When it failed, it FAILED! (Garmin nuvi 215)

Member Name: grey0220

Product:	Garmin nuvi 215
Date:	20/10/09 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use for the most part, somewhat good value for money

Disadvantages: Three glaring faults (though that's what you pay for, I guess!)

We bought this GPS in the US for a road trip across California - we drove around Los Angeles and then up to San Francisco and back again using only this to guide us. In the UK, we rely on our in-car GPS, so this was our first experience with a portable Sat Nav. It was for the most part very reliable, but we did have a couple of problems with it. For one, we were unable to specify when we wanted to avoid certain roads - the weekend we drove to San Francisco, there were major works being done on the major bridge into the city, and that path was blocked off completely. We had to shut it off completely and drive for literally half an hour in the opposite direction before it started to offer us an alternative route. Secondly, having to specify 'S. Melrose' versus just 'Melrose' was quite irritating - it wasn't very smart, in that it could not logic out when you were talking about the same street (just a different side of it). Thirdly, and maybe most alarmingly, the directions were simply wrong - either the address had been programmed wrong to begin with, but we ended up driving around, completely lost, in a not entirely desirable area of L.A. as the Sat Nav refused to show us the true location of our hotel (about half an hour away, in reality). However, like I said, it was very reliable for the most part - but when it failed, it failed egregiously!

Summary: Worth a look, but worth bringing a map along just in case! (Keep your hotel's number handy too)