Garmin nuvi 880 - Hey, I'm talking to you!

Garmin's new nuvi 880 portable GPS navigation device, introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), takes speech recognition technology one step further than other units on the market by allowing the driver to control the device entirely with voice commands. Other devices advertised with this feature still require a combination of voice and touch-screen input.

The nuvi 880 comes with a push-to-talk wireless remote button, which users can mount on their steering wheel. Once the button is pushed, a driver can enter a street number, name, city, and state without ever touching the unit. The voice commands correspond to touch-screen buttons on the unit, which can also be used to enter an address.

Point of interest (POI) menus can also be navigated by voice. If the user is in the mood for lasagna, for example, the driver can say, "Find the nearest Italian restaurant" and a list of possibilities appears on-screen. Once they tell the nuvi 880 which eatery they'd prefer, they're on their way with turn-by-turn directions. Popular chains like Starbucks can also be asked for by name.

If users get lost, they can ask "Where am I?" and the nuvi will display their latitude and longitude, the nearest intersection, and closest hospitals, police stations, and gas stations. The unit also remembers where the car is parked when it's removed from the windshield mount, helping users find their way back to the car.

The nuvi 880 is also equipped with the newest version of MSN Direct, which provides traffic information; gas prices; weather conditions and forecasts; movie listings with ratings and actors; news; and stock updates. It also lets you plan trips from a PC and wirelessly send locations to the nuvi.

Other features include an MP3 player, picture viewer, Bluetooth technology for hands-free calling, and a removable, rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Proving that talk is not always cheap, the nuvi 880 is priced at $999, including a three-month trial with MSN Direct. After that, a subscription costs $49.95 per year, or users can opt for a one-time charge of $129.95.  The nuvi 850, which has all the same features except MSN Direct and Bluetooth, is priced at $899. Both devices are expected in stores during the second quarter of 2008.

—Jim Travers

For more information on portable GPS navigation systems, see our Ratings and buying advice and watch our video guide. Discuss GPS devices in the forums.

 

Comments

[GPSFreak]

Can't wait for the 800 series to hit the stores -- not because I am going to get one of these but I am looking to get the 780 so the release of the 800 will help bring the prices down for the 700 series. Voice recognition is cool but not worth the price ($900/$1,000 a pop) in my opinion - at least not yet. When VR becomes more mainstream, the prices will drop considerably and I might consider one then.

[KFK]

The Garmin 800 sound a good GPS to have but the $900/1000 value is outrageous. $600. will be more affordable.

[Lindsay Reichmann]

So ummm... does it work?

[Bill Hilddenbrandt]

I've been interested in purchasing a hand held unit but so far I can only find them that are usable only in the USA. I do a lot of traveling into Mexico & want to know if there is a hand held unit available that covers other foreign places such as Mexico. If so can you tell me where I can find such a unit and it's cost? Thankyou.

[Alfred_G]

The 880 model sounds cool. But how reliable is the VR function? I rather wait when reviews comes and cost drops.

[John Wheeler]

Available for $756 on the web. I bought one today..

[john white]

the 880 is a good unit except somtimes when i turn it on, after about 2 second it turn itself off. the batteries are fully charge. i have to take the battery out to reset it. i have email garmin for a fix. i love this unit, except for the above. but, i will return it to crutchfield if they don't fix that. this unit was not cheap. last but not least, i also downloaded their last update[2.80]

[john white]

This is an update for garmin 880: in my last post i said the unit "somtimes when i turn it on, after about 2 second it turn itself off". i don't have that problem anymore. but let me be very clear, sometimes it do not respond to the touch screen or voice commands. this does not happen very often. also this unit never lockup while it is taking you to your programed destination. 100% of my lockup happen when i took the unit inside to play with it and test it. having said all that, i love this unit---garmin 880

[Robert J. Di Berardino]

I think the Garmin 880 is a really innovative product and unlike its competition is totally controlled by speech. There is no dual action of touch and speech with the 880. The selling price is my reason of why I do not have one as I write this article. However, I know that the price will come down, consumer electronics is a chaotic and volatile industry, so I will just wait until the competition comes up with a good acceptable voice recognition gps. After researching the Garmin 880 very thoroughly it appears that Garmin is still by far the leader in innovative gps technology. Also in closing let us be thankful to the US government for not charging the consumer to access those satellites for which the American taxpayer payed for already and should not not have to pay for their usage...

[C V]

It's an awesome device and user friendly. A door knob can figure out how to make this thing work right out of the box. Recognizes instrutions well. A little slow on info downloads and difficulty with in-door satellite reception.

Down side is the Bluetooth is faulty with certain mobile phones. My unit shuts down and would not power back-on. It can not handle a phone call and navigate at the same time.

[Neal]

Forget about cost, save your money like I did and buy the 800 series, you will be blown away by the speech recognition. If your gonna spend 500 dollars for a toy, why not spend a few hundred more and get it all in the 800 series. Trust me its money well spent.

[Rick]

I'm wondering if my Nuvi 880 is a lemon. Every time I plug it into my desktop computer to complete the installation of Garmin's WebUpdater or the updated Nuvi 880 software, my computer freezes. Anyone else have this problem?

Other observations about the 880 -- the voice recognition is very cool and works well, except when one is driving through an extremely heavy rain story or buffeting winds. However, in such cases, the on-screen nav works very well.

While driving in downtown Pittsburgh, the 880 became confused. It was constantly searching for directions, and after finding them, it would often tell me to turn on to a street on which I already was driving. It also would tell me to turn on to streets that didn't appear to exist, or would tell me to turn on to a street that had a different name on the street sign from the one that the Nuvi was saying.

Also, I wish the voice could play through the car's audio system when there is music playing either from a radio station or an iPod (via the car's aux jack). Such a feature would, in essence, allow the GPS to override the audio system while it's giving directions. It would help the driver hear the instructions without having to raise the windows or not listen to music.

[Jon]

I have been using the 880 for about a month now and overall I love it. However the one thing that doesn't work well is the bluetooth-enabled mike/speakerphone for my cell phone. It pairs easily (once you do it properly - it wasn't intuitive but customer service was very helpful). Unfortunately the speaker in the unit is very poor so it's a bit hard to hear/understand those you're talking to. But even worse is that those you're talking to have a hard time hearing/understanding, to the point that I can't use it unless sitting with the car turned off. And even then it's not great. Anyone else have this problem, and if so, any ideas how to get around it? This is a great feature, and one that helped make my decision to buy this unit. I'll be very disappointed if it turns out that I can't effectively use it.

[Mark Esterle]

Question, when using bluetooth phone can you hear the call on the car's audio speakers or does it only use the units internal speaker?