Sadly the old tired GPS had to be replaced, so yesterday a shiny Garmin Nüvi 760 took its place.

This is one slick GPS.

The 4.3 inch screen is a beauty. Crisp and clear and bright enough to see in the Phoenix sun. The included windshield mount is easy to use and works well (and apparently is illegal in California and Minnesota).

I’ve always found Garmin GPS units easy to use. The user interface is intuitive, and the touch-screen responsive (but not overly and annoyingly so). The last unit I used has some odd placements of some functions, and those all seem to have been fixed in this latest in the Nuvi series.

A very cool feature for real estate people is the ability to enter multiple addresses, tap a few buttons and tell the unit to determine the best route. My wife had eight homes to show yesterday, so I entered all eight addresses and optimized the route in less than 2 minutes. It clearly beats shuffling MLS printouts around traying to determine how to best get from showing A to B to C. Francy reports it is simple to add / delete addresses in the route.

The 760 has Bluetooth capability, so as long as your phone has it as well, the GPS can act as a hands free cell. It also includes a built in FM transmitter/receiver to receive traffic updates and will notify you and re-route if you’d like. This feature has yet to be tested but could come in handy in places with traffic and road construction concerns.

Pop it off the mount to take it with you when you stop the car and it automatically records your location. Handy for people like me that pay no attention to where they park. It’ll direct you back to within 3 feet of your car.

The Bluetooth connects easily. Voice quality is a little “tinny” but certainly acceptable. There are a couple of other features such as MP3 and photo storage. The FM transmitter allows you to play MP3s though your car stereo system (you can send the GPS voice directions to the speakers as well).

Overall, it’s a great unit. If you don’t need the Bluetooth or FM capability, the 750 will save you a couple of hundred bucks. At $799 the 760 model is not a cheap GPS, but it’s well built, with a large clear screen, Bluetooth and route optimization.

My only gripe is no carrying case or A/C adapter is included (both are available separately). It will of course charge when plugged into the car. But for $800, a near top of the line portable GPS ought to at least include a carrying case.

The 750/760/770 models were just released this month (for the holiday rush no doubt) and will likely get cheaper. MSRP is $850. We found it at Best Buy and several on-line sites for $799.