garmin drivesmart 76 (because i don't do smartphone navigation)

There was a very brief period of time when I tried using navigation on the phone. Twice. The first time I tried it, I could barely read the screen due to sun glare. The second time, the phone overheated from Florida sun in less than 10 minutes and shut down. I went back to using a Garmin and stayed there.

And that brings me to one of Garmin's current offerings, the DriveSmart 76.

There was a December sale on the DS76 with a sizable discount, so I bought one.

I've been using Garmin automotive navigators for close to 20 years, bought many different models just because I like them, and have even performed repair on a few. In other words, I know these things, very, very well.

With the DS76, I get something I've never had with a previous Garmin model. Support for three satellite networks. It receives GPS, Galileo and BeiDou. In plain English, that means if the GPS satellite network encounters a glitch and temporarily doesn't work (rare, but it happens), Galileo and BeiDou are there as backup so the unit can continue to work. The technical name for this is multi-GNSS support.

Do I still get traffic reporting? Yes. The DS76 (specifically the 'full' model and not the EX version) receives traffic reports over FM, mostly for highway and interstate traffic. I happen to live in an area with traffic coverage (the map to check for that is here), so it works.

What's good about the 76?

Multi-GNSS as mentioned above is nice. Screen is plenty bright for daylight driving, and at night dims to a level that's just right to where I didn't even have to adjust it. Route calculation and recalculation speed is plenty fast. The "OK Garmin" voice control works great. Definitely the best voice control system Garmin has ever come up with.

The best part however is the legibility. I thought the 6" model DriveSmart 66 (which I do own) was going to be good enough, but the 7" (it's actually 6.95" but whatever) display on the 76 really does make a difference in the positive direction. You wouldn't think a 1 inch physical size increase of a display would make much difference, but it really does.

I should also mention yes, there's the 8" DriveSmart 86, but I have nowhere to mount a display that large in my car. The interior of my car can fit a 7" display, so that's what I went with.

Interestingly, the 76 is the "smallest 7" you can use. If you look at 7" tablets, they all have a fat/wide bezel. Not the 76. The screen goes right to the edge. This means if you decided to get a 7" tablet with GPS antenna, that takes up significantly more real estate in the car compared to the 76 - especially when you take the mount into consideration. And that tablet is going to weigh more than the 76 does.

I was on the fence on whether to keep the 76 or not after the purchase, but after using it for a little bit, yeah, it's a keeper.

Published 2024 Dec 24