Garmin nüvi 205W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

Garmin nüvi 205W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

Ranking: 9.1 out of 10

Manufacturer: Garmin
Model Number: Nuvi 205W
Product Code: 753759077648
Price: $249.99 -- get the latest pricing from Amazon

Features:

  • 4.3 in Touch Screen Navigator with 2D/3D Maps
  • Turn by Turn Voice Directions and Optional MSN Direct Services
  • Where Am I Emergency Locator / You Always Know Your Location
  • With HotFix, It Calculates Your Position Faster to Get You There Quicker
  • JPEG Picture Viewer, World Travel Clock, Currency Converter, Calculator and More

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Description:

With easy-to-use Touchscreen displays, the nuvi 205w can route to addresses, restaurants, hotels and more with turn-by-turn directions and voice guidance. nuvi 205w will say "Turn right in 500 feet." New appealing features include MSN Direct compatibility, HotFix, Garmin Connect Photos, digital elevation maps, automatic time zone updates and smoother map updates. nuvi 205w is compatible with an optional MSN Direct receiver (GDB 55). This optional MSN Direct receiver provides premium content such as traffic updates, weather, gas prices, enhanced movie listings, stock info, news, local events and a send-to-GPS feature for trip planning. nuvi 205w is the most affordable option, with mapping coverage of the lower 48 states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It offers five million points of interest, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs and attractions. The map data is provided by NAVTEQ, a world leader in premium-quality mapping. Bright 4.3 diagonal color display, 480 x 272 pixels, WQVGA TFT display, with white backlight High-sensitivity GPS receiver for improved performance and reception Trip computer records mileage, max speed, total time and more Built-in travel kit includes features such as picture viewer, world clock, currency and measurement converters and calculator Configurable vehicle icons - allows users to select a fun, customized car-shaped icon; users can download additional choices Offers a three-dimensional mapping perspective or 2D overhead view Built-in lithium-ion battery - lasts up to four hours depending on usage Dimensions - Width 4.8 x Height 2.8 x Depth 0.8 Weight - 6.1 ounces

User Reviews -- Add a new review for this Product

Best I can find, but room for improvement

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 10! out of 10
Created: Aug 31, 2008
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I have owned a Garmin c320 for a few years now and was looking for some new features, like coordinates and altitude. I first bought the TomTom 330 XL, which was a disaster. After lots of research, I bought this and kept it. Here is my long list of pros and cons:
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br /PROS:
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br /1. Best routes. (See my cons) This may be one of the main reasons Garmin dominates in the US -- good routing. Of course, I wish it had more a brain and could think about traffic lights and general traffic in certain areas at certain times (not actual traffic reporting), but I guess needing brains is good.
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br /2. Where Am I? (See my cons) This will list your nearest street address. In this screen it also shows altitude and your coordinates.
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br /3. Easier broad map access. On my c320, you had to dig in the menus to find a broad map view, so you could touch areas on the map and go to it. On the 205w, you can just touch the map while driving and it will take you to the broad map. You can then touch an area that you want to make a Via Point and change your route that way.
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br /4. Speed Limit sign. You can set it up to show the current speed limit on the screen. It has been super accurate to the instant of a speed limit change in real driving. If the sign is missing on the screen, you also then know that it doesn't really know how to calculate arrival time from the road. You may want to use that information to take or avoid that road on your next trip.
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br /5. Very compact. My c320 was much bigger, so this is super small.
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br /CONS:
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br /1. Touchscreen. This may change as I use it, but the touchscreen is no where near as sensitive as my c320. It requires some hard touching. It also shows fingerprints much worse than my old GPS unit.
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br /2. Ball mount. This gives a better range of motion than the mount on my c320, but it feels like I need to push really hard on my GPS unit to get it to snap in. This may change in age, too.
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br /3. Keyboard speed. When I'm typing in a city, street, etc., the keyboard is a full QWERY keyboard, which is an improvement over my c320 (I think you can choose ABC keyboard), but there are two things I don't like: 1) there is a delay from when you type to when it shows, so if you type fast, you can't see what you're typing, if you make a mistake, you don't see if very fast; 2)the spacebar is tiny and way off to the right, while dumb menus are in the bottom middle -- very annoying!!
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br /4. Charging cord. On my c320, the charging cord would plug into the mount and there wasn't a charge jack in the GPS unit itself. This was nice because you could leave the power cord in the mount all the time and take the GPS with you - you never had to plug in, just clip the GPS in and out. Now, the power cord won't stay put and it falls out the door, etc. because it must be plugged into the back of the GPS. I suppose with the mount the way it is, it's not possible to have a jack in the mount and GPS, but I think they should work on that.
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br /5. Current road. The TomTom XL 330 did show what road you are currently on and what the next road to turn onto was. Garmin only shows the next road name.
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br /6. Routing pet peeve. Sometimes I won't want to take its routing because I know of a better way. Let's say I turn off of the normal route -- it will recalculate and have a shorter time than before I turned. What's up with that? Why didn't it take me that way to begin with?
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br /6. Routing choices. I don't like the fact that I can choose either Fastest Time or Shortest Route. I would imagine that some of the time, the best route would be in between those to extremes.
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br /7. Missing POIs. There are just so many cases where I'll be looking for something and it's not in the Garmin -- even for stores and restaurants open for years. I know you'll have this will all GPS units, but for the #1 seller in the US, can't they figure out a way to get the users involved? How about incentives for users to fix problems online and give them discounts on map updates? If you have the best maps and POIs by far, why would anyone buy any other company?
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br /8. Tinny speaker. I'm not impressed with the speaker, it is much worse sounding than the deep c320, but you can hear it. It's just not pleasant.
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br /9. Voice choices. It would be nice to choose your voice, but I don't see that option, unless you choose another language.
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br /10. Nearest intersection. This is within the "Where Am I" place in the menu. It could be very useful in an emergency to have the nearest intersection in addition to the nearest address. However, I've found that they should have labeled it, "random intersection within a few miles." It will generally show me a major intersection, and sometimes ignore dozens of closer small intersections that would be much more beneficial to the police, fire, ambulance, etc.
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br /11. Volume. I hate how they have the volume setup. On the c320 there was a wheel on the side of the unit -- that's best. On the TomTom, there was a place on the main driving screen that you touched and then moved the volume slider. On this 205W, you must hit Menu, Volume, move it, then back, then View Map. This is just awful. I want a Mute button on the driving screen and a separate volume button there, too. This is widescreen after all. I hope this doesn't cause accidents, because I think it will. When I answer my phone, I want fast access to mute!
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br /12. Need customization! Let me choose 3 shortcut buttons for the driving map view. That way I can put Where Am I, Volume, and POI on the main screen. Please!! I also want to change my route color to red instead of light purple.
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br /13. POI choices. This is something I've never found a GPS that does this how I want it. If I'm looking for gas or food, it is usually on a long trip. If I want to go to fast fast, let's say (that wouldn't happen!), I would choose Restaurant, Fast Food. It will show me all the restaurants by how far they are from me now. That's not what I want, so I choose Near...My Current Route. That's closer to what I want, but it still shows how far it is from where I am now. I want it to show me that, but also how far I'd have to deviate from my route.
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br /Overall, this is an excellent unit and I would buy it again because I believe the Pros outweigh the Cons and no competitor and yet beat it.

Back to Great Navigation ... at its BEST

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 7.2 out of 10
Created: Sep 3, 2008
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I agree with others that mp3, bluetooth, fm, announcing street "names," etc., is overboard and is NOT what makes a good GPS. Certainly Garmin has to make those for persons who want them; but for really just GOOD AND FAST navigation, the new series (205W etc) is all that's necessary and is awesome at that. What is a good GPS ... the Garmin handheld 60CSx ... which I have! So I compared the two which isn't really realistic since they both have different purposes, but both do navigation extremely well. Only the 60CSx will maintain its connection in extremely difficult areas (sky scraper buildings, overpasses, canyons, forest canopy, etc); but the 205W is not a slouch here either.
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br /Satelite information ... Speed: the 205W is every bit as fast as the 60CSx, if not just a tad faster, and that, in itself is amazing. It gathers satellites easily and once obtained, reconnects almost instantaneously after being turned back on. Get off Interstate 35E in Dallas and try to get back on ... it's a nightmare. But for the Nuvie 205W it was easy and very clearly described and stated ... a great GPS.
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br /I was skeptical at first about the new series until I read what Garmin accomplished here and other comments from reviewers: fast chip, storage for 1000 favorites, trip minder, clear directions and markings with distances given, road mph and your current mph (on screen) and time arrival at the objective (waypoint to go to), beautiful wide screen, easy mount dismount, etc. I could go on and on but ... if it is toys you want (mp3, bluetooth telephone, fm, etc.), don't buy this one. BUT if you want the absolute BEST for the BUCK navigation ... this series has it. The reaction speed of the unit is really impressive.
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br /My wife loves this unit and how easy it is to do what she wants (that, my friend, is a good sales talk ...).
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br /Garmin's back to great navigation is ... great and at a great price. Your friends will be impressed.
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br /Only complaint ... no online operators manual ... yet? But since I already had the 60CSx, it was easy to figure out and Garmin menus are easy and direct you to what you need to know. I have owned and used the 205W Nuvi since July 14, 2008. Very satisfied!
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Best value in wide-screen GPS... plain simple.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 6.4 out of 10
Created: Sep 2, 2008
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The Garmin nuvi 205W is simply a great GPS and the best value of any widescreen GPS. It has a no extra bells and whistles (no MP3 player -LOL, doesn't speak road names - annoying, no maps of Alaska or Canada - not needed, no FM transmitter to listen to MP3 - useless gimmick, etc.). The 205W is a useful widescreen GPS - plain and simple. It has over 6 million POIs (restaurants, lodging, shopping) and can be customized to add your own POIs. It has a trip computer which I used last week on a road trip to Hershey Park which was pretty neat (tracks time traveled, speed, distance, etc.). This newly released Garmin GPS has the new user interface which shows the road speed limit, your speed, next turn arrow and distance to next turn all on the main screen. The mapping information is the best available on the market and will provide you with clear directions on where you want to go. The Garmin 205 (regular screen) and the 205W (widescreen) are both highly recommended - just a matter of preference in screen size.

Nice Choice

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 4.9 out of 10
Created: Sep 11, 2008
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I am very impressed with this product and it sure is nice knowing I will never be lost again as I have in the past (just ask my wife).
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br /If you could afford the extra expense, I would recommend choosing the larger 4.3 display (205W). The 205W's only drawback is the street name is not announced which is something I thought I might regret but it is easily seen at the top of the display.
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br /A GPS power supply for the car is included. I mention this because it is not clearly stated in the product details.
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br /This 205W model would be what the majority of customers would need in a GPS without all the useless features that the more expensive models offer.
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Nice to have a navigator

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 4.2 out of 10
Created: Jul 24, 2008
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I was sold on this product when we used it cross-country to find lodging for the night. Couldn't remember the name of the motel chain a friend recommended, but scrolling through the listings for our night's destination city, I recognized the name, drilled down to the details (which include phone numbers), called the motel's number on my cell phone and got a reservation. The Garmin then led us directly to the motel (which would not have been easy to find otherwise). I have been less impressed with the navigator's performance near my own home, as over time I have developed favorite paths to frequent destinations, and the Garmin rarely chooses those. I turn it off rather than listen to the constant "recalculating route." It has made me more adventuresome, however, as I know I can go to places I've never been before without getting hopelessly lost in the process. I am unfamiliar with other GPS units so I am unaware how this compares with others out there. We were given it as a gift by my daughter and son-in-law who had used a similar one in a rental car while on vacation. It suits my needs and it is very simple to use.

Replacement for the Tom Tom 330S-Couldn't be happier!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 4.2 out of 10
Created: Sep 18, 2008
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I recently purchased a Tom Tom 330 S and was extremly dissatisfied with it so I sent it back. I decied I really didn't want to pay and extra $50 for spoken street names so this GPS had most of the features that the Tom Tom did for less money! It doesn't have Mapshare, itinerary route planning, or spoken street names but so far I love it! The thing that sold me was that most of the points of interest were in the right place (which is more than what the Tom Tom had) and the volume, if prefered, could be turned up very loud which was also not true for the Tom Tom. I am definitly buying a Garmin next time and I would strongly recommend it to anyone. The only thing that bothered me just a little is that I had to buy the car charger separate as an accessory because it didn't come in the box but it wasn't a deal breaker. The total price was still less than the Tom Tom!

Good value, great product!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 4.2 out of 10
Created: Jul 4, 2008
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I bought the Garmin nuvi 205w after experience and return of two Magellan products for about two weeks, the two Magellans, Maestro 3225 and Roadmate 1412 were buggy and felt cheap compare to Garmin.
br /The Garmin nuvi 205w is just great, responsive, clear maps, extremely quick satellite reception from a cold start, you don't even have to be outside, just standing next to a window will do the trick. Built quality is superb, it feels like a little brick, the PC software to load IPO's is great; you can also look for an address on Google maps and click "send" to load the location to the Garmin.
br /Accuracy in busy NYC streets is amazing, it will recalculate after half a block when you miss a turn, also, on the Henry Hudson Pkwy it will detect if I'm on the main road or the service road, and they are really close to each other.
br /So far I'm very satisfy, easy to use, responsive and does not have anything that I don't need !
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Saved our vacation and a bargin at twice the price

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 4.0 out of 10
Created: Nov 26, 2008
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I've never used a GPS unit before, but with a two-week driving trip to the UK coming up, I thought it would be a useful tool. I was wrong; it was an INDISPENSIBLE tool. Seriously, if I could give this thing 10 stars I would.
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br /It saved my life on numerous occasions and lowered the stress level of driving in an unfamiliar country (on the left side of the road, with roundabouts instead of intersections, driving late at night and on rural roads!) to a minimum. We also purchased the UK map add-on, popped it in and we were ready to go. We changed it over to the British voice for fun and was a god-send.
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br /Especially helpful was the ability to download locations and addresses directly from Google Maps into the Favorites folder. We did this each night as we planned the next day's journey. It allowed us to be spontaneous.
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br /We ran into an issue with our rental car where the aux output failed and even though the Garmin was plugged in, it was not getting any charge. This, of course, was not the Garmin's fault but it left us kinda stuck until we could get the car fixed. But we simply turned the Garmin off when it would tell us there was a long stretch of driving (five or more miles) with no road changes and then turned it back on just before the change (using the trip meter) We also turned down the brightness. Each time it required the signal quickly with no effort and we were able to get over 8 hours out of the four hour battery charge. But once it was plugged in and getting a charge as it should, there were no issues. But it was good to know that in an emergency, with a little tweaking, you can get several more hours of use.
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br /One time we ran into some emergency construction work in Cardiff and we were unable to turn where it was directing us. However, it recalculated quickly and we arrived at our destination only a few minutes later.
br /I especially liked how easily it found gas stations as we were in rural areas for the most part. We never lost a signal, although on occasion in a dense and close city like Edinburgh it took some time to acquire the signal when first switch on, probably because of the very tall buildings. But once acquired, it never went away.
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br /The voice was easy to hear, we had no problems even in loud driving conditions (radio on, noisy road, rain). The screen was plenty bright, even in daytime. The touch screen was very easy to use and very easy to change. Having the volume right on the first screen was great because we didn't have to go hunting for it when we did want to turn it down.
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br /It was easy to dismount, pop in my bag and take with us. Apparently, these little gems are stolen a lot in the UK, when we entered Stratford, there was actually a sign that said Welcome to Stratford, be sure to take your SatNav out of your car if you don't want to lose it!
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br /Upon my return to the states, it's functioned perfectly with the US Maps.
br /I don't write that many Amazon reviews, but this product was so good and such a life saver that I really wanted to tell others. This particular model suited my needs perfectly and while I know there are fancier editions available, for my purposes, I didn't need Bluetooth, to pick up email, an MP3 player or anything else like that.
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br /All I just needed something to get me from A to B in one piece with a minimum of stress. This did the trick and then some. Considering that without the Garmin we would STILL be wasting our vacation time arguing over maps and missed turns and trying to figure out the unfamiliar UK road system this little guy was worth twice the price I paid for it.
br /I love it and I'm going to buy a couple as Christmas presents.
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Very good 'cheap' GPS if looking for basic navigation

Rating: 3 out of 5
Weight: 3.6 out of 10
Created: Dec 8, 2008
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I have had this unit for about 8 months. It has given me no problems what so ever. The bad thing about it for me is how basic it is. If you want bluetooth compatibility, traffic updates, movie times, etc on your GPS, then this is not the device for you. But if all you want is to get around and find places, then this unit will work well.
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br /The price seems a little high right now for what it does ($180). For that price I would expect bluetooth compatibility. This unit does not say the road names, it just says turn left or turn right in 200 feet(not a big deal). When you look places up, it has their phone number and address (usually) which is nice because if its late at night, you can call first to see if they are still open.
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br /This GPS has an SD card reader on the side, which can be used to view pictures in slideshow mode when you don't need the unit for navigation.
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br /The screen is very bright during the day, so you can easily see the screen. And a nice feature is that when it gets dark, the screen automatically changes colors to 'night' mode, which helps when driving at night (the screen dims and the bright white background colors change to dark blues and blacks).
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br /The trip features are nice. It keeps track of your average speed, how long you spent moving, how long you spent stopped, total travel time, how many miles you've gone, etc.
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br /It takes about a minute to a minute and a half to find your location from a cold start, but if you leave it powered all the time (with a car in which the cig lighter stays on when you turn the car off) it never loses the location (not sure if that is bad for it).
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br /The battery life is very good (about 4-5 hours).
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br /There are many add-ons that a technologically advanced person can add to it. Such as custom points of interest (you can download them or even make your own, and you can set alerts so that it warns you when you are close to a certain place or when you are speeding in a school zone). You can add different vehicle icons to use as the car on the screen.
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br /Overall, it is a decent, but very basic navigation device. Not many bells or whistles, but it gets you from point A to point B well.

Perfect GPS for the Price

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.6 out of 10
Created: Nov 16, 2008
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This GPS works great. Tons of features for the price. Yes voice announcing of the road would be nice but it's also rather annoying. The GPS graphically displays each street as well as the next street that you turn on. So for me this GPS was fantastic. Love the feature of finding stores, gas stations, ... Only reason for not giving it 5 stars is that they did not include Canada and Alaska for the road database. I had to purchase that database separately and I felt that if they had North America roads then they should have had all of North America.

No complaints so far...

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.6 out of 10
Created: Oct 31, 2008
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I am very satisfied with the Garmin 205W. It's very easy to use as Garmin makes one of the best user interfaces on the market. The screen is good sized and bright. I have never had to wait more than 10-15 seconds for it to acquire satellites. It redraws (refreshes) often and quickly. I also LOVE that the speed limit is displayed for most streets and highways, especially when in unfamiliar territory.
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br /Even with the new changes/upgrades, I don't know if it's worth the cost to upgrade from a 200, but if you're considering getting a cheap 200 now that it's the old model, I would pay the extra for the 205.
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br /I was also strongly considering the 255W, but decided that having maps of Canada/Alaska and spoken street names weren't that important to me. The instructions are clear enough, and if I really need to know the street name I can easily glance down and check.
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br /Any negatives? It would be nice if it came with a wall AC adapter (along with the car one) and an appropriate USB cable, though that's cheap and easy to find. The screen was poorly calibrated out of the box and it was a hassle to figure out how to recalibrate it (turn it off, slide and hold the on/off switch to the left for 30 seconds, follow the on-screen prompts). The problem is that most of the instructions are actually contained on the NUVI itself rather than a manual. This is great most of the time, but when the problem is that the unit thinks you're touching the screen in a place different from where you actually are, it creates problems trying to find the info.
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br /Overall I am very pleased with this purchase. I also highly recommend the corresponding Garmin friction mount.
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br /Note: I see a lot of people complaining about it not being any faster at acquiring satellites than the 200. The way that Garmin tried to fix the problem with the 200 taking several minutes to acquire was to have the 205 "track" the satellites even while off. When you shut down the 205, it knows its location and that of the satellites. When you turn it back on, it "knows" where to look for the satellites by calculating where they were, where they were going, and how much time has passed. If you only turn your GPS on once a week or turn it off and then turn it on again in a new location, it's going to have to search from scratch, which takes longer (though it has never taken more than a few minutes for me... maybe 3 at the very most).

Cool Tool - Good Price - High Quality

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.6 out of 10
Created: Oct 17, 2008
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I had to hook it to my computer to charge it at first. Luckily i had a wire from my digital camera that had the same mini-usb port because the GPS only comes with a car charger. GPS works perfectly! I was on vacation and threw it in my pocket when i walked around the city. I would turn it on to find restaurants, stores, etc. It lasted 2 days without a charge. its a very handy tool and worth the price.

nuvi

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.6 out of 10
Created: Oct 1, 2008
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the navigation system is great. only negative thing is that sometimes it takes the satellites awhile to find your location in the beginning of each use.

Great

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.4 out of 10
Created: Oct 13, 2008
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I drove from Florida to Kentucky to New Jersey to Penn State and the 205W never put a foot wrong, the only time I had an issue was when it tried to put me on a toll road ( I am sure there is an option to stop this though)
br /Gets 10/10 from me
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I didn't get lost!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.4 out of 10
Created: Sep 7, 2008
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Everything that you would want in a GPS and nothing more. I don't need an mp3 player, that's installed with my car stereo. Don't need bluetooth, that's covered also. A large, bright screen. Voice is more than loud enough and more importantly understandable. Fast, great features, stop reading this and buy the freakin' thing already.

Professional Driver new to Garmin nuvi 205w

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.2 out of 10
Created: Dec 7, 2008
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I've had this Garmin nuvi 205w now for about a week. Brought on Black Friday at Pep Boys. I make deliveries so I need to know where and how to get there. So far, I only have one problem with it. If the street and city do not match in its database, then there's "NO Matches Found". Even if you know for a fact that, the city and address are there. Address are found by there designated towns main Post Office. For example, here out in Long Island NY I tried to look for address 4 Third Street in Garden City Park. I got "NO Matches Found", I searched again using New Hyde Park as the city name and then my Garmin found a match. My Garmin could not find Garden City Park, only Garden City. Garden City Park main post office is in New Hyde Park. If there was a search by zip code, this would fix this problem easily, but there is none. Nevertheless, for the most part it works VERY WELL. I give it 4 Stars out of 5. The voice commands are clear and there's pleanty of room for custom settings. Also for some reason you have to buy a data cable in order to register the unit. I picked one up cheep on e-bay. It's also used to upload upgrades to your unit thru your computer.

A great entry level unit

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.2 out of 10
Created: Dec 5, 2008
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I think the Garmin 205w is a great entry level GPS unit. It doesn't have advanced features like bluetooth, or text-to-speech (which announces street names) so instead of saying turn left on main st, it says turn left in .2 miles. I don't really care either way. The only thing I care about in a GPS is clear, understandable, accurate directions, and the garmin does a great job on that.
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br /There are a few negitive things, but they are minor.
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br /1. The estimated time usually optimistic. With traffic, you will almost never make the projected time, but its not that far off.
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br /2. Directions are not always the best. There are some routes where it tells me to turn, when obviously there is a better route. The difference is often minor, so its not a horrible problem
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br /3. The posted speed limits are sometimes wrong. This is also a minor issue, just don't 100% trust whatever the GPS tells you the speed limit is.
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br /Although not perfect, I doubt you will find a better unit for under 200.00. Unless you need maps of Canada/Europe or advanced features, this is probably the best GPS out there. I don't know how I got by without it.

Never get lost again.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.2 out of 10
Created: Sep 5, 2008
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I had a street pilot previously which was stolen so this was my replacement. I did a lot of research on the garmin website. Everything is fine except that some of the new roadways in NC arent on the grid yet I guess. On a recent trip to my parents, the unit showed us off-roading when we were obviously not. Im sure that it will update itself soon. We really depend on this thing to keep us from getting lost and so far I have no complaints. It is a great value.

Exactly what i expected

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.2 out of 10
Created: Aug 24, 2008
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Excellent product, i bought it to be used in Costa Rica, I have not upload the maps for Costa Rica yet but i used in Los Angeles and it took me straight to the hotel and i had no previous experience driving in the US. Amazing

Can't save Favorites

Rating: 3 out of 5
Weight: 3.0 out of 10
Created: Sep 24, 2008
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Good product however, when you try to save favorites, it occasionally freezes up and you have to shut off the unit. You can save a few, then it freezes. Spoke to garmin and they said a patch is coming out soon. Anyone else see this?

Good for the money

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.0 out of 10
Created: Dec 16, 2008
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ALthough this is my first GPS unit, I've observed several other portable and factory-installed GPS units owned by friends. For the money, this is a very good unit. I like the bigger screen than many portables, although of course, still not close to a dashboard unit. The data base does not seem complete, based on limited use to date, so a bit of a problem if you don't have the exact address you want. Typing in anything is a pain for the fat-fingered. Very sensitive key pad so "erasures" common. I'm happy with the product, again for the price.

GPS for Dummys

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 3.0 out of 10
Created: Nov 4, 2008
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While planning an extensive trip Up-East through NH. VT and ME I decided that I needed some serious navigation help. I read everything imaginable about every imaginable GPS. Confusing? Yup. I finally was faced with a deadline and threw a mental dart. Garmin 255. Found the 205 instead for $50.00 less. The only difference being that the 255 tells you what street/road you will turn on. 205 simply gives you a written ID at the top. For $50.00 I learned to read. We flew to Manchester NH and took off on our voyage. The GPS was given a nickname of LuLu (american english) and Phoebe (british english). She performed perfectly except for 3 occasions.
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br /1. She kept insisting that we turn left onto a one way street.
br /2. She led us down a road that dead ended into a golf course. It turns out that the road did in fact continue on the the other side of the golf course.
br /3. This is the best one. She insisted that we were to drive across a pedestrian bridge in Brattleboro Vermont.
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br /I found that LuLu was extremely simple to operate and that comes from someone who is technologically challenged (read techo-dunce).
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garmin nuvi 205 w

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.0 out of 10
Created: Dec 23, 2008
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good unit, love it a lot. wish it could say street names and have voice recognition, but either than that it's a pretty stout navigator.

Garmin nuvi 205W

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 3.0 out of 10
Created: Nov 16, 2008
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For the money, this is the best GPS navigatoron the market. It is absolutly easy to program and operate. Directions are clear and undestandable. Places of special interest are loeaded nad ready to go. It even gets you around out here in Montana on very lonely roads and remote locations.

garmin

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 2.8 out of 10
Created: Oct 13, 2008
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I purchased the garmin 205w.I use it for my residential painting service to find address.I wouldnt leave home without the unit.

GPS Unit

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 2.8 out of 10
Created: Oct 10, 2008
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This GPS unit works great I'm have recommended it to a lot of people.I have also load it to family member and they have loved it.

Garman 205W

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 2.8 out of 10
Created: Aug 13, 2008
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I have had other GPS's but Garmin is still the Best! The Garmin 205W is faster than my previous Garmin and its accuracy is great.
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br /Ken Nies

Best GPS for the Money

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 2.8 out of 10
Created: Jun 26, 2008
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I just received one of these yesterday. It is everything the description says and more. I can't believe the enhancements over more expensive, current Garmins. Do not hesitate. BUY It!

Good GPS in decent price

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 2.6 out of 10
Created: Dec 1, 2008
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I am quite Satisfied with this GPS. It is pretty good with accuracy. But it sometimes hangs up or gives wrong directions in Cities.

Awesome

Rating: 5 out of 5
Weight: 2.6 out of 10
Created: Sep 16, 2008
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This thing is awesome, recommend it very much. The only way I think this could get better is if you bought a higher model.

It's an OK unit.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Weight: 2.4 out of 10
Created: Nov 7, 2008
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It's supposed to be faster than the previous line of products (thanks to a faster processor) but it doesn't feel that way. I had a Nüvi 350 (hated the flip up antenna though it seems it really helped with the reception) and a TomTom One (2d generation) and I don't remember them being much slower than the Nüvi 205W.
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br /My other grip with it is that it will act-up when I am stopped (at a Stop sign or red light for instance). The screen shows the car making incoherent movements and this forces a route re-calculation. Everything goes back to normal when I resume the driving.
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br /Further, it takes a pretty long time to acquire a lock on satellites signal It really pisses me off. My only device slower than this is my Nokia E71 cellphone (sucks at GPS).
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br /Last, I would recommend the widescreen over the regular screen size to the ones who are hesitating/ wondering whether it's worth the extra money.

Touchscreen Rocks

Rating: 4 out of 5
Weight: 2.2 out of 10
Created: Jul 14, 2008
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Pros: The touchscreen is so cool for viewing Topo maps, its all display...no wasted trim, super fast screen draws, tracklog. 700MB of spare "HDD" space for photos or whatever. Lighter than an eTrex. Photo viewer with zoom and pan. Attach photos to favorites. Organize favorites in folders.
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br /Cons: Reading display in sunlight requires massive backlight. Huge buttons that waste display space. Odometer is 15-20% low at walking speeds.
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br /Comments: I bought this primarily to view the 24K Topos from Above the Timber. My road warrior needs are limited at best. Since Amazon had yet to stock the 205W, I got it from CC for 2-C-notes. I have a color eTrex and with no backlight its easy to read Topos in full sun. I set the Nuvi display to 0%, it was so dark I couldn't even make out what buttons to press to go back to 10%, had to guess. Never set the backlight below 10% or you'll be sorry. I posted 2 screenshots with hover comments. Hold down the battery icon for 10-seconds to see the diagnostics.

Garmin Service???

Rating: 2 out of 5
Weight: 0.7 out of 10
Created: Oct 30, 2008
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Wife bought me this for my birthday so I am trying to make it work. Turns out you can't register it without buying a mini-USB cable to connect to your computer, then you have to download Garmin's software to make a connection. I thought this ridiculous so I sent an email to Garmin's service department telling them so and asking them to just register my product serial number (a police officer friend said this is a good idea since so many of these things are stolen). What I got back was advice to go out and buy the cable. Probably took the tech longer to write the email than it would have to register my GPS. BAD service, BAD idea.
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br /As for the GPS?? It might be useful occasionally. I live in a fairly urban area, and it cannot, of course, account for short cuts, traffic flows, new streets, temporary one-ways, or differentiate between a high capacity thoroughfare and a residential street when it routes you. I quickly got tired of ending up in residential neighborhoods driving over speed bumps so now I mostly leave it off.

cannot find satellites

Rating: 1 out of 5
Weight: 0.0 out of 10
Created: Oct 19, 2008
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Software is great. Maps are wonderful. It takes 30-75 minutes to find satellites so the device is useless.

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