Garmin Nuvi 250W
Written by Zoe Hellar Monday, 20 October 2008 09:26
The Garmin Nuvi 250w is the widescreen version of Garmin's nüvi 250 offers a large, easy-to-read screen (4.3 inches diagonally to the nüvi 250s 3.5 inches) at an attractive price point. Like its smaller sibling, the 250W comes with preloaded maps for the continental U.S., Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Canada and Alaska. If all you don't need Canada and Alaska, you can get the nüvi 200W at a lower pirce. If you want maps for Europe, you'll need to go with the smaller nüvi 270, or you can purchase a set of European maps on SD Card or CD-Rom. While it doesn't have some of the more sophisticated features of higher-end nüvis, it does, like all nüvi 200-series members, offer a rock-solid navigation experience with an easy-to-use colorful touchscreen, 6 million points of interest (POI)s, and an ultra-slim design.
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 s
howing 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.
The nüvi 250W is built with a high-sensitivity WAAS-enabled GPS receiver for extreme accuracy, as well as an SD card slot for storing your media and additional navigation tools, and a USB interface for loading data. All this is wrapped up in a package that measures 4.8 x 2.9 x 0.8 inches (W x H x D) and weighs just 6.6 ounces. The nüvi display is touchscreen-enabled, making it a cinch to control the device with your fingertips. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to five hours of battery life depending on use.
nüvi 250W comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty POI 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. In addition, nüvi 250W accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs.
Garmin's interface is a key to their success and one of the things that 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.
nüvi 250W comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty POI 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. In addition, nüvi 250W accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs
Garmin Nuvi 250w Reviews
This is what Cnet had to say about the Garmin Nuvi 250W:
We like: Big, colourful screen; good search and points of interest; clear voice
We don't like: Weak GPS; no traffic info; can't update software
Conclusion: An entry-level navigator that benefits from a superb screen, comprehensive European mapping and excellent search functions. Only exclusively urban motorists should worry about the fussy GPS reception. The cheaper nuvi 200W is also available with maps of just UK and Ireland
GPS Magazine writes this about the Garmin Nuvi 250 "
The nuvi 250W is another home run for Garmin, as the company continues to deliver highly refined, easy to use products that consumers love. Garmin's combination of hardware design, routing logic, and user interface is as good as I've seen, and so far proven unbeatable by the competition.
Despite being billed as an entry-level nuvi, the 250W actually improves upon some critical features, such as the updated map screen, address input interface, new mapping data, and more solid construction. The nuvi 250W combines the StreetPilot c550's ease of use with nuvi's elegant styling, coming together to form an outstanding GPS that's highly effective, easy to use, and stylish all in one slick package. Garmin's windshield mounting hardware is excellent, as is the routing engine. The nuvi 250W is easier to use than previous nuvi's (mostly because the non-essential features have been stripped away from the interface); this is a GPS you could loan your parents, or a first-time GPS user and they would be able to use it without reading the instructions.
There's a lot to love about the nuvi 250W -- bright, wide screen, new NAVTEQ maps, and Garmin's unparalleled ease of use. However, given the relatively high price of the nuvi 250W (around $530 as of this writing), the 250W lacks some important features found on wide-screen GPS units from competitors such as Magellan and TomTom. For example, Magellan's Maestro 4040 sells for almost $100 less, yet it includes text-to-speech, Bluetooth for hands-free speakerphone, and can support the optional TrafficKit. TomTom's ONE XL has a similar feature set as the nuvi 250W, but sells for about $130 less.
Pricing issues aside, the Garmin nuvi 250W is a great unit that combines ease of use, new maps, and excellent navigation capabilities in a thin, wide-screen GPS. The nuvi 250W is better at navigation than the more feature-rich units from Magellan and TomTom. If your primary concern is getting from point A to B and you're less concerned with extra features (and you don't mind paying a little extra for Garmin's excellent routing engine), then you should take a serious look at the nuvi 250W."
J Nusser had this to say about the Garmin Nuvi 250w "The first one I received worked out of the box, but stopped sensing the satellites after 2 days. I tried turning it off/on several times, tried several very open-to-the sky locations, and finally tried rebooting by pressing the reset button on the bottom, but nothing happened.
However, I found it so easy to use and better than previous models, especially at an attractive price ($300), that I returned the first one and got a replacement.
As strictly a GPS, the only limitation is that it does not speak the street names. It does speak that a turn is coming, turn here, etc. It also does list the name of the street to turn at in the label at the top of the screen. It's great both in automobile mode and in walking mode. We're spending a month in Boston which has all street names and is generally not laid out on a grid. The 250W is great in getting us around or to out-of-Boston places. Used it to drive to Marblehead yesterday; pressed the screen to show where we parked the car, changed to walking mode and then walked around. When it was time to go we retrieved the spot where we left the car, pressed 'go' and it walked us back to the car. Changed back to 'automobile' and drove home. Note the box includes a car charger but not the optional wall charger. Not a problem unless you expect to use it extensively w/o a car to recharge it with.
Unlike a previous poster, I find the maps, stores, restaurants, etc, quite up to date. Other than getting a lemon on the first unit, I recommend it."