Review on 🌐 Garmin nüvi 255W 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (No Longer Manufactured) by Hayden Hart

There are a lot of reviews so I'll just add my opinion. (1) I bought this based on a survey of GPS devices in Consumer Reports December 2008 issue. Customer reviews of Revain are valuable, but often wrong. (2) The 255W and 255W models appear identical, except for the 255W model's wider 4.4-inch screen (compared to the 255's 3.5-inch screen). The wider screen doesn't seem to improve navigation visibility, but it does provide more "finger room" for typing in addresses or performing searches. 255w is more expensive than 255w and battery life is shorter (3 hours vs 3.8 hours for 255) - forget the 4 hour rated life - battery life seems shorter due to the larger screen. (See comments: The 255W has a QWERTY input keyboard, while the 255 has ABC input.) (3) Forget the 205 series — the 205's text-to-speech capability doesn't make street naming a serious one Shortcomings are functionality compared to the 255 series. (4 ) Click Go to start and the main map and menu screen will appear. The screen shows the "recommended" road in magenta, the turn arrow for the next turn (and approximate distance), the speed limit on the road (if known), Your speed and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) are displayed. Before driving, 255W instructs you to drive on the 1st street indicated - in a mall or place with multiple exits (or at night) it's easy to start in the wrong direction, but I assume that's the case for all of them GPS is the case. (5) The recalculation function is usually fast, providing new directions within a few seconds. The default mode is to avoid reversals. You can explore this feature locally by selecting an alternate route to see if it recalculates to the alternate route instead of providing new directions to the originally calculated route. (6) You can view miles to share on another screen. (map screen), but not recommended while driving unless the passenger looks for it for you. ETA accuracy is good when traffic is flowing; it's far away when the traffic is stop-and-go. (7) Text-to-speech calls for next turn and street name when you are 0.2 miles away. Some reviewers wanted the turn/road name to be called from 1 mile away so they can drive to the exit — — OK, but the device tells you to drive XX miles to the after the last turn/exit next turn, so when you're noting you need to position yourself relative to the distance to the next turn. (8) In the Los Angeles area, where there is a maze of freeways and highways, he takes the most direct route - this is an example of where the GPS device is located. less intelligent than local knowledge. In our example, during a car trip, we drove the I-5 bumper-to-bumper ahead of the same traffic for over 30 minutes. As far as the eye could see we tried alternate routes and the unit moved on. Calculation to get us back to I-5 and heavy traffic. We turned off the device until we knew it had to take a new route (this was I-405, known as the OJ Simpson pursuit route). See comments: Use the detour function to calculate a different route. (8) The "Points of Interest" library (museums, restaurants, etc.) is a great tool, but restaurants (McDonald's for breakfast, etc.) have so much revenue that in a year's time it will be obsolete. I do not know,