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| Garmin nvi 850 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator | 
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| Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $857.13
Buy New: $369.00
You Save: $488.13 (57%)
New (92) Used (2)
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 1116
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 480x272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.5
Dimensions (in): 0.7 x 4.9 x 3.1
MPN: 010-00577-20
Model: 010-00577-20
UPC: 753759079635
EAN: 0753759079635
ASIN: B0012BNHT2
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 10 | | NEXT » |
 Worth the money... November 1, 2008
I have a 2004 MB E500 that did not come with Navi, BT or Sat Radio as an option. Since that time, Mercedes has made them available as a after-market upgrade to the COMMAND unit... for $5,000!!!
After many hours spent searching for the best alternative, I've decided to go with the nuvi 850, a jawbone earpiece and my Samsung Nexus 50. This is not the perfect scenario for me as I would have preferred an integrated solution, however, the unforeseen benefit is that each device specializes in a job well done instead of picking one device that does a mediocre job at one of the three.
As for this Navi device. The speech recognition works fairly well in a quiet environment. This is common for any speech recognition software today. Most any new car with this technology will require the same.
Functionally, I've had no issues. I travel often and have been impressed with the accuracy of the maps as well as the easy to use GUI.
I would recommend this device to anyone looking for the best-in-class performance.
 Disappointing October 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This unit has some major flaws, most of which Garmin is aware of and seems to ignore because you see the same complaints on all their products. The biggest issue I'm talking about is the map. The points of interest are critically lacking; I'm not just talking about new points of interest that haven't been added yet, but also old points of interest that are omitted. For example, in my hometown the biggest bank in town has been here for well over 100 years, and in the EXACT same location for the whole time. The Garmin map doesn't show it. But the same bank has a smaller branch on the edge of town which has only been there for 3 or 4 years, the map does have that. Immediately adjacent to that bank is the towns largest gas station which has been there longer than the bank; the map doesn't show it. The largest grocery store in town is also curiously absent. I was waiting at a four way intersection in a neighboring state, the map showed no points of interest at the intersection, while in reality there was an enormous gas station with a mini-mall behind it. The fact that gas stations are missing is inexcusable. Before I got the unit my father asked if the only points of interest the map would show are of businesses that paid to be included, I hypothesized that a manufacturer which wanted to earn customer trust and loyalty wouldn't do that. Imagine if you were in a town you had never been to before and desperately needed gas. You ask the GPS for the nearest gas. Which answer do you want; the nearest gas is half a mile this way just around the bend, the nearest gas is 10 miles the other way (because our map sucks), oops, sorry, you only had enough gas to get you 5 miles, tough luck. Whatever the reasoning, that is what you get with Garmin.
The feature where the unit can talk to you and tell you directions is less than worthless; it's actually a liability. If you rely on it, it will actually get you lost. For whatever illogical reason, the voice feature does not mimick the on screen directions, it tells you much less so eventually it will forget to tell you about a turn you needed to take.
The logic for routing you to your destination seems good, but one time it did an absolutely foolish route for me as I was testing it near home. I was driving on road A, and to get home all I had to do was turn on road B and drive a tenth of a mile to my house. Instead, the Garmin wanted me to drive past road B to road C, then drive down road C to where it intersected road B at the opposite end, then drive down road B a number of miles to my house.
How it differentiates one road from another also leaves you confused sometimes. If you have a road in a town with a specific name, but once that very road leaves town it has a different name (usually a number) and that second name is how most people refer to the road, the Garmin will refer to the road by the wrong name. Also, sometimes it will tell you that you are getting on a different road, or you are exiting, when ABSOLUTELY nothing has changed from the driver's perspective. This even happened on a section of interstate highway where the road didn't even change numbers. Also, on a road with a fairly sharp bend, it will treat the bend as a "turn," this leads to more confusion as you spend time looking for an actual turn, not just a bend. This factor also changes distance measuring because the road after the "turn" is now a new measurement. The opposite has also happened; the Garmin has told me to "keep left" when I was actually turning from one road to another. Lastly, and I've only seen this once, it wanted me to drive on a road that has not existed for over 30 years! It was someone's back yard! (That could have been entertaining)
Garmin has failed to win my loyalty, in the future I will try one of the other brands. If Garmin wants to keep me or win me back, they can update their maps DRAMATICALLY and give current owners free map upgrades.
Frustrated Garmin Fan October 27, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I am a Realtor and have been using my Garmin GPS for almost four years. (It was the 2720 and had cost $999 when I bought it.) It's invaluable to me in my business. Today it died as I was previewing a dozen homes and I went back to where I bought it originally and picked up an 850. Boy, am I disappointed!
The new graphics will take some getting used to, but that's not the problem. With the newer technology and all the bells and whistles, I had expected this unit to be MORE intuitive than my old one. Turns out it's not. Twice it told me it could not find addresses in older neighborhoods where my old Garmin never had a problem. I had to guess my way across unfamiliar areas to find them and, sure enough, once I got there, the street names registered on my screen. I immediately saw what happened but was shocked that Garmin hadn't picked up the slight differences.
One street is named McLain Road. I typed in Mclain (small "l") and it couldn't find it. The old Garmin used all upper-case letters, so it found every address regardless of upper or lower case. This one obviously needs you to know which to use -- very frustrating. The second one is spelled Hollowbrooke Lane. I typed in in every which way I could think of -- Hollow Brooke Lane, Hollow Brook Lane, Hollowbrook Lane, etc. Now that I'm home and could play with it a little, sure enough, it found it. I should have typed in "Ln" instead of Lane and it had Hollowbrooke without the "e." When I had typed in Hollowbrook Lane, it couldn't find it because I spelled out the word Lane. Again, the old Garmin knew that Lane and Ln were the same thing.
Another very annoying thing I found missing on this new one which was on my old Garmin was the display of streets. Typically, each street will show up as I get near it, whether I'm turning onto it or not. With the 850 it doesn't show streets unless they are major thoroughfares. I finally clicked on the "plus" button twice in succession and it started to give me lines (which represented streets), but it rarely showed the name of the street. Again, the old Garmin showed every street you came up to.
The voice prompts are also unreliable. Several times the voice prompt did not match up with the screen and if I tried to answer based on what I saw on the screen (for example, a city was on the screen and the voice was asking for a street address), I could not get it to sync and had to start all over or (more often than not) just gave up and tapped the information into the GPS. Again, a nice concept but frustrating if it's not working properly!
I can't figure out why this newer model would be LESS intuitive than the old system. I'll play with it for a few days, but at the price I paid, I won't be keeping it very long if I can't figure out how to make this work better.
And, not to beat a dead horse here, but I'm shocked that the unit doesn't come with a carrying case. I just bought my daughter a nuvi 350 last week for her birthday and it cost a fraction of what the 850 cost -- and it had a carrying case! SHAME on you, Garmin!
 Great functionality - Lacks needed accessories October 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Nuvi 850 is much nicer than my Nuvi 350. The voice recognition works for me - very good.
But, the 850 lacks a case (which my 350 came with) and lacks a home charger (which my 350 came with). I can overlook the charger since it can be charged with an usb connection but I can't forgive the lack of a case. Very chintzy on Garmins' part.
 Voice recognition is THE way to go!!! October 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The voice recognition is 100% WORTH IT! Keeps your eyes (& attention) on the road where it belongs. : ) It is astonishingly accurate and there is no need to pull over to type in addresses or perform searches. Really appreciate the 'Where Am I' feature, as well. It has come in handy when in need of a gas station in unfamiliar territory. Also...get the house charger, the car charger, the portable friction dash mount and the leather NUVI 800series carrying case. No complaints. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! Would buy again and again.
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