GARMIN 010-00656-00 Nuvi 250W Widescreen Travel Assistant
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Wider screen lets you see more of what’s around. View larger. |
nüvi 250W accepts custom points of interest (POIs). View larger. |
The nüvi 250W comes preloaded with maps for U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and features an ultra-slim design. |
The widescreen version of Garmin’s nüvi 250 offers a large, easy-to-read screen (4.3 inches diagonally to the nüvi 250s 3.5 inches) at an attractive price point. Like its smaller sibling, the 250W comes with preloaded maps for the continental U.S., Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canada and Alaska. If all you don’t need Canada and Alaska, you can get the nüvi 200W at a lower pirce. If you want maps for Europe, you’ll need to go with the smaller nüvi 270, or you can purchase a set of European maps on SD Card or CD-Rom. While it doesn’t have some of the more sophisticated features of higher-end nüvis, it does, like all nüvi 200-series members, offer a rock-solid navigation experience with an easy-to-use colorful touchscreen, 6 million points of interest (POI)s, and an ultra-slim design.
See More of What’s Around
The widescreen format gives you 70% more actual screen area than a 3.5-inch screen. Primarily this translates into a better view of the area through which you are driving. This is especially useful in showing you what parks, restaurants, ATM, gas stations, etc. are nearby, or in letting you know whether a detour is a good idea. Also, the device itself is larger, meaning controls on the screen are more widely spaced and somewhat easier to push.
Smart, Powerful Design
The nüvi 250W is built with a high-sensitivity WAAS-enabled GPS receiver for extreme accuracy, as well as an SD card slot for storing your media and additional navigation tools, and a USB interface for loading data. All this is wrapped up in a package that measures 4.8 x 2.9 x 0.8 inches (W x H x D) and weighs just 6.6 ounces. The nüvi display is touchscreen-enabled, making it a cinch to control the device with your fingertips. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to five hours of battery life depending on use.
Navigate with Ease
nüvi 250W comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, 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. In addition, nüvi 250W 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.
Garmin’s interface is a key to their success and one of the things that 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.
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 Custom vehicle icons let you ride in style, at least inside your GPS. See more icon options. |
Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 250W features travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. It also comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature, and configurable vehicle icons that let you select car-shaped graphics to show your location on the map. Optional plug-in SD cards for our line of 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.
Note: Like most USB Mass Storage Devices, the nüvi is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me.
What’s in the Box
nüvi 250W, preloaded City Navigator NT for the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Canada, vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk, and set up and go guide.
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Device
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Screen Size inches (W x H)
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Included Maps
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Text-to-Speech (Directions in Real Street Names)
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Traffic
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Bluetooth
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Media
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FM Transmitter (audio through car stereo system)
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Multi-Point Routing
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Battery life (hours)
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Cont. U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
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AK and Canada
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Europe
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| nüvi 250w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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Photos | up to 5 | ||||||
| nüvi 205 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||||
| nüvi 205w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||||
| nüvi 255 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 255w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 260w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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Photos | up to 5 | |||||
| nüvi 265T | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 265WT | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 275T | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 285WT | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 3 months free); |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 465T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 755T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) | Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 760 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 5 | |
| nüvi 765T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | |
| nüvi 775T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 |
| nüvi 780 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 3 months free); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 5 | |
| nüvi 785T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 3 months free); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | |
| nüvi 850 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 855 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 885T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 3 months free); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | |
| nüvi 1200 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | |||||
| nüvi 1250 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 1260T | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 1300 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | |||||
| nüvi 1350 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 1350T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 1370T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 1390T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 1490T | 4.4 x 2.5 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 1690 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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NAVTEQ Traffic, 2 years free (Garmin nüLink! service) |
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Photos |
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up to 4 | ||
Features
- Personal Travel Assistant Comes Preloaded With Maps For The United States, Canada
- Features A Wide 4.3-Inch Sunlight Readable Color Display
- High-Sensitivity WAAS-Enabled GPS Receiver Offers Extreme Accuracy
- Route To Addresses,Restaurants, Hotels & More
- Turn-By-Turn Directions & Voice Guidance
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 1 x 3 x 5 inches
- Weight: 3 pounds
Excellent portable GPS navigator
I currently use this unit on business trips so I don’t have to use the rental car companies’ units. It’s small enough to fit in a briefcase, yet the screen is big enough to be very visible in all conditions. The Garmin interface is the best out there in my opinion, better than the OEM equipment in most cars. I prefer it to the one in our Lexus, and my next car will come without nav, I’ll use the Garmin instead.
The accessories are robust, and map updates are a lot cheaper than the ones from car manufacturers.
refurbished garmin 250W
This was a present to my brother, shipping was slow, but his satisfaction was very high, thank You
Takes longer routes sometimes
This GPS is still going strong. We like it very much. The only problem we had was that sometimes it takes us on a longer route. It doesn’t mention street names. It will tell you to make turns but it can be rather confusing if you’re on a highway in unfamiliar territory.
very good item…
I bought it 1.5 years ago,just when I came to LA and had no idea about the city…this item is awesome,never had problems with it,went to Las Vegas with it and never had any issues…except one that have been mentioned here,it does take several minutes to connect to satellite when its not connected to the power plug…otherwise its great,has attractions, hotels,parking,shops,gas stations etc…what else you need?!
Ridiculous design choices makes for frustrations
Unfortunately, Garmin’s engineer ranks does not include one with an understanding of human-computer interactions.
As an engineer, I must say that the design for this GPS is ridiculously against every convention of software development is as a consumer, using the Nüvi is an absolutely frustrating experience. Simple but horrible design problems routinely renders the GPS useless while driving
[...].
garmin
I have loved my Garmin and received it before I had expected. Thanks, LMB
never lost again
bought a New GPS and I could not believe that I could get to point A to point B with out getting lost or stopping every other gas station for directions is an awsome little invention I never had any sense of direction maps forget about that one now with my GPS I don’t need a navagator next to me in my car.I have my new Bertha that’s her name so come ladies and Gents get yourself one YOU WILL JUST LOVE IT
Good basic GPS
We’ve owned this GPS since 2007 and have found it to be a fairly reliable basic unit. With any GPS, my requirements are for reliable GPS-oriented features and not lots of bells and whistles that I’ll probably never use. Our 250W boots up very quickly and we’ve never had it freeze up on us. This model only announces the direction of the turn and not the street name, which was not a factor at the time of purchase but is now something that I would definitely want to have on any unit I would buy. The reason- I’ve found it to be confusing when getting off some expressway ramps where there are several streets close together so I’m not always sure on which street I am supposed to turn on since I have to primarily rely on the voice prompt because I’m driving and can not safely look at the the map other than maybe a quick glance for details.
Routing
I find the mapping on this and other Garmin units to be somewhat problematic because whichever Garmin model I’ve tested, I’m ALWAYS directed to go several miles out of my way when I’m within several miles of my home. Within approx. 3 miles of home, all Garmins route me past several streets I should turn on for the shortest, quickest and most direct route, as it apparently does not recognize one or more of those streets. I notified Garmin who told me to report it to Navteq (sp?), which I immediately did. I keep checking in-store units to see if the routing has yet been updated but it has not.
Other GPS Experience
We bought a more sophisticated Magellan Maestro 4250 last year since I thought the extra features on that unit could be useful. While it did a better job with the routing within 3 miles of home because it recognized the streets the Garmin did not, I found the actual map to be significantly less useful than our Garmin’s map. However, I thought the zoom feature when approaching an upcoming turn and the `turn alarm’ when at the turn are each brilliant. Another useful feature is that the unit automatically narrows the possible address choices with each character entered so fewer characters have to be entered than with Garmin However, the map appearance became the deal breaker and the 4250 was returned after using it for 2 weeks.
MAP COMPARISON – Garmin vs Magellan
I prefer the look and utility of Garmin’s maps to Magellan’s. In addition to color and sharpness, the main reason is that Garmin shows the street names above the road while the Magellan overlays the name on top of the road, which makes street names extremely difficult to read at a glance, even at night. There are times I don’t use the nav/routing feature but only the map, usually when I have a general idea of where to go and may not want to rely on the unit’s routing. While in map only mode, the Garmin’s announce/show names of upcoming main streets so it’s always easy to quickly and safely know where you are in relation to the surrounding streets since all surrounding streets are very easy to see/read without having to stare at the screen. Not so with the Magellan, which requires much more of your attention trying to figure out street names and where you are in relation to the upcoming streets. Another feature I felt the Garmin has it over the Magellan is the location on the screen where the street name you are traveling on appears (at the top). For me, these Garmin features are logical and intuitive while Magellan’s seemed counter intuitive.
Bottom Line
Although the 250W has since been replaced, it would still be worthwhile buy if it could be had for the right price.
Great unit…WHEN IT WORKS!
For 18 months, I used this little gem, yes there were minor flaws, but overall, an excellent GPS. Then one day while driving it just stopped working! KAPUT! I checked Garmin’s website and it costs more to get it repaired ($125 plus shipping) than to purchase a new one ($118 includes shipping). If Garmin can’t back up their products better, I just assume go purchase a competitors model.
Like I mentioned, the GPS is a slick little unit, but Garmin doesn’t seem to care much about warranting their products.
Garmin Nuvi 250
I don’t believe that I order this from Amazon but I use this version of GPS at my work. I trust Garmin over all other GPS in the market today. I have two Garmins that I use on a daily bases and I havn’t gotten lost yet.
Garmin 250
This is an easy to read GPS. The voice is also easy to understand. There are a few destinations that are not in the device but most are.
Satisfied
Purchased this after researching others.
It doesn’t recognize some addresses I try to put in,
but overall, does a good job.
Garmin Nuvi – God’s gift to the directionally challenged
OMG. I’d kinda gotten comfortable being lost. I’ve never had a sense of direction so it’s how I’ve spent my life. I’m good with left or right, but god forbid someone says east or west. This little goodie has really thrown a wrench into the works. Now I’m … (uncomfortably) finding my way around.
If you can get passed the digital voice saying “RECALCULATING” everytime you make the wrong turn, this is the item for you. And let me tell you, I hear “recalculating” alot!
My only bone of contention is that it doesn’t find a satellite quickly enough . . . especially if I’m on my cell phone. Would love it if they could fix that!
Even with that issue, its totally worth it.
Respectfully,
Steve
Go buy a tom tom
My mom bought this a while ago when it first came out, thinking the most pricey an item is the better it is. Well, the price lies.
After turning it on, it takes AT LEAST 5 minutes to acquire satellites, even if you are in a wide open area. The map from “2007″ is more like a map from 2005. There have been places that come up in the system as still existing that have been gone way before the year that the map claims to be from.
Personally, I’m going to get a tom tom so that I know when i have an emergency, i won’t have to wait around 5-10 minutes for the system just to find satellites.
Horrible directions too. It constantly tells you to take turns that aren’t even possible (one ways, u-turns, etc.). I’ve gotten lost so many times with this that I’ve given up and print out the old fashion goodle maps whenever possible.
But if you don’t mind having to wait 5-10 minutes when you are lost or in trouble when you need help ASAP, then by all means buy a garmin. If I’m seriously hurt and don’t know where I am, I’d like to have a gps that acquires satellites quickly so that I don’t die.
Bottom line: Go with another brand.
Awesome Gadget, love it!
I love this Garmin product, altho’ I bought it refurbished, it looked brand spanking new coming out of the box, can’t beat the price too!
It’s not SO bad after all !!!
People, people, people, first things first … this is a BASIC GPS which, trust me, works well in Canada, the US & Australia … I actually bought my 250w @ Dick Smith Electronics in Neutral Bay last Dec during the pre-chirstmas sales & paid $129.99 AUD, thus my 250w came preloaded with maps of Australia, when the company I was working for decided to pull out of Australia, thus forcing me back to North America, I pondered what todo with my 250w, a little digging on the Garmin website & here @Amazon I found a SD map option for North America, thus giving me base maps for both Australia & North America, which, trust me is trez cool. Sure there have been times when I wanted to chuck this little GPS out the window, but, if your not paying attention to driving … it’s kinda your own fault … read road signs & don’t always trust technology & you’ll be happier with this rather unique bit of technology, which, has never really left me lost … maybe … confused, but never lost
Very Good Value
An excellent product and very good value. Everything I had expected.
Philip
Garmin Nuvi 250W – Street Names Missing
I Purchased the Nuvi 250W on December 20th, 2008 from the local Best Buy.
Right from the beginning I had problems with the lack of street name details that this unit continually left blank street, after, street, after street and finally I phoned Garmin for tech support. Also, like others are complaing about, the damn thing takes forever to acquire satellites, by the time the street name is displayed, you have already passed the street. I also tried slowing down while driving to simulate having to look at street signs closely before turning, and the GPS was useless! It would display all streets on the right hand side, but not on the left hand side. It got to the point where I had to test the unit in several different ways because I couldn’t be sure if I was doing something wrong. Over 2 weeks I received 4 emails from 2 different reps who repeated the same set of instructions for me to follow, which did not help. Finally, I requested whether Garmin suggests I exchange the unit, after all, I liked it and would have kept it, good deal I got for $200. That was 2 Sundays ago and I still have not received a reply from Garmin. So I returned it to Best Buy and they gave me no hassles at all. I’m so happy that I returned it and got my money back and I would argue that Garmin quality is highly overrated and I would buy a TomTom instead.
Bought another as a gift.
It resolved my major problem of getting lost out of town.
Before I left for an East coast trip, I added all my Hotel addresses
to Favorites. I could wander amlessly then set my hotel as destination.
Worked every time.
Note that Model 205 doesn’t have Canada.
Garmin Nuvi 250W GPS
Bought as Christmas present. We are first time GPS users and were a bit wary–from the time it was unwrapped it has been immediately functional-super easy to use. We do alot of garage/estate sales, plan to use it for that. It was purely plug in to car cigarette lighter install- we bought a beanbag type accessory for a mount as works better in our car situation. We just love using it–just hope we do not become too dependent–GO Home feature is fun and very reassuring–Love it