Garmin n vi 265W 265WT 4 3 Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Annoying Issues for the Novice User
Generally the unit is fine, and a great travel aid. It has some nice features which are not obvious, and one has to stumble into them with use. A few issues cropped up in use for me that are worth mentioning:
1) I find the traffic info really marginally useful. I began a trip from Baltimore to Arlington VA with about a 50 min initial ETA which actually took 120 min. Never did the traffic indicator show more that about 10 min delay.
2) One has to use a little care with finding things like gas stations en route. I was running low on gas and, selected a gas station that appeared to be in the right direction, and was 2.1 miles away. Must have been as the crow flies–and not by route mapping, because it took more than 6 miles to get there, and a river crossing. Was quite a bit out of my way–though I selected it because I thought it wouldn’t take me out of my way.
3) Traveling in not very northern Canada–there is a strong tendency for the unit to select small cut-offs to save time in its routing, which can take you over many unpaved roads. In reality, this often saves no time and puts a lot of unnecessary wear on your car.
4) Most of the time the unit pops up quick and can find satellites. I had one occasion in California when it took about 120 seconds.
Its definitely good to keep a paper map along.
3 Stars Wrong cradle size 
I ordered this GPS unit from Amazon. I got the maps upgraded from the garmin website – not a big deal. But later I found out that the cradle which was inside the box was of smaller size. The GPS unit would not fit into the cradle. I got the package replaced by Amazon within 3 days. Everything seems to be working fine inside the new package. Just a waste of time upgrading maps in 2 units!
4 Stars GARMIN NUVI is a good product overall.
Expect to use 2 hours of set up time. You will have to connect to the internet to download updates initially. This Garmin Nuvi is easy to use once it is set up.
Pros: VOICES: There are other voice choices other than the standard voice. I like the Squirrel voice as it sounds like one of the chipmunks and on long drives will make random statements (such as “do you see any trees?”). This breaks the monotony on long drives. BLUE TOOTH: The Blue Tooth phone option is great for driving as the Garmin also acts as a speaker phone. SPEED LIMIT: There is also a display that tells you the speed limit. This is a good feature when you don’t know the speed limit and are on long drives. MOUNT: It also came with a mount that holds the Garmin securely. CHARGER: The Garmin Nuvi also came with a car charger, although the internal battery is good for about 2 hours without a recharge.
Cons: It is about 80% accurate on the speed limit display. I have encountered some occasions where the speed limit was 70 and the display stated 65. If the Blue tooth on the Garmin looses connection with your phone, it does not automatically reconnect. You have to go to the screen option and reconnect. The reconnect is not clear and will require either playing with the controls or turning off the Garmin and turning it back on to reconnect to the phone. (It may lose connection while traveling if, while wearing your cell phone, you go inside a convenience store or go beyond 30 ft from your car). On residential homes, sometimes (not always) it is off by 2 or 3 houses, but it gets you within a couple of houses. If you have the house address, this is no problem to overcome.
2 Stars Two deal-breaking flaws
Garmin 265WT is a decent VERY BASIC GPS. If you do your research ahead of time, say on Google, and type in the destination addresses to the Garmin, it will get you there. But it has two fatal flaws that make it almost (but not quite) unusable. 1. The database of locations (points of interest) is inadequate. If you want to stay at Hilton Hotels and eat at McDonalds, you will be fine. But if you think you will just browse for POIs in a new area and find anything interesting, forget it. Also, the list of POIs is in random order and there is no way to alphabetize, so you may end up scrolling through dozens or hundreds of meaningless names. This is true also for POIs you enter by hand. The “Favorites” list is in random order. 2. The second flaw is that the POI search feature is stupid. It accepts no wildcards and you must spell the POI’s name exactly to get a match. Looking for a particular Courtyard Suites hotel? Sorry, It won’t be found because it is in the database as MARRIOTT Courtyard Suites. Looking for Anthem Mall? Not found, because it is entered as OUTLET ANTHEM MALL . Ha, ha. Very funny. You’ll be happier if you spring for a better model or a different brand.
1 Star Great product, when it works
Randomly goes dead upon initial start up. Sometimes freezes enroute. Maps are 90% accurate. Nice equipment other than reliability issues. Purchased a few months ago and will replace with TomTom soon.
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July 12, 2010 8:56 am | 
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