Customer Ratings & Reviews

Overall, we really like this unit. The screen is big and easy to read. Set up was very easy, though I had to walk down the street to get a clear view of the sky to assist with the set up. I especially like the feature that directs you to various points of interest (gas, hospital, food, etc). Battery life is good and I don't really see a need to purchase a separate wall charger since it came with a car charger. It makes getting around an unfamiliar city much easier. My only complaint thus far has been that the directions it has given are not the most efficient way to get to your destination. They have always been correct and get me to where I am going, but I know they are not entirely effiicient. Nonetheless, it is an excellent product and recommend.

Lots of bells and whistles to add both information and constant feedback for those of us who like that. It is fairly easy to use which is good as the directions are not helpful. Make sure you connect your GPS to the Garmin website and update your maps. Saying that, there is NO connecting wire that comes with this Garmin, so unless you have a previous Garmin or know someone who does, you will need to shop for the connecting wire!

This was my first GPS I ever owned and it works really great. The screen is clear and bright, as are the directions. The spoken directions and street names are clear and the volume is adjustable and is not too quiet. I bought this the day after Thanksgiving to use primarily for our family trip from Mishawaka, Indiana to Orlando, Florida and back again. This GPS got us there in record time without a hitch - and I am not the greatest with directions. The traffic receiver was so/so - it works on major routes/cities and from what I have read it bases its traffic estimations off other Garmins in your area - so readings can very. What I really liked about this electronic was its ease of use and how to find places while you are traveling. It was so easy/user friendly to find all of the places we wanted to go including all the different dining hot spots while we were traveling. I also purchased a case that was on sale and I didn't need any other accessories - the windshield mounting clip works perectly. Again, awesome device and I do not regret buying it.

I got this as a Black friday deal so bear with me on the price, thing as it may be different for you. This has been incredible. gone are the days of my wife calling up the stairs if i could print her out google/bing/yahoo (pick your service) maps to where she is off to. Here is the good. When you activate the unit it takes a few minutes to aquire the satellites. that can be a bit annoying as if you are in a hurry it may sometimes take a while. the good news is that it will find you eventually and get you on track. if of course you are headed down a road with no u turns or avenues of turning around, you may be bummed so take a minute turn the device on first, mount and then get your self situated in your car. the first thing i noticed is that it gives you an arrival time. i didnt think that would be a big deal, but it has proven quite great as if you are running late or you may be running late you will have a idea if you should call your waiting party. the other benefit is the spoken street names. i dont know how a person with GPS could go back to one with out it. The street names are important as if you are coming up on a bunch of smaller streets that arent well defined on the map, you will have a correct idea where to turn. The american english voice female was clear and easy to understand. the other accented voices had trouble with the street names but for the most part are understandable. My daughter of course loved the downloadable Yeti voice which basically grunts at you. You can also change your icon that represents your car. so of course i changed mine to a turnkey on thanksgiving and since we were traveling, my daughter once again got a kick out of the turkey following our route. The other nice thing of this unit was the points of interest. it was nice to traveling on a route and decide you want a burger or something like that. So you can while on your route, select the type of food or restraunt you want to find on your route and it will pick ones along the way. very cool if you dont know your way around an area en-route to somewhere else. ok here is the bad... and i wouldnt say it is terrible, but you may find these hard or not. I mentioned finding satellites can be a pain, but the real item is the traffic. I think now that i have it i dont get caught in traffic jams. but this could also be the feature that automatically guides you around trouble spots. Only one time since i had the unit did it actually change it's mind around an area and recalculated a route based on traffic. It is still nice to think that i am getting a warning ahead of time, but currently, whenever it has shown traffic, it has only been a minute or 2 of delay. of course being in the new york metro area is a bit odd. In the city it doesnt pick the best routes on a smaller scale. it does get you there. My biggest gripe is multiple route planning. If you put in your final desitnation and then put in other waypoints is will add it but if you waypoint is further than your actual point it will be a long road. Supposedly Magellan has that feature but i have been sticking with Garmin. (I tried the 205 and the VZ navigator on my phone which was ok, but would disconnect if you made a phone call) Overall Garmin make a good unit. screen is bright and readable, the traffic feature should always be a free built in feature as this is crutcal to better flowing traffic. (cant imagine also paying for it) as the garmin has a small advertisement that pops up but is really unobtrusive) tracking is good and the eco route is fun if you want to compete. (this feature allows you to find better routes and checks your speed to reduce your mpg.) One word of caution uploading the maps takes a while. so prepared for several hours of that. In a world of ever expanding GPS options (Droid, tom-tom, nextar, goodyear, alpine, magellan), the garmin 255wt is a safe bet.

I purchased this GPS to replace a Navigon that was stolen out of my work truck recently. Overall, I'd say the Garmin is a slightly better unit. It responds more quickly to keypresses and looks up addresses faster than my Navigon did. It has a bright, crisp display and a good, clear speaker. (I was especially impressed that when it reads off street names, it generally pronounces them correctly, too! My Navigon had that feature, but did a laughable job at pronunciation.) The 2 biggest negatives I've found for the Garmin are the lack of a "lane assist" feature, and no way to enter a zip code to narrow a search for an address. (The lane assistance feature change the display to show a view of an exit ramp you're approaching, and indicate the lane you need to stay in to properly exit on it. Navigon did this with their "Reality View" feature, and I really miss it.) I do like the traffic capabilities of the 255WT though. (Essentially, this unit is the same thing as a Garmin 255W except the lighter plug charger cable is modified to include an antenna, and gives the unit traffic functionality by receiving the data over side-band broadcasts of FM radio stations.) It draws a yellow dot to indicate some traffic congestion ahead on your route, and a red dot to indicate an actual traffic jam. This feature also makes sure it's aware of roads or bridges that have been closed for construction, so you can have it re-route a course around them. The only thing to be aware of when using this is, it will often try to take you off of a major interstate and start using side roads if it thinks there is a spot of heavy traffic ahead. If you're driving in typical rush-hour traffic though, you probably DON'T want to listen to it -- because you wind up wasting even more time with stop signs and traffic signals, and going way out of your way. Garmin has some of the best Windows PC software out to handle downloading map updates and customizing the GPS with "points of interest" you'd like to add to it. Unlike some companies, they won't leave you stuck with a unit that you can't get a map update for, either. (Common problem with the "under $100" specials you see.) Overall, this unit isn't perfect, but it's a good, solid GPS for under $200 that does what you need (and even throws in some extras you really don't need at all - like ability to show photos of places when you arrive there, if you download the pictures into it first).

Right out of the box, it worked great. It's easy to use. I love the coordinates feature on this garmin.I can give my coordinates to someone and they can come to me or I can go to them as long as they are on a street. It's easy view while driving with the bigger screen.

We bought this because we were moving from IL to AZ. I love it! It was so easy to use and so accurate. It rerouted you perfectly when it had to, it rerouted to get around traffic. Never once did we miss a beat on our roadtrip!

I purchased this GPS as a tool for my company so we could program in vendor locations for our truck drivers. So far it's been a very nice GPS and I've considered buying one for myself to replace my old Magellan one. I love the Traffic feature that warns you of traffic ahead and to exit freeways or streets even when you don't have a current destination or route. This alone is reason to have one of these. Second off, I love that it has 1000 user programable destinations. I have set up the good majority of our vendors (more as I drive to them) and it's easier for our other drivers to find them now. Only cons that I can think of are that you have to be EXACTLY in the spot you programmed into the GPS, I'm talking down to exact parking space and everything, in order for it to count you as arrived at your location. It also sometimes gets confused with the user programmed destinations and says "destination on the left hand side" when it's on the right and vise versa. I would also like to see the addition of a chime or some sort of voice command when you are supposed to make your turns or when you reach a major location. Other than that, this has been a wonderful GPS and it's much more feature rich than the ones I have previously used. All in all a good buy for the price.

I've purchased 2 of these GPSs. One back in November and one as a christmas gift in Decmeber. I have been very happy with mine and the one I purchased for my parents. It is a simple GPS to use. The touchscreen works well and it's not complicated. It's pretty accurate to destinations, though I've notice sometimes it will show the destination on the opposite side of the rode. So, it gets a little confusing if you've never been to the place you're traveling to and you're not exactly sure where it is and the GPS tells you it's on the opposite side of the road than it actually is. Overall, the battery life seems to work well. The suction cup to the windshield works wonderful. It's good enough for what we need it for. We don't need all the little extras like the blue-tooth capability, internet, etc. Definitely happy with the purchase.

I've seen a couple other GPS systems. This one is just as good, if not better then even a built in Volvo navigator. I found it very easy to use. It finds satellites quickly unless you're in a basement. The estimated time of arrival has been spot on and very useful when calling ahead to family. I love the next turn graphics because it saved me many times from missing turns that, without this unit, I would have missed or turned too early. I just wish the prices would come down a bit so I could afford one for each driver in the house. But overall, I love this unit.

My parents bought me this as a birthday present because I am a grad student living in another state. Every time I would come home, I would have to travel through several major cities on the interstate, and I got stopped up a time or two because of unknown traffic problems. With this GPS, I don't have that problem anymore. When it is on, it pops up a little icon that lets me know if there are traffic delays, and even helps me get around it. I've only traveled with it once so far, but I know for a fact that it saved me time because of the traffic features! Also, for the technically-challenged like me, it's the easiest GPS I've used. The ease of use is particularly good because it does NOT come with many directions on how to use the features, so much my early experiences were simply trial and error. But, it was relatively easy to figure out. Overall, I would definitely recommend this GPS, and I even plan to buy it for my little brother!

I love this GPS. It is easy to use and has a good size screen. I might add a few features like a repeat button for voice directions, a clock on the map section, and perhaps a couple other minor things, but overall it is an excellent value.

Its a GPS, and for that basic function - where am I or how do I get from here to there - it does the trick. It is very sensitive to movement on the freeways and does an amazing job estimating your time of arrival (of course, they do constantly update, but never far from the initial estimate). Another plus is how compact the unit is - its like 2 iphones stacked. Not bad at all and I could see it do great things for us on a walking vacation. Some flaws is that you cannot (that I have found yet) see what your next turns are going to be ahead of time. You are stuck with just the next turn. That might be fine except for areas with heavy mazes of freeways, like LA. It is often that you go from one freeway to another in less than 1/2 a mile. Thus, knowing what you are supposed to do in advance would be nice so you are not constantly looking away from the mad traffic to know if you are supposed to merge to the left or take that off ramp that you just passed (no exaggeration). Additionally, we are all used to the immediate response of touch-screen keyboards by now, so the fact that there is a .5 to 1.5 second delay per key stroke is unforgivable. That combined with a chunky GUI and you see that they need some new designers working on these units. Traffic monitoring is another benefit that is hampered by issues. So far, it works fine - provided you have the power cord plugged in. An odd restriction, but obviously one that reflects the amount of power constant traffic updates takes from the unit. Why no settings? Maybe let me choose whether I want traffic checked every min or every 15 mins? That should save some juice. Another issue with traffic is the word I've heard that the service is provided by Microsoft, and that they are stopping this service as of next year or something. Hopefully Garmin will fill this gap with a new company, and more importantly for me, they will be able to communicate with this unit. It is NOT a laptop; its NOT a smartphone - It IS a cheap solid alternative for basic GPS functions. There are likely better out there, but this is great for the price.

I love almost everything about this unit. It is very easy to use and setup. I like the ability to update traffic alerts. The only thing I do not like about is that it is about 200 ft. off so I have to actually look for the addresses on houses when I am looking for one. It does get you on the right block and pretty close so its really not that big of an issue and for the price I won't complain much about this. Overall I would recommend this product to anyone looking for an easy navigation system.

All our friends recommended Garmin so I bought this unit as a Christmas gift. It is easy to use and my husband likes the larger screen. Unfortunately the maps aren't completely up to date in our area (LA County) and it's about 60ft off. When we are "home" it shows that we are parked 2 houses up the street. Since we live in north LA county, the traffic feature doesn't kick in until about 15 miles south of our home. Unit is small enough to stow in glove box or console in the car to prevent theft.

I USE THIS ITEM ALL THE TIME! I USE IT WHEN I GOT 2 MILES DOWN THE ROAD TO A FRIENDS, OR OUT OF TOWN FOR SOMETHING. IT IS A VERY GOOD GPS. THE SPEED IS A FEW MPHs OFF BUT ITS A GOOD GPS. MY FAVORITE FEATURE IS THE TRAFFIC UPDATES. I WENT TO A CAVS GAME AND IT TOLD ME WHERE TRAFFIC IS SLOW AND WAYS AROUND IT. THAT IS A VERY HELPFUL FEATURE. ALSO I LIKE THE ECOROUTE FEATURES WHERE IS TELLS ME WHAT GAS MILAGE I GET AND HOW MUCH IT COST. VERY HELPFUL. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS GPS TO ANYONE!

I recently started a mobile mechanic business, so I know my way around town but really needed something to replace online maps and help me in and out of neighborhoods. Bought this about two months ago, time to review. This is my first GPS, and I've only dealt with a Magellan a little bit before this. Did a lot of research online and playing around with different units in the store. This is a great GPS for a price near the lower end, got it on sale too. Of all the units I tested, it seemed that Garmin had the best coverage for newer or growing cities, like the one I live in. The good: Fast calculations, lots of POI's with phone numbers, very accurate ETA's, bright screen very easy to read even in full sunlight, screen doesn't smudge(and my hands are pretty much always filthy when working), easy to navigate through the menus and options, free traffic built in(haven't run into something to have to detour, but nice to know its there), also just used for a camp trip and it literally brought me right to the spot based on coordinates, including the forest roads. The bad: A couple of times in clear skies it just lost signal and took a few minutes to come back, sometimes I setup the route even though I know where I'm going hoping for an unknown shortcut or just to see an ETA and a few times it tries to send me way out of the way-if I go the way I normally would it eventually recalculates to the obviously shorter and faster route-don't know why it gets confused like this. Don't know how I did it but screen already got a couple of scratches I can feel with my fingernail. Other than that, no complaints. The verdict: Very happy with this unit and didn't have to shell out a ton of money. You will be satisfied with the GPS.

We used it in a cross-country roadtrip and it did a great job of getting us to our hotels and telling us when we would get there. It was also great at helping us find places to eat and helping us decide if we could make it to a town or city to get gas instead of paying the high prices that were charged out in the middle of nowhere. Turning on the voice prompts as we neared destinations was nice. We even used it while flying cross-country and it was fun to know where we were (we still haven't reset our Max. speed of 503 mph :-) ). We didn't get lost and even got put on some shortcuts that we weren't aware of before.

I have not had this devise for long but I must say it is top notch. For one the ease of set up on the device is the easiest that I have ever used. I like that the first thing when touching the screen it says where to no confusing stuff that makes no since. I previously bought a Nextar the device was hard to use and very confusing on the directions, where as the garmin makes it much easy to understand where your next exit is. When you first enter the free way it says that your next exit is like for instance exit 1006 south and it is on the right. Nextar's was not as clear. I would get this device!!!!!

I shopped around for the perfect device for the money. I didn't need bluetooth, lane assist, or a large screen. That left me with this model or a Tom Tom. After talking to friends and co-workers, all recommended Garmin. They were spot on! This device is great! It is simple to use and does the trick. I took the family on a LONG trip from Chicago to New Mexico. Over the trip, we missed 2 exits on the highway. The Garmin routed us back on quickly. This alone made the purchase worth it! I wouldn't waste money on a larger screen device. Anything larger than this would obstruct your view out the window.