Garmin nüvi 650 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

First GPS I've owned. Easy to use, nice bright big screen.
I like the SD card slot for play music for laughs (tiny
speaker though). It works very well most of the time.
Recalculates if I miss a turn. But once in a while, it
wants me to do U-turns to get back to where it wants me
to go, even though I'm getting close to my destination
anyhow. Wish it just recalculated better, because what
it wants would just add many miles to my trip. And this
action can go on for miles. Sometimes the suction cup
falls off the windshield, but maybe I didn't do perfect
job securing it, no big deal though. For the most part
though I'm happy with this unit, and glad I have a GPS now.

If you don't already own a GPS, GET ONE. I have had several (I was a dealer 3 years ago), and once you get used to the great things they can do for you when you are in new territory. Find food, where's that motel?, where's a hospital? It's all there.
This Nuvi is another solid example of Garmin's great produts. The 650 is loaded with features, and so easy to do basic navigation, it takes about 3 minutes to get going the first time.

I had owned Magellan then Tom-tom. Last week I bought a Garmin Nuvi 650 and WOW this is really the top of the line among GPS.

Let me compare the 3:
Magellan--When you lost your way or missed a turn, this GPS is very slow to calculate.
Tomtom 3rd Edition--One of the best. It reminds you when a POIs is approaching like gas stations, etc. Very fast to recalculate when you missed a turn. User friendly. The only thing I dont like is it doesnt mentioned the street name and takes longer to recieve satelite signal. Though every turns is voice guided, it only activates when you are about to turn.

Garmin Nuvi 650--Speaks the street name and freeway entrance and exit. Very easy to use. Voice guided turns speaks ahead 300 meters away.

So easy to use my 8 yo grandson can operate it. I used it for the first time to navigate a trip into Ann Arbor MI, a city well known for having been laid out by following the trails of numerous fox hunts as there are few streets without many twists and turns, complicated by the fact that the same street changes names every mile or so. The Garmin got me exactly where I needed to go into the city and places within the city over a two day trip, and then onto Detroit where the speed limit is just about as fast as a car can go without running the state troopers off the road. I would not even have attempted to drive myself without the Garmin!!!

I am a senior driver now who over many decades has driven coast to coast seven times and either lived in or visited every major city in the U.S. Nowadays, I find it is easy for me to get lost and streets seem to be poorly marked or so wide that I don't see the cross road signs until I am passing them. The Garmin gives me directions far enough ahead of the turns for me to switch several lanes of traffic through the use of a pleasant computer voice and with typed directions across the top of the screen as well as the map layout.

I read many, many reviews before I selected this relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated unit as I did not want all the bells and whistles, like having a book read to me or for use to download music - I have a radio and CD player for that. I can't think of how they could make the unit more user friendly.

I noted there were complaints about the sound not being loud enough, well duh! Turn the music down there is only room for so many soundwaves in a given space!!! If you can't hear the output of a Garmin your music is above 85 dba and you are damaging your hearing!!!

You can buy this unit with confidence that you are getting a good deal that everyone will be able to use with ease.

Doc

The Garmin itself worked great, as I knew it would. My problem is with the description the seller gave. I purchased a new Garmin but they failed to say in the description of the product that the map was an 2007. Before I even used it I got a message "your map is over a year old, it's time to a update your". That's a disappointing statement to read for a new product. I went in to update the map as instructed, well, now that going to cost me an additional $70.00. Please let the purchaser know what year the map is on the product and I'm sure they wont be as disappointed as I was.

This was gift. I'm not a techie and don't like to be bothered with trying to figure things out, but this was easy to use, right out of the box. What I like most is the wide screen. I work in construction and have big calloused hands - this screen allowed me plenty of room to type. The first time I tried it out, I punched in a route I usually travel and was quite amazed that it took me another way that was shorter and less traffic!

I love it!
It recalculates really really quick (in a fraction of a sec.) if you miss your turn/exit. Just takes a bit to find the satellite first I turn it on.

As a former Magellan owner, I didn't know what to expect when we got our Nuvi 650. The unit is small, and doesn't obstruct from the windshield view (a problem the Magellan had due to its bulk). The package we got included the suction cup windshield mount, a leather case and the various cords and whatnot.

You can use it without plugging it in (provided the battery is charged, of course!) and to date it's not steered me wrong yet. We sometimes change the voice (it comes with a bunch of them to choose from, both male and female of various accents). It offers TTS on most of the voices which is important to me. My daughter dances competitively and so I am constantly driving her to competitions out of state, not once has the Garmin let us down.

When we first got it, I ran both units side by side for a couple trips and the Garmin does not always give the same directions as the Magellan -- but the Garmin's directions were usually quicker. Another thing I noticed was that the Garmin does not get lost in downtown areas (the Magellan could never seem to acquire satellite signals in any big downtown area).

Well worth the cost and when I eventually need to replace it, I'm going with another Garmin!

We've had our Garmin 650 for a couple of months and enjoy the female voice telling us where to go. This is a discontinued model and I called to check on the status of something that wasn't being made anymore. The man assured me it was an excellent unit, discontinued to make room for units with more bells and whistles. He assured me I would not be disappointed and he was right. This model has all the bells and whistles we need. Besides, we saved over $400! The voice tells us her best straight line route, which we sometimes overrule simply because we don't want to go that way. She quickly says "recalculating," and gives us the next best route. I like the trip information picture that gives you the direction you're driving, how much time has elapsed, when you are expected to arrive and your speed. (This is a wonderful feature when you're traveling by train or bus.) Uncanny! It's within one mile per hour of our speedometer. We plan a trip to Branson soon with a dash into NW Arkansas and back home through St. Louis. I have all the addresses we need loaded into the unit and expect to have no wrong turns on our trip. I'm guilty of wrong turns! Now my wife will not be chuckling up her sleeve. We're pleased with this Garmin and expect to enjoy it for a long time.

A perfect addition to other travel aids. Havn't had any problems getting around new cities and return to home. Can't say enough for it. Uncanny.

We really like this GPS system. The only bad thing is you have to update the system once you get it with the latest maps. Once that is done it is great! It is easy to operate and very accurate. This is our second one (the first one was stolen) and we like it a lot.

A really fine unit. Allows you to navigate from point to point with all the information you need, turns, distances, times and speeds. Voice prompts are well in advance of direction changes. I have found that the actual GPS is usually accurate to within 30 feet. The screen is easily seen on the brightest day. The only negative that I've found is that the screen tends to be to bright at night, so you may choose to adjust the intensity. The unit is a snap to program and an overall excellent choice.

I didn't really need traffic updates. My Samsung Epix GPS only received traffic updates in larger cities and you have to pay for internet access as well as ATT GPS. I also didn't mind the usb to pc connection so the extra cost for bluetooth was unnecessary. Works like a charm and although I only have the cell phone as a comparison it seems to work quickly and accurately. Worth every penny to me. There is no required service charge to access GPS through Garmin. Optionally purchased the updated national map, however. Comes with the usb cable and car charger. It will charge slowly with usb but it would have been nice to have the optional 110 charger-adapter.

I have used this GPS for over a year with varying results. I suspect the problems with it occurs across the entire Garmin product line.

Pros: A good user interface.

Cons: When you set it up to navigate by Faster Time, it does not result in the shortest time. Fastest time means it will route on roads that have a higher speed limit such as Interstate Highways. Often that results in a route that is longer in both distance and time.

Driving on highways that existed for a very long time, often it suddenly gets lost and keeps repeating, "Recomputing." All of this while continuing to drive on a highway out in the country. Then it tries to tell you to make turns don't exist. After a few minutes of this insanity, it comes to its senses.

The data is quite out of date. Driving on any road that was built in the last five years results in it getting lost.

The out-of-date map data coupled with the lousing routing software means I no longer trust what the GPS is telling me to do. I almost always go to MapQuest before going anywhere to see the route I should take. This is the second Garmin road navigation GPS that I have owned and I would not buy another without seeing if the competition makes a better GPS.

i've used this just a couple of times. in the city it works great, got me where i needed to go. I went camping this past weekend and it didn't know the campground i went to in the mountains, of course i didn't have a cell phone signal either. so just have a back up map just in case

Excellent product use it all the time . Have had it only 2 months but definetly would recommend getting one .

Prior to purchasing my Garmin nuvi 650 I read product reviews for most of the nuvi units. I felt the 650 was a good product for the price and had all of the features I wanted. Now that I have used the nuvi 650 I am completely satisfied. I don't leave home without it.

We received our Garmin GPS promptly and we are anxious to use it on our next trip this summer.The screen is clear and very visable. I'm hoping this will alleviate some aggrevation we have experienced on the road and maybe I can let my wife get in a few little naps while I drive.

After receiving my Garmin 650 GPS I could not get it to lock on to the satellites, so I sent a E_MAIL to Gramin and within a few hours I received instructions on how to program the GPS. I did as I was instructed and still no lock on. I sent another e-mail to Garmin and was instructed to send the unit back.I did, and received a new unit within a few days. This one works great. This is a Great company that puts the customer first,and stands behind their products. A great company to work with and the Garmin 650 GPS is working just fine.

My girlfriend got this for me for Christmas and I use it every day, so far I have been very happy with this product.

I got this for my wife for Christmas. Very easy to use right out of the box. She has been using for a month and no problems at all. I highly recommend this product.

this navigation which i bought for my boyrfriend birthday made him really happy. with the wide screen but not too big size, it is a good deal for anybody wants to travel.So convinience!!!!I recomend you buy this one.not too expensive.I feel so pleased when i bought this.

I got this after reading a number of reviews on different GPSs and it seemed to best meet my needs. I needed a GPS for work because I go to different homes in my city 1-2 times per week. Before I'd look up maps on Google map and print them out. Sometimes I'd find out en route that I actually need to go somewhere else which could be tricky. My thoughts about this one (which is the only one I've ever owned):
Pros:
--Easy to use and set up (and I'm not very savvy for non-computer based tech devices).
--Seems to have up to date maps, at least for my area. Yesterday a client told me that their street had just recently been named and it was on the map.

Cons:
--Does not usually choose most efficient cross-town directions. I usually ignore these, make up my own route to get the general area and then use the GPS for getting around the neighborhood and finding a specific house.
--Does not seem to factor in stop lights at all and always underestimates time of arrival for in-town driving. (I'm told it overestimates for highway driving but I haven't done that yet.) This is a pretty significant consideration for me... Google maps has been amazingly accurate at timing. Since I'm fitting in this driving to try to arrive at a certain time between other scheduled appointments it is helpful to have a fairly accurate time estimate. Now I know to add 5-10 mins to all time estimates on the GPS. I think this might be why it messes up the cross-town routes, too, since it doesn't seem to know that it takes longer to go on surface streets than to take the highway. Not a big deal now that I know, but I do still use Google maps for planning my day when I'm going to an unfamiliar area. Now I no longer need to print out maps, though, which is nice.

Overall, this GPS meets my needs for providing mostly accurate (street numbers are occasionally off by one house but street location and general area of street numbers are correct) and easy-to-use directions within neighborhoods in my town. It's been wonderful for the times when there's a change in location when I'm already on the road.

This Christmas I bought this Garmin nuvi 650 and gave it to my hubby who really wants to own a GPS but would not spend on one. He was so surprised that I got him a GPS. He liked it a lot. The silver color matches well with our car color.

After trying the gadget a couple of times, we realized that there are lots of shorter routes to places we normally visits. This meant lesser gas to consume and time spent inside the car.

One time I input a wrong address, got lost and couldn't find the restaurant we were going to. The lodging, restaurant and entertainment directory came in handy. As I was able to lookup the correct address and finally got to our destination.

Overall, I will recommend the Garmin-brand GPS to my friends and family.

I returned this Garmin 650 back to Amazon. (your service is always great by the way; no questions asked). I took a trip to Arkansas & my first indicator of something wrong should have been that it would not take the address I was going to. This was in city limits in an old subdivision. It sent me off the main highway down a one-lane clay road that ended at a cemetery. Next it sent me on a U-turn that ended at exactly where I started. So needless to say I didn't really trust it after that.
Every time I went to Travel Kit, it told me to go online at [..], where you pay for updates. This was a Brand-New GPS.
When I arrived back home (using a real map) it changed the name of one of my local streets then tried to make me turn into my neighborhood by crossing through an apartment complex & a canal where there is no bridge.
Some of my friends have Garmins & they've never had this problem. I will do a LOT more research before I buy another one. Thank God I had my map. This was a really scary trip.

This is the best GPS that I've owned, and I've I've tried them all. The MP3 player is nice too, especially on long trips!

My wife and I bought the device about 6 months ago and worked perfectly the first two months. We used it maybe 12 times before we started to experience problems with the GPS device. The satellite signal does not reach the device even though we move the antenna. We can turn the device off and on with no positive results: the maps are frozen and tells you that is trying to acquire satellite signal. We even tried to reset it from the back. The result was the same, no signal.
We left it on for 25 minutes until we noticed that the GPS acquired the signal. It worked for a couple of minutes and then lost the signal again. We are very frustrated. If you are planning to travel and want a device that shows you the way, you are better off buying a paper map.

I got this GPS navigator for my wife, and I'm glad I did. She prefers to have the unit sit down below the dash, out of the line of sight, and rely on the audio directions. Unfortunately, though, that can make it difficult to get good reception. After reading several reviews, I settled on this unit because it sounded like it would have better reception than most. I guess maybe the angled antenna does the trick, because right out of the box it synched up with the satellites much faster than my other navigator. So far, we've not found anywhere that took more than about a minute to lock on to the satellites.

My only criticism is that in order to power or charge the unit, it must be connected to the mounting cradle, with its rather large and awkward connector arrangement. Fortunately, we were able to find an alternative location that works for her, and still has space for the connector and antenna.

This fun little addition to driving sure has made a difference for my daughter. Just after receiving it for Chrsitmas, she took a trip that involved renting a car and driving in a city she'd never been in before. She took her "nuvi" along and she said it turned what could have been a nightmare into a very pleasant experience. She found it very easy to use, even on the fly. It never let her down or steered her into trouble. We actually went out and bought our newly-driving son one as well based on her experience.

Find this item to be extremely accurate and easy to use. What I like about it,is, the road on the map is alwasy going in the direction you are driving.. never sideways or opposite. as you turn, it turns, but then goes back to straight... clear voice directions and early turn warnings. you can load music and pictures, and update maps. I got a good deal on black Friday.. and am very pleased.

Great product. Gave to my parents and got set up for them. So far, so good!

I'm glad we picked this one. Easy to read and navigate onscreen. Offers lots of choices for viewing, and a good travel companion!

I started using this GPS in areas I knew to ascertain it's weaknesses. And there are some! It can't pronounce many of the street names. AND I was visiting a friend in Escondido and late at night decided to let the GPS direct me home. I have no idea where it was taking me, but when I got to the Wild Animal Park, which is not even in the direction of my home from her house, I gave up. It kept trying to get me to take little streets that I KNOW would not take me home. It might have gotten me home eventually, but it was way out of the way. Then, a block from the freeway, it told me to turn into the shopping mall which is in the wrong direction entirely. Makes me very leary to trust it. It is very good for letting you know which side of the street to enter the freeway. But for other things, I am a little disappointed. It does have many other features which are helpful. You can find a restaurant, hospital, and pretty much anything else, but I got it for finding places and I can't depend on it to do that.

this gps has a very nice and large screen, however it did not have the most recent changed and added food locations.

I bought the Garmin 650 and love it. It took me right to my destination even though I was traveling on back roads! Great purchase.

I settled on the Nuvi 650 for the larger screen, text to speech feature and the reasonable price. I've been very satisfied with it, although it has a few quirks. I set my "Home" location based on the satellite coordinates at my house, but the unit locates my home about one-half mile north of where it actually is. Not a huge problem, but the unit constantly "recalculates" when I'm leaving my neighborhood until I get to the main highway. One feature that I thought would be useful was "avoid highways" as I prefer to stay off interstates. However, it literally means avoid all highways, including any US highways and major state routes. This leads to some interesting, off-the-beaten-path routes, but it's a little nerve-racking until you arrive at the correct destination.

The best reason for buying a Garmin has to be their excellent customer service. I called and e-mailed twice with some simple set-up questions. The call was answered with no wait time and the woman who helped me knew what she was talking about and even gave me her direct number in case I had to call back again. The e-mail was responded to promptly and, again, the representative gave me a direct number to call if I had more questions. All-in-all, I'm very happy with the nuvi 650 and would buy it again.

Get a Garmin!

this is discontinued model new but I don't need any bluetooth or other
fancy features that I will never use.

this item paid for itself the first trip from NC to NJ then NY and back
home again.

Want a specific fast food chain, enter it with the touch screen and bam,
you get the list of closet locations and press GO.

everyone is happy that we had the food we like and the easiest route
around Washington DC avoiding I-95.

Works very well. Voice guided instructions are great. Good build quality and easy to use. I bought it for my wife. I no longer get the panicked "Help, I'm lost" calls.

I am a first time user of a navigational unit and I love it!! We just back from a trip out of state and it took us right there with no problems!! Will be traveling more now that I have my Garmin!!

This product was exactly as the seller said it was. It shipped quickly and I had it in time for Christmas.

I am very satisfied with my Garmin Nuvi 650. The first time I tried it, when renting a car in the States, it gave me the liberty to travel on my own in unfamiliar places. I was thrilled! I even traveled from Atlanta to Tennessee, my first solo ever in the States! The model that I used still had a couple of glitches, like instructing you to turn where you could not but I hope that this new model run smoothly. The experience is like having a Map at your side that will stay with you the hole trip and recalculate your route when you make a wrong turn. Fantastic!

Well, I got this for my husband's birthday (yeah, I'm the main one using it since he doesn't get easily lost). We've had this Nuvi 650 GPS for a little over a year now. I wonder how I ever got around without one before. I'm one of those people who can never remember where any place is even if I have been there a couple of times. Due to that reason, I don't usually like to travel long distances (yeah, used mapquest too but it's not the same thing). With this new gadget, I'm so much more confident and can go anywhere without much worry.

Advantages
1) Find where want to go & alternate routes at the touch of a button.
We have a senior in high school & I found the GPS ever so helpful for those college visits. Not only that, with very active kids who are going here & there for various school competitions, a GPS was a necessity.

2) Find other convenience locations right from your car.
No matter where you go, you can always find restaurants, banks, etc. that's right by where you are currently located.

3) Because it's portable, its not stuck to just one car.
We had the option to get a GPS with our new Honda Hybrid but decided against that because with the portable unit, it goes where you want & you're not locked in for $1000s less.

It's one of those tools that you don't know how you ever got along without. If you're like me (easily lost) this gadget is for you. Nuvi makes the best GPS (this conclusion from after much research & review of other makers).

Disadvantage
Like any mapping software, you'll have to upgrade the map once in a while. If you live in a really small rural area, somethings things get updated rather late.

Thank goodness for this product. I can travel by myself to new places and not worry about getting lost. This is my first GPS unit and I am happy I reviewed the different brands and models. I would recommend buying this unit.

This is my first gps but what a home run I hit. Gets me to where I want to go with no fuss. Not totally infallible and has had a few minor hiccups but gets me there quite good. Did a lot of research prior to buying this particular unit and feel as if I got a lot of bang for the buck. My wife loves "Rita" the roadwarrior so much she asked me for her and told me to get a multi-point unit, which I have just ordered (Garmin Nuvi 750). To all the negative reviews I have read regarding this product, well, I figure they either don't know how to use it properly, or, are just inclined to want to diss something no matter how good it may be. Me - I love it, and thanks again Amazon for another great buy!!

This is a great product i would recommend it to everyone. I received it pretty fast too. I will shop with you again.

I owned a Garmin NUVI 350 and liked it a lot, this one does not take the same routes as the other one did to the same places and I preferred the other ones routes. The wide screen is easier to read but I think I like the regular size. Other than that it is the same and I like it. Would be lost a lot without it.

I bought this as a gift for my husband not really thinking it would be a big deal but he has used it almost everyday since I gave it to him. It has helped him find banks/restaurants and his way around detours/road blocks; it also lets you download pictures and songs onto the system. I highly recommend this product.

The Garmin is working wonderfully. I had to replace the Magellan I had purchased almost 5 years ago. The 650 is awesome and the price was excellant compared to the price I paid so long ago and the features of this product. It takes some getting used to because of the different system but I am enjoying it.

I got the Garmin 650 for my birthday and used the very first day in North Carolina hill country. Even though it was not yet updated for 2009[from 2007], I had no problems. It was easy to learn how to use it. The display and voice directions were very good. When you miss a trun, it tells you and then recalculates the next best alternate route. When I got back home, I downloaded the 2009 info from the Garmin Website. My DSL connection took quite some time to download, but it worked fine. Please note that the 650 model is no longer available from Garmin. It has been discontinued.

This is a great product that functions very well and just as described. Do yourself a favor though right after you buy, download the map updates. I haven't done this yet and I'v run into some roads that don't exist anymore but a simple update should solve that problem. Best feature this thing has is it's tts voice navigation. Having your gps pronounce the road/street names is a great help.
It's very simple to use but I would still suggest playing with it before you take it on the road so you're not trying to figure out how to use it while you're driving. Yes this is my first real gps unit.