Good value sat nav! (Garmin nuvi 255WT)

Member Name: f1ndl0w

Product:	Garmin nuvi 255WT
Date:	30/05/09 (269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes Tom Tom's seem expensive.

Disadvantages: Screen isn't too clear in direct sunlight.

Sat nav's seem to have become so common nowadays that I'm sure even thieves' are sick of them, where once it was a "luxury" item to be hidden away in your glove box, they seem to have become as common as actually owning a car. There appears to be to major brands when it comes to the handheld units; TomTom and Garmin, both will get you from A-B in the most direct route possible, so really it is just the added extra's that you pay for. I found that on paper similarly spec'd TomTom's came out more expensive than their Garmin equivalents, so I decided to spend a little more and go for a Garmin model with a few little extra's; the 255WT (W for Widescreen, T for Traffic). It is a model with European maps pre-installed, along with a widescreen display and has support for traffic data - so that you can automatically be re-routed.

I'll start off with the things that aren't so good about this model, they aren't really big issues - just some thing that I think that could be better, or maybe have been improved with more modern developments.

Firstly, something that I think is continuously being improved with GPS chips is the time taken for them to "lock" a signal - i.e. the time before it will tell you where you are. With this model it can often take a few minutes, even in open skies, to lock a signal. This is fine if you are in no rush to get anywhere, but an annoyance when you want to just enter your destination and be taken there immediately.

The screen is very clear most of the time, although in direct sunlight it can be somewhat difficult to see - especially if you are looking for a junction on the screen which you know you need to turn in to, although the voice navigation usually makes up for this, so you shouldn't get too stuck. A final thing is that there is no case supplied, no doubt in a way to cut costs, since not everybody would want one, although Garmin to make one that fit's perfectly, only cost me about £10 so not too bad.

The battery life of the unit is fairly good, although given that it is intended for use in a car this doesn't really matter too much, as I usually just plug it in using the supplied car charger. There is also a supplied USB cable, which can be used to connect to your computer and charge the device, although there is no mains adaptor, but you can achieve the same function as this by purchasing a USB mains adaptor - available pretty cheaply.

The user interface is very good on the Garmin - something which TomTom's are often praised for too, when you switch the unit on the main screen appears giving you two large "buttons" to press, "Where To?" and "View Map". For the basic operation of the device this is all that you will ever need. "View Map" takes you to a birds-eye view of your current location, the type of display used during navigation. "Where To?" gives you a simple navigation menu, from here you can enter a destination through a variety of methods, including favourites, point of interests (POI) and an address (with postcode support). The interface is very simple, once you have found the location you simply hit "Go!". The device then immediately starts to calculate the route, taking you to the map screen, and highlighting your route with purple roads. In addition to the navigation there is a informational display available, this will show you a variety of data including speed, direction, and average time/speeds.

There are a couple of nice little features included, one being that the colour scheme of the unit automatically changes at night - meaning that the screen isn't so glaring, this appears to work by the unit knowing sunrise/sunset times. Also there is a "Where Am I?" function - available by pressing the car on the screen - this will give you some information about your location, and access to directions to local services, such as hospitals.

The POI database contains virtually anything that you would every want, making it easy to find services in a location that you aren't familiar with. The POI's are categorised so you aren't overwhelmed by a whole load of locations. You can also search through the POI's, making finding something 100% easier. Additionally the database also contains locations throughout the whole of Europe, so it's like having a huge travel guide in your pocket.

I have used the unit a couple of times abroad, and it works just as well as in the UK. When you first turn it on it does take a while to start up though - presumably because it has to load up a different set of maps, and is a little confused as to why it is thousand's of miles from where it started.

The device comes with 30 days worth of free speed camera database updates, although after this time the camera locations are still stored in the device - you are just unable to update them. The notifications work well, alerting you when a speed camera is approaching and then again if you are breaking the speed limit. The noise is a little odd at first, sounding like the seatbelt notifications on planes, although it is something you soon get used to as an alert to check your speed. The noise when you are breaking the speed limit is slightly different to this, meaning that you don't need to check your speed all the time - only if you hear the dreaded "you're going too fast" beep.

Like with most devices today, doing what it is sold for isn't quite enough. This unit also packs in quite a few additional features, including a Photo Viewer (which read's pictures from an SD card), world clock, calculator, and converter. Of these I think the converter has the potential to be most useful, working with virtually any units and is simple to use. The only problem with this is the currency converter, it is possible to update the exchange rate although all rates must be relative to USD, so you can't just put in a rate for GBP to EUR for example, this seems somewhat backwards as it adds some unnecessary steps to the process.

Overall this is a nice little unit for a good price, just £150, the addition of some features like European maps and Traffic also adds to the value. In addition to this the navigation seems more "life-like" than other Sat Nav's which I have used, it seems like it is programmed to recognise road's which are near-impassable.

Summary: Good value little unit, has features for all of your navigational needs!