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(More customer reviews)This Garmin nuvi 250W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator is my first GPS unit. Having now owned it for several days, and with my wife and me putting it through its paces, I can definitely and honestly say that it is an excellent unit, one of which Garmin should be proud.
It is considered to be a "basic" GPS device.
This unit does the job, does it very well, and does it very simply.
It gets you there and it gets you back! You won't ever be lost when you use this device.
That is the reason for which you purchase an item such as this. This particular unit functions much like its competition except that, from what I have read, it really works much better than most of them. And from my own experience with it I can say that I could not be more satisfied.
The nuvi 250W (as well as the nuvi 250) come pre-loaded with maps of all of North America, including Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The nuvi 200W (and the nuvi 200) have maps only for the "lower 48" states including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. While that may be sufficient for many (probably most) people, I think the 250W offers much more for a relatively small difference in price.
To add Canada and Alaska maps to the 200/200W costs more than the price difference between the 250/250W and the 200/200W. The choice of which device to buy, of course, depends on where you plan or may plan to travel. Otherwise, the 250/250W and the 200/200W function identically.
The wide screen of the "W" units is, in my opinion, not a frill but rather an extremely useful upgrade in terms of visibility and usefulness. You can see much more of the surrounding area and this can be of great help when you're in an unfamiliar place.
Its wide screen is very bright in daylight, does not wash out, and can be set to automatically dim at night. This auto-adjust feature works very well indeed and is really welcome. Once set, you need not adjust the brightness any further. The sound volume control is fully and easily adjustable; I personally have found that the best setting for me is 70%. This level can be heard clearly over my radio/CD that I may have playing without "blasting," so I have left it at that level.
Obviously, in only a few days of ownership, I have not been able to explore all its capabilities, but I have found the Garmin web site to be of great help. (If you don't already know the URL of Garmin's site, just do a search. For some reason Amazon does not allow the URL to be posted here.) There is a wealth of information there. I was even able to update my firmware from version 2.60 (supplied) to the latest version 2.90. This was quite easy to do. (Of course, to do this you need a 6ft USBa/mini B Device USBa To Mini B 2.0 Compatible (#27005) or similar which, incredibly and disappointingly, Garmin does not include in the package. This particular cable, at Amazon's very low price, is well-worth buying, even if only as a spare. However, you may have one or more of these cables from other applications lying about your house, as I do.)
Garmin's site supports Apple Macintosh computers as well as Windows computers.
Entering addresses, saving them to if desired, and actually driving to a selected location is straightforward. I found the directions selected to be quite accurate. So far, I have tested the unit only locally and on locations known to me. But in every case it took me the same way that I would have gone myself. Distances tested have been up to about 20 miles. This unit also features a bicycle mode and a pedestrian mode, but I have tried neither as yet. (I understand that if you are parked in a crowded parking lot, you can switch to the pedestrian mode, mark the location of your automobile, and, after you are finished shopping or whatever, the unit will walk you right back to your car!)
I tried the function a couple of times, just for testing, and it worked flawlessly. The function also worked flawlessly.
If you miss an indicated turn, which I did deliberately, the device recalculates extremely rapidly. I am amazed as to how well it works in this regard.
Of course, NO GPS device is a substitute for local knowledge. None of them can know of, for example, closed roads, seasonally affected roads, or roads under construction. None can know that a "back road route" to a place which, even though slightly longer in mileage, avoids heavy local traffic, during local rush hour, for example, and so is actually much shorter in time.
Sometimes you may still have to ask!
But, in general, these devices, and this one in particular with its superb detouring ability, function very well indeed. Note that there is no limit on the number of times you can press . If you feel that the unit is taking you a way on which you do not want to travel, merely press the button again.
The number and extent of the pre-loaded "Points of Interest" is just staggering! There are 6,000,000(!) of them! I just can't imagine anyone not being able to find just what he is looking for! AND, additional customized points of interest can be added quickly and easily and mostly for free (see Garmin's site for information). This is amazing!
If you are moving to a new town, or are visiting an unfamiliar place, this "Points of Interest" function will show you just about every store, business, or place of entertainment you could desire. The unit can even indicate when you are near a "Point of Interest" which is contained within or programmed into its memory.
This unit also points out "speed zones" - both visually and audibly. The usefulness of this particular feature in unfamiliar locations goes without saying!
Unfortunately, the low price currently being charged precludes Garmin from supplying as standard certain items, in addition to the USB cable mentioned above, which, in my opinion, are necessary. While this may seem as though it's annoying "nickel-and-diming" (and it is!) the additional necessary items are, fortunately, not very expensive.
These are the several optional accessories that I should recommend (I purchased them all): the first two are the Garmin Portable Friction Mount for Nuvi, StreetPilot I Series & C530, C550 (010-10908-00) (it is much, much better than the included window-mount suction cup - believe me, this "bean-bag" is a superb item - and it is mandatory in certain states), and the Garmin Carrying Case for Nuvi 660 (010-10823-01) (which I really wish were supplied as standard).
[Please note that, instead of Garmin's own carrying case, I now recommend the AmazonBasics Carrying Case for Portable GPS Units (Black) which is constructed just as well, perhaps better, than Garmin's own and is less expensive.]
Amazon carries both of these items as well as the unit itself and this season I have found their prices to be better than that of any other retailer. Their shipping service is top-notch as well.
There are two other accessories I recommend: 1) do NOT buy an AC Adapter for this unit; it is very expensive. Instead, buy an "AC Travel Charger with 12V Accessory Outlet" (formerly available from Amazon but now only available from PartsExpresscom); this alone will be all you need to allow the DC Power Adapter that comes with the unit to be used from any AC source. Merely navigate to PartsExpress' web site and enter the above description (in quotes) into the search box (without the quotation marks, of course). It is far less expensive (only $6.78) than an AC Adapter, and, of course, can be used with other DC-powered items as well. And 2) buy a soft side (padded) lunch box or fishing tackle box (I bought a cheap one at Wal-Mart) of suitable size to store the various accessories. This can be left in the trunk of your car out of sight when the GPS is not in use.
Obviously, you should NEVER - NEVER! -leave the unit itself anywhere in your car, at ANY time when the car is parked and you're not there, even if it's hidden away.
And you should NEVER - NEVER! - leave ANY of the attachments or accessories visible in your car when it is is parked.
In fact, you should NEVER leave any clue whatsoever that you have one of these devices. Thieves can be very clever! ALWAYS take the unit with you when you leave your car - every time!
It is probably safe to leave just the accessories as long as they are all carefully hidden away in the trunk or otherwise camouflaged (and no one has seen you hide them or place the items in your trunk! Be VERY careful!). I have heard that thieves even look for suction-cup marks on the windshield and, if they see one, they break into your car, figuring that you have a GPS device hidden in your glove box! GPS units are today's "hot" item to steal and sell.
You must employ common sense when using one of these devices, at least at the present time. You also want to make your car less "inviting" to thieves.
As a further aid in making theft somewhat less attractive, this Garmin unit has a feature that I really like - a security feature. One sets a 4-digit PIN AND sets this up at any particular desired location (generally your home). When you start up the unit, if you are at your starting point, the unit comes on automatically. If you are at any...Read more›
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Garmin nüvi 250W 4.3-Inch Portable GPS NavigatorThe widescreen version of Garmin's nuvi 250 offers a large, easy-to-read screen (4.3 inches diagonally to the nuvi 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 nuvi 200W at a lower pirce. If you want maps for Europe, you'll need to go with the smallernuvi 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 nuvis, it does, like all nuvi 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 nuvi 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 nuvi 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 nuvi 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 nuvi takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. In addition, nuvi 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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