Garmin nuvi 855 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Speech Recognition
Monday, July 18th, 2011 at
5:13 am
Garmin nüvi 855 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Speech Recognition
- Sleek, ultra-slim design fits in a pocket; High-sensitivity GPS receiver for fast satellite lock
- Pre-loaded with City Navigtor NT maps for North America, including more than 6-million name-searchable points of interest
- Speech recognition--speak menu options and keep your eyes on the road
- Multi-destination routing--enter several destinations and get the best route to all of them; "Where am I?" and "Where's my car?" features
- Full feature set--text to speech for spoken directions with real street names; MP3 player, and Photo viewer
Speak Commands
nüvi 855 not only tells you where to turn but listens to your spoken commands. With nüvi’s innovative speech recognition,
Tagged with: 4.3Inch • Garmin • gps navigator • inch widescreen • Navigator • nüvi • Portable • portable gps • Recognition • Speech • speech recognition • Widescreen
Filed under: Garmin nuvi 800's
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935 of 958 people found the following review helpful:
Nuvi 855: Outstanding Value, despite some shortcomings, June 11, 2009
By nuvifan (Redmond, WA) –
This review is from: Garmin nüvi 855 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Speech Recognition (Electronics)
This is an unusually long product review, but I just couldn’t help but brag about the Nuvi 855, as well as express several complaints about Garmin shortcomings. Pros and Cons of the Garmin Nuvi 855 PROs: Custom routing; ease of setting unit options; responsiveness to my spoken commands; quick map scrolling via finger movement; Lane Assistance arrows are helpful; map detail is better than on the 755/765; place names appear on screen as you drive; extensive and easy use-to-use Points of Interest database, and POIs can be displayed on map if you choose. CONs: Volume needs to be louder; warnings of upcoming turns should come sooner; inadequate online manual provides insufficient detail about unit operations;; cannot actually turn unit fully OFF; Lane Assistance displays are very limited; significant learning curve required to confidently program ANY Garmin to respond as the user intends. Primary GPS Purpose and Recent Nuvi Ownership I highly recommend the Nuvi 855, but my perspective is primarily based on three road trips, using its Custom Routing feature, plus recent experience with two other Nuvis. My main purpose was to create specific routes before trips, such as eight driving days averaging 500 miles each, on unfamiliar highways and city streets (and also finding McDonalds when we wanted). I have benefited tremendously from the unusual experience of using a Garmin 760 for a month last year, then recently driving 4,000 miles with a more advanced 755…but returned it to get this outstanding value in an 855. I have since used the 855 on a one week trip (and fully expect the bulk of its features to work as they have on the earlier 760 and 755). We do not need Bluetooth (due to our pre-installed car option), nor the free Traffic alert service (found it mostly useless in 755), nor the 3-D buildings or Eco Route features in other Garmins. Perhaps commuters would enjoy the Traffic service in other Nuvis, but our limited highway trip experience found it alerted unnecessarily, and offered unhelpful detour advice: We thought it an interesting gimmick, but which Garmin may well improve over time. Low Volume Many reviewers complain the 855 volume is so low as to warrant returning their units. Actually, low volume may be the most common complaint seen online among all Nuvis. My wife and I agree that volume on the 760/755/855 is too low, but we have never missed a turn because of it: We usually anticipate when an important voice instruction is coming, and turn down the stereo and close windows to “listen harder.” It’s a slight inconvenience, but that main flaw is worth overlooking. Everyone should be certain to check both possible “Volume” settings: the main one should be at 100% volume, but also set “Mixer” to have all three volume adjustments at 100%. One other learned trick is that users can press the “Next Turn” arrows (upper left corner), and hear again the upcoming turn instruction, as well as have it display the upcoming intersection at the same time. [I almost always check the \"next turn\" instruction well before upcoming turns; I also find it helpful to press the green text line at the top of the map screen to display a summary of several upcoming turns on my route. This practice should prove useful with many other Nuvi models.] Low volume is a distinct Garmin flaw, but we enjoyed the 755 for 4,000 miles despite it. We usually had some wind noise with the sunroof and rear windows open, but would close them (IF necessary) when we anticipated receiving an instruction, such as at the .8 mile mark before a turn; we frequently pressed the screen to re-hear an instruction, as well as to view the turn well beforehand. I urge others to work to overcome the volume issue…and move on to enjoy all the other benefits of an 855. We believe the 855 volume is just as usable as our previous units. However, I do intend to download a popular voice editor, which other Nuvi owners have bragged about, because it lets them increase the volume of spoken instructions. Lane Assistance and Junction View 855 buyers should also be aware that Lane Assistance and Junction View are VERY much complained about Garmin features, due to the fact that they are primarily available only in major metropolitan areas and on interstate highways. Despite that, we enjoyed the 755 Lane Assistance multiple turn lane arrows appearing many times during our trip through Salt Lake, Phoenix, Tucson, and San Diego, and found it very helpful. We wished Junction View pictures of the green interstate highway signs appeared more often, but thought them mostly unnecessary (except passing through Portland area @ I-205 and I-5 interchanges, where they were very helpful). I expect 855 service to be identical, Remote Control Voice Command My wife and I are tremendously pleased with the 855 Remote Command function and…
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344 of 359 people found the following review helpful:
May be worse than the 7×5 models, May 10, 2009
By fredf888 (CA United States) –
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This review is from: Garmin nüvi 855 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator with Speech Recognition (Electronics)
If you assume the 8×5 models are automatically better than the 7×5 models, you may be surprised depending on what features are important to you. The most impressive feature of the 855 is the voice command. Many voice commands, such as “volume up”, can be done from any screen. Doing “volume up” on the touch screen would have involved 5 presses: “menu”, “volume”, “+”, “back”, & “view map”. You do have to keep an eye on the screen and speak only after you see the green symbol on the upper right corner. You can even speak the name of the place stored in Favorites, such as “San Francisco City Hall”. Other systems would have required you to speak the line number. The most disappointing feature of this 855 is the overall sluggishness of the system caused by the voice command system. The screen refreshes very slowly compared to Nuvi 765′s ultra smooth refresh. The 855′s CPU is just not fast enough to do voice command and high refresh rate at the same time. Garmin even eliminated the cool 3D building feature from 765, apparently in an effort to minimize CPU usage. Garmin could have kept the refresh rate high while voice command is not being used. But doing so would illuminate the refresh problem even more vividly as soon as the user presses the remote button to speak. To use voice command effectively, you need to turn your car’s audio system volume down before you speak; then back up afterwards. The better solution is to use the 855′s built-in FM transmitter and put your music on a micro SD card. A 2 GB card is about $7. Nuvi will automatically lower the music volume during voice commands or announcements. But that means you cannot listen to regular radio broadcasts. The FM transmitter worked very well in my Toyota Highlander which has a front antenna. But the FM transmitter was completely not usable in my Toyota Prius which has a roof mounted antenna. Many new cars have small roof mounted antennas and probably will not work well with 855′s FM transmitter. However, if the new car has an MP3 jack, then you can run a cable from 855′s audio out jack to the car’s MP3 jack. [ Update: ] After using the FM transmitter for a few weeks in my Highlander, it did worse than I originally thought. Bear in mind that my Nuvi 855 has direct line of sight of my Highlander’s hood mounted antenna. Power lines not even close by disrupted the transmission easily and often. I finally dug up my old Iriver FM transmitter and hooked it up to the Nuvi’s audio out jack. The Iriver was way better and louder too. Several magazine reviews pointed out that the Nuvi’s FM transmitter was underpowered – now I have to agree. Garmin’s Webupdater log showed an update to the FM transmitter’s firmware to “comply with European standard”. I imagine that meant a reduction of FM transmission power. Tomtom forum also has many posts that recent firmware updates reduced the FM transmission power. Perhaps the FCC and/or the authority in Europe are now more vigilant in checking FM transmitter’s power so cars next to you won’t get interference. The bottom line is that you will likely be disappointed if you need to use Nuvi’s FM transmitter. I updated the system software via Webupdater. For some reasons, it unselected the City Navigator map. The next day I used it, it lost voice command and the map had only major highways. A call to technical support solved the problem. Only about 7 minutes of wait time and the rep knew right away what was wrong. But phone support is only available Monday through Friday. Bluetooth connectivity is not provided in 855, a little surprising considering the price of this model. Routing is excellent and no stupid routes like my previous Mio C520. But that is expected of Garmin. I heard Tomtom is almost as good now. I wish Garmin would implement split screen like so many other manufacturers. To me, the map view of the road ahead is more important than the sides. The left and right edges of the map screen are just wasted real estate. A split screen showing the next 2 or 3 turns would have been nice. The lane assist works great but not too many interchanges have that feature incorporated. The photo realistic screen is nice but not that useful. The multiple arrows representing the different lanes already gave me full information. The Nuvi 855 is not a bad unit. But it doesn’t live up to my expectations. If you value lane assist and voice command (and your car can work with its FM transmitter or audio out), and you don’t mind the sluggish screen refresh rate, then this is a good unit. However, many people may be happier with the “lesser” models with no voice command.
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