"I recently bought an 880 having using a 660 for the last 1.5 years. I have owned 5 Garmins, 3 Lowrances, a Magellen, and have borrowed several of the latest TomTom's on occassion and I can say that, without a doubt, this is the most complete and easy to use hand held/portable navigator I've ever used. Let me explain.... "
Capability
Garmin packs an amazing amount of capability into this device - Routes, amazing POI search capabilities, a HUGE database of POI's, extensive customization options, beautiful, easy to read display, decent battery life for use when walking, an array of charging methods (will even charge via USB from your computer) MSN, and many more. No other portable navigator has the breadth of features of the 880. It's truly the "top of the line". For this I give it a 5+
Ease of Use
Thte Nuvi OS in general is quite easy to use. It was the first ever GPS navigator that my wife, who is not into gadgets, could use with absolutely no instructions. In fact, it's so easy to use she WANTS to use it. Same goes for my father-in-law who is completely technology challenged. He learned how to use it with only about 5 minutes of basic instruction. As easy to use as it is, you still get access to advanced features and the "ease of use" doesn't get in your way. Once you learn some of the "shortcuts" (like holding down a "back" button to go all the way back to the main menu in one press) it becomes even easier to use. Without a doubt this is the easiest to use of all portable navigators I've used (which is quite a few). I give ease of use a "5".
Searching
Searching for POI's on the Nuvi continues to be quite good. However, I'd like to see some improvements to the categories. For instance, it's amazing that all Nuvi's don't have a category for RV related POI's like "RV Resorts", "RV supplies", etc. You have to search by spelling for "RV" which also returns things like "Joe's Soft SeRVe Ice Cream". A nice improvement on the 880 is the capability to skip putting in the city when searching for an address. Over all the search functions are the best I've seen on a portable GPS navigator but because there are some small and basic improvements I give searching a 4.5 rather than a 5.
Maps
The maps are "good enough" for the most part on the 880 and the other Nuiv's however, having used quite a few other navigators I have a few gripes.
1. My overall biggest complaint is WHY doesn't Garmin have a more frequent update capability for their maps? They know how to do this stuff because their aviation products have it where you can subscribe to updates every 28 days. Other manufacturers are no better but Garmin has the know how (in partnership with Jeppesen). We should be able to get incremental updates rather than waiting for 1-2 years for a complete map database update. This is a huge issue.
2. Accuracy. The maps Garmin uses (which they buy from Navtek) are "acceptable" but in my travels I find annoying errors. For instance, I'm currently staying with my son at a USAF base. The Navtek maps are mostly accurate for the base (missing one of the entry gates) and surrounding areas but when I ask the 880 to take me somewhere off the base it tries to route me straight through a 10 foot tall barbed wire fence rather than through the main gates. This is a map problem not a GPS software problem.
3. POI's display. The 880 and the other Nuvi's give you the option of displaying POI's on the map page but they don't show all of them for some reason. This is not a map problem but rather they way Garmin has choosen to display the maps. If I tell it to display all POI's on the map then it should do it.
4. Map Detail. My aviation Garmin units have very detailed maps which include lots of detail on unpaved roads and associated POI's and when you use them in automotive mode you get to see this detail. My cheap, difficult to use and unreliable, Lowrance 350 shows a lot of this as well. This is very useful for off-roading. To get this for the Nuvi's you have to buy Garmins Topographical maps.
Overall, I give the maps on the 880 (and other Nuvi's) a "4". The maps are probably good enough for 90% of owners but could be improved in my opinion.
Voice Recognition
To be succinct, the voice recognition is AWESOME. It works incredibly well even in the high noise of my Jeep Wrangle. It is nearly flawless. I'll caution that I do not have any sort of accent though and I have no idea how it behaves if you do not speak "standard" english. Of course it would be great if it was just like "Hal" on 2001 A Space Odessey where you can just talk to it conversationally but that capability is still a few years away because of the computing power required. The 880 only responds to specific commands but it works amazingly well. Give that I understand the state of the technology, the only improvment I'd like to see is the ability to optionally turn off the voice prompting. For example, when you select a POI to navigate to, it takes you to a screen which requires you to say "Yes" to begin navigation but before you can say "Yes" you have to wait for the GPS to say, "Say Yes to navigate to this location" (or something like that). Once you are familiar with the unit you don't need those prompts and you can use it much more quickly without them. Overall, I give the voice recognition a 5 given the current state of technology.
Summary
The 880 is an AWESOME unit. The initial price is rather high compared to other navigators but it most certainly will come down. I tend to wait for the first price drop on such things these days but I found the 880 so compelling, capable, and desirable I bought it only a few weeks after it was released at only a slight discount and have no remorse. I feel the 880 is the absolute best consumer handheld/portable GPS automotive navigator available today - bar none. I give it a pragmatic and objective 4 only because of the Map issues I noted however I will say you can't do better than the 880 at this point in time and relative to all other units on the market it is definitely a "5+".
