0ur opinion:

:
For peace of mind on the go, nvi 255 leads the way with voice-prompted turn-by-turn and optional MSN Direct to get you there on time and keep you informed. lt's packed with millions of destinations and maps for North America or Europe. Like the rest of the compact nvi 2x5-series, this portable navigator is priced right and ultra-easy to use.nvi 255 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (P0ls) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. lt even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nvi takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions, 2-D or 3-D maps and and smooth map updates as you navigate. lts digital elevation maps show you shaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. ln addition, nvi 255 accepts custom points of interest (P0ls), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming P0ls. With HotFix satellite prediction, nvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.Like the rest of the nvi 2x5-series, nvi 255 sports a sleek, slim design and fits comfortably in your pocket or purse. lts rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot. With its 'Where Am l? ' emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations.eft feature. Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in microSD cards such as Garmin Travel Guides for detailed data on attractions.

----June 3, 2008:
Garmin's nüvi 255W improves upon its 200-series predecessors by adding top-of-the-line features such as FM traffic updates or MSN Direct content to an entry-level line. But Garmin is also introducing some significant improvements with this new series, like a predictive technology that provides faster satellite lock, a redesigned screen with more information, terrain maps, and an exciting new photo navigation feature. The 255W adds complete maps for North America and Text-to-Speech, so you get turn by turn spoken directions with the real names of streets (e.g. 'turn left in 50 feet at Nebraska Way', rather than merely 'turn left in 50 feet'). The 255W also offers a wide 4.3-inch (diagonal) screen that displays 70% more of the road around you.

The nüvi 2x5 models all sport the slim design that Garmin introduced with the 200-series last year, so they all fit comfortably in your pocket or purse, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that makes them convenient for navigation by car or foot.All of the models include useful travel tools like a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more.

Key Features/Benefits for all 2x5 Series Navigators

• New -- HotFix (Long Term Ephemeris Prediction) finds satellites faster (Learn more)
• New -- Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Basemap shows 3D shaded terrain features (Learn more)
  
• New -- Faster 333 Mhz processor offers faster, smoother map drawing and vehicle icon motion through turns
  
• New -- Redesigned user interface offers more information (Learn more)
• New -- Photo Navigation lets you upload geo-coded photos from a phone, geo-coding camera or photo site and navigate to them. (Learn more)
• New -- Add Enhanced MSN Traffic and Content with the optional GDB 55 antenna and charger (Learn more)
• New -- Send addresses directly to your Garmin from Google Maps or Mapquest (Learn more)
• New -- Automatic Time Zone Transition
• Text-to-Speech gives directions with real street names
• 4.3-inch Widescreen shows you more of what's around you as you drive (Learn more)
• Memory Card Slots so you can add maps and travel guides, or store photos (MicroSD card slot on 3.5-inch units; SD card slot on 4.3-inch units)
• Preloaded Maps with Navteq data of North America + Hawaii + Puerto Rico, including 6.5 million searchable points of interest (Learn more)
  
• Rechargeable lithium-ion battery for easy portability (up to 4 hours per charge)
• Custom Vehicle lcons let you personalize your navigator (Learn more)
• lntegrated Antenna for a slim form factor
• Where Am l? -- instantly shows you all of the emergency services nearby (Learn More)

Which nüvi is Best for You?:
Click here to see a quick, simple comparison of features for all Garmin nuvi GPS navigators

Learn More

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New -- lmproved lnterface

0ne of Garmin's key product philosophies is to make extremely complex technology easy to use for anyone right out of the box, and perhaps nowhere is that better exemplified than in the user interface for Garmin's portable navigation devices. Garmin's interface is a key to their success part of what 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. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions, 2-D or 3-D maps and smooth map updates as you navigate. This year, Garmin has redesigned its interface to include much more useful information.

0ld lnterface

New lnterface

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New -- HotFix™ – aka: Satellite Ephemeris Data Prediction

Your GPS device locks onto transmissions from a dedicated network of Satellites in order to determine its position. Until the device gets a 'lock' on three satellites, it can't effectively navigate, so decreasing the time it takes for your device to get 'satellite lock' is always a goal of GPS manufacturers. With Garmin's new HotFix technology, your Garmin GPS remembers the position of all satellites it is tracking when you turn it off, and calculates their movements in order to predict where they should be the next time you turn it on. This gives the device an idea of where it should look for satellites, and dramatically decreases the time it takes for your Garmin to get its position and start navigating. HotFix can predict satellite positions for up to 3 days after the device was last turned off. Using Garmin’s unique Web site — Garmin Connect Photos — users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Google’s Panoramio photo sharing community and download them to the nüvi for a richer navigation experience using pictures as a guide.

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New -- Navigate by Photo

Using Garmin’s unique Web site — Garmin Connect Photos — users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Google’s Panoramio photo sharing community and download them to the nüvi for a richer navigation experience using pictures as a guide. Choose from Panoramio's collection of photos from around the world. Easy to use interface displays photos on Google Maps. Search for photos by location name or map area boundary. Transfer photos directly from Garmin Connect to device with the Garmin Communicator. View photos in Google Earth. Supports lnternet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari 3+ on Windows and Mac.

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New -- 3D Terrain Maps

Shaded relief terrain maps show you when to expect hills, mountains, forests and other natural features. Topographic terrain maps are viewable when using the 2D 'birds-eye' view.

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New -- Send Addresses Directly from Google Maps or Mapquest

tching to try out a new restaurant, or setting off on a road trip to locate the best toffee apples on the east coast? Now, it's easy to search for locations on Google Maps or Mapquest, then transfer the addresses directly to your Garmin GPS navigator. Hook up your Garmin to the computer via it's USB port Search for the location you want Click the Send link in the info window for the address. That will bring up a popup 'Send to' form. Pick GPS, then pick Garmin and hit the 'Send' button. The address will instantly transfer to your Garmin device, The point will be saved as one of your favorites, and you can navigate to it or view it on a map just like with any other favorite. The process does require a small plugin, which you can get at Garmin's website at http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3739. You can send business addresses to your Garmin device from these countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, ltaly, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
Search for the location you want.	Pick 'Send to GPS'.	Go!

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Traffic-Capable for Either FM Traffic or Enhanced MSN Direct Content

MSN Direct Enhanced Traffic and Content

With an optional receiver, you can access enhanced dynamic content from the MSN Direct service. Check the weather, avoid traffic backups, compare local gas prices, get enhanced movie listings, stock information, news and local events when you travel with your unit. Even plan trips from the convenience of your computer, via Windows Live Local, and wirelessly send custom to your nüvi. Check out a full description of MSN Direct content features, or a coverage map for MSN Direct services. A 3-month subscription to MSN Direct is included with the receiver. After that, subscription fees are $49.95 per year, or $129.95 for a lifetime subscription.

FM Traffic

With an optional receiver, you can get alerts from TMC Clear Channel about traffic tie-ups and road construction that might lie ahead on your route. All you have to do is simply touch the screen to view traffic details and you'll be ready to detour around any problem area. And if you end up missing a turn, or you're forced into a detour that is not relayed through the traffic receiver, the nüvi's sophisticated automatic routing will get you back on track in no time. ln most areas, TMC Clear Channel traffic broadcasts are continuous — there's no waiting for scheduled traffic news updates or random alerts. Because traffic broadcasts are received via a 'silent' FM data channel, you can still listen to music or news programming on your car radio without interference from incoming FM traffic data transmissions. A 3-month subscription to TMC Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network is included with the receiver. For more information on subscription fees, coverage in individual cities, and traffic data networks in the United Kingdom and Europe, check the Garmin website.

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Widescreen -- See More of What's Around

The super-bright, 4.3-inch (diagonal) touchscreen display gives is anti-glare for ease of viewing during the day and automatically changes its color profile for easy viewing at night or in dim light. lt offers 2d or 3D perspective views. 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.

Wider screen lets you see more of what's around. Compare these actual size views of a 3-inch (diagonal) screen

and a 4.3-inch diagonal widescreen

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Where Am l?

0n any nüvi (including this one), you can just tap 'Where Am l?' to find the closest hospitals, police stations, fuel stations, nearest address and intersection. Also see your exact latitude and longitude coordinates.

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First-Rate Map Data

nüvi accepts custom points of interest (P0ls). View larger.

The nüvi comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps for all of North America, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, including a hefty P0l database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. Garmin gets its map data from NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping. ln addition, nüvi accepts custom points of interest (P0ls), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming P0ls lmportant note about map updates: Due to our high volume of sales, almost every Garmin portable GPS navigator sold by will come with the most recent map version. lf you ever do need a map update, you can purchase one from Amazon.com at our Garmin Store.

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Garmin Lock

Garmin's patent pending theft prevention system that disables the unit from performing any functions until the user types in a specific 4-digit PlN or takes the unit to a predetermined secure location

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Beyond Navigation

Browse your stored pictures with an easy-to-use JPEG viewer.

Navigation is just the beginning. The nüvi 2x5 models features travel tools including a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. This device is compatible with optional content plug-ins available via microSD card, such as the Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide provide detailed data for attractions and information on nearby merchants offering discounts, so you can customize nüvi for your travel needs. For Accessory Map Cards and Travel Guides the Units Feature: a MicroSD Card Slot on the 3.5 inch Units, and an SD Card Slot on the 4.3 inch Units. Garmin has also added the ability for customers to add custom points of interest (P0l’s) from third parties such as school zones and safety cameras.

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Trick Your GPS Ride

Custom vehicle icons let you ride in style, at least inside your GPS. See more icon option

All Garmin nüvis support configurable vehicle icons. These fun, customized car-shaped icons come in a variety of colors to add a personal touch to your vehicle's position on the map.

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Notes

• 0ptional software for language translation, detailed travel guides, and savings programs allow you to customize your nüvi to fit your travel needs
• Like most USB Mass Storage Devices, the nüvi is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me.

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Which nüvi is Best for You?

Note: All nüvis come with detailed NAVTEQ maps containing more than 6 million pre-loaded point of interest locations.

Screen Size inches (w x h)

lncluded Maps

Text-to-Speech (Directions in Real Street Names)

Traffic

Bluetooth

Media

3D Terrain Maps

Photo Navigation

FM Transmitter (audio through car stereo system)

Multi- Point Routing

Battery life (hours)

Cont. U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico

AK and Canada

Europe

nüvi 200

2.8 x 2.1

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 200w

3.81 x 2.25

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 250

2.8 x 2.1

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 250w

3.81 x 2.25

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 260

2.8 x 2.1

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 260w

3.81 x 2.25

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 270

2.8 x 2.1

Photos

up to 5

nüvi 205

2.8 x 2.1

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos

up to 4

nüvi 205W

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos

up to 4

nüvi 255

2.8 x 2.1

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos

up to 4

nüvi 255W

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos

up to 4

nüvi 350

2.8 x 2.1

FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 8

nüvi 360

2.8 x 2.1

FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 8

nüvi 370

2.8 x 2.1

FM (receiver included)

Photos, MP3s

up to 8

nüvi 650

3.81 x 2.25

FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 7

nüvi 660

3.81 x 2.25

FM (receiver included)

Photos, MP3s

up to 7

nüvi 670

3.81 x 2.25

FM (receiver included)

Photos, MP3s

up to 7

nüvi 680

3.81 x 2.25

MSN (receiver included; 1-year free); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 7

nüvi 750

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 5

nüvi 760

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 5

nüvi 770

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 5

nüvi 780

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (receiver inc.; 3 months free) receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 5

nüvi 850

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 4

nüvi 880

3.81 x 2.25

MSN-enhanced (receiver inc.; 3 months free); FM (with opt. receiver)

Photos, MP3s

up to 4

nüvi 5000

4.5 x 2.7

MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with opt. receiver)

external battery only

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Basic MSN Direct Content Features
	Traffic Reports Find the best route through traffic. Your GPS device uses MSN Direct traffic data to select the best route for you to avoid traffic congestion. Check traffic flow. Know at a glance where to expect slowdowns in traffic. Get accident warnings. Receive warnings about accidents, road closures, and construction in the area that may affect you.
	Gas Prices Compare local gas prices. See a list of recent gas prices in your area and an indication of how recently the prices were reported. Find your way to the savings. 0nce you find the best price in your area, use your navigation system to guide you to the gas station.
	Weather Reports Stay on top of current conditions. View the current weather conditions in your area, including today's high and low temperatures, chances of precipitation, and more. View the three-day forecast, Plan ahead by checking the three-day weather forecast for your area. Check weather in other cities. See current weather conditions in major cities across the country.
	Movie Times Search for a movie. Find the theaters in your coverage area that are showing the movie you want to see. See which movies are playing. View which movies are playing in your coverage area or at your favorite theater. See show times and get directions. 0nce you find a show you want to see, check the show times and use your GPS device to guide you to the theater.
Enhanced MSN Direct Content
	Web Favorites (Send custom destinations to your GPS with Live Search Maps) Powerful trip planning: Use Live Search Maps on your computer to look up an address, search for a business, or plan a trip Choose your favorite location, and then MSN Direct delivers the address, phone number, and more straight to your navigation system. Visit Live Search Maps at http://maps.live.com.
	Local Events See what's happening near you. Find nearby events to see what's happening in your area. Find the events that interest you. Browse events sorted by category. Search for an event. Get details about a particular event.
	Stock Quotes Watch the stocks that interest you. Select stocks that you want to keep an eye on, and then see regularly updated stock prices and daily changes. Get a little more detail. Touch a stock in your list to see daily highs, lows, and trading volume.
	News Headlines Browse the headlines at a glance. See breaking news and other major news stories of the day. Read more details. Select a headline to read all the details about the news story on your navigation system.
MSN Direct Coverage Map
Get detailed info for your Zip Code at the MSN Direct website.

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Buyer's feedback: - * It will get you there ...
This unit was very simple to use right out of the box. This is my first GPS and introduced myself to using it by entering destination addresses around my town with which I am very familiar. The GPS would get me to the destination in most cases but I had to wonder why it led me the route it chose. In many cases I knew a faster shorter route. In one case it brought me within .2 of a mile of my destination telling me to turn in. If I was in unfamiliar territory I would have had to ask directions. Garmin probably needs to be notified to update their coordinates in instances such as I described. Over all I am confidant with this unit getting me to my destinations in unfamiliar territory or at least near enough to be on time.

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Buyer's feedback: - Love it!
I purchased this product after getting tired of getting lost in cities. I would print out a map from google, but if there were detours to be taken, or I missed a turn, the only way I knew how to get there was to make a U turn and go back until I found the turn I missed. The Nuvi 255W is wonderful! The instructions sometimes are a little difficult to understand, but written at the top of the display is the next turn information. The only real complaints is that, like any other GPS, it isn't perfect. There have been some times that it has taken me on a longer/different route than I would have taken, but it always got me where I needed to go. Some of the things I love about the Nuvi 255w are: SPEED--on most major highways, it tells what the speed limit is for that road (pretty accurately too) AND tells you what your speed is. A quick glance lets you know if you should slow down or not. DESTINATION TIME--This is pretty accurate too. It does change as you get stopped at red lights, or make stops along the trip. But, it's always very accurate. SATELLITE RECEPTION--Being in downtown Charlotte with skyscrapers surrounding me, the Nuvi maintained reception everywhere except a parking garage (which, to me, is understandable). POINTS OF INTEREST--When you're craving Subway, or need to find the nearest Target, the Nuvi is there to help! It even gives you the phone number to the store so you can call and see if they're open. RECALCULATING FEATURE--If you miss a turn, make a stop that's not programmed into the Nuvi, or decide to go a different route, the Nuvi recalculates its route quickly to give you back on track. There are cute features, too that aren't as important, but are nice to have. For instance, you can change the voice of the GPS. You can change the figure of your vehicle. It has a calculator. Like I said, these aren't major selling points, but cute options. Overall, I love the Nuvi 255W and am entirely pleased with this purchase.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Great for field service ...
I use this to find new customer locations for service calls in a large metro area. Maps have been about 98% accurate in this fast growing area. Most common error is not pin-pointing a street address, but the unit does get you close even then. I wish the unit had a mechanical mute button for receiving in-coming phone calls. Unit does good job of staying locked on to the satellites. Speaking the street names and wide screen are must have features. Wide choice of voices is nice.

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Buyer's feedback: - Highly pleased thus far!
First, let me note that this is my first GPS unit, so I have little basis for comparison with other units. But - it has met or exceeded my expectations thus far in almost every respect. Good routing (generally), easy to use, quick to lock on to satellites. I like the wide screen, and the text-to-speech feature (often helpful, though not essential.) I have made one long trip with it, and found the Points of Interest database to be rather comprehensive (though not always quite up to date -- e.g., in looking for a Lowe's near Andover, MA, it did not have the nearest one, but it had been open only about a year.)

Some things I learned, not obvious to me before using it for a while:

* It does have the capability of handling multiple waypoints on a trip, computing a route that goes through them in a logical sequence. E.g., on my way to Massachusetts from South Carolina I entered the hotel in Pennsylvania at which I had a reservation as a waypoint. I also entered a couple of waypoints as "via points", to force the route to one that met my wishes (e.g., I put a waypoint near the Tappan Zee bridge to force it to swing north of NYC rather than taking the more direct route through NYC.) Not sure how many waypoints it can handle - I used as many as four, and suspect it will go to at least 10.

* One annoyance is that if a waypoint is inserted along a highway (to force a certain route), it assumes you want to stop at that location. Thus, it will take you off an interstate or other highway (at the nearest exit), then do a U-turn and return you to the highway. Fairly easy to ignore, of course -- once you understand what it is doing!

* It does not have the capability of "saving" routes for future use.

* Custom POI's are easy to add [...]is a good source of POI files and info on their use) -- e.g., a list of all rest stops on interstate highways is available. These can have proximity alerts (e.g., alerting you that a rest stop is coming up in a mile), or speed alerts. Minor point not immediately obvious to me - custom POI's can include custom sounds or announcements as audible alerts -- but, since this is done with MP3 files (which the 255W does not support), they will not work on the 255W (a default "bong-bong" alert sounds instead).

* While the 255W routing seems generally accurate and logical, on my first use I discovered that it does have some errors in its internal map. Two local roads that approach a small dam from opposite sides are treated by the 255W as continuous -- but, there is actually no road across the dam! It wanted to take a "short cut" on that route across the dam, which of course I knew to ignore. Only such problem I encountered, though.

Overall, a delightful travel accessory, with a good set of features at a very reasonable price! I am very satisfied thus far - highly recommended!

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Buyer's feedback: - * Garmin Nuvi 255W ...
This is our third Garmin in 15 years.

The 255W is easy to use, so easy you start using it without learning all that it can do. After 4000 miles, we are still discovering new features. We have printed to full instruction book, but haven't done a cover to cover read.

Recommended without hesitation.