Garmin GPS Systems

Review by Book Reader:
The last GPS I got I couldn’t even figure out how to turn on…they have really come a long way as far as ease-of-use. This one…opened the box, easily assembled it onto the base with no directions, plugged it in, turned it on (okay, I had to go to directions for that, but they are very clear), followed all the steps (very intuitive – it walks you through it) and there I was – it had me pinpointed to my exact position in the parking lot – wow. So I plugged in an address, and yes, I’m old-school – I was shocked with this little 0 machine started TAlKING to me, nice voice too – very clear directions, tells you exactly how far to go before turning. This is the new model, which is why I got it, but it seems to have all the best features discussed in reviews of older models (I read a lot of reviews). Again, I’m not proficient in technology (my 11 year old niece has to help me with my phone and forget an I-Pod) but from my point of view this has all that a typical driver would need – I even think my even less-tecnically proficient parents would like it and I plan to try it out on them. Update after a week: The screen shows several things I hadn’t noticed, like your speed, the speed limit for the road you are on (some roads, not all roads), the expected time that you will get to the destination and how far it is in miles. It’s not distracting, as these notations are on the perimeter. The voice directions are very good, a warning prior to coming to a turn and then a ‘turn left on ____ St.’ when you get there and how far it is, as in ‘turn left in point-three miles’. I got the portable Garmin Friction Mount to hold it in place (it’s a beanbag type thing) which is really great, as you can easily stow it on the floor so no one decides to ‘borrow it’ if they see it on the dashboard. Overall, couldn’t be more pleased…this one doesn’t have ‘traffic alerts’, so if you want ‘traffic’ there is another Garmin model that would be more suitable.

Review by D. Stewart:
I was amazed at how intuitive and easy it is to use. While traveling to a city in another state I was confronted with a train stopped and blocking the crossing in front of me, blocking my planned route. With confidence in the Garmin I turned around and took another route. It guided me street-by-street and turn-by-turn. I got to my appointment on time. The display is clear, even in bright sunlight. The voice is pleasant, and clearly loud enough to be easily heard.

The only problem I had was in assembling the mount. It requires a really hard push to install the ball socket of the mount into the base. Don’t be afraid to break it, as I was at first try. It’s designed to close tolerances, to maintain the friction necessary, to hold the Garmin display firmly in position.

Pushing a wide, and easy to access button at the base of the suction cup mount allows you to remove the display and power cord for storage elsewhere when not in use. This is a great security and convenience feature. It has a remote mountable push button remote control that activates and deactivates the voice control feature.

Review by Auto Buff Guy 2008:
I bought the GARMIN nüvi 260W to help with work and family travels. After extensive research with Magellan, Mio and Tom-Tom, I bought the Garmin for three reasons. 1) Ease of use. 2) Screen clarity. 3) Amazing accuracy. And no, despite where I live, I have no affiliation with Garmin. I don’t even know anyone that works for them. I am in the architectural business.

I have tried several GPSs while traveling with business associates, friends or in rental cars. As such, I have seen them in real world action. All of the devices saved me time and most found the place I needed to be. I could used any of them and been somewhat satisfied.The problem: I am a perfectionist. As such, I want the unit to be the best. So, after using a text-to-speech Garmin GPS unit earlier this year, I knew that was one feature I could not live without when I pulled the trigger on a purchase. Text-to-speech is a must have on GPS. A MUST. If you have never used a GPS, trust me, you have to have text-to-speech. It eliminates the frustration of urban driving and having the non text-to-speech units tell you to turn right in 200 feet, only to find two roads that are 200 feet away and have to pick one and hope it is right.

I decided to wait until a wide screen GPS came out that didn’t have so many bells and whistles and was priced fairly. The GARMIN nüvi 260W 4.3-Inch fit the bill. Pulled the trigger still knowing that GPS units drop in price every month it seems and I would knowingly be mad in 90 days when the unit was 20% cheaper (oh well).

Back to the GARMIN nüvi 260W…I am amazed how it can find the driveway of my house at the end of a cul-de-sac directly adjacent to a road that is named the same. It is so accurate that it lets me know if I pulled into the wrong driveway 15 feet away from mine (I know, I tried it). It is so easy to use; I didn’t even use the manual – once. It is that user friendly. I even downloaded new voices via the Garmin site without a manual. I like the fact the screen is very clear and refreshes quickly. I can even use my polarized sunglasses with the Garmin 260W screen and it does not distort the screen colors or have numerous horizontal lines (if you use polarized glasses, make sure to try out any GPS screen before you buy. Many look blank when using polarized glasses).

The POI seem to be pretty good, but I really haven’t used it long enough to evaluate POI depth. I do know that the maps seem to be fairly accurate in terms of new roads since I have yet to find a road that does not exist on the map.

Not everything is perfect with the Garmin 260W. The downside is the time to acquire a satellite. The 260W takes longer than I like…sometimes up to one minute. However, once it gets a hold of the satellites, it never looses them. Plus it gets such a strong signal (with no external antenna); I can use the device on my lap in the passenger seat (when I am not driving and after it finds a satellite). Another couple of downers are it has very few voices that work with the text-to-speech feature. I hope Garmin increases the choices via a web download in the future (I want celebrity voices…please). Plus, I would have liked a case, any case to be included for the price I paid.

Overall, the unit is amazing and the larger screen size of 4.3 inches really helps those with fat fingers and those that don’t want to squint to read a map. I am just sorry I had to wait this long to own one. It is a must have for those that travel to unfamiliar areas.

Review by P. M. Gross:
I received the Garmin Nuvi 260W as a gift. I have subsequently read comments about many different GPS units and have concluded that:

-a hand held GPS is a complement to, not a substitute for a good road map and some common sense. All GPS units have positives and negatives; none are absolutely perfect. These are not toys, but they are not self sufficient navigational tools either. Given enough time, every owner of every unit will have a story about how he couldn’t find a particular point of interest, or was directed down a dead end street or across a 4-lane divided highway!

-considering screen sharpness, ease of use and other features, the Garmin 260W is one of the best in its price class.

-Garmin also has the best customer service of any of the companies.

The purpose of this review is NOT to repeat what others have written but to discuss workarounds for the various limitations of this unit.

COMPUTER ACCESS: To download firmware, software upgrades and maps, access to garmin.com is a virtual necessity. Since a computer cable is unfortunately not included with the unit, the user will need to buy a USB 2.0 A / mini B cable. It can be found on Amazon.

At garmin.com, download the web updater and whatever updates it prompts and also, remember to download the updated TTS (Text to Speech) voices. We find that “British” English is sometimes easier to understand than the American counterpart and suggest that it be downloaded as well.

The USB cable will also charge the Garmin’s battery but the unit does not operate when plugged into the computer. The optional AC converter is only required if the user wants to operate the unit on 110 volts.

SATELLITE ACQUISITION: Failure to reliably acquire satellite is the biggest single weakness of the Garmin 260W and the reason for the 3* rating. The user never knows in advance whether, after the 30 second boot up, it will take 15 seconds or 15 minutes to find a satellite.

Customer service suggests that the preferable satellite acquisition position is the top edge (NOT the face or back) pointed straight up to the open sky with the unit held still (which means you should not be driving).

When the unit is powered up out of the box and acquires a satellite for the first time, leave the power ON for an hour to download almanac data.

If the unit is moved to a new location with the power off, powering up the unit is similar to an initial power-on, and it can easily take 15 minutes to locate new satellites.

If all else fails, do a hard reset (see the instructions for “clearing user data”). Note that all user data (favorites) is in the gpx file in the gpx folder so save it to your computer and restore it after the reset. Again, leave the unit on for an hour after satellites are acquired.

POINTS OF INTEREST: Some of the data is not current. If a particular restaurant, etc., cannot be found, enter it by its street address and then change the name.

MODIFYING A ROUTE: This unit is less flexible than some. If a favorite place is selected and the GPS simulator mode activated, the proposed route will be highlighted. “Sliding” the screen with an appropriate magnification will allow the route to be compared with a computer or road map alternative. To force Garmin to select a particular road or direction, add a VIA point (gas station, motel, whatever). Because Garmin only allows one via point per route, several such points may be needed and the driver may have to skip stop between them.

ADD: June 26th. The Garmin 260W will NOT display routes downloaded from Mapquest. That feature is reserved for more expensive units.

ADD: June 26th. Failure to arrive at a specific house number may relate to mistakes on the part of developers, subdivision planners or mappers rather than the GPS. If necessary, give an address TWO favorite places – one labeled (per gps)that has the desired address; and one labeled (actual) determined by touching the car icon when standing in the driveway.

ADD: Aug. 4. Polarized sunglass lens fix: If you have the brightness set low (to conserve the battery when walking or biking, for example), polarized sun glasses may make it difficult to read the display which is also polarized. But, if you turn the display VERTICAL, the polarized settings will align and the display will immediately brighten up.

BATTERY LIFE: We’ve run two hours on battery without losing a green bar. Battery life can be extended by reducing the brightness level to the lowest acceptable.

In summary, the Garmin Nuvi 260W will do pretty much everything it is supposed to do EXCEPT acquire satellites quickly every time. If the company fixes this problem with a new firmware upgrade, the 260W deserves 4 stars. If the unit were also to allow multiple via points and route selections, then it would, in our opinion, earn 5 stars.

Review by Lawrence Wong:
The Garmin GPS was a godsend on our trip to Europe. If you have ever driven into cities or small towns in Europe you will know how difficult it is to navigate, while trying to read foreign street signs, dodging motor scooters and bicylists, finding the right exit out of a around-about all the while being pushed along by the very aggressive drivers behind you. But with the GPS most of that stress goes away as you know when and where to turn and you drive through towns like a native. I was very impressed that even going through the miles long tunnels of the alps the GPS must be programmed to keep the unit tracking without a satellite signal because several minutes later coming out of the tunnel it still provides instructions. I purchased the pricier model 270 because of the factory installed European maps. If you purchased a GPS with only North America maps and had to load the European maps the cost of those maps would be another 0. It’s less money to get the 270 or 370 with maps already loaded. The windshield mounting is excellent and worked well in the rental car. The Nuvi series GPS is convenient enough in size to be carried in the pocket for walking around the cities. But it does not work as well for pedestrian purposes because it cannot keep bearings well as you tend to rotate the device and it looses it sense of direction. I read all the reviews on GPS’s and chose the Garmin because of it’s higher ratings for search engine, ease of use and maps. You will immediately become an expert user even without reading instructions with this device. It is literally that easy to use.

Review by Melissa Christensen:
I bought the Nuvi 270 for my 24 day trip to Italy. The unit is very user friendly for menus and visibilty. We used our Garmin in coordination with a TomTom 910 and our unit out mapped the TomTom every time. The mapping is great and points of interest are good, but rememeber that Italian locations are not always translated the same IE; “leaning tower of Pisa” is actually “tower pendentta. The other thing you never want to do is hit “shortest route” when in Italy!!! You will end up driving curvy mountain roads and maybe end up on a goat trail. We almost trippled our trip time by doing this one evening. So to end this, I highly recommend this unit if you are going to Europe and keep it when you come home, cause it has even better use on the US roads.

Review by Schultzie:
I actually could not decide between the Garmin Nuvi 255w or the 750 model, so I decided to buy them both for comparison. I mounted them both to my car windshield and gave them various addresses to find together. I found that both models took the same routes and announced upcoming turns and street names at practically the same time. One thing I noticed about the 255w was that it was updating my position on the road more often, I’d say about 3 times as often as the 750. This made for smoother graphics on the 255w of the vehicle moving along displayed roads, where the 750′s display was more of a “jerky” movement. I also found that the display on the 255w was a bit brighter, clearer, and more vivid than on the 750 in both daylight and at night. Another feature I like on the 255w is the graphic turn indicator in the upper left corner, which the 750 lacks. This is a small arrow which shows upcoming turns and the distance to that turn. It also show things like a fork in the road, (ie: a Y intersection), and which fork you will be taking. The 750 just displays text on the top line for upcoming turns without the arrow. It’s just a little extra feature on the 255w which I happened to really like. The 255 also automatically adjusts the font size of displayed text so that even lengthy text will fit.

Another feature on the 255w is a display of the posted speed limit on the road which you are currently on right above your current displayed speed. I found myself not even looking at my car speedometer as I could easily see my current speed and the speed limit of my route at a glance. The 750 doesn’t have this feature. I also like how they moved the zoom in (+) and zoom out (-) buttons on the 255w to the same side of the screen which makes it a bit easier. On the 750 the zoom buttons are on opposite sides of the screen.

Now there are some features on the 750 that the 255w does not have. The 750 can broadcast it’s sound over your FM radio with the supplied cigarette lighter cable, and it has a headphone jack, which I found to be nice features. The 750 also has an MP3 player and an Audio-book player, which the 255w does not. Another really nice feature of the 750 is the car locater. This is a great feature if you are parking in a really big lot, such as at an amusement park or a fair. The 750 marks your location when you remove it from the car, then you take it with you and it remembers where you parked and takes you right back to your car. The 255w doesn’t have the car locater.

I also thought the the voice prompts of the 750 where more pleasant sounding than the 255w’s. The 750 sounds more like a real female voice, where the 255w sounds more robotic.

Another thing to consider was that I paid less for the 750 and it came with the FM transmitter cable and a USB cord to connect it to your computer for updates and downloads.

My final decision was to keep the 255w and return the 750 because I really liked the graphic turn indicator and the posted speed limit and current speed indicators. I didn’t find a need for the 750′s MP3 player and Audio book player, but that is up to personal preference. Since the USB cable was not included with the 255w, I purchased it on this site for . I also intend to purchase the MSN direct cable when it is available in August 2008.

Review by EmbeddedFlyer:
If you spend much time driving in unfamiliar territory, especially if you rent cars in big cities, a good portable GPS makes an amazing difference. And the Garmin 255W is the best one I could find in the 0 – 0 range.

First this thing just plain works. I haven’t had any issues with mine. It was easy to set up and figure out right out of the box, and it’s easy to use. It never has had trouble getting sufficient signal unlike earlier and cheaper models.

I chose the 255W for several reasons: It uses some of the newest and best maps available. It has one of the more usable touch screens for entering destinations. It’s fast to acquire satellites. And Garmin almost always comes out on top in reviews–especially in routing.

Ultimately, you buy a car GPS to get you from Point A to Point B as easily and efficiently as possible. And that’s what the 255W does best. If you’ve ever had a “Brand X” GPS take you on some strange route that adds 20 minutes to your trip, has you turn the wrong way down a one way road, tell you to turn AFTER you’ve passed the street, frequently loses the satellite signal, or has old maps missing streets, you know how important this stuff is.

The 255W has a really clear display that’s easy to see in any light. It’s small enough to use on foot. The windshield mount works great and it’s easy to toss in the glovebox when you park. It even tells you the speed limit on most roads. The “points of interest” feature works very well to find places to eat by type of cuisine, gas stations, etc.

The difference between the 255W and 205W is the 255 speaks street names and includes Alaska and Canada. The 205 and 205W will tell you to “turn right in 500 feet” which isn’t as helpful or obvious as “turn right on Ivy Street in 500 feet”. The “W” models are widescreen which makes entering destinations easier due to having a bigger “keyboard” and also lets you see more map area while driving.

All in all this isn’t the cheapest GPS in its class but it’s one of the best. My only gripe is you need an expensive add-on to get live traffic data–something that’s included with the Magellan Roadmate 1430 which is close to the same price. But the Garmin 255W is a better GPS in every other way.

Review by Bill R.:
The Garmin 1300T is a nice GPS navigation device with the usual features, plus the additional great feature of FREE lifetime traffic information. But there are two things you need to know about the traffic information feature. First, in order for it to work, the device needs to be connected to the charger, and the charger needs to be plugged into the car cigarette lighter. This is because the antenna receiving the traffic info is located on the charger wire. The traffic information feature will not work if the device not connected to the car through the charger. Second, the traffic information feature also provides advertising – the advertisers are apparently the ones who are paying Garmin and the traffic system so that you can have free traffic info. The advertisements show up on a small line at the bottom right of the screen when the device is in the traffic info mode (which is a separate display from the navigation mode). Note of this is explained in the very brief quick-start guide. Another thing a buyer should know is that an 100/220 volt “home” charger is NOT included in the box. Also a case for the device is NOT included in the box. But you can buy these separately for additional money. My only criticism is that all of these things are not clearly brought to the attention of the buyer before the purchase.

Review by Julie Paul:
First of all, I am a MAP guy. I like paper maps, Paper maps at my local AAA and they have gotten me to my destination for years without problems. That said, I work in the transportation industry as a dispatcher. My drivers often claim that they can not find a street because it does not show up on their GPS. This is because they do not enter the information correctly. Street numbers, Street spelling are very important with all GPS receivers.

I have traveled to the Sierra foothills to the local drives in the San Francisco bay area. The free traffic alerts are pretty accurate. The GPS navigation routes are pretty direct and good. When I take my own route or a turn, it recalculates quickly and gives me the direction to where I need to go. Satellite acquisition is quick and have never had a problem with it. The points of interest are nice to find post offices, restaurants, and other stores. Has the option to spell out the particular name of the retail outlet you may be looking for.

I would recommend this Model to anyone looking for a GPS receiver with good features and is priced reasonably. Use with conjunction with a Iphone or regular map, its all the GPS I would ever need. Now I want to see how long it will work without problems. At the time of this review, Ive owned it for little over a month.