Garmin GPS - Opinions?

[frisco]

Looking at buying a new GPS today. There are 2 I'm considering.

Nuvi 200w
Nuvi 265w

The biggest difference between the 2 I can see is text to speech on the 265w and bluetooth.

My only concern is acquiring satellite and reliability of maps.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I have a garmin with bluetooth and text to speech. It does great things, especially since we just moved to the D.C. area where I can't find anything half the time.

It does sometimes take a couple of minutes to acquire satellite but the maps have always been reliable. My husband did the yearly free update earlier this year because I was also nervous about the maps being outdated.

I also like with our garmin that you can choose either the quickest route or the most direct route, which is not always the same. I would also recommend that you get the text to speech because driving and trying to look for directions is a pain and it's not always that easy while listening. It takes sometime to get used to while driving.

 

[Jeafl]

We have a Garmin as well and we are very happy with it. Every once in awhile it does take a minute or two to acquire satellite, but the maps and directions have always been perfect. The only problem we have ever had was one time it said there was a restaurant nearby that ended up being recently closed. Not really the Garmin's fault though!

 

[Disney Doll]

We have a Garmin NUvi. We've had no real problem with it, other than a slowish start-up (satellite acquiring) time. The maps are usually pretty good.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I think text-to-speech is a MUST for these things. We got the 255W and it's great.

 

[monkey68]

I have a Garmin, as does my dad. I love it, even though it does take some time to acquire satellites sometimes. I also don't always get the best signal in Manhattan because of the big buildings. But I think all GPS's have a problem in Manhattan. And the text to speech is great, although I laugh sometimes at some of the pronunciations.

 

[frisco]

Opted for the 200w. Doesn't have text to speech. Couldn't really justify almost double the price. My wife has a Tom-Tom that doesn't have text to speech. I've never even noticed it. As long as the street names come up on the screen, that's enough for me. We do very rare city driving where we wouldn't have time to look at the screen.

 

[joviroxx]

I had a 200 before I got my new car. I much prefer the Garmin over the one my Murano came with. I found it much easier to use , the interface better and better mapping and directions.

 

[Clio]

I have a garmin 200 that I got on black friday. My only problem is that it doesn't always give me the most logical route to get from point a to point b. It doesn't correct itself, though. My satelite reception is fairly good and it does tell me to turn in plenty of time. The 265 gives you the staate name orally which is a nice feature but not really necessary.
Liz

 

[LoraJ]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 360 and love it. It has gotten me lost a couple of times on the same route that I am not familiar with. Says to continue 1 mile to exit 1A, but it should say stay left unto whatever road, ended up on the wrong road. The good news is, it can get you back on track quickly if something like that happens.

 

[sbell111]

Looking at buying a new GPS today. There are 2 I'm considering.

Nuvi 200w
Nuvi 265w

The biggest difference between the 2 I can see is text to speech on the 265w and bluetooth.

My only concern is acquiring satellite and reliability of maps.

What is a 265W? On the garmin website, I could not find it. The 200W is discontinued.

When I search a while back, I pretty much decided that the 255W was the one to get.

 

[DrCavin]

I have the 205w, bought it off Amazon for a great price. I don't care for the street names being spoke, so wasnt worth the extra cost to me.

Takes about a minute to aquire sat, but havent had it lose connection yet.

The maps are pretty accurate, the POI's not so much. As with any GPS, they don't necessarily get you to your destination the "best" way, but you will arrive eventually

 

[manning]

I have a Garmin 680 that is discontinued and is great.

You know the story about having two watches and which one has the correct time.

The same applies with GPS.

I was travelling on the interstate and decided to take a local route thru town. I had a rental car with a magellan in it. I had both on. As I'm going thru town away from the interstate both is trying to get be back. The amusing part of it is one wanted me to make a series of right turns to get back and the other wanted me to make a series of left turns. My wife laughed and said it must be because one was mounted right of center of the car and the other left of center.

 

[Jewel1310]

We have a Nuvi 350 and LOVE it. It helped me when I traveled in my last job. We bought maps for Europe two years ago and took it with us. It helped us navigate in Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. It was a life saver and caused so much less stress.

I would buy it again in a heart beat. (Actually bought dd17 one for Christmas)

 

[Carpenters]

We have a Nuvi 200W and a 255. The 255 acquires the satellites much quicker than the 200, and I enjoy the text to speech feature because I don't have to glance at the screen as often. That being said, I like both units and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. We've travelled across country and in our neighborhood using them and found them very reliable.

 

[Lanshark]

Dh and I both have one. Dh travels a lot for work and carries it with him when he rents cars. I am terrible with directions and love mine. Text to speech is essential IMO

 

[manning]

Anyone hear the latest??

The Air Force maintains the GPS satellites. And they don't have enough money to do their job. The thinking is the satellites will start to fail beginning next year.

 

[Fifinella]

Garmin is quality GPS, and I swear by them. I have one for flying and I bought a Nuvi for my mother's car. She loves it.

 

[Laurabearz]

I love my Garmin!

I think either would be great, but I must admit I do like my voice commands.

WOuldn't it be cool if we could choose different accents