as I said in two previous reviews, a GPS is a GPS, not a decoration.
After several days carrying with me, I think this is the one I am looking for. Following are some of the highlights:
The antenna
This time Garmin did it right, 76S has a Built in quad helix antenna and also a connector for external antenna, this make the unit can be used almost anywhere (kind of), it takes about 40 to 50 second average to lock satellites inside my house, I took it to several trips including somewhere has heavy bush, only very few times it beeps to me that lost the lock.
Built-in sensor
As the model number 76S indicates, S means sensor, same as eTrix Vista.
Map
Map is basically the same as the eTrix Vista, and I think it is very accurate as a base map. It has the major highway and street for the city I live, consider that I am living in Canada, I am kind impressed.
Display Screen
Since the size of the unit is bigger than the eTrix, so the screen is also bigger. The resolution is bit lower than the eTrix, so it actually make the screen easy to read since each pixel is bigger, but the pixel is not that big as the Magellan so still give you a very fine display. And I found it is actually better than the fine eTrix screen especially if you mount it on the car dash board where there is a bit distance from you eyes, since the eTrix pixel is a bit too fine to see clearly if you keep it 1 to 2 foot away.
Accuracy
Accuracy is same as the eTrix Vista and very good. If you only have the base map, most of the time if you have the map scale on 500meter or lower, it will tells you that you are about 200 meter away from the road you are driving, all GPS are the same, I think they did this intentional, also if your traveling speed exceeds certain limitation (I think is around 900Km/h), the unit will disable itself, this will prevents some bad guys make use of it as a missile guider and I think is necessary. Overall I am very happy.
Battery
The battery life if OK consider the function the has, usually two fully charged NiMH batteries last about 6 to 7 hours with the compass on, a bit longer if you turn off the compass. Suggest you get a car adapter. The car adapter with data cable sometimes is handy but just a bit expensive, but if you want to connect it to you computer and leave it for a while you may think about this, if you not going to play with it with computer a lot, a single car power adapter is good enough and the price is half compare to the other one. Of course you need to carry a good number of batteries with you if you play to use it a lot without access to your car, again get NiMH battery to save some money.
Map Source CD
The Map Source CD is great but not perfect, I ordered the Canadian version, it has the major city street level map, recreation map and the enhanced base map for most of the Mid-size city and above, I did see improvement on the base map. The City map is very detail, and you can plan a trip on you computer and download to your unit, the only problem is that you can’t use the excuse of getting lost if your are running late. The reason I say it’s not perfect is that I found that my house (I mean street number) was located on the other end of the street on the map about 1Km away to it’s actual location, the street was established about 10 to 11 years ago so I don’t understand why this happens, maybe they didn’t pay attention to because it is in the country? The other thing is that the lock on Road function, like I said before, a lot of time it tells me that I am 200 meter from the road I am actually driving on; if you had the map load on the unit, and turn the "lock on map" on, the unit is smart enough to figure out I am driving on that road, not parallel to it. The problem is that several times I get off from highway, but the unit still says I am on the highway until the exit lane is 200 meters from the main road.
So my conclusion is that if you had the money, and need both handheld use and car use, this is the one, the bottom line is you will not get lost.
Update:
I recently took several trip to Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto, test this unit as a in-car GPS and here is what I think.
I setup a car mount in front of the center column that makes it closer to my eyes (BTW, I have a very good vision). Also I use the mapsource CD to load the detail map info to the unit and created several route as well, then I hit the road. First thing I found is the screen is a bit difficult to see if you drive towards the sun because your eye is not quick enough to adjust from sunlight to the darker screen, when the sun is on your back it is actually very easy to see the screen, but for some people who doesn’t have a good vision like my wife, is not fun at all to read the screen while driving. The worst is night driving, it has a green backlight but this make thing even worse, I have to move my face down almost close to the steering wheel to see the screen, the back light makes it even harder to read.
Also, there are some tricks what scale you should use and when to change it, while driving on the highway I found 12 to 3 Km range is ok, since it gives the highway info without other details mixed together, and if you are in the city I can go at most 1.2 Km otherwise everything just jam together and you can see nothing. And the time to change scale is trick as well, since it takes a long time to redraw the screen, if you try to change the scale just before you getting close to the turn and wonder where you should turn, you will miss the turn in 90% of chance, the unit is slooow especially with the detail map loaded.
The route is ok but not flexible, if for some reason you miss a turn, the route will not change(of course not, not an auto-route unit), and you have to route your self.
The conclusion? If you want it mainly as a car unit, that is not the one. Chick out the street pilot III, with the auto-route and bigger color screen I believe it is more capable as a car unit.
But, back to my point, I still think it is a fine handheld unit, amount the other similar products I still think this is the best one.
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