August 7, 2008

(Seattle, WA)

If you spend much time driving in unfamiliar territory, especially if you rent cars in big cities, a good portable GPS makes an amazing difference. And the Garmin 255W is the best one I could find.

First this thing just plain works. I haven't had any issues with mine. It was easy to set up and figure out right out of the box, and it's easy to use. It never has had trouble getting sufficient signal unlike earlier and cheaper models.

I chose the 255W for several reasons: It uses some of the newest and best maps available. It has one of the more usable touch screens for entering destinations. It's fast to acquire satellites. And Garmin almost always comes out on top in reviews--especially in routing.

Ultimately, you buy a car GPS to get you from Point A to Point B as easily and efficiently as possible. And that's what the 255W does best. If you've ever had a "Brand X" GPS take you on some strange route that adds 20 minutes to your trip, has you turn the wrong way down a one way road, tell you to turn AFTER you've passed the street, frequently loses the satellite signal, or has old maps missing streets, you know how important this stuff is.

The 255W has a really clear display that's easy to see in any light. It's small enough to use on foot. The windshield mount works great and it's easy to toss in the glovebox when you park. It even tells you the speed limit on most roads. The "points of interest" feature works very well to find places to eat by type of cuisine, gas stations, etc.

The difference between the 255W and 205W is the 255 speaks street names and includes Alaska and Canada. The 205 and 205W will tell you to "turn right in 500 feet" which isn't as helpful or obvious as "turn right on Ivy Street in 500 feet". The "W" models are widescreen which makes entering destinations easier due to having a bigger "keyboard" and also lets you see more map area while driving.


October 18, 2008

Aaron Friedman (New York, NY)

This GPS blows my old one out of the water. It easily connects to the computer (a big deal for me) with USB 2.0 and acts as an external disk drive. You can easily upload your own images (JPG GIF) and set that as a startup image or just have them on there for your viewing pleasure. Updating maps is easy and quick when you are doing it last minute before a trip. It also can charge off any computer with a USB connection, so even if there isn't a power outlet around you can charge it off a laptop.

The graphics are infinitely better than my previous GPS and other GPS models I have looked at. Even some of the higher-end models seemed to have very low framerates. The best way I tested this is I changed the icon for my car (there are about a dozen choices out of the box, and more can be downloaded) to hte 3D image of a bird flapping its wings (easily the coolest car icon). This clearly shows how often the map updates even when sitting still. The animation is smooth and turning the car has the map and bird turning to match with almost pin-point precision.

Other cool features include settings way points (or points of interest) with custom icons and map flags, full-voice directions (reads road names and way point names with almost perfect accuracy, its based on Text-to-speech software so there are a few times it pronounces things wrong, but that is to be expected), multiple accents (my favorite is female British American, they also have others like Australian female/male, American female/male, etc, plus tones of other languages), MSN direct connection and FM traffic reports (requires you buy an additional antenna thing for it, but well worth it. Can pay like $200 or something and get the service for life), HotFix which allows it to get satellites much faster when booting up (this is a great feature and my only complaint about past Garmins that I used which was that it took too long to acquire satellites, this eliminates that problem...by the time the main menu comes up after turning the device on it generally already has a full 100% signal from the satellites and it's ready to navigate), a beautiful crystal clear LCD widescreen, and tons of other features.

Also, it is a Garmin. Which means that it is VERY rare for the GPS to be wrong. I've used other GPS units, as well as GPS built into cars (high end cars like Acuras, Lexus, and Cadillac) and to this day NOTHING beats the accuracy of a Garmin GPS. My first GPS (the 330) was NEVER wrong. Not even once. It got me from point A to point B with 100% accuracy everytime. This GPS is no different. It has yet to disappoint, getting me everywhere with 100% accuracy. Even when detours are needed or routes change on the fly, it immediately corrects and shows you where to go.

Overall, another very solid GPS from Garmin. I highly recommend this GPS to anyone in the market for one who doesn't want to go with one of the more expensive $350+ models. This will do everything you need and more, plus it looks awesome (widescreen and is THIN! Fits in a shirt pocket or pants pocket amazingly well).