Garmin Nuvi 880 GPS Review

Garmin Nuvi 880’s dimensions are 12.5 x 7.8 x 1.8 cm (W x H x D) at 176 grams. The screen resolution is 480 x 272 with a 4.3” color touch screen. The battery is rechargeable lithium-ion and lasts for 4 hours. The vehicle car charger and a suction mount is included in the box.

As with other models, Garmin does not disclose the receiver chipset. It would be nice to know which technology is being used since a SirfSTAR III receiver is much preferable.

The quality standards of Garmin are reflected in this product. It is solid and it does not look like a cheap device. There are no buttons on the navigator, and the menu is a soft menu where you tap the screen to enter commands. The micro SD and the mini USB slots are located on the left of the unit. The USB cable comes in the box. The ON/OFF switch is at the top, a little bit to the back. Sliding the button to the left turns the unit on/off, and sliding it to the right locks the screen.

The securing of the device to the windshield is by the almost-standard vehicle suction mount. However, the suction is for the glass surfaces only. So if you want to go for a dashboard mount, you will need to purchase the accessory additionally.

The Garmin Nuvi 880 supports voice in both directions, to and from the user. The unit has voice navigation which commands you during the navigation, including preferred lanes. The preferred lane feature is not available in the budget products, but since this device is a middle-tier product, it is present. The speed compensation is a little bit questionable – it is certainly very good, but a little bit less than excellent.

You can also give voice commands to your Nuvi 880. For the voice recognition, the Nuvi 880 comes with a small unit, which is actually a “voice remote control.” You say “listen” to put the unit into listening mode and say “stop listening” to get it out of listening mode. In between, you can say something like “find nearest coffee shop” or “find nearest Chinese restaurant” and let Nuvi 880 find and display it for you. With the 6 million Points of Interest (POI) that are already loaded in the system, finding a location nearby does not seem to be a problem. And if you can’t, you can add your own. There are also proximity alerts for the POI.