Garmin nüvi 680 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

Overall very impressed with the Garmin 680. The maps and display are very easy to read, the tts sounds great, and it seems very accurate. So far the MSN Direct has proved valuable, routing us around stopped traffic, helping us find the best gas prices, and accurate weather. Yes, it is pricey, but proves you get what you pay for. If you don't need/want the bluetooth, fm transmitter, msn direct (680) or integrated traffic receiver (660), then just get the Nuvi 650 and save some money. Despite the price, I am really happy with my purchase. I wasn't expecting much from msn based on other review, but in Atlanta it has worked great! Also, I wasn't really anticipating using or being interested in the bluetooth, but I'm hooked, very convenient. Call Garmin tech support, not only do they usually pick right up, they are friendly, helpful, and knowlegeable about their products, unlike some competitors.

I have enjoyed this device greatly in my recent travels. It has been invaluable in business. It has also been wonderful on weekend "leisure" trips. When I take those trips I love to avoid the highways. I can set the avoidances in the navigation menu to try to avoid highways and it'll keep me off the interstates and more on the backroads. I've discovered some great restaurants this way! If I'm on a timetable, though, I just tell it to take the highways and I'm off on the fast track. It can route differently, depending on timetable and situation. In short I would be lost without it now that I own one. The only thing I don't like is the suction cup mount for the windshield. It does not hold that great or long, but there are alternatives.

The Garmin 680 Nuvi does it and does it so well. The MSN Direct is very well intergrated into the units functions - the gas pricing is especially helpful - just tune to gas pricing and stations in the area are listed with milage, price and direction.

The Bluetooth phone system is my favorite - it downloads your phone's contact list and also keeps records of phone calls and even has a text messaging function.

The SD card once loaded with books, jpegs, and MP3s works very well.

The FM transmitter also works well.

All around a hard to beat GPS system with all the bells and whistles.

The latest Garmin is very impressive. However, I don't like the fact that finding some of the accessories is so challenging. For example, I purchased this GPS because I was taking a trip to California. Unfortunately, the laws in California prevent you from attaching the Nuvi directly to the windshild, so you've got to purchase a separate accessory, which I did, the Garmin Portable Friction Mount. It works great in terms of not sliding around the dash. I was on San Francisco streets and if it was going to fly off - it would have, but it was rock steady. The problem is that I didn't know that you need more than just the friction mount. There is another accessory that goes between the Nuvi and the friction mount. Because I found out about the California law just before I left, I had no time to figure out what that extra part is - so I just used a series of rubber bands to affix it to the Friction Mount base.
It would have been easy for Garmin to spell this out, but I could find no information to let me know which part to purchase to go with the "Universal" Friction Mount or even that you needed an extra part. I still don't know what that part is. The rubber bands worked OK, but it's lame.

As far as the MSN Direct, it works pretty well for the Weather & Traffic, and it does let you know about some movie theaters - not even close to a complete list - at least not in the NYC area, and then the gas prices.... At one point, when my rental car gas indicator was on E, I thought No problem - I've got the Nuvi. Well, it took me to a non-existant gas station, which was harrowing considering I was about to run out of gas and didn't know the area. It gave me a ghost gas station two different times and locations. So I'm on the fence about renewing. Also, I know of some local stations that have better gas prices that don't even show up on MSN, so it hasn't got a complete list of stations/prices.

Even though, I purchased this right after it came out - it has come down in price over $160 since I purchased it less than a month ago - I am happy that I bought it. It was invaluable in getting me around S.F. and the Wine country. But, I could have been just as happy with the 660 had I known about the hiccups with MSN Direct. So, I learned that I can't totally trust the MSN, but it does still give some information. It also would have been better if you could download the MSN info without having to plug it into the car cigarette lighter.

A big plus is the Bluetooth. It's invaluable. The only way to make phone calls in the car - it couldn't be easier, and a great connection. Of course, you get that with some of the previous versions of the Nuvi.

All told, the 660 would have been the better purchase for me. You could take a chance that the MSN will get better in accuracy on the 680, now that the price has come down so much from when I purchased it - it might be worth the extra $.


I have three hand-held GPSs and two cars with factory installed GPS. The Nuvi 680 beats them all.
Once you get hooked on using a GPS, it becomes indispensible.
I like the 3D cartoon-like display on the Nuvi 680. It is much easier to read at a glance. The 2D displays on the other GPS units cannot display the names of all of the cross roads because there is not enough room on the display and they are written along the road at odd angles. The Nuvi 680 gets around the problem by showing the name of every road as you approach it on the banner bar at the top. That way it does not need to show every minor road, only the major ones. This is a great improvement.
The other features on the Nuvi 680 are: Bluetooth hands-free cell phone (my factory-installed GPS units have this also - a great feature), MP3 ( I have over 300 hours of music recorded on the SD card), JPEG ( I have not used this, and I am not sure this is a safe feature anyway), POI ( These are easier to access on the Nuvi than on other units and are very helpful), and MSN Direct( It displays storm warnings automatically- this was helpful in Chicago while I was there), Sound output on the car's speakers (this is good, but you must select an unused frequency and it is is very hard to find one in large cities. I would like to see Garmin extend the frequency range below the FM band like my car is capable of to get highway messages).
If it was not for the fact that GPS is bundled with many other good features in factory-installed cars, I would opt for the Nuvi 680 as the preferred GPS unit.

If you can get one, do it. The very best GPS you can have.

I LIVE IN BRAZIL, TRAVELING IN US LAST MONTH THE 680 WAS VERY USEFUL WITH RELIABLE AND PRECISE INFORMATION. HERE IN BRAZIL IT IS ALSO USEFUL, BUT THE NUMBER OF CITIES WITH ALL INFORMATION IS STILL SMALL. I HOPE THAT IN THE NEAR FUTURE THE COVERAGE HERE CAN BE AS GOOD AS IN US. ANYWAY THE PRODUCT IS EXCELLENT.

This is a marvel.
I travel the roads trying to avoid major Interstates and the Garmin 680 has never let me down.
I download books and enjoy them as I drive.
This is a great product.

I've had four Garmin GPS units over the years (1 aviation, 2 auto, 1 marine). Each unit has been terrific and Garmin's after sales support is, without question, the very best I've received from any company. Garmin has always proven to be the "ideal model" in my customer experiences with the company. Given my wonderful experiences with Garmin products and support, I was excited to use the Nuvi 680 in my extensive travels.

My enthusiasm was short lived and was quickly replaced with frustration. The 680 was continually lost, directed me to a hotel it thought was located on the median of a major interstate (1/2 mile from the actual hotel), wouldn't find major cities or close restaurants and hotels. It wasted far more time than it saved. While the MSN Direct was interesting, in the end the information it provided was marginally helpful at best.

Things I liked in the 680: beautiful screen was easy to read in all light conditions; touch screen worked very well; menus were easy to use; all the pieces fit together nicely; the unit is thin which is what initially attracted me to the Nuvi--very nice for travel.

Cons: the 680 was totally lost and I used it in several states over many hundreds of miles of driving. I flew into Memphis and when I typed in "Jackson," the 680 gave me cities named Jackson all over the US, but wouldn't list Jackson, MS (200 miles away--and the state capital of MS, for heavens sake!).

When I typed in "Hilton" it gave me a list of Hilton hotels 250 miles away from my current location. I gave the unit plenty of time to acquire satellites and know where it was. I tried all the menu options, e.g. "from current location," etc. to no avail. I hit "GO" to a BBQ restaurant and the 680 took me 15 miles to a large public park without a restaurant anywhere to be found in or near the park.

I'm a Garmin fanatic, but I regrettably returned the unit as it was completely unusable and sent me on wild rides. Perhaps I received a bad unit--I hope so! Now I'm out shopping again, . . .



This is a nice little unit. I used to program GPS applications so I have used a few. The software running this unit is great. The GPS algorithms for finding the shortest or the longest route work excellently. I tested with 4 separate routes. When you deviate from your route the unit is a little slow to pick up on it, 2 or 3 seconds depending on how far you have moved, but then it starts recalculating and gets you back on track.

The maps are easy to read and the views (2d and 3d) are easily switched and zoomed.

The MP3 player works great. It plays music and when it needs to give a voice command it pauses the music and tells you what it needs to tell you. The FM tuner works well too. Although if you come in range of a station the station takes over.

The hands free calling works great. As soon I as I get in the car it finds my phone. If music is playing, it is puts it on pause until you are done on the phone and then turns it right back on.

The user interface is very intuitive and user friendly. I have hardly needed to use the manual or help.

The MSN direct features work good also. They take some time when you first turn it on to download all the information. The traffic feature has worked well. The data has been up to date so far. If it tells you a road is closed, LISTEN TO IT!!!!! We decided not to and sat in 4 hours of traffic because we thought "No way could the turnpike be closed." We could have totally avoided it.

The movie data in my area have all been up to date and have included some theaters I didn't know existed. The gas feature usually has data (prices) that is a day or 2 old, but it did list all the gas stations in my area.

At first when I used the suction cup mount I thought it was defective because it kept falling off. After reading the directions, I discovered that I need to clean all the dust of the window before trying to use it. Since I have discovered that little trick it has worked great. We have used it in our 2 cars and truck.

We do yard sales on Saturday and my girlfriend had to make maps with MapPoint every week. Now we just put the addresses in as we go.

Having a GPS like this definitely changes the way you travel. Running errands is great. I type in the name of the store I want to go to and go to the closest one. Then type in the next one. I have discovered a lot of store locations I didn't know about.

Over all the purchase was definitely worth it.


This is a nice little unit. I used to program GPS applications so I have used a few. The software running this unit is great. The GPS algorithms for finding the shortest or the longest route work excellently. I tested with 4 separate routes. When you deviate from your route the unit is a little slow to pick up on it, 2 or 3 seconds depending on how far you have moved, but then it starts recalculating and gets you back on track.

The maps are easy to read and the views (2d and 3d) are easily switched and zoomed.

The MP3 player works great. It plays music and when it needs to give a voice command it pauses the music and tells you what it needs to tell you. The FM tuner works well too. Although if you come in range of a station the station takes over.

The hands free calling works great. As soon I as I get in the car it finds my phone. If music is playing, it is puts it on pause until you are done on the phone and then turns it right back on.

The user interface is very intuitive and user friendly. I have hardly needed to use the manual or help.

The MSN direct features work good also. They take some time when you first turn it on to download all the information. The traffic feature has worked well. The data has been up to date so far. If it tells you a road is closed, LISTEN TO IT!!!!! We decided not to and sat in 4 hours of traffic because we thought "No way could the turnpike be closed." We could have totally avoided it.

The movie data in my area have all been up to date and have included some theaters I didn't know existed. The gas feature usually has data (prices) that is a day or 2 old, but it did list all the gas stations in my area.

At first when I used the suction cup mount I thought it was defective because it kept falling off. After reading the directions, I discovered that I need to clean all the dust of the window before trying to use it. Since I have discovered that little trick it has worked great. We have used it in our 2 cars and truck.

We do yard sales on Saturday and my girlfriend had to make maps with MapPoint every week. Now we just put the addresses in as we go.

Having a GPS like this definitely changes the way you travel. Running errands is great. I type in the name of the store I want to go to and go to the closest one. Then type in the next one. I have discovered a lot of store locations I didn't know about.

Over all the purchase was definitely worth it.


If you can get one, do it. The very best GPS you can have.

I LIVE IN BRAZIL, TRAVELING IN US LAST MONTH THE 680 WAS VERY USEFUL WITH RELIABLE AND PRECISE INFORMATION. HERE IN BRAZIL IT IS ALSO USEFUL, BUT THE NUMBER OF CITIES WITH ALL INFORMATION IS STILL SMALL. I HOPE THAT IN THE NEAR FUTURE THE COVERAGE HERE CAN BE AS GOOD AS IN US. ANYWAY THE PRODUCT IS EXCELLENT.

This is a marvel.
I travel the roads trying to avoid major Interstates and the Garmin 680 has never let me down.
I download books and enjoy them as I drive.
This is a great product.

I've had four Garmin GPS units over the years (1 aviation, 2 auto, 1 marine). Each unit has been terrific and Garmin's after sales support is, without question, the very best I've received from any company. Garmin has always proven to be the "ideal model" in my customer experiences with the company. Given my wonderful experiences with Garmin products and support, I was excited to use the Nuvi 680 in my extensive travels.

My enthusiasm was short lived and was quickly replaced with frustration. The 680 was continually lost, directed me to a hotel it thought was located on the median of a major interstate (1/2 mile from the actual hotel), wouldn't find major cities or close restaurants and hotels. It wasted far more time than it saved. While the MSN Direct was interesting, in the end the information it provided was marginally helpful at best.

Things I liked in the 680: beautiful screen was easy to read in all light conditions; touch screen worked very well; menus were easy to use; all the pieces fit together nicely; the unit is thin which is what initially attracted me to the Nuvi--very nice for travel.

Cons: the 680 was totally lost and I used it in several states over many hundreds of miles of driving. I flew into Memphis and when I typed in "Jackson," the 680 gave me cities named Jackson all over the US, but wouldn't list Jackson, MS (200 miles away--and the state capital of MS, for heavens sake!).

When I typed in "Hilton" it gave me a list of Hilton hotels 250 miles away from my current location. I gave the unit plenty of time to acquire satellites and know where it was. I tried all the menu options, e.g. "from current location," etc. to no avail. I hit "GO" to a BBQ restaurant and the 680 took me 15 miles to a large public park without a restaurant anywhere to be found in or near the park.

I'm a Garmin fanatic, but I regrettably returned the unit as it was completely unusable and sent me on wild rides. Perhaps I received a bad unit--I hope so! Now I'm out shopping again, . . .



I have three hand-held GPSs and two cars with factory installed GPS. The Nuvi 680 beats them all.
Once you get hooked on using a GPS, it becomes indispensible.
I like the 3D cartoon-like display on the Nuvi 680. It is much easier to read at a glance. The 2D displays on the other GPS units cannot display the names of all of the cross roads because there is not enough room on the display and they are written along the road at odd angles. The Nuvi 680 gets around the problem by showing the name of every road as you approach it on the banner bar at the top. That way it does not need to show every minor road, only the major ones. This is a great improvement.
The other features on the Nuvi 680 are: Bluetooth hands-free cell phone (my factory-installed GPS units have this also - a great feature), MP3 ( I have over 300 hours of music recorded on the SD card), JPEG ( I have not used this, and I am not sure this is a safe feature anyway), POI ( These are easier to access on the Nuvi than on other units and are very helpful), and MSN Direct( It displays storm warnings automatically- this was helpful in Chicago while I was there), Sound output on the car's speakers (this is good, but you must select an unused frequency and it is is very hard to find one in large cities. I would like to see Garmin extend the frequency range below the FM band like my car is capable of to get highway messages).
If it was not for the fact that GPS is bundled with many other good features in factory-installed cars, I would opt for the Nuvi 680 as the preferred GPS unit.

The latest Garmin is very impressive. However, I don't like the fact that finding some of the accessories is so challenging. For example, I purchased this GPS because I was taking a trip to California. Unfortunately, the laws in California prevent you from attaching the Nuvi directly to the windshild, so you've got to purchase a separate accessory, which I did, the Garmin Portable Friction Mount. It works great in terms of not sliding around the dash. I was on San Francisco streets and if it was going to fly off - it would have, but it was rock steady. The problem is that I didn't know that you need more than just the friction mount. There is another accessory that goes between the Nuvi and the friction mount. Because I found out about the California law just before I left, I had no time to figure out what that extra part is - so I just used a series of rubber bands to affix it to the Friction Mount base.
It would have been easy for Garmin to spell this out, but I could find no information to let me know which part to purchase to go with the "Universal" Friction Mount or even that you needed an extra part. I still don't know what that part is. The rubber bands worked OK, but it's lame.

As far as the MSN Direct, it works pretty well for the Weather & Traffic, and it does let you know about some movie theaters - not even close to a complete list - at least not in the NYC area, and then the gas prices.... At one point, when my rental car gas indicator was on E, I thought No problem - I've got the Nuvi. Well, it took me to a non-existant gas station, which was harrowing considering I was about to run out of gas and didn't know the area. It gave me a ghost gas station two different times and locations. So I'm on the fence about renewing. Also, I know of some local stations that have better gas prices that don't even show up on MSN, so it hasn't got a complete list of stations/prices.

Even though, I purchased this right after it came out - it has come down in price over $160 since I purchased it less than a month ago - I am happy that I bought it. It was invaluable in getting me around S.F. and the Wine country. But, I could have been just as happy with the 660 had I known about the hiccups with MSN Direct. So, I learned that I can't totally trust the MSN, but it does still give some information. It also would have been better if you could download the MSN info without having to plug it into the car cigarette lighter.

A big plus is the Bluetooth. It's invaluable. The only way to make phone calls in the car - it couldn't be easier, and a great connection. Of course, you get that with some of the previous versions of the Nuvi.

All told, the 660 would have been the better purchase for me. You could take a chance that the MSN will get better in accuracy on the 680, now that the price has come down so much from when I purchased it - it might be worth the extra $.


The Garmin 680 Nuvi does it and does it so well. The MSN Direct is very well intergrated into the units functions - the gas pricing is especially helpful - just tune to gas pricing and stations in the area are listed with milage, price and direction.

The Bluetooth phone system is my favorite - it downloads your phone's contact list and also keeps records of phone calls and even has a text messaging function.

The SD card once loaded with books, jpegs, and MP3s works very well.

The FM transmitter also works well.

All around a hard to beat GPS system with all the bells and whistles.

I have enjoyed this device greatly in my recent travels. It has been invaluable in business. It has also been wonderful on weekend "leisure" trips. When I take those trips I love to avoid the highways. I can set the avoidances in the navigation menu to try to avoid highways and it'll keep me off the interstates and more on the backroads. I've discovered some great restaurants this way! If I'm on a timetable, though, I just tell it to take the highways and I'm off on the fast track. It can route differently, depending on timetable and situation. In short I would be lost without it now that I own one. The only thing I don't like is the suction cup mount for the windshield. It does not hold that great or long, but there are alternatives.

Overall very impressed with the Garmin 680. The maps and display are very easy to read, the tts sounds great, and it seems very accurate. So far the MSN Direct has proved valuable, routing us around stopped traffic, helping us find the best gas prices, and accurate weather. Yes, it is pricey, but proves you get what you pay for. If you don't need/want the bluetooth, fm transmitter, msn direct (680) or integrated traffic receiver (660), then just get the Nuvi 650 and save some money. Despite the price, I am really happy with my purchase. I wasn't expecting much from msn based on other review, but in Atlanta it has worked great! Also, I wasn't really anticipating using or being interested in the bluetooth, but I'm hooked, very convenient. Call Garmin tech support, not only do they usually pick right up, they are friendly, helpful, and knowlegeable about their products, unlike some competitors.

I've used magellan tech for years. Garmin has been all the rage, so I got the 680. My first take was possibly prejudiced by the magellan, but I could only choose fastest way, not most or least use of highways. OK, it's different. Took it on a road trip to DC. It always skipped the freeways. Always. I could understand skipping due to traffic, but it took us in one way and out another, and they weren't even close to each other. Took 45 minutes and 45 turns to leave dc. Leaving it took us the wrong way down a 1 way street. A clearly marked local access only during 3 hours of the day street. One of the times I missed the turn (there is an occasional delay and it can be hard to tell where to turn with lots of smaller blocks) and went behind our hotel. We still had a circle and some other 1 way street issues to get to the right place. Waiting for the light, I steered away from the hotel in my lane and it said I arrived. Frequently it had us following the route for several (up to 10) seconds when we had made an obvious wrong turn. Accuracy was generally around 300 to 500 feet and start up time was up to 5 minutes. This was with the external antenna and no line of site issues. The msn traffic and other info is useless. It is only good for yesterdays info, takes hours to download and is only useful in major metro areas. Pass on this technology for a good while. Pass on garmin software as well. This lost on start up, accuracy and routing. Oh, and it gets mad when you make it recalculate route. It was actually funny. Like I was frustrating it. I could almost hear it mumbling and swearing.

I think this is the complete GPS device what I really want. The feature I like...
1.Very quick detection if miss a turn, Better then Nuvi 360.
2.FM Transmitter.
3.MSN Direct Traffic, Weather and .... This feature requires improvement.

I don't like the Price as well as the size. Another thing there is no way to change the battery, so if battery dies you are stuck.
Thanks Shahin