My First GPS: Garmin Nuvi 250
A couple weeks ago I received a new Garmin Nuvi 250 as a gift. I have been wating a personal navigation device but I decided that I was going to wait to buy one until the Dash.net devices became available. However I have really enjoyed using the Garmin Nuvi 250.
In the three weeks that I have had the PND, the devices has worked as it is supposed to. It show my current position on roads and will give me turn by turn directions to addresses that I either input or select from the POI database. As this is my first PND I didn’t expect a whole lot from it, bit it has mostly met my expectations of a device like this. I continue to be impressed with the POI database that is in the device. The couple of times that I have used it to look up a hotel or restaurant I found the location without too much hassle. Once the location was selected I was guided to the front door without any problems.
While driving around familiar locations the device doesn’t have much value, however I do like the ability of the device to act as a trip computer. It calculates average speed, top speed, amount of time stopped, amount of time moving and total tile. I relaly like this information as it gives me an accurate picture of how long it takes me to drive to and from work.
Another nice feature is that the device has a light sensor in it. As it goes from day to night the device will adjust the map background from white to black to help your eyes compensate. I thought that this was a nice touch and noticed the maps being redrawn when as day turned to evening.
If I had to change something about the device I would make the battery last a bit longer between charges. I can usually go about 4 days (8 hours) before giving it a charge. Also I would let the user disable all the warning screens, they are annoying. Lastly I would improve the satellite search feature. If you turn the device on in your garage then pull out it has a hard time getting a lock on satellites. If you turn it on in the open it locks on right away. All these are minor annoyances and don’t change my opinion of the device.
All in all this is a great entry level PND and I am glad to have it. If you are looking for a basic PND this is great one to buy. With a starting price of about $250.00 you can’t go wrong.
Share This-->