Nuvi 255

 

Well, I had a 760 and returned it. It just had too many bells and whistles I didn't use. I wanted the custom route option but it didn't work the way I thought it would.

I'm looking at getting a 255. I want the small one and not the wide version. I wanted to know how people like using this model.

The only thing I don't like it the way the charger plugs in to use in the car but that's life.

RIght now, it's either the 255 or even the 350 since it's so cheap.

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Eat at Joes.

And your question is...?

Are you looking for a recommendation on a unit?

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"Delete nothing, back up everything"

Question is...

If you have a 255, do you like it?

What are your likes/dislikes and things to consider. I'm not finding any reviews of the 255 so I'm looking for user opinions.

I only want TTS as an option. I don't need bluetooth, jpg viewer, mp3 or traffic.

Thanks.

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Eat at Joes.

I have the 255W

I have the 255W, but I may be able to answer questions that may apply to its skinny sister. I would recommend the 255W. The MSN adapter is optional and allegedly was supposed to be available Aug 1. Haven't seen it yet. The MSN adapters used on other Nuvis apparently don't work with the 205 series.

So far I have found it to be better than the 200W. The screen format has been "upgraded" (Changed).

There are a few features I had on my iQue M5 and iQue 3600 that I miss like being able to turn off/on groups of Garmin's POIs. For example, displaying only restaurant pois.

It routes much faster. And it finds it's initial position much quicker than the iQues.

Hope this helps.

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Nuvi 255W, Ham radio, MacBook Pro

255 in California Bay Area

We used our 255 in the bay area in California, and it worked well for the most part.

We had made sure to have the latest firmware (and voice patches) before flying out, but we encountered some odd issues:

Selecting the American English Jack voice while adjusting brightness beyond 80% caused the unit to automatically turn off the screen every minute or so. Adjusting the brightness level below 80% worked fine.

We had a route setup when heading back from Half Moon Bay. When we pulled over to a vista point, the unit recalculated our route taking us off the original highway route and had us take side roads instead (even though we were literally off and on the same road in minutes). Perhaps this was done by the unit on purpose as we had fastest route selected?

Otherwise, the Hotfix worked extremely well and was able to find the satellites must faster than the previous Garmin Streetpilot series we were used to using. Also, the quicker refresh on the screen helped navigating some oddball turns in California.

Oh, and the automatic time zone change along with speed limit listing was very convenient.

I only wish that the unit would have warned us about upcoming turns just a touch earlier.

And last, we had a good laugh when the American English voices encountered a road name that included the word Expressway. Turn on such-and-such "ex-pweeeeee." And when British English-Serena encountered a boulevard. smile

Nuvi 255W with MSN Direct

I have the 255W with the MSN direct reciever.

I love it. Won't leave home without it. The MSN direct reciever apparently uses traffic.com for its data so sometimes the data is a bit dated. But it works at least as well as the Dash I "test drove" for a while. It has alread saved me in the morning commute a number of times. The gas prices are reasonably accurate - I don't know the update rate.

The hugh thing for me was the ability to send destinations from maps.live.com to the 255W from my laptop via the MSN direct. That was worth the money right there.

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In a perpetual search for Truth, Justice and the Ultimate Cheesburger

Nuvi 255W with MSN Direct

I've been playing phone tag with MSNDirect between trips to the hospital and the power and phone outages left in the wake of hurricane Ike.

Somehow, after weeks of frustration I'm starting to see signs of life in the Traffic Receiver. I actually received my first useful traffic tip today. I was even treated to a sidebar to the yellow icon with :04 inside.

And finally the Road Closed/ Do not enter Icon is gone from I-90 at I-71 (both were "closed" and my Nuvi dutifully routed me around [via Akron once]). DOT was unaware of any such closure. And Lola even realizes that there's traffic flowing through downtown. And says it's delayed when that's happening.

It's starting to meet my expectations. If they keep this up it may become a useful tool. I'm still working on "worth the money." But, if todays experiences continue who knows.

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Nuvi 255W, Ham radio, MacBook Pro

Screen dimming

Regarding Yimsters problem with the screen going off after a few minutes with the brightness above 80%:

I have a 260, so it might not be the same, but I found the backlighting goes off after a while if I have the power switch in the locked position. Other than that, it stays on all the time at any brightness level. Could that have been your problem? Maybe you checked already, but I was just wondering.

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Nuvi260

stop light cameras

where are the cameras

Garmin Nuvi 255 - Good Basic Unit

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 255 for traveling around the Northern Virginia area about 3 weeks ago. For a 3.5" screen, the display is easy to see and it's very easy to operate. I was disappointed with the booklet manual, but it does cover the basic features of the unit. I've been able to upload Custom POIs to the unit and the MicroSD card (purchased separately). Proximity alerts were working for the Custom POIs loaded on the MicroSD card, but after being repeatedly prompted to install the files on the GPS unit, the proximity warnings for some POIs quit working. The unit seems to be very accurate, easy to use, and a good value. I purchased my unit using my Entertainment Book and bought it through Circuit City. That way, I purchased it for $219.99 and got a 10% Gift Card coming, soon.

.

larrome wrote:

where are the cameras

on the street corners. wink

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******************Garmin Nüvi 1300T****************Member 6523*******************

255W Update 2.9 to 3.1

Has anyone had any problems with the 3.10 update? I see it's supposed to update voice problems among other things...

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Eat at Joes.

?

neonwater wrote:

Has anyone had any problems with the 3.10 update? I see it's supposed to update voice problems among other things...

And you are having voice problems?

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Nuvi 660 -- and not upgrading it or maps until Garmin fixes long-standing bugs/problems, and get maps to where they are much more current, AND corrected on a more timely basis when advised of mistakes.

Don't know.

What problems are people having? I just opened the box and haven't used it. I did notice the voice sounds cheaper that it did on the 750/760 I used to have. I did a simulation and although the voice was different, it was good enough for navigation. Again, I'll have to use it on the road to make sure.

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Eat at Joes.

Pass the salt...

Oh boy, voice problems! I'll eat my words posted above. Now that I've tried the GPS on the freeway, I cannot hear it or understand it. It sounded like someone talking through a Kazoo. Very muffled and buzzy. I thought, I'll plug it into the aux jack...no output! Oh well, I'm not keeping this. I go mainly by voice directions so I'm out shopping again. I liked the 7XX series best. I can deal with voice lag for now.

Hopefully the firmware updates will be correct soon. With Christmas coming, they better get things in order or a lot of refurbished units will be for sale in January.

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Eat at Joes.

I have the 255W. Two of the

I have the 255W. Two of the features that moved me to this unit are the "where am I" (also on all the 2x5 units), which will show your location and the closest hospital, police and fuel. I use this on my motorcycle and without a real fuel gauge, just a light, this can come in handy (hopefully not the hospital stuff) Secondly the spoken street names vs. just the "turn in xx feet". Good luck in your search

255W Road Trip

This is a review of my 3 day trip to Florida with the 255W. It was very fast in Sat. location, the little speed limit sign on the display was right on, smooth screen changes on turns, loved the Wide size, the turn arrow on the top left was great, your speed is displayed on bottom of map screen. The voice issue with the two updates is much better(still not as good as my 260). The only drawback I have found is when a POI alert is displayed. On my 260, an alert would flash on the top line bar in red. It was in large print and very easy to read. On the 255W It is under the top line bar and is half the size of the the top bar and the font is very small. It was very hard to read. Other than the POI issue, I am very happy that I have a 255W.

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Paul..... Nuvi 765T

QWERTY or not

Well,

I have completed the transition from nüvi 200 to 255. The 255 actually has a manual! I learned (by reading it) that QWERTY is only available on widescreen models. I guess the standard width units don't have enough real estate to make the buttons large enough to use.

Now if I could just turn off the Speed Limit sign so I can see the map scale! wink

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><> Glenn <>< Garmin nüvi 2598

POI alert

gdfaini, on your 255 when an POI alert shows up, is it small and under the top line?

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Paul..... Nuvi 765T

My 255

I recently upgraded from the nuvi 200 to the nuvi 255.

The TTS was a bit muffled and unclear, but after doing a firmware upgrade when I purchased the MSN receiver, the TTS is a lot clearer.

As a basic GPS without all the bells and whistles, the 255 ticks all the right boxes. Add the optional MSN receiver (with one year of data included in the price) gets you gas prices, weather, movie listing, news headlines and stock quotes.

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"Life is a journey - enjoy the ride!" Garmin nuvi 255

Yes

pcatch135 wrote:

gdfaini, on your 255 when an POI alert shows up, is it small and under the top line?

I like how it only turns red if you are exceeding the limit.

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><> Glenn <>< Garmin nüvi 2598

I have both 255 and 255W

got a 255W for my wife and she loves it. It gets her through the NJ Pine Barrens and to the kids football games. Got a 255 for myself, just wanted am more compact unit to bring when I have to fly then drive a rental.

As I lean more about it, I like it even more. Had a Magellan and the maps were so outdated (2nd qtr 2007 and nothing newer available) I returned it for the Garmin.

Tweaked to voice to no more "recalculating", I use the Aussie Karen TTS "let's have another go at it"

Like any GPS, it is only as good as its signal, maps and of course the common sense of the user. I found it still thinks many roads on Fort Dix/McGuire AFB still exist even though they were closed and torn up since 9/11/01. I'm sending the data to NAVTEQ so hopefully the 2010 map will be updated.

I'm working on a POI file for NJ Diners so be on the lookout in the near future for that.