Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

Product Details

The nüvi 2x5 models all sport the slim design that Garmin introduced with the 200-series last year, so they all fit comfortably in your pocket or purse, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that makes them convenient for navigation by car or foot.All of the models include useful travel tools like a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more.

Important Product Information: This device features a "screen lock" feature. This is a standard feature on all nüvi 2x5 and 7x5 Garmin units. If you slide the "Power" key to the right, it will lock the screen and prevent any accidental touches. Once the screen lock feature is engaged, the screen will go black/gray after about 15 seconds to save power on the device. To unlock the screen, just slide the "Power" key to the center position. This feature is really targeted for "Pedestrian" mode so that a user can put the device in his or her pocket/purse and quickly unlock the screen instead of powering on/off continuously. For more information, see page 5 of the product manual.

Key Features/Benefits for all 2x5 Series Navigators

• HotFix (Long Term Ephemeris Prediction) finds satellites faster (Learn more)
• Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Basemap shows 3D shaded terrain features (Learn more)
  
• Faster 333 Mhz processor offers faster, smoother map drawing and vehicle icon motion through turns
  
• Redesigned user interface offers more information (Learn more)
• Photo Navigation lets you upload geo-coded photos from a phone, geo-coding camera or photo site and navigate to them. (Learn more)
• Send addresses directly to your Garmin from Google Maps or Mapquest (Learn more)
• Automatic Time Zone Transition
• Text-to-Speech gives directions with real street names
• 4.3-inch Widescreen shows you more of what's around you as you drive (Learn more)
• Memory Card Slots so you can add maps and travel guides, or store photos (MicroSD card slot on 3.5-inch units; SD card slot on 4.3-inch units)
• Preloaded Maps with Navteq data of North America + Hawaii + Puerto Rico, including 6.5 million searchable points of interest (Learn more)
  
• Rechargeable lithium-ion battery for easy portability (up to 4 hours per charge)
• Custom Vehicle Icons let you personalize your navigator (Learn more)
• Integrated Antenna for a slim form factor
• Where Am I? -- instantly shows you all of the emergency services nearby (Learn More)

What's in the Box
nüvi 255W, Preloaded City Navigator NT for North America or Europe (full coverage), Vehicle suction cup mount, Vehicle power cable, Dashboard disc, Quick start manual

Which nüvi is Best for You?:
Click here to see a quick, simple comparison of features for all Garmin nuvi GPS navigators

Learn More

Improved Interface

One of Garmin's key product philosophies is to make extremely complex technology easy to use for anyone right out of the box, and perhaps nowhere is that better exemplified than in the user interface for Garmin's portable navigation devices. Garmin's interface is a key to their success part of what makes their devices such a pleasure to use. Simple controls and sub-screens make it easy to enter or search for destinations and get data about your trip. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions, 2-D or 3-D maps and smooth map updates as you navigate. This year, Garmin has redesigned its interface to include much more useful information.

Old Interface

New Interface

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HotFix"  aka: Satellite Ephemeris Data Prediction

Your GPS device locks onto transmissions from a dedicated network of Satellites in order to determine its position. Until the device gets a "lock" on three satellites, it can't effectively navigate, so decreasing the time it takes for your device to get "satellite lock" is always a goal of GPS manufacturers. With Garmin's new HotFix technology, your Garmin GPS remembers the position of all satellites it is tracking when you turn it off, and calculates their movements in order to predict where they should be the next time you turn it on. This gives the device an idea of where it should look for satellites, and dramatically decreases the time it takes for your Garmin to get its position and start navigating. HotFix can predict satellite positions for up to 3 days after the device was last turned off. Using Garmins unique Web site  Garmin Connect Photos  users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Googles Panoramio photo sharing community and download them to the nüvi for a richer navigation experience using pictures as a guide.

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Navigate by Photo

Using Garmins unique Web site  Garmin Connect Photos  users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Googles Panoramio photo sharing community and download them to the nüvi for a richer navigation experience using pictures as a guide. Choose from Panoramio's collection of photos from around the world. Easy to use interface displays photos on Google Maps. Search for photos by location name or map area boundary. Transfer photos directly from Garmin Connect to device with the Garmin Communicator. View photos in Google Earth. Supports Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari 3+ on Windows and Mac.

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3D Terrain Maps

Shaded relief terrain maps show you when to expect hills, mountains, forests and other natural features. Topographic terrain maps are viewable when using the 2D "birds-eye" view.

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Send Addresses Directly from Google Maps or Mapquest

tching to try out a new restaurant, or setting off on a road trip to locate the best toffee apples on the east coast? Now, it's easy to search for locations on Google Maps or Mapquest, then transfer the addresses directly to your Garmin GPS navigator. Hook up your Garmin to the computer via it's USB port Search for the location you want Click the Send link in the info window for the address. That will bring up a popup "Send to" form. Pick GPS, then pick Garmin and hit the "Send" button. The address will instantly transfer to your Garmin device, The point will be saved as one of your favorites, and you can navigate to it or view it on a map just like with any other favorite. The process does require a small plugin, which you can get at Garmin's website at http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3739. You can send business addresses to your Garmin device from these countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
Search for the location you want.	Pick "Send to GPS".	Go!

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Traffic-Capable for Either FM Traffic or Enhanced MSN Direct Content

FM Traffic

With an optional receiver, you can get alerts from TMC Clear Channel about traffic tie-ups and road construction that might lie ahead on your route. All you have to do is simply touch the screen to view traffic details and you'll be ready to detour around any problem area. And if you end up missing a turn, or you're forced into a detour that is not relayed through the traffic receiver, the nüvi's sophisticated automatic routing will get you back on track in no time. In most areas, TMC Clear Channel traffic broadcasts are continuous  there's no waiting for scheduled traffic news updates or random alerts. Because traffic broadcasts are received via a "silent" FM data channel, you can still listen to music or news programming on your car radio without interference from incoming FM traffic data transmissions.

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Widescreen -- See More of What's Around

First-Rate Map Data

nüvi accepts custom points of interest (POIs). View larger.

The nüvi comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps for all of North America, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, including a hefty POI database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. Garmin gets its map data from NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping. In addition, nüvi accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs

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Garmin Lock

Beyond Navigation

Browse your stored pictures with an easy-to-use JPEG viewer.

Navigation is just the beginning. The nüvi 2x5 models features travel tools including a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. This device is compatible with optional content plug-ins available via microSD card, such as the Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide provide detailed data for attractions and information on nearby merchants offering discounts, so you can customize nüvi for your travel needs. For Accessory Map Cards and Travel Guides the Units Feature: a MicroSD Card Slot on the 3.5 inch Units, and an SD Card Slot on the 4.3 inch Units. Garmin has also added the ability for customers to add custom points of interest (POIs) from third parties such as school zones and safety cameras.

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Trick Your GPS Ride

Product Reviews

(4 stars) - Garmin Nuvi 255W -- My First GPS Unit
I bought a new GM vehicle with free OnStar last year. When it came time to renew the OnStar subscription, the cost was going to be $335 a year for the safety features plus the turn-by-turn navigation. To me, that was a bit pricey, but I really liked the nav feature of OnStar. So, not wanting to give up some sort of navigation system, I started looking for a GPS unit. After reading specs and reviews, I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 255W.

Since this is my first GPS unit, I have nothing else to compare it to, but I will tell you my impressions, as a newbie to the GPS world.

Overall, I am very happy with this unit. There are a few minor things that I don't like, which I will describe later in this review, but certainly not enough of a problem to make me wish I had purchased something else.

Initial setup: This was very simple. Garmin did an excellent job designing a user friendly interface. When I first turned the unit on, it had to search for satellites and pinpoint my location. The first time this happened, it took around three to four minutes. After I was located, I could choose that location as my "Home" location. Since I was sitting in my vehicle in my driveway, I went ahead and set it as Home. (Note: After turning the unit off and back on again, the GPS unit must search for satellites and "re-locate" me. As I said, the first time took three to four minutes, but the subsequent times varied, but always took far less time than the initial one--usually more on the order of twenty seconds or less.)

Menu: Again, very user friendly, even without reading any user guides. The home screen shows four options: WHERE TO?, VIEW MAP, VOLUME, and TOOLS.

WHERE TO?: When you choose this option the GPS will give you more options: ADDRESS, GO HOME, POINTS OF INTEREST, RECENTLY FOUND, FAVORITES, INTERSECTIONS, EXTRAS, CITIES, BROWSE MAP, and COORDINATES.

ADDRESS: Gives you a keyboard which lets you enter the address. When you type in a few letters, it gives you the available options before you finish, so you don't have to type in the whole name of the street or city.
GO HOME: Gives you immediate directions to get to the location you chose to set up as your home location.
POINTS OF INTEREST: Lets you choose from different categories or you can spell the name of the POI you are looking for. Categories are FOOD, FUEL, TRANSIT, LODGING, and SHOPPING. When you choose a category, then the Nuvi gives you options listed according to the distance from your current location. Of course, some of these can be out of date, if one of these businesses recently shut down or changed name. (As a matter of fact, the closest FOOD business to my home location is wrong. The particular restaurant listed in the GPS is one that closed down about a year ago, changed hands and reopened with a different name about six months ago.) However, for the most part, this is a very useful function.
RECENTLY FOUND: Shows a list of locations that you have previously set as destinations.
FAVORITES: Shows a list of destinations that you have chosen to save as a favorite location.
INTERSECTIONS: Allows you to type in two street names, and if they intersect, the GPS unit will give you directions to that intersection. So, if you don't know the specific address, but know that your destination is on the corner of Elm and Oak (for example), then you can input that info, and the Nuvi will set up your direction to that location.
EXTRAS: Not sure what this is. When I press this, the Nuvi tells me that no Extras are loaded, and tells me to go to the Garmin website for more info.
CITIES: Lists the fifty or so cities that are closest to where you are, in order of distance from your current location.
BROWSE MAP: Lets you see the map. Shows you where you are on the map. You can touch anywhere on the map and press GO for directions to that location. When you are viewing the map, you see the map, and a small image of a car (which indicates your vehicle). As you drive you see the car image moving on the map. Any time you are viewing the map, you can zoom in or out by tapping the appropriate icon located on the top right of the screen. You can also tap the map and it will change from 3D view to 2D view. You can also put your finger on the map and move your finger across the screen, and the map will scroll.
COORDINATES: Shows you your current latitude and longitude location, and allows you to enter new coordinates to set up so you can get directions to that location.

Those are the functions that you will use most often. Some more than others. Although I can't see me ever setting up specific latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, some people might find this useful, and the other functions seem very useful to me.

VIEW MAP: Same as BROWSE MAP (see above).

VOLUME: Self-explanatory.

TOOLS: Through this option you can find sub-options which will allow you to change the language (which includes eight different English voice options plus a multitude of other languages), set display, navigation, time, map, and security preferences. You can also set the system options, such as usage mode (automobile, bicycle, or pedestrian), units (miles or kilometers), and keyboard (QWERTY or ABCDE).

Things I really like:

Ease of use: As noted earlier, the Nuvi 255W is very user friendly. You should have no problem using this right out of the box. Play with the functions and set your preferences when you have a chance to do so.

Speed limit, actual speed: When you are looking at the map, you are shown the speed limit for the road you are travelling on, and your actual speed. Kind of cool. I have noticed that when I see a speed limit sign on the road, indicating a change of speed limit for that road, the Nuvi is not far behind in changing the speed limit on the screen. I can see that this could at some point become out of date if the governing authority changes the speed limit on a particular road, but it is a cool function nonetheless.

Turn info at top of screen, turn distance: If you missed the spoken directions, you can look at the top of the screen for written directions. Also, on the left side of the screen, you are shown the distance you have to go until your next turn. Also, the map shows your highlighted route, plus a white highlighted line with an arrow to indicate your next turn. Very helpful.

Usefulness: The functions I listed above under the main menu option of WHERE TO? are all very helpful and work well. I have no real complaints about those functions.

Things I don't like:

Volume: First of all, I think the volume of the Nuvi could be louder, and that would be helpful, but the volume is sufficient most of the time, unless you drive with your stereo turned up loud or with your windows down. I do both occasionally, but if I am using the Nuvi, I make sure the stereo is not up loud and my windows are up. Not too much of an inconvenience, because I use the GPS infrequently--only when I do not know how to get to where I am going (duh).

Speakers: The real problem is with the speakers. When the voices are turned up loud enough for my satisfaction, the speakers sound like they are overpowered, making a distorted noise during the loudest parts of the system's voices. This begins when the volume is turned up to 70 or 80 percent, and gets worse after that. The speakers should be built to withstand the power given to it by the internal amplifier. Evidently, this is not the case, and the clarity that I would like is not there. It bugs me after a while, but I can't do anything about it except turn the volume down I generally leave it at 80 percent, and I put up with the distortion. If there are no distractions then I can turn the volume down lower and still hear clearly without distortion. It seems that the female voices do not distort quite as much as the male voices.

Voices: The voices seem too robotic. It would be nice if they were more natural, but maybe that is several years away. I much prefer robotic voices to no spoken directions at all.

Some of the verbal directions: For example, when I am on the freeway here in my town, and the Nuvi tells me to exit the freeway, it tells me to exit onto Clack Street. Well, Clack Street is the access road to the freeway, so any exit I take will send me onto Clack Street. There are ten exits I could take, and the unit will tell me to exit onto Clack Street every time. It should tell me to take the Southwest Drive exit, or the Buffalo Gap Road exit, like the highway sign says, or like I would verbally tell someone to take if giving them directions. Not a problem in my home town so much, but might be a prob if I am in some unfamiliar place. The good thing, however, is that at the top of the screen, above the map, it does show me the exit name. So, although the Nuvi doesn't verbalize those directions, I can look at the screen to see the exit I need to take.

Summary:

Overall, I am quite satisfied with the Garmin Nuvi 255W. It is a very competent GPS navigation system. It works right out of the box and is very user friendly. It is intuitive in its design, and I find the functions offered are useful to me. The screen is bright and the maps are good. However, I would like for the unit to have better speakers and greater volume for those times when it is needed. The speakers are the major weakness of this GPS unit, in my opinion. The other negatives are minor in nature. If the speakers were of better quality, I would rate this GPS system five stars, but I am taking off one star because of the speakers.

(1 stars) - Absolutely Hated it!
We had a previous Garmin bought for us 2 years ago that was stolen out of car. It was pretty decent though we wished we had spoken street names. This device looked to be an upgrade, however it was so horrible that within a week I decided to return it. It would take 5 minutes to type anything into it as it made so many mistakes (much worse then my blackberry storm!) It also 2-3x tried to give me directions down a one way street, or a place where there was no turn, and it said that my friends address didn't exist....Maybe it was just my unit but I hated it!

(5 stars) - Garmin Nuvi
This is a great product - 1st one we have had and used it on our last trip. Really like the local information available, like restruants and hotels, even shopping. Reall simple to use. The only thing I would say is to include an instruction manual with the product. The HELP on the Nuvi was hard to use, while using the Nuvi for driving....

We also purchased the accesory pack - I posted a review for the Nuvi by mistake. The accesory pack and the car holder were really a good price compared to buying locally.

(5 stars) - Love my Garmin 255W
This is my first GPS, and I'm very, very pleased. I marked a few rankings in the attributes as neutral, but those are either features I don't have enough experience with to rate yet (data retention) or I don't use (Service) or I haven't a clue what the attribute means (Sexiness).

I am *very* happy with this tool. Getting it set up was easy. Using it the first time was easy. The functions it has (that I've used) are useful and well-designed. I haven't done anything very sophisticated with it yet... But it got me to and from one place that I *know* I would have struggled to find with my usual combination of maps and Web-based directions.

Since this is my first GPS, some of what I say may seem obvious to those of you who have had these for a while.

The background of the screen turns black when it's nighttime. At first, I thought that was just a cool, fun feature. That was when I had it set on the seat beside me. The first time I used it on the dash, I realized it's a safety feature. It's much less distracting not to have a very bright spot on the dash when you're driving in the dark.

I have not (and will not) use the windshield mount. I forked out the extra money to buy a friction dashboard mount. It works really well and is *very* stable on the dash.

I've encountered one error. The directions the GPS gave me were absolutely correct (when and where to turn), but the name of the highway was wrong. I haven't reported that to Garmin yet, but will.

The voice is clear and easy to understand.

I am so happy with this GPS that I'm offering to buy one for one of my nephews. I find myself wanted to go on a long roadtrip just to really put it through its paces! :-)

(5 stars) - Love it!
I bought this as a catch all for my family. My parents are older (60-70s) and they are NOT tech savvy. They also hate driving in cities and get horribly lost, so I wanted them to have something simple, efficient, and non-distracting to use. I'm a student and I was moving to a new town and wanted something that I could use while I was learning the new area.

I found the maps to be inaccurate at first, but after I updated them from Garmin's website everything is golden. I also bought an extra SD memory card for about $10 so that I'd have extra space for maps (remember to do this! Otherwise you can't update the maps!).

The voice directions are great, but sometimes it mispronounces names. However, I live in Oregon and many place names are Native American, so that's understandable.

I find it to be bright at night. I have really sensitive eyes and sometimes the display is too much, but there is an adjustment for it.

It takes a little while to get the satellites sometimes, but I just set it up as soon as I get in the car and by the time I'm out on the road and actually need directions it's up and going. I know lots of people complain about that. I don't really find it a huge issue. Think about it, if you're leaving your house, you know the general direction you should be going, right? And even if you're in another town, turn it on while you're still inside (I don't leave mine in the car) and then keep it on while you walk out to your car. Why would you turn on your GPS when you're already lost and need it RIGHT THEN?

I also love that I can store my favorite places in it, even if they're obscure! Like I said, I live in Oregon, which is by definition the backwoods. A lot of my friends' addresses are inaccurate by any GPS. So I just sit in their driveway and save the coordinates and viola! It works like a charm.

Overall, I think it's a great value and that it's simple and intuitive enough for any age of user. My parents took maybe twenty minutes to figure it out. It's so easy to use and has helped me out so much that I'd recommend it to anyone.

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