The ideal combination of style and substance, the NAVIGON 7200T delivers next generation features, such as Landmark View 3D, Free Traffic Updates for Life, Voice Destination Entry, and Reality View Pro, plus a plethora of useful and exclusive features found nowhere else. Consider the NAVIGON 7200T as a guide to your world – how to get from one point to another in comfort and what you might find when you get there. The Navigon 7200t uses GPS and other technologies to keep you ahead of traffic and obstacles throughout your journey. Routine program updates re-route you around traffic congestion with color-coded incident icons, traffic flow data, and more. Only NAVIGON makes traffic work out of the box for the life of the product, no subscription, no additional hardware, no strings attached. Voice Destination Entry lets you specify a street address by saying it out loud. Landmark View 3D displays North America’s best-known buildings in richly textured 3D. Reality View Pro and Lane Assistant Pro combine to provide 3D images, actual road sign text, and lane guidance to make sure you never miss another turn again. With DirectHelp, push a button and get instant directions and phone numbers to emergency and roadside services. Powered by NAVIGON’s next generation software, the 7200T is fast and easy to use. An elegant 4.3″ flat panel Touchscreen makes this device a true beauty. Bluetooth provides easy one touch calling and access to your cell phone contact list. NAVIGON’s Exit Guide lets you search upcoming exits for restaurants, gas stations, hotels, and more with one click, gets you where you want to go. Automatic Standby Feature Auto Day/Night Mode SiRF InstantFix II GPS Receiver – With NAVIGON’s new SiRF InstantFix II GPS receiver, your device will lock onto a GPS satellite and find a signal in a matter of seconds. Plus it can even minimize the effects of tall buildings and trees, so you have a strong signal.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Lifetime Traffic still valid?
If I am buying this GPS, how long do you think I will have the Live Traffic Service? I’ve heard they are recently pulling out of the U.S. market so I am a bit worry about the warranty & the included lifetime traffic…friends told me Navigon’s Lane Assist feature is the best compare to other GPS brands…so I am thinking of getting one and use it for 3 years if the included life time traffic is still valid.

5 Stars Great product!
The Navigon 7200T is a great GPS. I have used a Garmin before and the Navigon is far better. Not many GPS’s offer route preview, where you can review the route and then eliminate some roads when you know of a better way. Also, if you don’t take the suggested route, it recaculates very quickly and comes up with another route (instead of asking you to make a U-turn over and over to go back to the original route). Satellite connection is very quick also. The spoken street names are great. The windshield mount that comes with it works great – I thought I would have to buy another mounting product to make it easier to use. This model also has FREE traffic alerts and offers to re-route you based on them. The lane guidance feature is very nice to have. For the money this is a great product. It won’t be long before Navigon is rated alongside Garmin and TomTom.

4 Stars First-time GPS user, much impressed.
Because this is my first GPS device (I’d never even used one) I can’t compare it to any other product but, as a tool, I am impressed. From the first time I used it I was pleased, though I learned impatiently that it initially takes the machine about 15-20 minutes to orient itself. I drove the next day to Brooklyn from Queens, frequently ignoring the device’s spoken directions and in each instance happily learned of a revised plan very shortly thereafter. Once in Brooklyn, as we drove through the unfamiliar streets, I was amazed to notice that even obscure little businesses were named onscreen and the Navigon deftly led us through a maze of city center confusion until we were back on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and heading home. Just in terms of avoided frustration and the occasional impassioned discussion of which navigational theory ought next be followed, it is well worth the money.

3 Stars Not for the novice
First, I really like this GPS. However, I do not find it as as to use or intuitive as the Garmin I previously used. One must actually read the documentation in order to understand and begin to use the features of this GPS.

I like: the fact that I can input an address using voice (except for the state, which must still be input manually…. why?); that it speaks street names; that it helps direct you to the proper lane on major highways; free traffic alerts; that the map update card is economical.

I find the following disappointing: Points of interest seem to be getting better but other GPS units still have more. The speakerphone doesn’t work well — I’ve tried it using two completely different phones and both had issues, including not re-pairing, incoming calls where the caller can’t hear me at all or I can’t hear them at all, phone book not transferring, static and/ or garbled. If part of your buying decision is based on the hands-free aspect, you may want to look at one of the other Navigon models and a BlueAnt Supertooth Light.

1 Star Bad unit and customer service
I love the graphics, but the performasnce is very poor. I received an error about the phonelink.exe. The unit gets real hot and freezes up. I was in Orlando trying to find my hotel, and the unit froze up before I got there. I contacted customer service with a detailed description of what happened and recived no response yet.

I will send the unit back to navigon. If they can’t repair it, they can keep it. I will get another one from a different manufacturer.

Buy/More Info

GPS satellite navigation unit with built-in antenna * 3.5″ color (320 x 240 pixels) touchscreen control * internal flash memory preloaded with maps of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, plus 6 million points of interest * text-to-speech technology lets voice prompts announce road names over the built-in speaker *

Buy/More Info

Before knowing about the auto navigation system, there are a few basic things to know and understand about the Global Positioning System (GPS). The GPS is a satellite is a group of 24 satellite placed into the orbit by the US Defense department. In the past this technology was strictly reserved for military use and was not used by civilians until the 1980s.This GPS works in any weather condition and can be used any where in the world. It works 24hours a day and is completely free for any one who wants to use the GPS.

The satellite navigation technology was developed a very long time ago but so many people do not realize that. It all started in 1967 when the basic principles of SatNav were first tested. It was not until the 1990s when the NavSat GPS systems were first used by the military. A short period later, the civilian use of this technological development was authorized but it could not be used by every one since it was very expensive. During this period, the first people who had the privileged to use it were pilots and surveyors who used it for their distant measurements. An average citizen could not use the Auto navigation system at that time for his small car.

Over the past couple of years, the cost of installing a GPS auto navigation system has fallen considerably. As an inevitable result of this, more and more people are taking advantage of it in order to make it easier to find out where they are going, plan their journeys, and keep track of where they are.

Do not think that auto navigation systems are application used only by those who do extensive travels. But the truth is, even people, who spend many hours in their car, truck, or SUV also need the benefits from an automobile navigation system or any device of the same value. Most prospect users like you might just be thinking of one concern. And that is the kind of system that will best suit the certain navigation you really need. What you need to know are the different auto navigation systems and determine which of these suites your needs more.

There are different auto navigation systems on the market today: 1. Stand-alone auto navigation system Stand-alone navigation systems provide the most thorough and complete mapping utilities. 2. Multipurpose Handheld Navigation Devices:Comparing to the stand-alone navigation system, the multipurpose handheld navigation devices do not have the full-detailed information that the former can offer you. 3. Laptop/Palm Based Systems:If you already have your Palm or laptop devices and you often bring them with you while traveling, better just turn them into a navigation system.

Below are some of the ways on how you can use the auto navigation system and GPS technology during your every travel: 1. Planning your trip. Before you get in your car and start the engine, of course, you need first to know where your destination will be. 2. Keep track of restaurants, malls, or theatres. While you are in travel, there are some points that you might need to eat some or stop for a while to take rest. Doing these in a mall, theatre, or some restaurant is a great option.

In the good old day, a simple journey of an hour could end up taking several hours simply because there was no direction take, no fuel points noted or restaurants taken note. The GPS Auto navigation system has come to solve that problem.

The GPS navigation system has made it easy for traveling in the sense that it make s you know where you are, and it can equally help you get the shortest way to you final destination.

Saving time, money and energy has become effective with the auto navigation system during a journey as the traveler will no longer need to flip through the pages of a pocket map or a travel guide get the exact location of a place. All he need is to get the Auto navigation system and all will be well.

GPS satellite navigation unit with built-in antenna * 4.3″ color (480 x 272 pixels) touchscreen control * internal flash memory preloaded with maps of the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, plus 6 million points of interest * text-to-speech technology lets voice prompts announce road names over the built-in speaker *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Absolutely the BEST!!!
This product from Magellan is the best GPS unit that I have ever had. I used Garmin and Tomtom and also other produts with Magellan. This one is great. Clear, accurate, to the point fast and programmable.

It is far more advanced in its touch face, destinations, PO interests, and the AAA recommedation is a plus.

The only shortcoming on this unit is that it does not have a battery meter to show the battery strenght.

But overall once you own this unit, you will not look for any other unit. I am saying this as an experienced GPSer.

Happy and safe driving!

1 Star Didn’t complete first trip
Was excited about receiving this product, seemed to have a lot of features for the price. Well, didn’t turn out so well for me. I decided to navigate myself to work just to test it out. The unit plotted the course just fine from my home, but for some reason had me located one block over. Then it kept telling me to turn to meet up with the fictitious position it had me in.

Not deterred, I stayed true to course and it finally caught up with me and navigated just fine. Coughed it up to first use shake out. When I returned from work I decided to give it another shot. Everything started great, completed about 90% of the trip then froze up. Thought about re-booting, but let it unfreeze, which it did in about 5 minutes. I’m still hanging in there, it’s new so it will work itself out, NOT!!! Froze up again 10 minutes later. To it’s credit, it realized it was crewing up and displayed a message that it must re-boot to optimize navigation. I’m like cool, okay, now we are getting somewhere. It re-booted and BAM! froze up again where it remains.

I will return it, but don’t think I will try this model again.

5 Stars Ryan’s Review
May 6 2009

This is a great piece of equipment. The CPU on this G.P.S. is very fast. Route calculation is fast and accurate. If you live in New Jersey and travel on the Parkway/Turnpike/Route 80, Lane Guidance works perfectly.

I drive 700-800 miles a week an and this is a must have. I did not want a unit with Bluetooth or FM Transmitter which is missing from this unit, and maybe that’s the reason it works so well. The 3D map is amazing unlike the Roadmate 1412. After 25 miles of driving, a message popup saying that the G.P.S. needs to reboot to improve performance after that I haven’t seeing any other issues so far.

The map in night mode is also a great improvement over the Roadmate 1412 and not too bright. I have owned a garmin 660 and a magellan roadmate 1412(horrible G.P.S. unit) and I have to congratulate Magellan on this one.

Great product so far.

I would recommend this unit to anyone who is in the market for a great Navigation unit at a reasonable price.

May 7 2009

***** About the Reboot

I called magellan today May 7th and they said that there is patch coming out on May 8th to fix the Lane Guidance which is the cause of the reboot.

guess I’ll fine out tomorrow.

Buy/More Info

Give your loved ones full peace of mind when you’re on the mountain with the Spot Satellite Messenger. Whether you’re just checking in, allowing others to track your progress, or calling for help, Spot gives you a vital line of communication with friends and family when you want it, and emergency assistance when and where you need it. Spot employs a GPS satellite network to acquire its coordinates, then sends its location to the recipient of your choice, complete with a link to Google Maps and a pre-programmed message. Unlike personal locator beacons, however, Spot does more than just call for help. The SpotChecking feature, for example, lets you notify your SpotTeam–the friends and family you’ve chosen as your contacts–and tell them all is well, notify them of your location, or save waypoints so you can review your route at a later date. You can also activate the SpotCasting feature to let friends and family follow your progress in real time (every 10 minutes). Anyone with access to your account information can log on and view your route, complete with virtual views provided by Google Maps. SpotCasting is a terrific feature for mountain climbers looking to celebrate their accomplishments with their loved ones.

The most important feature, however, is Spot’s ability to call 911 in the event of a life-threatening or other critical emergency. Once activated, Spot will acquire your exact coordinates from the GPS network, and then send that location along with a distress message to a GEOS International Emergency Response Center every five minutes until cancelled. The Emergency Response Center will then notify the appropriate emergency responders based on your location and personal information. Responders may include local police, the highway patrol, the Coast Guard, an embassy or consulate, or other emergency response and search-and-rescue teams. Even if Spot can’t acquire its location from the GPS network, it will still attempt to send a distress signal–without your exact location–to the Emergency Response Center, which will still notify your emergency contacts of the signal and continue to monitor the network for further messages.

Spot works around the world, including in virtually all of the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia, and portions of South America, Northern Africa, and Northeastern Asia. And provided you’re in a good coverage area, Spot offers a 99 percent probability of sending a successful message within 20 minutes. As a result, Spot is ideal for anyone with a taste for outdoor adventures, including boaters, kayakers, sailboarders, archaeologists, skiers, climbers, pilots, business travelers, snowshoers, and just about anyone else.

Spot requires two AA lithium batteries, with a battery life of up to one year in standby mode, 14 days in SpotCasting mode, or 7 days in 911 mode. And thanks to the water-resistant housing (safe in 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes), you needn’t worry about using Spot in adverse conditions. Spot measures a compact 2.75 by 4.38 by 1.5 inches (W x H x D), weighs 7.37 ounces, and carries a one-year limited warranty.

Communication Functions:

Spot employs a GPS satellite network to acquire its coordinates, then sends its location to the recipient of your choice, complete with a link to Google Maps and a pre-programmed message.

• Alert 9-1-1 dispatches emergency responders to an exact location
• Ask for Help sends a request for help to friends and family with your location
• Check In lets contacts know where you are and that you are okay
• Track Progress sends and saves your location and allows others to track your progress using Google Maps

Battery Life:

• Power ON, unused: Approximately 1 year
• SPOT casting continuous tracking mode: Approximately 14 days
• 9-1-1 mode: Up to 7 consecutive days
• HELP mode: up to 1900 messages
• SPOT check OK up to 1900 messages

Specifications:

• Weight: 7 ounces
• Waterproof to a depth of 1 meter for up to 30 minutes
• Operating Temperature: -40
  ]]> http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/1162/spot-satellite-messenger-with-gps-tracking/feed/ 0 http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/993/gps-for-golfers-5-things-to-know-before-you-make-a-purchase/ http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/993/gps-for-golfers-5-things-to-know-before-you-make-a-purchase/#comments Thu, 25 Sep 2008 07:49:13 +0000 GPS Reviews http://www.cvntoday.com/gadgets/gps-for-golfers-5-things-to-know-before-you-make-a-purchase/ http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/993/gps-for-golfers-5-things-to-know-before-you-make-a-purchase/feed/ 0 http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/217/tomtom-go-930-4-3-inch-touchscreen-portable-gps-navigator-2/ http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/217/tomtom-go-930-4-3-inch-touchscreen-portable-gps-navigator-2/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:12:28 +0000 GPS Reviews http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/217/tomtom-go-930-4-3-inch-touchscreen-portable-gps-navigator-2/ TomTom GO 930 4 3 Inch Touchscreen Portable GPS Navigator

  
  
  
  portable GPS satellite navigation unit with built-in antenna * 4.3″ color (480 x 272 pixels) touchscreen control * 5 million points of interest * SD card slot * Bluetooth 2.0 wireless technology for hands-free calling with a compatible phone *

  User Ratings and Reviews

  5 Stars Exelente
  Despues de usarlo por 3 semanas, encontre un problema con los parlantes cuando se expone al sol por largos periodos, se queda mudo, y se arregla solo cuando esta frio. pero no ha sucedido de nuevo.
  
  la coneccion del telefono es buena aunque necesita mas volumen ya que cuando manejas aun con las ventanas serradas hay ruido, pero funciona bien, yo diria que la pueden mejorar conectandolo al FM, con eso uno escucha las llamadas atravez de los parlantes del carro.

  4 Stars Excellent GPS with annoying flaws
  This is my second TomTom–also have the GO510. Very much like my 930T–the traffice feature here in DC is very useful. There is also a shortcut feature on the menu that brings up the functions you use most often on a single screen. However, there is still no “DONE” soft key on every screen so at time if you want to go back to navigating you may have to push the “BACK” softkey numerous times. Hugely annoying flaw that takes multiple unnecessary key strokes. The other incredibly annoying feature is that you can no longer navigate directly to a Zip Code, you must first enter the state where the Zip code is then enter the Zip code you want to navigate to. Not sure how they screwed that function up, but on my 510 you punch in the zip code without having to have the state in first. Finally, when it asks you for a zip code, it makes the numbers very small and difficult to touch but when you are inputting a house number, the number screen converts to large text numbers and entering each number is easy. Seems our Brit friends at TomTom could figure out every Zip Code in the US is numbers only and every one of them is unique to the Nation, not to a state. I’d likely buy this model again but not without doing more looking around to see if some other model didn’t have a better, US-centric, interface.

  2 Stars Ready to Return
  Directions lead me wrong many times! Sometimes many blocks off. Once it even had me go in circles almost like the thing was playing a joke on me. The other day it even said, “you have arrived at your destination” while I was on a 4 lane road and the place was still a turn away further down. Also the arrows change directions on you out of nowhere. I’m not sure if the device is confused or it has some major glitches in it.

  The device also doesn’t seem to pick up a lot of locations compared to many other GPS’s out there for a lot cheaper. It also doesn’t pronounce street or city names well at all. Yes, you can change the voice (I’ll be doing this soon) but not sure if that will help or not. For instance, I live in Washington DC and it says “Washington” like, “Way shwing ton” with a long “a” sound. Very odd!

  It’s also very sensitive to how you type in things. My husband went to find a Walmart and it kept saying it couldn’t find it. After playing with it for a while, he realized you need to type in Walmart like, “Wal mart” with a space. If you don’t type it exact it doesn’t pick it up. Same with commas, etc. Yet regardless, it doesn’t have nearly as many POI I’ve seen as other devices out there & doesn’t pick up many side streets.

  The lane guidance is a joke. I live in a major city (D.C.) and have only seen it once. I would have much rather saved the extra $100 or so and bought the step down since it’s not worth the money at all.

  Yes, some of these things may just be minor to some but when adding all these things together, it’s not worth the price. There is better out there for less! Maybe when they fix many of the errors on this device it will be worth it. Until then, I wouldn’t waste my money on it.

  4 Stars So far, so good
  I bought this about a month ago as my first ever GPS. The mounting and operation are easy, the image crisp, and the voice-overs prompt.

  Some things, however, have bugged me:
  
  1) A recently opened section of I-40 in Greensboro, NC, simply does not exist on the latest map I downloaded. I can (somewhat) overlook small road omissions, but a transcontinental interstate?
  
  2) When starting in my garage (where the unit obviously cannot get a satellite signal) it often takes several minutes of driving around to finally pick up a signal, then occasionally loses the newly found signal for some time. This doesn’t happen all of the time, and never lasts, but still frustrating.
  
  3) Battery life is very short. Basically, keep it plugged in whenever you’re driving around.
  
  4) More of a personal gripe: Your speed is highlighted in red when you’re speeding for a little while, even if only by 3 mph. I’m always speeding somewhat, yet always matching the device’s estimated arrival; it shouldn’t condone my speeding with it’s arrival times while condemning it with it’s Scarlet MPH.

  All in all, however, my first month has been quite a pleasure. The points of interest are great, and I actually find the voice recognition to be moderately accurate.

  As far as seeing the screen in daylight, I’ve not had the same problems as other reviewers. It could be the mounting location–mine is fairly high on the windshield to keep it closer to me; I think that I’m inadvertently allowing less sunlight to hit it as a result. Fortunately, the mount is simply a suction cup that can be remounted again and again.

  By far the most impressive feature is the calculation of travel times. I often finish 1-3 hour drives within 2 minutes of the device’s estimated arrival.

  5 Stars Worth the cost.
  We haven’t had much time to use this just yet but we had bought the GO 910 last year and really liked that one. We only bought this one because the other one had been stolen recently. I do like how the mount is much easier to use than the 910 and being much slimmer. Our 910 was very easy to use and I expect the same out of our 930; because of this I am sure if we ever buy another GPS it will certainly be a TomTom model.

  Buy/More Info

  ]]> http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/217/tomtom-go-930-4-3-inch-touchscreen-portable-gps-navigator-2/feed/ 0 http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/239/garmin-nuvi-255w-4-3-inch-portable-gps-navigator/ http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/239/garmin-nuvi-255w-4-3-inch-portable-gps-navigator/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:15:20 +0000 GPS Reviews http://www.gpsreviewblog.com/239/garmin-nuvi-255w-4-3-inch-portable-gps-navigator/ Garmin Nuvi 255W 4 3 Inch Portable GPS Navigator

  
  
  
  GPS
  satellite navigation unit with built-in antenna * 6 million points of
  interest * preloaded with maps for the entire United States, Canada,
  and Puerto Rico * text-to-speech technology lets voice prompts announce
  road names over the built-in speaker * SD card slot (supports up to
  2GB) *

  User Ratings and Reviews

  5 Stars Garmin Nuvi 255w
  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 $50 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 $10. I also intend to purchase the MSN direct cable when it is available in August 2008.

  3 Stars Not a bad little unit, but a few quirks
  I purchased the Nuvi for my Jeep Wrangler. I had a factory GPS unit in my Toyota 4Runner that I loved… the Nuvi 255W appealed due the size of the unit and one’s ability to remove it from the car and carry it around as a hand held if walking city streets. It was also appealing because it offered ‘elevation contours’ at higher zoom levels so you got some feeling of the lay of the land rather than the flat depictions you get on a lot of automotive GPS units.

  This review is heavily weighted text wise on the negative. That does not mean I think this is a bad unit… it is fine for around town and certainly a good unit to pick for your first GPS. I do have to say, that comparing it to my old GPS (factory unit in my 2004 4Runner), this unit is not as good. My old GPS has more useful mapping features and routes more reliably.

  It is, however, good to be aware that no GPS is perfect and understanding going in where the quirks are with this one will lessen any frustration you might feel in finding them later.

  The good – it’s a cute little unit, simple, easy to operate, easy to install and does… as promised… update and reroute much _more_ quickly than my other GPS (no, I don’t know the manufacturer Toyota uses). Have to give Garmin kuddos on that it’s pretty awesome in comparison to other units I’ve tried. Actually real impressed with that. The batteries last a good long time. I haven’t actually measured the time, but a guess says that it’s close to the 4 hours spec’d.

  The bad – My unit only displays elevation contours at zoom levels of 20 miles or higher. Basically, that’s a completely useless feature albeit slightly interesting. I had understood that one could view the elevation contours at zoom levels of 5 miles or higher, later read 8 miles or higher – both of which are close to useless but OK… better than not having it at all. Involved in a conversation with Garmin product support at the moment on that. I’m not clear whether my unit is operating correctly or not. The positive, Garmin product support is responsive.

  UPDATE ON THIS – It finally turned out that to see the elevation contours at lower zoom levels (you can see them at zoom levels as low as 2 miles) you have to reduce the amount of detail displayed. Go into Tools-Settings-Map-Map Detail and set the level down (it is set to ‘more’ by default’) to normal, less or least and you will start to see the contours at lower zoom levels. This is a fault with their included (and web) documentation.

  The text-to-speech (TTS), not so good. It’s very tinny sounding… I’ve got the unit set to American English – Samantha. I can understand it in my 4Runner. I have difficulty understanding it in my Jeep Wrangler (hard top) which is clearly noisier. My understanding is that Garmin really compressed the voice in this unit, far more than in previous units… and yeah, it sounds like it. I like my older unit better – better voice quality and it simply tells you how far to the next turn and what direction to turn.

  The TTS is quirky, not really ready for prime time yet. It seems to do well with English sounding street names like ‘Questhaven’… does NOT do well with Spanish based street names (which if you live in So Cal as I do, is an issue). San Elijo is pronounced ’san’ ‘eli-joe’ as a simple example. Via de la Valle is both ‘SR 6 Via-de-lane-val’ (I listened intently, it did pronounce ‘la’ as lane… then it occurred to me there must be some translation of an abbreviation for lane, which is truly odd but OK I could see that makes some vague sense in software programming land) and then, surprisingly, the actual correct Spanish pronunciation when I got off on the exit. Apparently the street was in the database twice? Who knows!? A programming ‘feature’. A street called Olivenhain was pronouced ‘O-lee-ven-tian’ (it’s actually pronounced ‘O-lee-van-hain’. The TTS is definitely seeming more of a toy/curiosity to me than a “can’t be without it” feature. I’d not be buying a unit thinking this was an critical part of the decision but it’s nice.

  The routing I am still evaluating – in general, the unit seems to route well and quickly. It does, however, do odd things that I have not encountered in the same areas with my older unit (I’ve been using them simultaneously to test the Garmin unit)… as I was driving out of my driveway after having set a destination it said ‘turn right on (my street) to street y’. The problem was that street y didn’t connect to my street, it wasn’t even in the same town. So yeah, not sure what was up with that. When I routed to a different destination I knew I needed to take street a, turn right to street b, and turn right on street c. The unit told me ‘take street a .3 miles and turn right on street c’. It completely lost the intermediate street, which BTW, does show on its map and which has to be taken (streets a and c do not connect). I live in a _very_ urban area, near the 5 fwy in north county San Diego. There are NO new streets in this area, all has been established for over 10 years. My older unit, with probably a 2003 map database in it, does not make these errors in this area. So, not thrilled with the routing. It’s definitely making mistakes in this area it shouldn’t be making.

  There are quite a few features present in my 4Runner’s now 4-5 year old GPS system that are not present in the unit. I deeply miss the ‘route overview’ feature, the Garmin unit does not have that. This allows you to easily review the route the unit set up to a set destination. With the Nuvi, you have to take your finger and scroll to see where it is going to take you. It also does not offer an option to view the route as a series of turn by turn directions. I use that quite a bit and miss it here. Lastly, it does not allow you to put in a series of destinations. My older unit allows you to keep adding destinations to the route. Not here, you get one. Then you can add another after you get there. I also miss the display of how far you have yet to go on your route. My old unit counts this down for you and provides an estimate of ETA on the map display. Not present here.

  The menu system is a bit too deep for my tastes. I have to hit too many buttons to get back to the map display when, for example, I am entering POIs. I can do that in one step in the 4Runner unit.

  The ‘finger scrolling’ is not overly responsive and yes, it does better if you use your fingernail rather than fingertip. I didn’t mind that too much, but you might wonder initially if the unit does scroll the map… yes, it does… try with your fingernail. The zoom up/down buttons are kinda in a bad spot. I find that if I want to scroll sideways that I hit them accidentally quite a bit.

  You will read complaints about the lack of a USB cable with the unit. Personally, I didn’t view that as an issue. Garmin uses a standard connector and the cables for both my (Sony and Canon) digital cameras worked fine as did the one for my ScanDisk MP3 player. I’m fine not having an extra identical cable.

  The documentation is light and I received a manual for a 205W series unit with the 255W. Yeah, OK they’re similar but nevertheless it’s a bit disconcerting at first. I’m sure Garmin was in a hurry to ship the new units.

  So… all in all… it’s not bad, but there are definitely things to be aware of. I don’t hate it, I’m not in love with it either. I wish Garmin would spend more time giving us the rich mapping features instead of integrating stuff that IMHO isn’t useful and does run up the cost of the unit – like Bluetooth for your phone (the placement of the unit for this is all wrong, you want your Bluetooth close to your head and your GPS at eye level on your dash), audio books (we have MP3 player jacks in our stereos now guys, you cannot compete with the sound quality) etc. I get the photo navigation (but how many of you will use that? it’s a curiousity for most of us), traffic and content updates (but I won’t use that either since I’d use it rarely and don’t want to pay a monthly fee for it). Those are navigation related, the other stuff is redundant and Garmin cannot provide as good a solution as the vendors that specialize in these areas.

  For anyone that is researching GPS units, I highly recommend spending some serious time on http://www.gpsreview.net. It’s a very informative site and the forums are active.

  5 Stars Great 1st GPS
  First time GPS owner.

  Pros
  
  - Easy to use.
  
  - Fast satellite pickup. Hotfix works.
  
  - Included POI list is great.
  
  - Speed of map updates is awesome. Very smooth.
  
  - Search for POI and streets are fast.
  
  - Fast recalculation of routes.

  Cons
  
  - No easy way to delete images.
  
  - No easy way to organize custom POI’s. You have to use POI-Loader.
  
  - Documentation is poor.

  Bottom Line: I would recommend this GPS to anyone. Simple yet powerful.

  5 Stars LOVE the Garmin Nuvi 255W
  I received this GPS system about a week ago, and I haven’t found one thing to complain about yet. The features are great, and all entirely user friendly. No need to read the manual, just plug it in and go! The Garmin Nuvi 255W connects to satellites extremely fast–So when I get in my car and turn it on, we’re pretty much ready to go immediately. The new display posts speed limit signs of major roads flush left on the screen, which is a new feature that is also really helpful, if you’re driving in an unfamiliar area. The widescreen display makes it possible to view the names of roads that you are passing on the screen–which makes it much easier to differentiate between which road to turn on when there are two streets on your right (not clearly labeled) that are only one house apart…which has happened to me twice… Also, the fact that the Garmin Nuvi 255W speaks street names is also helpful in times like these. In addition, another feature I find to be immensely helpful is how fast the Nuvi 255W recalculates your position if you do miss a turn. I love the detour feature, it saved me a ton of time when I heard there was an accident on the highway and took back roads that I would have never known existed! I would recommend the Garmin Nuvi 255W to anyone looking for a fast, reliable, and easy to use GPS system.

  5 Stars awesome GPS!!-little pricy
  So now is my turn to share my thoughts with you guys.

  I upgraded from a Garmin C320 so this is a huge leap for me, I did some intensive research before purchasing this unit, [...] are two great websites…

  First I want to address the “potential problem” on 255w which is the robotic sound, I personally think it is absolutely understandable, the female sound is a little vauge at some point, however the man’s (Jack) voice is very clear to me, so this is not a problem for me.

  And it is very fast locating satellites, the new interface needs some time to get used to, it is very cool now you can drag the map with your fingers!

  Definitely better POIs, it has 1000 POI which is the highest among all models, use this to find AMC cinemas, state parks and restaruants is absolustely a blast! (my previous C320 sucks…) It also has multiple language support (however only english voice has the TTS function, other languages will simply say “turn left at 200ft”).

  Also you can view your pictures on this unit which I think is fine but almost useless, (other useless functions in my opinions are bluetooth and MP3 which this 255w doesn’t have).

  I haven’t tested the battery life so I don’t know about that yet, other cons is this unit is a little pricy I paid $[...]…(sold my C320 for 80).

  All in all this is a very nice GPS and I highly recommend it!

  Buy/More Info

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