Customer Reviews

Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
A very useful product even if you are not using it to plot your route, but simply to follow your progress as you travel and any changes in travel direction. At any time, it can find your position in case you need emergency help.
As a route plotter, it is excellent and very easy to use. If you are taking a shopping trip to the U.S., for example, you can input all planned shopping stops before you leave home and save them to your favourites list. As you get go from one stop to another, simply call up the next stop from your favourites list and your route is shown from your then-location, even though the original routing was from your home. So you save inputting time while travelling. Of course, you can use it to find restaurants, hotels, hospitals, etc.
I bought the bean bag mount, which sits on top of the dash, and it works well - no sliding at all. It is an expensive extra, but much more preferable than suction-cupping the unit to the windshield (view-blocking and illegal in some jurisdictions).
Some obsevations:
1. Experiment (play) with the route planning parameters because it does make a difference.
2. The route chosen by the unit can vary depending on the orientation of the unit, i.e. the direction you or your car are pointing.
3. The unit gives you several advance voice prompts of upcoming turns. The last prompt is immediately before the turn and serves as a confirmation only. In other words, it's too late at that point to start slowing down and signalling. If you are unsure if the upcoming street is your turn or it's the one immediately after, give a quick look at the unit for confirmation.
4. The British voice is easier on the ears than either the American or the Aussie voice.
5. On a recent destination-filled shopping trip to the States, the unit did make one mistake as to where a particular store was located. It's a destination we will want to visit again, so I used the Where Am I function to save the correct location in my favouites list using a variation of the store name.
6. In an urban area where there are multiple turns within a very short time frame, the unit has a tough time (understandably) giving timely voice prompts. Give a quick look at the unit for more 'real time' information.
7. At highway speeds there is a difference in what your car speedometer is saying and what the unit is showing as your speed. (This is an oft-mentioned observation I have read on other review sights.)
Last Word: Wish I had bought it sooner.

I purchased this GPS as a gift, but I needed to test it out first to ensure I purchased the right item (I've never purchased electronics around this price range online before).

This is a great entry level GPS. It says that SOME of these model GPS units come with the mini-USB to USB cable, but this one did not, nor did it come with an AC adapter (the instructions tell you it is optional). It does however come with the cigarette lighter adapter, and a suction mount (which I couldn't confirm came with this unit anywhere online, so I bought the friction mount for it too, would have been handy to know that it wasn't necessary to do so). It also allows you to load an SD card full of pictures and such (but NOT music, this isn't an MP3 player), though I'm not sure why one would do that. I found it quite humorous that the American voice pronounced double l's as the Spanish "y" sound (example: "Chicken" in Spanish is "Pollos", pronounced "Poy-ohs"), making the mall I programmed it to find a little odd-sounding. This GPS doesn't take traffic into account, it doesn't tell you when to switch lanes, there's no 3D map, but it's very accurate, gives lots of warnings as to when you'll need to turn, there's all sorts of "points of interest" pre-programmed, essentially you're getting what you pay for: a sub $100 GPS with a fair amount of features that will get you where you want to go. Also, the discount on this site is a tad misleading I think... I could be wrong, but Garmin's own MSRP is about $180US on this unit. Amazon.ca may mistakenly have this listed at $341, making it look like you're saving 72% on it, when in fact it's maybe more like 50% (and that's assuming anyone would be selling this unit at MSRP, which is highly unlikely). That said, if you're buying this for Morty Seinfeld, you can send him to this site to show him how much of a deal you got on it.

I have tried a few other different kinds of GPS navigators but I have found Garmin to be the simplest to use. The 255W is no exception and I would reccomend it as an all you really need affordable GPS system

I cannot believe that this model is still selling. It must be about 7 years old as I have had this model for 5-6 years and I bought it for $100. It is a good basic GPS. The only 2 things I wish it had are lane assist and maybe respond to voice commands but these were not available when I bought it.

This gps is very good for the price but the screen is very hard to read in the sun. I have an old nuvi 650 and the 650 is doing a lot better in the sun. You also need to be at the good angle to have a clear image. A map easy to read is important when you drive. I found that I look at the gps longer that should do.
Also the touch screen is not very sensitive. You have to hold your finger longer on the screen to make it work.
Also there are too many characters on the keyboard than needed. That make's the button smaller and hard to touch precisely.
It's user friendly you can use it without reading the manual.

The Garmin was easy to use with maps for U.S. and Canada. Great price compared to other stores selling it.

Just a little word to say that I,m very satisfied of my GPS. It meet exactly what I wanted from a GPS.

Easy (friendly) to use, his 4.3 screen is perfect.
The price I paid was in line with my budget.

Also my confident in Amazon is very good, the transaction was easy and the delivery schedule was better than I expected.

Finally I would not hesitate to chose again Amazon for my next purchase.

Richard B.

This GPS unit is excellent for road navigation. It is not quite as good for walking in the woods as the map doesn't update enough and it is hard to tell your direction.

I bought this item Garmin as a Xmas present for my son, he will be travelling for a while out of the country (Australia) and since this GPS has the possibility to add maps cards, it was a no brainer... Since most of GPS needs downloads etc and internet connection this option will be a +. Pretty sure, he will not stop with Australia and we will end up buying a few more of those maps cards to go with is new Garmin.

WELL I DON'T KNOW I THOUGHT I UPDATED IT PROPERLY WHEN I GOT IT IT TOOK 2 HRS TO UP DATE THE NIGHT BEFORE OUR TRIP , SO I HAD IT ON FUEL EFFICIENT AND IT WAS FINE TILL WE GOT CLOSE TO EDMONTON THEN IT SENT US ON ALL THESE DIRT ROADS AND WHEN WE GOT TO THE CITY AT A STOPLIGHT THE CAR WAS STILL DRIVING AND SAID THAT WE WERE AT THE HOTEL AND WE WERN'T EVER CLOSE THANKFULLY WE ACCIDENTALLY DROVE BY THE HOTEL , THEN ON THE WAY HOME IT TOOK US THROUGH THE CITY , WHEN MY MOMS TOOK US AROUND , AND IT TOLD US TO TURN BUT THERE WAS NO ROAD! SO INSTEAD OF TELLING IT TO GO HOME WE HAD TO SET A CLOSER LOCATION SO WE COULD GET OUT OF THERE. ANYWAYS THERE WAS ALOT OF GAS WASTED, SO MAKE SURE ITS UPDATED PROPERLY AND TEST BEFORE A TRIP ,BUT ITS HARD TO TEST, BECAUSE ITS OK IN SMALL PLACES ,ITS WHEN YOU GET TO THE BIG CITY THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM