Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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456 of 458 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Portable and easy to use, 18 Aug 2007
I've used one of these extensively on the Isle of Man, in the UK and in France (obviously, I have the Europe edition but the only difference is the additional maps). I also have a great deal of experience with Tom Tom.
As the Nuvi 250 not a top-of-the-range unit, there are some shortcomings - and overall I would prefer the Tom Tom interface.
But it is extremely neat, lightweight and easy to set up (which means you're not tempted to leave it on display in the car when you park up for a few minutes and nip into a shop). Actually using the unit for the main purpose (getting to an address) could hardly be easier. It's never locked-up or crashed despite some multi-hour sessions and varying temperatures. The windscreen mounting is excellent: the best I've seen and very easy in any car. I have to admit that I bought it for my wife, who prefers such things to be extremely straightforward (any why not?): she is very happy to use it.
The biggest weaknesses are the voice (very robotic, and can't say "right" correctly which is irritating)(later edit: this has now been fixed by a download from the Garmin web site) and the 3D map display (no indication of movement, and confusing where there are many streets tight up against each other). Also, the location of junctions takes some getting used to: if you wait until "zero feet" before turning off the motorway you'll have missed the junction by a long way. I think that this is partly the mapping, and partly that the countdown of distance to go is a little slow. Moving at 30 mph, a left turn will be indicated ahead but the actual turn takes place whilst the unit is still indicating 50 feet to go. If you stop at the junction it catches up a few seconds later. Tom Tom on my PDA (admittedly a high-power one) seems to stay in sync better with the position of the vehicle.
It does hold satellite lock very well (as you'd expect with this chipset), and generally starts up quickly.
Sometimes the route chosen seems a little odd: in France we were directed to use a rough mountain path at one stage, of the type that would be a challenge on foot. But that's a weakness of the mapping, and despite having better coverage, the Navteq maps seem slightly inferior to the Teleatlas product (as used by Tom Tom). A quick press of the nifty "Detour" button eliminates rogue routing so it's not a real problem.
Also, if you've changed settings to request the shortest route to a destination - don't forget to change back before your next journey (it isn't obvious that this is set) or else you'll be touring tiny back streets unexpectedly!
There are lots of pre-loaded POI's: sometimes it's a little awkward to see these on the map. It is easy to load custom POI's yourself (I do this a lot) using a PC cable (you may have to buy one of these, but it's a standard mini-USB which many digital cameras use: so check whether you already have one). The feature "go to coordinates" (where you enter the Lat and Long) is a great boon: I use it in conjuction with Memory Map on a PDA, and I can then be directed to the exact point on a detailed map.
Overall, pretty good if you like portability, simplicity and ease of use.
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173 of 174 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Garmin Nuvi 250 Satellite Navigation System , 10 Nov 2007
Very pleased indeed
My first sat nav and after reading reviews took the plunge with this Nuvi
Very impressed...this unit has been designed for ease of use and I don't think it could have been done any better
It has the Sirf chipset...(verified on the second page after switch on) which locks onto satellites within a couple of mins tops and destinations are found in less than 30 secs routinely
Also being so sensitive it works sat in my sunglasses case near the gearstick without needing to use the mount
This negates the need to install/uninstall every time I leave the car and does not give thieves a clue with tell tale sucker mount marks on the windscreen....this should not be underestimated and makes using it so easy and quick
Post code search is first class and very accurate and favourites work really well
I have been astounded at the places included in the searches for POIs
Bought at £137 a couple of weeks ago but at £119 this is a steal!
I am getting another for the wife for Xmas
I cannot think of anyone who could not use this it is soooo easy!
Does what is says on the tin ....brilliantly!
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230 of 232 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great value unit that gets the job done!, 16 April 2008
Most in-car Sat Nav experts agree that these days it is largely a two-horse race between Garmin and Tom Tom. Just like the decades old feud between Mac and PC users, some swear by Tom Tom, some by Garmin. I don't feel any special emotion towards Garmin, but I think this unit carries on their tradition of no-nonsense good value units that get the job done. The Nuvi 250 comes with maps of the UK and most of Europe built in. Annual upgrades to the maps are available once a year at a cost, from Garmin. Many feel that the maps Garmin uses are better than Tom Tom, but I haven't owned a Tom Tom so can't comment on that.
The 250 is a `basic' unit in the sense that it has few extras. But ask yourself this: do you really need an MP3 player built into your Sat Nav, or a wireless Bluetooth connection to your phone? Higher end, more expensive models have these, and some will argue you need them - but it's interesting that this is usually people who want to justify to themselves why they spent the extra cash on more expensive models. OK, so the 250 does not have TTS (text-to-speech) for street names - so you will hear it say "Turn left" and not "Turn left on Chapel Street" - but the street name is displayed in a large font at the top of the display, so I really don't find this an issue. What this unit does, it does well. Like all Sat Navs, including Tom Toms, sometimes the route planning and mapping suggest routes that are sub-optimal. EVERY in-car Sat Nav will occasionally send you down a dirt track or on a route that you, with your local knowledge, know is not the best, quickest or optimal one. But this unit doesn't do this any more than units from other manufacturers in my experience.
The 250 is a very slim, sleek unit that fits in a breast pocket comfortably and is very light. It has an excellent, bright screen, with a very clear display, and mapping is shown clearly with good quality anti-aliased fonts. I have found satellite lock to be quick and that the unit holds lock pretty well - better than my old Garmin i3 did. The in-built speaker produces a pretty clear sound, and my experience is that although a small, thin unit, the spoken directions are audible and loud enough even when motorway driving. The unit has an in-built rechargeable battery that charges up either via the supplied in-car cigarette lighter charger, or else when plugged into your USB port on your PC. The supplied windshield mount is quite good - it seems to stay on pretty well and articulates nicely so that you can angle the unit as you wish to maximise visibility of the screen. Garmin doesn't offer alternative (e.g. celebrity) voices for the unit, but there are some hacks that those confident enough with computers can use to modify and change the voices (see PocketGPSworld web site).
The unit has all the features, in my view, that you need in a basic in-car Sat Nav, and they all work pretty well. Driving around Surrey and the south east I have not had any real issues with this unit apart from one time when the display started to lag behind my actual position. Contacting Garmin led me to know that sometimes the unit's downloaded satellite information can become corrupt and cause this kind of lag, and this can be rectified by a hard reset - hold down the bottom right of the screen and while doing this, turn the unit on. You may lose your favourites, but if you have backed up the favourites to your PC using a USB lead prior to this, you can copy them back again. Unit firmware can be upgraded via the Garmin web site and you can backup the entire contents of the unit onto your PC as it loads as a drive in Windows when connected via USB (Garmin sadly, skimped and did not include a USB cable in the box though). You can download regularly updated Speed camera databases (at a price) from the PocketGPSWorld web site (for those confident with PCs) or else from Garmin's own web site (an easier option for technophobes) and both work well.
At the current April 2008 price for this unit, it is excellent value. Of course, it is cheap at the moment because Garmin are about to launch new models, including entry level ones, and the 250 may be replaced by one of these. Even so, I have no hesitation in recommending it as an excellent entry level unit - definitely a step up from my old i3.
P.S. to owners of French cars - some of these (e.g. some Renaults) have athermic windscreens which MAY cause weak Satellite reception with any in-car Sat Nav. If you have such a car, you MAY find problems with this unit and any other in-car Sat Nav. Your choice is either to change car (!), give up the idea of in-car Sat Nav, or install an external antenna (but I'm not sure you can use the latter with this particular unit).
**UPDATE on 7th May 2008 ** - this is now at a good discounted price on Amazon. BUT - as I said above, there are new models coming out, one of which is the 255, which is compatible with optional traffic receivers, and has a faster processor so should draw the maps quicker (in theory). But note the 255 UK version does NOT have text-to-speech to speak street names - only US versions have that. But of course, the new model is around the £150 mark. I still say for this price, the 250 is fantastic value.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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Simple navigation at an affordable price--that's Garmin’s nüvi 250. This entry-level Personal Travel Assistant comes with preloaded maps for Europe. Like all nüvi 200-series members, the 250 features an easy-to-use colorful touch screen and ultra-slim design--perfect for everyday navigation. 
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
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