Garmin nüvi 250W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

• 4.3 in GPS System w/480 x 272 Pixels
• Turn by Turn Directions with Voice Guidance
• Detailed Maps of U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico
• Trip Computer Records Mileage, Max Speed, Total Time and More
• 1.1 Lbs (WxLxH) 0.8" x 4.8" x 7.25"

Wider screen lets you see more of what's  around. View larger.

nüvi 250W accepts custom points of interest (POIs). View larger.

The nüvi 250W comes preloaded with maps for U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, and features an  ultra-slim design.

See More of What's Around
The widescreen format gives you 70% more actual screen area than a 3.5-inch screen. Primarily this translates into a better view of the area through which you are driving. This is especially useful in showing you what parks, restaurants, ATM, gas stations, etc. are nearby, or in letting you know whether a detour is a good idea. Also, the device itself is larger, meaning controls on the screen are more widely spaced and somewhat easier to push.

Smart, Powerful Design
The nüvi 250W is built with a high-sensitivity WAAS-enabled GPS receiver for extreme accuracy, as well as an SD card slot for storing your media and additional navigation tools, and a USB interface for loading data. All this is wrapped up in a package that measures 4.8 x 2.9 x 0.8 inches (W x H x D) and weighs just 6.6 ounces. The nüvi display is touchscreen-enabled, making it a cinch to control the device with your fingertips. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to five hours of battery life depending on use.

Navigate with Ease
nüvi 250W comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty POI database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. In addition, nüvi 250W accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs.

Garmin's interface is a key to their success and one of the things that makes their devices such a pleasure to use. Simple controls and sub-screens make it easy to enter or search for destinations and get data about your trip.

Custom vehicle icons let you ride in style, at least inside your GPS. See more icon options.

Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 250W features travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. It also comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature, and configurable vehicle icons that let you select car-shaped graphics to show your location on the map. Optional plug-in SD cards for our line of Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide provide detailed data for attractions and information on nearby merchants offering discounts, so you can customize nüvi for your travel needs.

Note: Like most USB Mass Storage Devices, the nüvi is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me.

What's in the Box
nüvi 250W, preloaded City Navigator NT for the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Canada, vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk, and set up and go guide.

Customer Reviews:

It will get you there, but...

The first Garmin 250W I received was a lemon. It would not hold an accurate position on the map, the direction of travel and speed of travel would vary widely even while stopped. The assistance provided by Garmin customer support was helpful, but could not fix it. Buy Accessories assisted me through the return process and quickly sent me another 250W. This second one has worked OK, but just OK. I expected a basic GPS based on the reviews of others, but this is really bare bones.

Even with the latest map (2009) and the an upgrade to the operating system the unit is less than it should be. The 250W will get me there but it has a tendency to send me via unecessarily complicated routes. When tested on roads to destinations that I travel daily it routes me through seven turns on eight different streets when the easiest route is three turns and four streets. This doesn't change whether I have the routing preference set on fastest time or shorter distance. And it still tries to have me do U-turns even with the avoidances set to avoid U-turns.

On longer trips outside my home area it has done the same thing, lots of turns using side roads. It would be great if I really wanted to take tours of residential neighborhoods instead of staying on the main road and getting to my destination. This routing issue could be a real problem going through an unfamiliar city and being routed on a winding route through a less than safe neighborhood. I've compared routes chosen by the Garmin 250W to those Google maps and Mapquest and the two web-based mapping services do the best job of routing directly and staying on main roads.

Bottom line, in my experience the Garmin 250W is just OK but not worth its price. I don't trust it completely and when traveling to unfamiliar areas I double check the route on-line, take a print out with me, follow the on-line route and let the 250W recalculate as it will.

2008-09-05

Garmin nuvi 250W, GPS

My family loves our new Garmin nuvi 250w ! The minute we took it out of the box, we started using it. That's how user-friendly it is. We like several things about it: the wide, easy-touch screen, the fact that it fits into a pocket, the reliability of the directions, it's easy to read large letters, and it's fun to use! The price is great too!

2008-09-02

Just the ticket!

After all the review reading and research.I purchased this for my wife.
She is far from a techie guru. I was pleased with Amazons quick shipping and Garmins quality. You could pay more but this dose the trick.
Easy to use, very visible 4.3" screen and finds location with out any delay.

2008-08-30

Garmin GPS

Nice and compact to fit in my purse-I won't leave it in the car! Images are clear. Gets me from pt A to pt B with no problems. Good enough for me!

2008-08-26

Good unit

Pros: Great picture, reception, a lot of features. Great for Geocaching.

Cons: Takes a while to acquire satellite's at first.

2008-08-07