Product Description
Garmin nüvi 265WT 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Text-to-Speech, Bluetooth, and Free Traffic
I have owned this unit for about 3 months now and have used it extensively along the east coast from DC to NYC.
1) The traffic function is useless... or worse. I have turned it off on mine. The areas I travel are covered by the traffic information, however the information is unreliable. The unit would frequently reroute to surface streets in heavy traffic (since there is no data on the surface streets, it assumes they are clear). This "feature" has cost me 30+ minutes in downtown DC and NYC several times. Finally I just turned it off and used common sense.
2) The navigation is still rather crude. Map data is often incorrect (though I just updated to the Jan 2009 map release). Verbal directions and on-screen directions occasionally conflict. The worst is off ramps with multiple choices. More often then not, I make the wrong choice trying to interpret the units directions.
I don't have experience with other brands, but I would say this is disappointing. Best to get a good road atlas and use this if you get lost.
Garmin nüvi 265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
I did a lot of research before going with this one. My criteria was 4.3" screen, traffic (preferably free) as I travel quite a bit through high traffic area and like to know the best route, text to speech and a low price. I didn't care about having MP3 or Bluetooth (although this came with that).
I looked at what I consider tier 1 GPS units or around $99 units. They didn't fit the bill. So I had to up my price range. The only GPS's to fit my criteria were the Navigon 7200T and the Magellan 4370.
Navigon reviews stated that it was slow to calculate and update routes so that was taken out. The Magellan was more expensive than what I was willing to pay and traffic required a subscription. Otherwise, it was a good alternative based on reviews.
So that left the Garmin Nuvi 265WT. I found it at Amazon for the lowest price, which was great because I was getting a low price from a trusted vendor. Now for the good an bad.
Good:
Easy to use. Setup was a breeze.
Suction cup on windshield is great. Hasn't fallen off yet.
Great screen. Bright with a good resolution.
Routing and rerouting are quick.
Searching for points of interest is fast.
Typing in destinations is easy and it will guess (usually correctly) what you're trying to type.
Came with 2008 maps, but Nuvi gives you free map update within 60 days of purchase, so I did to 2009 maps.
Bad:
When searching by "Spell name", it can take up to 10 minutes to search.
Even with 2009 maps, there are a lot of errors in my area. There is a huge tollway (Tollway 130) that was built about 2 years ago, that doesn't show up completely. So part of it, the GPS thinks I am off road and keeps telling me to go back to a road. This is bad also because to get around traffic (I35 through Austin), it doesn't know about this so chooses some weird routes. Now I just use the GPS traffic estimate to see how much delay and calculate in my head which is better. Also a lot of on ramps and off ramps are incorrect. Granted they had been changed in 2008.
Not Bad but wish I had considered:
Voice Recognition. This would help in making changes on the road much easier.
Pros: Vivid screen and simple to use. Traffic function is nice. Has gotten me to my destination correctly every time.
Cons: Would be nice if power cable plugged into a dock instead of the unit. The way it currently is makes it a little more difficult to remove and put back.
I did alot of research on the Garmin products prior to purchasing the 265WT. I would say that this product is one of the best and has the most features for the price. The 60 day Garmin NuMaps update is also a big plus allowing the user to receive FREE software and mapping updates 60 days from first satellite acquisition. Some of the highlights of the unit are: the intuitive screeen with posted speed limits, forward looking directions, arrows, and voice commands, hands-free calling, and the recalculation feature. I would also suggest purchasing the Garmin portable dashboard friction mount, A/C charger, and Neoprene Case by Gilsson Technologies (more than enough room for the GPS unit and all accessories including the Garmin portable friction mount and A/C charger).
I bought the device under the assumption that it would find the majority of the places I traveled to. That was true MOST of the time, but not ALL of the time. I live in the California Bay Area and even though I had everything current (as of 2009), the Garmin device could not find the following three locations for starters:
(1)Seafood City-a grocery store chain with a location in Union City. For some reason, it was listed as "Seafood CP", whatever the hell that means.
(2)Saint John's Catholic church in San Leandro. I tried to browse the category "places of worship", but it never found it, even though, I was in the parking lot waiting 10 minutes before I gave up.
(3)A FoodMaxx grocery store in San Leandro-it didn't exist.
Now I understand that they can't keep up with the latest buildings, but if there is a store, or several places that have been somewhere for at least 24 months, those buildings should be there, and in my case, they weren't. To me that is unacceptable. Oh yes, I could have bookmarked them as "favorites", but if I'm having a problem finding a multi-year old locations in my local area, what will happen if we go to a remote area looking for something?
On the positive side, you get plenty of memory for storing stuff, and the SD card storage is nice. Downloading new vehicles to replace the default is cool (I loved the tank), the bluetooth phone technology worked very nicely. The limited number of speech-to-text voices surprised me, but the multi-language options were plentiful and the screen was bright and easy to read.
I don't want to fault Garmin completely-it's the company they use that they get their maps from who is the problem here-NAVTEQ. That company is not that accurate with the locations, but because Garmin doesn't let you update the native maps yourself, that's a disadvantage in my book.
Lastly, many medium-to-high end cell phones can now do GPS locating, and can even tell you driving directions, just like the Garmin device, so Garmin could become redundant if you have a Garmin, then get a cell phone that does the same thing (with a smaller screen of course).
I purchased the unit to replace my ageing (but still working fine Garmin 2610). What a mistake I'll keep the 2610 until it no longer works. Garmin dumbed the interface way down, removed features that I found very useful.
For example if I want to go to say "100 Lake Street" and I'm not positive of the town name the 265 will gladly provide me with a list of towns in alphabetical order that have that address, the 2610 would do the same but list them in order of closest to furthest away. Oh an entering street/addresses? As you type street names any letter that would no longer be valid in any name would be greyed out helping you get the proper spelling, the 265? just enter a street name and hope you got the spelling right. The 2610 would tell me the street I'm on (along with the number I'm passing) plus display the next cross street. The 265? cross street only.
Let me tell you my gripes with the GPS mount, the unit comes with a suction cup mount, sounds great, attach it to the windshield and away you go, however many of the newer cars have a highly sloped windshield and by the time you mount it the reach to the unit starts getting excessive, or in my case blocks too much of the view when it competes with the rearview mirror. The beanbag mount would have been nice instead but alas its additional $$. Oh and the suction cup wouldn't stay attached for more than about 2 hours.
How about the free traffic? I knew it would come with ads, that's not my gripe, although there were only 4 I have seen, BP gas, Wells Fargo, Ramada Inn, & Walgreens. (I tried a search on Wells Fargo and the GPS thought for a while and said "None Found"), According to the links on Garmin's web site regarding traffic my normal routes are covered, however I never saw any traffic alerts for my route even when the overhead highway signs were announcing traffic problems, they were always 15 to 20 miles east of my route. Oh and don't forget the "special power cable" required to receive the traffic, why it needs the receiver handing on the cord a few inches below the GPS I'll never know, why not put the receiver in or near the cigarette lighter plug and run the antenna up instead of down? At least it won't look like a snake that just ate a meal.
One of the nice things that my old 2610 had was a remote control, I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but by the time you mount a GPS on the windshield (or the dashboard for that matter) reaching forward to adjust a destination (even for a non driving passenger) puts the occupant in poor position in the event of an accident.
Anybody try a conversation with the built in bluetooth? forget it the unit picks up too much background noise and the built in speaker is so tiny its almost unusable.
Garmin claims its a great feature that the Nuvi pronounces the street name your turning on... well the unit butchers some of the pronunciations so badly I prefer the names turned of and simply "turn left in 300 ft" I'll glance at the screen for the name.
What did I like about the unit? Well the touchscreen was very responsive at least compared to the touchscreen of the 2610 which sucks, and the unit has a battery so it doesn't need to be plugged in all the time.
Garmin missed the mark as far as I'm concerned.
I spent about a month researching Garmin Nuvis before I settled on the 265WT. I knew I wanted a Nuvi, but wasn't sure of the features I'd want or need. All of the features on this unit are great. I don't use the Bluetooth, but do use everything else. I like the new firmware - the Eco Route is very useful for gas mileage purposes. There really isn't anything negative I can say about it. I got it for a great price (around $240 when I bought it and it's worth every penny). If you can get it for a lower price, that's great, but to me, $240 was worth it for the features it has.
NOW, in order take advantage of all of the features, you need to really know what the unit can do and the user manual just doesn't cover it all. You need to search online for uses (there are a ton that I'd never even have thought of, like GeoTagging photographs)! Luckily, a guy named Gary Hayman had put together an excellent tutorial. Without him, I'd simply have used my Nuvi to get from point A to point B, but he has taught me that it can be used for SO MUCH MORE! Check his site out. I'll post the link, but if it doesn't come through, just do an online search for his name and GPS (or Nuvi). Or seach his name and 'garmin GPS Tricks, Tips, Work Arounds, Hint, Secrets and Ideas'. AND, no, I'm in no way compensated to give him props, but after you see his site, you'll see why he deserves mention. Like I said, I wouldn't know all of the wonders of my Nuvi if not for his site. He definitely deserves credit for taking this from a good GPS system to an excellent gadget capable of so much more than I ever though. [...]
Now, more specifics:
The screen size is great (one of the features I insisted I get was widescreen)/
The Traffic feature is good. I had read some bad reviews of it, so I guess I wasn't expecting much, but I've had good luck with - it's gotten me around a couple of traffic tie-ups (I live in Atlanta, so traffic is a big deal here). The 'free' traffic feature is ad supported. But, honestly, the ads aren't a bother at all - they're very small and aren't constant - they appear every so often.
The new EcoRoute feature rocks. You simply plug in your gas price (and a couple more specific items about your vehicle) and it keeps track of how much you spend per tank and per trip! So, if you want to know how much it costs you to drive to work, it keeps a list of every trip you make and show your the cost of fuel. Just be sure to enter the new gas price each time you fill up for accurate results.
That's about all I can think of right now. I'd highly recommned this Nuvi. Lots of advanced features for a reasonable price.
The Garmin Nuvi 265W is just terrific. But I would have gotten one higher level in the series for more street detail, had I realized more specific features. This was my fault, not the product's. An excellent buy and real help on the roads.
You can't go wrong with this compact GPS. I have had others and this is by far the best. Easy to use and excellent at getting around. I'm a Realtor and it is essential in my job.
I love not having to wear my blue tooth in my ear while driving.
This GPS has it all and I am thrilled to have chosen one that far exceeds the others.
I read a lot of reviews and was prepared for anything, including that this would be a good GPS as my first foray into the GPS arena. This is a GREAT GPS out of the box I think this unit is incredible.
Follow the instructions, maybe wait a month to do the update, but in any case, what a pleasure to use and so functional.
About Garmin nüvi 265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator detail
- Amazon Sales Rank: #24 in Consumer Electronics
- Brand: Garmin
- Model: NUVI 265WT
- Dimensions: 2.90" h x .80" w x 4.80" l, .38 pounds
- Native resolution: 480 x 272
- Display size: 4.3
Features
- Bight 4.3-Inch Diagonal Touch Screen Color Display
- 480 X 272 Pixels, Wqvga Tft Display With White Backlight
- Sleek, Ultra-Thin Design Fits Easily In Pocket
- Preloaded With City Navigator(R) North America Nt
- Bluetooth(R) Wireless Technology For Hands-Free Calling
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