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Garmin Nuvi 255 Satellite Navigation System with Full EU Mapping
 
Manufacturer: Garmin
Customer Rating:
 
List Price: £119.99
Sale Price: £83.00
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Very good
 
Review Date: July 1, 2009
Reviewer: Artsreadings, Edinburgh, UK
Used it in various circumstances during getaway week-ends.

This product is excellent to plan the route with a final point of arrival and intermediate points of interest. Planning with postcodes is possible.

Vocal indications at crossings and direction changes are very accurate and timely. The details on screen are very easily readable.

There are avoidance options according to the kind of trip you're embarking on: offroad, motorways, tolls.

At any point, it is possible to deviate from the original route to find a petrol station, for instance, out of the list of the nearest spots available in the area. This is extremely convenient, for instance to avoid the extortionate prices of fuel on motorways.

It does indeed underestimate consistently the time a route will take because it assumes the car always run at the speed limit whereas this is rather not the case in real. In any case, the estimated time of arrival is updated at all time according to the speed of the car, which is monitored by the gps, and appears on screen.

The box comes without a USB cable, just with the car cable. Look up the cables you already have at home as the satnav uses a usb cable with the other end similar with the format used by the videa output of digital cameras, so might be no need to buy this cable on top.
Garmin Nuvi 255 - Great Value for Money and Simple to Use
 
Review Date: November 9, 2009
Reviewer: T. Mills, Wiltshire, UK
After my TomTom was accidentally destroyed I spent some time reviewing all the available options to replace it. It soon became apparent, from the multitude of reviews available on the Internet, that a Garmin would be a better choice apparently because the maps are more accurate and the prices better. The plethora of models was daunting and it took some time to be able to understand the differences between them all but limiting my budget and adding a few requirements, such as including a European map, soon narrowed my choices. I eventually chose the Garmin Nuvi 255 which seemed to meet all my specifications.

I chose a non-widescreen model as I couldn't see the advantage of being able to see more of what is either side of the road I am on - a tall thin one might have been better to see more of what is coming! The smaller one also fits more easily in my pocket. I am not disapointed by this choice; the screen is large enough and easily visible / readable in the car. I think that if I had bought a model with lane-assist a widescreen would be useful but for the functionality in the 255 it is not necessary.

The Garmin has a different Graphical User Interface than the TomTom with less menu options which at first seemed a down-side but with time has not proved to be so; in fact it has proved to be intuitive and very easy to use indeed (I haven't needed to refer to the manual at all but then I am a man at it's agianst my pride to do so. . .). The driving interface has less information visible than the TomTom which again seemed a down-side but it actually shows you what you really need and one touch of the screen brings up a very comprehenisve and well designed screen with all your trip details and historical information. Storing favourites etc is very easy and entering destinations is simple with full postcode search etc. It automatically changes to night colours in the evening which have less glare but are still clear. Warnings of speed cameras coming up - both fixed and of historical mobile sites - are clear and timely and appear to be accurate.

The GPS performance of the Garmin 255 is excellent and much faster than my TomTom although that was a relatively old model so it is unfair to compare them. After its first (one time only) calibration - which can take a few minutes - it picks up a satellite signal within seconds of being turned on. Route calculation is fast and recalculation, when I don't do what it tells me, is very quick. The software seems responsive and gives plenty of warning of directions. The female voice is clear, although rather boring, and there is plenty of volume if required. Battery life seems fine although so far I have not used it more than 3 hours without recharging it. It seems to recharge quite quickly (in about 30 minutes?) but I haven't timed this.

I have used the Garmin as a hand-held device (it has an option for this) to navigate the streets of London on foot. The interface is slightly different but still clear. I felt a bit stupid walking along holding this thing in my hand and it did get a bit confused if I stopped or walked slowly but otherwise it worked fine.

I have also found that it is much easier and cheaper (than the TomTom) to get spare mounts (and other accesories) for the Garmin from sites such as eBay so I am now able to have one mount in each car and one on my motorcycle making moving between vehicles simple. The mini USB connection at the back (it doubles as the charging socket) is standard - similar to most camera leads - so it is easy to find a cable to attach it to your computer for internet upgrades, new maps etc. The Garmin website is fine and easy to navigate. So far I have not be bombarded with offers from Garmin which I was with TomTom.

The only down-side I can see is the cost of new maps which is a little more than the TomTom and the choice of different voices to download which the TomTom had many.

Overall a simple, easy to use, accurate GPS which works very well. It has all the features you need for travel in the UK and Europe and for the price is highly recommended. I won't be going back to TomTom and if I can ever convince my wife she needs a GPS it'll be another Garmin.
Nuvi 255
 
Review Date: June 28, 2009
Reviewer: A. Bateman, UK
Excellent low cost sat nav. Does everything you need and is compact enough to fit in your back pocket. Start up is really quick and the device is easy to use. You can also charge it from the supplied car 12V connector, your laptop, or (in my case) my motorola mobile phone charger did the trick.
Simplicity
 
Review Date: July 11, 2009
Reviewer: A. Jackson,
Garmin Nuvi 250 Satellite Navigation System with Full EU Mapping As a first timer to Sat Nav usage, I found this product so simple to understand and easy to use. The instruction booklet was minimal but it had sufficient information to get me started....all of 10 minutes! Really pleased with the simplicity of the product and so far very reliable at locating the places to visit.
Got me to Barcelona and my hotel in Paris
 
Review Date: November 14, 2009
Reviewer: J. C. Galloway, Maidenhead
I have had 6 different sat navs over the past 7 years and this is my favourite,......my wife has a Navigo and is always pinching this Garmin because it is so easy to use...the only minor criticism I have of it is when I went to Wales...to me a UK post code is a UK but no, it differentiates between England and Wales...it reconciles rapidly (unlike my my last Navman), easy clear display....if you are looking for lots of bells and whistles, forget it...this just gets you where you want to go easily......I have used Tom Tom abroad (which was fine apart from I had it on an Ipaq that kept crashing meaning I had to pull over to reset it). Last year I went to the south of France using this Garmin - no probs at all..Then on to Barcelona - easy peasy.....I bit nervously I used it to find a Novotel hotel in the middle of Paris through the one way system - couldnt be simpler.....

If you are looking for a an easy to use, full 7 digit postcode, euro enabled satnav(with Euro post codes), then for the money, look no further......it does let you do points of interet and personal favourites (which is a bit fiddly since you do it on your pc then load to the sat nav), but i love this unit so much, I am going to splash out and buy my wife one and ditch her Navigo........

This will do 99% of what normal people want


Highly recommended

Craig