March 14, 2008
Garmin Nuvi 680 Sat Nav System
Garmin, the market leader of GPS systems, has come up with a new product in its Nuvi line up - Garmin Nuvi 680. It resembles its predecessor Nuvi 660 except for the MSN Direct Support. This widescreen road companion is compactly designed and packed with handy features including door-door directions and on demand travel info that guides you throughout your journey.
Physical Aspects
Garmin Nuvi 680 weighs as low as 176 grams and measures 4.9 inches width, 2.9 inches height and 9 inches depth. Its sleek design allows you to flip the unit comfortably in your pocket.
Display

The widescreen 4.9 inches touch screen displays bright picture that allows viewing detailed maps, photos, driving directions etc in vibrant colours. The screen is sunlight-readable that facilitates easy reading.
MSN Direct Support
This model of Garmin Nuvi offers one year free MSN Direct service that offers virtually any kind of information such as weather and traffic, movie times, gas prices and much more via a plug-and play receiver built into the unit 12V power adaptor.
Easy Navigation
Nuvi 680 navigation system features preloaded City Navigator NT street maps and a huge database of points of interest (POIs) that helps to find the nearby restaurants, hotels, fuel stations and much more. Just enter a destination at a touch of the screen and Nuvi assists you there with turn-by-turn voice directions and 2D or 3D maps without any hassle. It announces street names to eliminate the trouble of finding the address. On top of everything Nuvi 680 allows you to customise important points of interest including schools, hospitals, restaurants and the proximity alerts notifies you about the upcoming POIs.
Talk Hands-Free
Garmin Nuvi 680 sat nav incorporates Bluetooth Wireless Technology integrated with a speaker and a microphone. So, you can talk hands-free and there is no risk when you are concentrating on road. Making a call is simple and easy by dialling with the keypad and answering calls involves tapping the screen and speaking directly into the built-in microphone. You also have the convenience to dial from your personalised phone book and with one touch dialling for POIs; you can call for any information or reservation.
Perfect Entertainer
Garmin Nuvi 680 includes travel tools and entertainment features such as audio book player, JPEG viewer, MP3 Player, currency converters and much more. Music and voice prompts can be heard with Nuvi’s wireless FM transmitter. SD cards plug in comes as optional that helps to include travel guides and language translation software.
Safety Features
The unit comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature and there are configurable vehicle icons that ease up tracking your vehicle on screen.
Verdict
Though Nuvi 680 is not a major upgrade, the MSN Direct service is a prominent feature. It is no doubt a suitable GPS SatNav device for people expecting a comprehensive Satellite Navigation System.

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