Review on 📍 Garmin nuvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen GPS Navigator with Bluetooth and Traffic (Discontinued by Manufacturer) by Jeremy Gums

I bought this GPS just before a trip across the country to transport my mother in law. As for driving, this GPS was great. The POI database has taken us everywhere. POIs were logically organized and easy to use in a snap. For example, one of our tour participants had special dietary requirements. When we had to decide where to stay for the next ## minutes so that person could eat, we could easily see what was happening in the surrounding towns and make a decision in good time. The device is intuitive. Even my grandmother used it with no problem. Very small learning curve for common things. Bluetooth setup may require some knowledge. The navigation is ideal for motorway journeys. This is useful for city trips. I don't like how it's designed to take the "fastest route". Instead of processing multiple options and choosing the fastest one, the decision is made based on the road selection pattern. It will do its best to get you onto the interstate (assuming it's always faster), then take the US route, the state road, and then the local road. I've seen the device plot a course within 20 miles and send me 5 miles further down the interstate, out and back, instead of taking the American route parallel to the interstate and turning onto a local road. Now you can say I only know better because I know local roads are faster [saw someone say this in a review]. It's not like this. The device should also know better. I know this because the ETA of the start route is updated when I go the other direction. Initially, the estimated arrival time is 8 minutes. After recalculating the ETA, it says 5 minutes. This tells me that the device doesn't compare routes to choose the fastest one; it is simply the development of a scheme to solve a program. This is Texas where all freeways have sidings, the device told me twice to pull onto the freeway and immediately back 1/4 mile onto the ramp instead of staying on the ramp. This is a safety issue as I had to merge into traffic twice instead of staying on the same road. I didn't expect it the first time and followed the instructions. I knew better the second time. Traffic Awareness: For the most part, I'm satisfied. There are times when the latency information is out of date, but I think that's due to the city system, not the device. For example, Memphis is always late; while Dallas was at its best. Features I would like to see: 1. Password protection so I can prevent children from playing with the device.2. traffic light awareness. Constantly directs me to the MS-302, which has a pretty high speed limit but never gets picked up because of the headlights. The device needs to know the lights and take into account the extra time when traveling with them.3. Option when searching for a POI to turn off the POI behind you. This should be optional as there may be times when it is better to return. However, on the freeway most of the time you're looking for the nearest gas station, restaurant, etc. I would recommend this GPS to my friends without fear of losing a friend. LOL============================================= = =Update 1 June 2013: It's been like this for a few years now. After about 1 1/2 years the battery life began to decrease. The first symptom was when we rode without cables all day. Before we got the low battery warning the GPS turned itself off and when we charged it again all our POIs were erased. Now the device works no more than 10-15 minutes on battery power. Useless if not connected to the network. GARMIN needs to replace the battery; is possible with us. I believe the price will be around the cost of a new block.