Digital Trends

Garmin Nüvi 680 June 26th, 2008 | by Matt Aalto

Features and Design

The Garmin nuvi 680 offers no real new design surprises compared to its younger sibling the 660 as the overall size and shape are the same. It’s 4.9 inches wide, 2.9 inches tall and less than an inch thick. The 680 weighs a little over 6 ounces, and has a nice bright 480 x 272 pixel touchscreen display aligned by a sleek silver trim. On the top of the unit is the power button and hinge for the GPS antennae. The right side of the unit has an SD card slot, mini USB jack and headphone jack, while the back of the unit has the mounts for the window brackets, reset button and speaker. Garmin does a nice job of not over glorifying its GPS units, while still keeping them attractive enough to not be embarrassed when hanging one of them in your 88 Camaro.

The mount that comes supplied for the 680 is a bit of a clunker, but still manages to get the job done. The lower black bracket fits snugly on the bottom of the unit and has a ball anchor for the window suction cup. During setup we were certain the ball joint apparatus was doomed to fail, but once we installed the unit, we were pleased to see no immediate failure. It still felt a little flimsy and with the right amount of speed bumps, you may have different results. The power cable has a proprietary end that fits into the lower bracket, then into your cigarette lighter. Not only does this supply power, but is needed to get the benefits of MSN’s traffic alerts by acting as the MSN Direct receiver and antennae.

Image Courtesy of Garmin

Also included in the box is a USB to Mini USB cable, AC power plug, plastic disk for non window mounting and leather carrying pouch. There were several quick help guides included and our favorite was the Garmin Lock stickers. Garmin has a feature called Garmin Lock which serves as an anti theft feature. If a thief steals the unit, it’s useless to them. To prove it works, you can actually advertise that you have a Garmin GPS in your car and tempt fate. Rather, we suggest you give the stickers to your kids and hope someone doesn’t see you’re GPS when scouting for a 5 fingered discount.

Garmin’s 680 is feature-rich in all the right ways. A good GPS should offer text-to-speech capability, giving you directions out loud as you drive and the 680 provides this in addition to Bluetooth giving you hands free calling. The 680 has a built-in MP3 player that you can listen to using the integrated speaker or use the FM transmitter to beam your tunes to your car stereo. If you get a phone call during your favorite Rick Springfield song, the 680 will pause your music and allow you to take your call; when finished you can go back to “Jessie’s Girl” without any hassle.

If your planning a road trip, there is a feature called Travel Kit that allows you to access the Nuvi 680's multimedia features and the optional travel related ad-on's Garmin makes available for – a fee, of course. The Travel Kit is where you will find the following features: MP3 player, Audible Book Player, Picture Viewer, Calculator, Language Guide, Travel Guide, Savers Guide, World Clock, Currency converter and unit converter.