People`s choice!
Good unit for the price, November 5, 2008 By John S. Dean "John" (Sturtevant, WI United States)
Spent a weekend reviewing various GPS devices to replace my less than 1 year old Mio C320 (avoid these like the plague) that had its battery die about 4 months after purchase. Went back and forth along the entire line of Garmin devices, and finally settled on this one for the blue tooth and traffic, neither of which I'll probably hardly ever use, but nice to have when I want them.
I was disappointed with the map, the "new" 2009 one, because I have some streets in my neighborhood that have been around for over four years and they're not to be found on this unit. Even the piece of junk cheap Mio had these streets.
But that's about the only downside there is to it, the only reason I haven't given it 5 stars.
Having been used to the MIO, and the horrible refresh rate, it is a pleasant change to see smooth scrolling as my vehicle moves. The ability to change the car icon is nice, especially with the plethora of icons available on the garmin website.
Accuracy is very good as well, and even in turns the unit isn't so laggy that it becomes annoying. And also unlike what I was used to with the MIO, when I come to a stop at the intersection, the map doesn't start rotating randomly on me.
Speaker is about as I expected, won't hear much over a loud stereo but crank it up enough you can at least hear it if you keep the music down a bit.
The option to easily download voices is also appreciated.
It did well with my testing of going point to point, following the instructions, and for the most part you're given the instructions in plenty of time. only once or twice did it not tell me "turn right on such and such" until I was about 20 feet from the street, but that was when I was coming up on stop signs and had slowed down, so it may be compensating for the speed factor.
Recalculation notice is a bit annoying, my MIO would say it once, sometimes this says it three times before it starts to display the alternate route.
Still has about 900MB free on the internal memory for additional voices, icons, maps, and such, and with the SD slot there's plenty of room to grow.
I have a Verizon XV6900 phone with Windows Mobile 6.1, and while the bluetooth paired well and it can see the phone status, battery power, signal, even dialed and missed call lists, it never does get the phonebook. it gets a random entry and that's it - so whenever I turn it on, I have just one user to select from, and it's different each time. Still haven't tracked that one down yet. But every other bluetooth option worked just fine.
I'm not a fan of the very thick double power cable for it though, and it would be doubly annoying (no pun intended) if I were mounting this somewhere higher up on the window to have that double cable dangling down.
I can see how the ads would get annoying sometimes (the free traffic is because it is advertising driven) but you don't get them at all if you turn off the traffic feature, and since most of my driving isn't around times that traffic is a concern, i can just leave it for when I really have a use for it.
Good response to finger input, and while the unit is overall much better quality than the MIO, I really do miss the MIO's ability to have an info pane down the last third of the screen and the map on the first two thirds of it when desired. But there's some of that info available in the data bubbles on the bottom and top so I'll survive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best GPS I have ever Owned, December 10, 2008
By Michael Simpson "Owner of KronosRobotics.com" (Leesburg VA) -
I have owned quite a few GPS units all including Phone, Laptop and Dedicated. Flat out before I even get started the Garmin Nuvi 265WT is the best I have ever owned. Let me just make a couple of comments on the most important features.
Touch Screen Interface
Very intuitive and easy to use. Touch screen is responsive but not instantaneous. What I particularly like is the ability to switch to a top down view by touching the screen. Once done you can use your finger to drag the map around at any zoom point. Once done you can hit the back button and resume your 3D view.
Turn by Turn
You have two options here. You can use one of the Text to Speech voices or one of natural voices. The text to speech voices will give you more information such as street names. This is what I use and even though you can tell it's a computer generated voice its quality is superb. The 265WT does a good job at keeping you updated. Also at any time you can hit the turn Icon and it will speak the distance to the next turn, giving you street name as well as direction. The audio is quite loud and in my noisy little Scion I have no problem hearing the messages.
Maps
I have found the map accuracy quite good. I live in Northern virginal and it seems to be very well updated as many of the very new streets included.
Automatic Routing
Very effective. You can choose between the quickest or the shortest with options to avoid U-Turns, Highways, Toll Roads, Traffic, Ferries. The automatic rerouting is faster than my TeleNav phone and my Laptop computers.
Points of Interest
On my TeleNav phone GPS system I can enter any business in the national database and I can get directions, address and phone number. This is where the 265WT falls short. The TeleNav system has the advantage of searching online. Since the 265WT is limited to onboard memory there is a limit to the number of points of interest. A good example is I was looking for "Off Broadway Shoes" and the unit could not find them. However a search for "Payless Shoes" worked very well.
Traffic Alerts
The lifetime free traffic comes at a price. You will get popup adds. These are very small popups that supposedly only come when you are in the menu. This is not true. I have gotten them while in the navigation screen. For now they it seems to be once per trip but there is nothing to say they wont start getting more frequent. The other thing I don't like about the messages is that you have to hit them to continue and doing so takes you out of the nav screen to a kind of favorites screen. You have to hit the back button to get back to your navigations screen.
How well does the traffic system work. I live in Northern VA and have coverage throughout my area. The included radio fails to pick up a single signal without using an external antenna. Sadly you can just go down and purchase an FM antenna.. The Power cable has a 3/32" jack. What I did was to pick up a 3/32" plug from Radio Shack and soldered a 4' wire to the tip pin on the connector. Once draped out one of the windows I get very frequent traffic updates.
Once you start getting traffic reports I found them to be accurate and they do help. You can automatically avoid high traffic arias or do it manually as they accrue.
I am still debating if the popup adds are worth the effort.
Bluetooth Integration
This is my favorite feature. I can keep my keyboard locked Motorola Q in my pants pocket and use my 265WT to make and receive all my calls at a touch of a button. All my phone features are available on the 265WT. Phonebook, Call history, Voice Recognition. The voice quality is quite acceptable on both ends. As a matter of fact the echo I get on my Motorola is not there when using the 265WT as a hands free set.
Picture Viewer
I found this to be a very useless feature. If the photos are very big it takes forever for the 265WT to load them. This may be due to the slow access to the SD card slot.
There are other features like the ability to connect the 265WT to your PC and automatically add favorite locations using GoogleMaps. All in all I am very happy with my purchase and would purchase it again.
FYI the Nuvi 265WT is the same unit as the Nuvi 255W without the Bluetooth ability and the FM reliever cable (GTM 25). You can even purchase the GTM 25 from Garmin. If you don't want the Bluetooth feature and don't currently need the traffic feature you can pick up the Nuvi 255W cheaper.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Map database leaves something to be desired., January 1, 2009
By Larry K. (San Jose, CA USA) -
I got this unit for Christmas, 2008. Although this is the first GPS that I've owned, I've been passenger on many trips with a friend who has Nuvi 350 so I was already familiar with Garmin. The unit I bought had the 2009 maps, and the firmware was fairly recent. Firmware, etc has since been updated to most recent version(s).
My choice came down to the nuvi 265WT, 765T or 760. The 760 is a premium unit for a bargain price due it's being last years model, while the 765T had the features I wanted but is still pricey since it's a new model. In the end I opted for 265WT since it had the updated/new features that the 760 didn't have and was at the price that I was willing to spend. I did not really consider other brands, though my impression is that other brands offer more "bells and whistles" but suffer in the areas of ease of use and reliability.
The unit has worked fine, no problems to speak of, though my actual time spend driving with it has been limited so far (spent lots of time just "playing" with it, though).
[update 9/11/09]
I've now used for a week of commuting to work and running errands. I use for commute because of the traffic reporting.
traffic -- haven't encountered a backup that it didn't warn me about, but have driven through a couple of non-existent backups. I've also found that it can take several minutes for the traffic status to be displayed after power-on, sometimes *after* it has picked a route.
routing -- the route it gives me to work is rather strange. It routes me off of the freeway onto an expressway that has several lights. I tried it once, and sure enough it took longer than predicted, even with light traffic.
reliability -- The unit has "glitched" 3 times in the last week. Once it just turned itself off, another time it jumped from the map to the speedometer screen (by itself) while the voice became very distorted, and another time the backlight setting was not as I had left it.
[end of 9/1/09 update]
My biggest complaint has to do with the POI database. For example, I searched for local cinema's... it did not have the 20 screen cineplex that is closest to me. When I searched for local Staples Office Supply locations the closest it found was 50 miles away, even though there are at least 4 within 15 miles. I didn't show a nearby Britannia Arms. A large regional shopping center is still called by a name that was dropped 5 years ago. etc...
The POI management software (such as it is) could use more flexibility. For example, when searching for Staples, the unit was "busy" quite some time searching. There appears to be no way to put a limit the search distance.
I think the map update policy is in need of revising. A two month "grace period" is not really fair to the buyers. Most of these are sold in Nov & Dec, and the maps are typically updated in the Spring, beyond the 60 day cutoff. Garmin should be guaranteeing map updates for at least 6 months, if not a year. Or, one free update within 2 years or something similar. Another gripe is the Garmin request for an "account" to register the unit. Yet another user name and password to forget.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Impressed!, December 5, 2008
By Russell Madaus "In My Opinion" (Streamwood, IL)
After doing extensive research I decided on this unit. Mainly because the 265wt is one of their newer NUVI products and it had the features I was looking for. If you look at the sites that have reviews on the 265wt, most are from nov/2008. I think this unit was released about 6 months ago. Anyway, here's my opinion on some of the key features of the 255WT.
1. Windsheild mount - works great. The suction cup is very high quality and I have no concerns that it will accidentally detach from the windsheild. I love the swivel capabilites and it allows you a perfect view no matter where you put it.
2. Satellite aquisition time - incredible! once you perform the initial aquistion, you are set. Now when I turn the on it's ready to go in usually under 3 seconds. Awesome!
3. Map directions and screen - wonderful. The GPS unit so far has given me perfect directions and the re-route capability works flawlessly. The screen is clear, bright and easy to navigate.
4. Free traffic alerts - works as described. I love this feature and I hardly saw any ads.
5. Bluetooth - giddy up! I had my Motorola KZR1 synched up in about 15 seconds. Easy to use and sure makes talking on the phone alot more enjoyable when driving. I've had conversations with multiple people and they could hear me fine. One cool thing is if your phone has voice dialing; because it allows you do it through the GPS unit. Also, all my contacts show up (even with multiple phone #'s).
6. And finally...the internal speaker. If you researched the 265WT like I've done you'll see ALOT of people complaining that the speaker is too quiet to hear anything. That was a big concern of mine but I felt I would give the unit a try and if it was that bad then I would return it. My thoughts on the speaker are this. The speaker size/quality could and probably should be improved. It's a cheapy speaker...BUT...I CAN hear the directions perfectly fine and can here the other person talking to me when using the bluetooth phone capability. Side notes: You HAVE to turn down your radio if you want to be able to hear it. Also, I was driving with the windows closed (it's friggin winter), so I cannot say how well you'd be able to hear the directions/phone with your windows rolled all the way down.
Bottom line - it has met or exceeded all of my expectations! I bought it on the day after Thanksgiving (aka Black Friday) and I got an incredible deal! $199.99 with free shipping, no tax, and got %50 off a $25 case logic travel case. I would have spent an extra $150 if I would have bought the same unit from a local retailer.
Finally if your in the market to buy any GPS my suggestion is wait until it gets closer to X-mas and see if the price drops. I'm guessing they'll do it again. I was fortunate to get it when I did and hence saved a nice chunk of change.
Hope this helped!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A very good portable GPS, March 6, 2009
By Nguyen Pham -
I've used Garmin SPIII and Garmin SP2610 in over 7 years, and am very happy with their overall performance. I travel by cars frequently, and have been pleased for the most parts with these 2 units. However, they both share the same problem: "almost useless when I was driving in New York City", where tall buildings put both these models into a constant "lost of satellite signals" state.
After much research, I decided to give this model a trial run, based on this review from one user "...I can leave the unit in the storage compartment under the armrest in the car, and follow the audio directions..." I theorized that if this unit worked in a "storage compartment under the armrest in the car", it will work under my windshield though surrounded by tall buildings in NYC (!)
Here is my initial report after a 4-day trip in Orange County, CA, where I unfortunately did not have any chances to test the "tall buildings" syndrome, however there were many circumstances that it worked well where my previous 2 Garmin's didn't work. So here it goes:
1) Pricing: My previous SPIII and SP2610, each costs almost 3 times as much back then. Much lower price for many more features. 5-star
2) Form: Love the compact, thin size, and its light weight. The unit didn't come with a case. I have a case that came with my Bose in-ear headphones, and it fits perfectly into this otherwise wasted case :-) The glass suction cup works solidly. The unit can be adjusted smoothly once attached, yet is held firmly in place. The power cord also houses the traffic receiver and its length is generous. 5-star
3) Functions:
....a) Pluses: 3D-map; like it for the most part, but have found on very few occasions where multi-level highways are intersected, its 3D image was confused. I could have been taking the wrong highway. 4-star
....b) Text-to-voice: great in the city where street signs are readable, or on highways. 5-star
....c) GPS signals acquisition: Much faster and more effective than my previous 2 models. It showed more than 3 green signals bars even when I was in my hotel room, or in the ... bathroom (playing with the new gadget ;) I experimented with putting it off the windshield, out of line of sight of the sky, and it worked just as well. This is a good indication how it will perform on my next trip to New York City. I'll report back on the real experience then. 5-star
....d) Battery: It turns out that I love this feature, as I never had this on SPIII and SP2610. I realized that I had left the power cord when I returned my rental car in LAX (luckily, Hertz lost-and-found dept was able to ship UPS back to me in a few days.) I was able turn it on, and used the Garmin 265WT w/o this cord. The SPIII and SP2610 would be dead! 5-star
....e) Points-of-interest: By all indications, it's as good as I expected, though there were times that I could not locate some local restaurants. It's just a matter of how updated the information is. 4-star
....f) Favorites: Aka "waypoints" in older SPIII and SP2610 models. This is markedly improved. In the older models, it stored the coordinates and lost the original address that you entered. I love how to pull up a saved "favorite", not only being able to command it to route there, but also recognizing the address, and as a bonus, I can actually call an associated phone number directly from this favorite destination (imaging a situation like "let me call first to see if s/he is at home, then ... ;) A very practical and brilliant approach! Now that I'm used to this feature, I'm greedy to ask to have the ability to store more than one phone number ;) 5-star
....g) Lifetime free Live-Traffic: It appears to be a great feature, but at this point I haven't really had much exposure to report in a meaningful way. I saw the signs of green, yellow, etc... But those didn't turn into any real actions for my driving. Btw, the power cord is doubled as the traffic receiver, so don't lose it! 5-star
....h) Bluetooth: This is my first experience with bluetooth in a unit other than my bluetooth headset. Though I'm very pleased overall, this is the one area that has shown the most problems. I relied on this feature entirely since California requires its drivers to use hand-free equipments. Here is what I found with this feature:
.......70% chance of failing to make outgoing calls using my phone - So disappointed!
.......98% chance of success to make outgoing calls using the 265WT. I either dialed the numbers using the dial pad on the 265WT screen, or dial by pressing the phone number of saved favorites.
.......98% chance of success when receiving in coming calls. I used both methods: hit the "SEND" key from my phone, or press the "ANSWER" from the 265WT screen.
.......The speaker quality though is very clear for GPS text-to-voice operation, sounded as it came from an old and cheap speaker when used with the cell phone. However, not once, anyone on the other end of the phone complains of sound quality, even on long conversations. No one asked if I used speaker phone! Apparently the microphone works well, but the speaker works badly for the phone. Nevertheless the speaker works well for GPS text-to-voice operation. 3-star
4) Wishes: a case included in the package would be nice. 4-star
I rated it overall a 4-star, despite of the bluetooth issue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great GPS with advanced functionality, November 15, 2008
By C. Smith "C. Smith" (CT, USA) -
The 265WT is (literally) THE way to go! It's an easy-to-use GPS. It has voice turn-by-turn instructions (including street names), free FM traffic for life!, and hands-free Bluetooth capability. The graphics are great too. The antenna is built in and very sensitive.
The FM traffic is a great feature, and unlike other models, it's free for life with the 265WT. While commuting, I can easily see where traffic is congested or stopped, and my Nuvi 265WT routes me around it. Isn't technology great!
For the price (purchased on Amazon <$300), the 265WT is a great value considering the advanced functionality. I can't think of a better GPS with all of the features I need and will frequrently use. The hands-free Bluetooth speaker quality is okay, but not great.
Note: Like all Nuvi's, the 265WT is fairly intuitive to use, so you won't need a printed manual. You can download a PDF manual from the Garmin website. Garmin saves lots of paper annually by not including a printed manual with the unit. Way to go Garmin!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well worth the price of admission, January 9, 2009
By
Larusco (St. Louis, Mo) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic (Electronics)
I have had the 265wt for a couple of weeks now. I try not to buy gadgets or toys unless I can get a lot of use out of them, this one I use every day. I don't have much experience with other GPS's other than a friend's TomTom but I can offer some insight from just a regular guy.
The TomTom was fun but when I did my research there were a few features that seemed better on this Garmin, most notably "free traffic" which I will discus in a minute.
Navigation
On the first day I took it out we went to my niece's house. I had been there before but was not entirely familiar with the area. On the way there it took me exactly as I had gone before when I used MapQuest. On the way home it told me to drive northeast about 1.1 miles to catch a different highway when I was actually trying to go southeast. Needless to say I ignored the advice. After about five minutes it was clear that I should have listened and my wife and son made some unwarranted comments about how I always think I know better. Forty-five minutes later, rather than twenty-five, we pulled into the driveway and the abuse came to an end. If you get a GPS, keep an open mind about where it tells you to go.
It seems like the Tom-Tom was a little more intuitive about addresses when I was keying them in but the Garmin was easy enough. It helps to know the city you are going to.
The screen on the map has tons of information including speed limit signs and I love the speed limit signs.
Free Traffic
I had to go to my uncle's funeral in some podunk Missouri town. The navigation on the way there was perfect and it took me right to the Funeral Home. On the way home there was one of those rainstorms where you know you should pull off but visibility was so low the next guy would probably just run into the back of you. So it is white knuckle time and about 20 minutes into it the traffic icon changes and shows a one minute delay. About a minute later a little blip shows up on the road ahead of me. As I got closer to the symbol the road went down to one lane and as I cleared the crest of the hill there was a Police car on the shoulder and a car that had slid off the road. It was nice to get the heads up given the road conditions and surprising because I was almost an hour and a half away from St. Louis.
In daily conditions I can't say there is anything too surprising. So far it is just heavy traffic in all the usual places and the unit always shows a delay of some type when I go back and forth to work. I will say it is nice to get an ETA based on the traffic delays.
TTS/Sound
Text-to-Speech is good; the words can be a little strange when you use some of the different dialects. Sound for directions is plenty good. I only have it at sixty percent because after that it interferes with my music. If you need to hear the directions you are going to have to turn the music down a little anyway.
Bluetooth
I didn't really have high expectations for Bluetooth. I already own a Jabra that sits on my visor. The Bluetooth on the Garmin is actually better than the Jabra but sound is still a little too weak for a phone. This feature was about a good as I would have expected.
Overall this was well worth the $250 I paid for it. The traffic was the dealmaker for me and the ads are not an issue at all. They only take up a incredibly small portion of the screen and just go away on their own.
Spent a weekend reviewing various GPS devices to replace my less than 1 year old Mio C320 (avoid these like the plague) that had its battery die about 4 months after purchase. Went back and forth along the entire line of Garmin devices, and finally settled on this one for the blue tooth and traffic, neither of which I'll probably hardly ever use, but nice to have when I want them.
I was disappointed with the map, the "new" 2009 one, because I have some streets in my neighborhood that have been around for over four years and they're not to be found on this unit. Even the piece of junk cheap Mio had these streets.
But that's about the only downside there is to it, the only reason I haven't given it 5 stars.
Having been used to the MIO, and the horrible refresh rate, it is a pleasant change to see smooth scrolling as my vehicle moves. The ability to change the car icon is nice, especially with the plethora of icons available on the garmin website.
Accuracy is very good as well, and even in turns the unit isn't so laggy that it becomes annoying. And also unlike what I was used to with the MIO, when I come to a stop at the intersection, the map doesn't start rotating randomly on me.
Speaker is about as I expected, won't hear much over a loud stereo but crank it up enough you can at least hear it if you keep the music down a bit.
The option to easily download voices is also appreciated.
It did well with my testing of going point to point, following the instructions, and for the most part you're given the instructions in plenty of time. only once or twice did it not tell me "turn right on such and such" until I was about 20 feet from the street, but that was when I was coming up on stop signs and had slowed down, so it may be compensating for the speed factor.
Recalculation notice is a bit annoying, my MIO would say it once, sometimes this says it three times before it starts to display the alternate route.
Still has about 900MB free on the internal memory for additional voices, icons, maps, and such, and with the SD slot there's plenty of room to grow.
I have a Verizon XV6900 phone with Windows Mobile 6.1, and while the bluetooth paired well and it can see the phone status, battery power, signal, even dialed and missed call lists, it never does get the phonebook. it gets a random entry and that's it - so whenever I turn it on, I have just one user to select from, and it's different each time. Still haven't tracked that one down yet. But every other bluetooth option worked just fine.
I'm not a fan of the very thick double power cable for it though, and it would be doubly annoying (no pun intended) if I were mounting this somewhere higher up on the window to have that double cable dangling down.
I can see how the ads would get annoying sometimes (the free traffic is because it is advertising driven) but you don't get them at all if you turn off the traffic feature, and since most of my driving isn't around times that traffic is a concern, i can just leave it for when I really have a use for it.
Good response to finger input, and while the unit is overall much better quality than the MIO, I really do miss the MIO's ability to have an info pane down the last third of the screen and the map on the first two thirds of it when desired. But there's some of that info available in the data bubbles on the bottom and top so I'll survive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Best GPS I have ever Owned, December 10, 2008
By Michael Simpson "Owner of KronosRobotics.com" (Leesburg VA) -
I have owned quite a few GPS units all including Phone, Laptop and Dedicated. Flat out before I even get started the Garmin Nuvi 265WT is the best I have ever owned. Let me just make a couple of comments on the most important features.
Touch Screen Interface
Very intuitive and easy to use. Touch screen is responsive but not instantaneous. What I particularly like is the ability to switch to a top down view by touching the screen. Once done you can use your finger to drag the map around at any zoom point. Once done you can hit the back button and resume your 3D view.
Turn by Turn
You have two options here. You can use one of the Text to Speech voices or one of natural voices. The text to speech voices will give you more information such as street names. This is what I use and even though you can tell it's a computer generated voice its quality is superb. The 265WT does a good job at keeping you updated. Also at any time you can hit the turn Icon and it will speak the distance to the next turn, giving you street name as well as direction. The audio is quite loud and in my noisy little Scion I have no problem hearing the messages.
Maps
I have found the map accuracy quite good. I live in Northern virginal and it seems to be very well updated as many of the very new streets included.
Automatic Routing
Very effective. You can choose between the quickest or the shortest with options to avoid U-Turns, Highways, Toll Roads, Traffic, Ferries. The automatic rerouting is faster than my TeleNav phone and my Laptop computers.
Points of Interest
On my TeleNav phone GPS system I can enter any business in the national database and I can get directions, address and phone number. This is where the 265WT falls short. The TeleNav system has the advantage of searching online. Since the 265WT is limited to onboard memory there is a limit to the number of points of interest. A good example is I was looking for "Off Broadway Shoes" and the unit could not find them. However a search for "Payless Shoes" worked very well.
Traffic Alerts
The lifetime free traffic comes at a price. You will get popup adds. These are very small popups that supposedly only come when you are in the menu. This is not true. I have gotten them while in the navigation screen. For now they it seems to be once per trip but there is nothing to say they wont start getting more frequent. The other thing I don't like about the messages is that you have to hit them to continue and doing so takes you out of the nav screen to a kind of favorites screen. You have to hit the back button to get back to your navigations screen.
How well does the traffic system work. I live in Northern VA and have coverage throughout my area. The included radio fails to pick up a single signal without using an external antenna. Sadly you can just go down and purchase an FM antenna.. The Power cable has a 3/32" jack. What I did was to pick up a 3/32" plug from Radio Shack and soldered a 4' wire to the tip pin on the connector. Once draped out one of the windows I get very frequent traffic updates.
Once you start getting traffic reports I found them to be accurate and they do help. You can automatically avoid high traffic arias or do it manually as they accrue.
I am still debating if the popup adds are worth the effort.
Bluetooth Integration
This is my favorite feature. I can keep my keyboard locked Motorola Q in my pants pocket and use my 265WT to make and receive all my calls at a touch of a button. All my phone features are available on the 265WT. Phonebook, Call history, Voice Recognition. The voice quality is quite acceptable on both ends. As a matter of fact the echo I get on my Motorola is not there when using the 265WT as a hands free set.
Picture Viewer
I found this to be a very useless feature. If the photos are very big it takes forever for the 265WT to load them. This may be due to the slow access to the SD card slot.
There are other features like the ability to connect the 265WT to your PC and automatically add favorite locations using GoogleMaps. All in all I am very happy with my purchase and would purchase it again.
FYI the Nuvi 265WT is the same unit as the Nuvi 255W without the Bluetooth ability and the FM reliever cable (GTM 25). You can even purchase the GTM 25 from Garmin. If you don't want the Bluetooth feature and don't currently need the traffic feature you can pick up the Nuvi 255W cheaper.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Map database leaves something to be desired., January 1, 2009
By Larry K. (San Jose, CA USA) -
I got this unit for Christmas, 2008. Although this is the first GPS that I've owned, I've been passenger on many trips with a friend who has Nuvi 350 so I was already familiar with Garmin. The unit I bought had the 2009 maps, and the firmware was fairly recent. Firmware, etc has since been updated to most recent version(s).
My choice came down to the nuvi 265WT, 765T or 760. The 760 is a premium unit for a bargain price due it's being last years model, while the 765T had the features I wanted but is still pricey since it's a new model. In the end I opted for 265WT since it had the updated/new features that the 760 didn't have and was at the price that I was willing to spend. I did not really consider other brands, though my impression is that other brands offer more "bells and whistles" but suffer in the areas of ease of use and reliability.
The unit has worked fine, no problems to speak of, though my actual time spend driving with it has been limited so far (spent lots of time just "playing" with it, though).
[update 9/11/09]
I've now used for a week of commuting to work and running errands. I use for commute because of the traffic reporting.
traffic -- haven't encountered a backup that it didn't warn me about, but have driven through a couple of non-existent backups. I've also found that it can take several minutes for the traffic status to be displayed after power-on, sometimes *after* it has picked a route.
routing -- the route it gives me to work is rather strange. It routes me off of the freeway onto an expressway that has several lights. I tried it once, and sure enough it took longer than predicted, even with light traffic.
reliability -- The unit has "glitched" 3 times in the last week. Once it just turned itself off, another time it jumped from the map to the speedometer screen (by itself) while the voice became very distorted, and another time the backlight setting was not as I had left it.
[end of 9/1/09 update]
My biggest complaint has to do with the POI database. For example, I searched for local cinema's... it did not have the 20 screen cineplex that is closest to me. When I searched for local Staples Office Supply locations the closest it found was 50 miles away, even though there are at least 4 within 15 miles. I didn't show a nearby Britannia Arms. A large regional shopping center is still called by a name that was dropped 5 years ago. etc...
The POI management software (such as it is) could use more flexibility. For example, when searching for Staples, the unit was "busy" quite some time searching. There appears to be no way to put a limit the search distance.
I think the map update policy is in need of revising. A two month "grace period" is not really fair to the buyers. Most of these are sold in Nov & Dec, and the maps are typically updated in the Spring, beyond the 60 day cutoff. Garmin should be guaranteeing map updates for at least 6 months, if not a year. Or, one free update within 2 years or something similar. Another gripe is the Garmin request for an "account" to register the unit. Yet another user name and password to forget.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Impressed!, December 5, 2008
By Russell Madaus "In My Opinion" (Streamwood, IL)
After doing extensive research I decided on this unit. Mainly because the 265wt is one of their newer NUVI products and it had the features I was looking for. If you look at the sites that have reviews on the 265wt, most are from nov/2008. I think this unit was released about 6 months ago. Anyway, here's my opinion on some of the key features of the 255WT.
1. Windsheild mount - works great. The suction cup is very high quality and I have no concerns that it will accidentally detach from the windsheild. I love the swivel capabilites and it allows you a perfect view no matter where you put it.
2. Satellite aquisition time - incredible! once you perform the initial aquistion, you are set. Now when I turn the on it's ready to go in usually under 3 seconds. Awesome!
3. Map directions and screen - wonderful. The GPS unit so far has given me perfect directions and the re-route capability works flawlessly. The screen is clear, bright and easy to navigate.
4. Free traffic alerts - works as described. I love this feature and I hardly saw any ads.
5. Bluetooth - giddy up! I had my Motorola KZR1 synched up in about 15 seconds. Easy to use and sure makes talking on the phone alot more enjoyable when driving. I've had conversations with multiple people and they could hear me fine. One cool thing is if your phone has voice dialing; because it allows you do it through the GPS unit. Also, all my contacts show up (even with multiple phone #'s).
6. And finally...the internal speaker. If you researched the 265WT like I've done you'll see ALOT of people complaining that the speaker is too quiet to hear anything. That was a big concern of mine but I felt I would give the unit a try and if it was that bad then I would return it. My thoughts on the speaker are this. The speaker size/quality could and probably should be improved. It's a cheapy speaker...BUT...I CAN hear the directions perfectly fine and can here the other person talking to me when using the bluetooth phone capability. Side notes: You HAVE to turn down your radio if you want to be able to hear it. Also, I was driving with the windows closed (it's friggin winter), so I cannot say how well you'd be able to hear the directions/phone with your windows rolled all the way down.
Bottom line - it has met or exceeded all of my expectations! I bought it on the day after Thanksgiving (aka Black Friday) and I got an incredible deal! $199.99 with free shipping, no tax, and got %50 off a $25 case logic travel case. I would have spent an extra $150 if I would have bought the same unit from a local retailer.
Finally if your in the market to buy any GPS my suggestion is wait until it gets closer to X-mas and see if the price drops. I'm guessing they'll do it again. I was fortunate to get it when I did and hence saved a nice chunk of change.
Hope this helped!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A very good portable GPS, March 6, 2009
By Nguyen Pham -
I've used Garmin SPIII and Garmin SP2610 in over 7 years, and am very happy with their overall performance. I travel by cars frequently, and have been pleased for the most parts with these 2 units. However, they both share the same problem: "almost useless when I was driving in New York City", where tall buildings put both these models into a constant "lost of satellite signals" state.
After much research, I decided to give this model a trial run, based on this review from one user "...I can leave the unit in the storage compartment under the armrest in the car, and follow the audio directions..." I theorized that if this unit worked in a "storage compartment under the armrest in the car", it will work under my windshield though surrounded by tall buildings in NYC (!)
Here is my initial report after a 4-day trip in Orange County, CA, where I unfortunately did not have any chances to test the "tall buildings" syndrome, however there were many circumstances that it worked well where my previous 2 Garmin's didn't work. So here it goes:
1) Pricing: My previous SPIII and SP2610, each costs almost 3 times as much back then. Much lower price for many more features. 5-star
2) Form: Love the compact, thin size, and its light weight. The unit didn't come with a case. I have a case that came with my Bose in-ear headphones, and it fits perfectly into this otherwise wasted case :-) The glass suction cup works solidly. The unit can be adjusted smoothly once attached, yet is held firmly in place. The power cord also houses the traffic receiver and its length is generous. 5-star
3) Functions:
....a) Pluses: 3D-map; like it for the most part, but have found on very few occasions where multi-level highways are intersected, its 3D image was confused. I could have been taking the wrong highway. 4-star
....b) Text-to-voice: great in the city where street signs are readable, or on highways. 5-star
....c) GPS signals acquisition: Much faster and more effective than my previous 2 models. It showed more than 3 green signals bars even when I was in my hotel room, or in the ... bathroom (playing with the new gadget ;) I experimented with putting it off the windshield, out of line of sight of the sky, and it worked just as well. This is a good indication how it will perform on my next trip to New York City. I'll report back on the real experience then. 5-star
....d) Battery: It turns out that I love this feature, as I never had this on SPIII and SP2610. I realized that I had left the power cord when I returned my rental car in LAX (luckily, Hertz lost-and-found dept was able to ship UPS back to me in a few days.) I was able turn it on, and used the Garmin 265WT w/o this cord. The SPIII and SP2610 would be dead! 5-star
....e) Points-of-interest: By all indications, it's as good as I expected, though there were times that I could not locate some local restaurants. It's just a matter of how updated the information is. 4-star
....f) Favorites: Aka "waypoints" in older SPIII and SP2610 models. This is markedly improved. In the older models, it stored the coordinates and lost the original address that you entered. I love how to pull up a saved "favorite", not only being able to command it to route there, but also recognizing the address, and as a bonus, I can actually call an associated phone number directly from this favorite destination (imaging a situation like "let me call first to see if s/he is at home, then ... ;) A very practical and brilliant approach! Now that I'm used to this feature, I'm greedy to ask to have the ability to store more than one phone number ;) 5-star
....g) Lifetime free Live-Traffic: It appears to be a great feature, but at this point I haven't really had much exposure to report in a meaningful way. I saw the signs of green, yellow, etc... But those didn't turn into any real actions for my driving. Btw, the power cord is doubled as the traffic receiver, so don't lose it! 5-star
....h) Bluetooth: This is my first experience with bluetooth in a unit other than my bluetooth headset. Though I'm very pleased overall, this is the one area that has shown the most problems. I relied on this feature entirely since California requires its drivers to use hand-free equipments. Here is what I found with this feature:
.......70% chance of failing to make outgoing calls using my phone - So disappointed!
.......98% chance of success to make outgoing calls using the 265WT. I either dialed the numbers using the dial pad on the 265WT screen, or dial by pressing the phone number of saved favorites.
.......98% chance of success when receiving in coming calls. I used both methods: hit the "SEND" key from my phone, or press the "ANSWER" from the 265WT screen.
.......The speaker quality though is very clear for GPS text-to-voice operation, sounded as it came from an old and cheap speaker when used with the cell phone. However, not once, anyone on the other end of the phone complains of sound quality, even on long conversations. No one asked if I used speaker phone! Apparently the microphone works well, but the speaker works badly for the phone. Nevertheless the speaker works well for GPS text-to-voice operation. 3-star
4) Wishes: a case included in the package would be nice. 4-star
I rated it overall a 4-star, despite of the bluetooth issue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great GPS with advanced functionality, November 15, 2008
By C. Smith "C. Smith" (CT, USA) -
The 265WT is (literally) THE way to go! It's an easy-to-use GPS. It has voice turn-by-turn instructions (including street names), free FM traffic for life!, and hands-free Bluetooth capability. The graphics are great too. The antenna is built in and very sensitive.
The FM traffic is a great feature, and unlike other models, it's free for life with the 265WT. While commuting, I can easily see where traffic is congested or stopped, and my Nuvi 265WT routes me around it. Isn't technology great!
For the price (purchased on Amazon <$300), the 265WT is a great value considering the advanced functionality. I can't think of a better GPS with all of the features I need and will frequrently use. The hands-free Bluetooth speaker quality is okay, but not great.
Note: Like all Nuvi's, the 265WT is fairly intuitive to use, so you won't need a printed manual. You can download a PDF manual from the Garmin website. Garmin saves lots of paper annually by not including a printed manual with the unit. Way to go Garmin!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well worth the price of admission, January 9, 2009
By
Larusco (St. Louis, Mo) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic (Electronics)
I have had the 265wt for a couple of weeks now. I try not to buy gadgets or toys unless I can get a lot of use out of them, this one I use every day. I don't have much experience with other GPS's other than a friend's TomTom but I can offer some insight from just a regular guy.
The TomTom was fun but when I did my research there were a few features that seemed better on this Garmin, most notably "free traffic" which I will discus in a minute.
Navigation
On the first day I took it out we went to my niece's house. I had been there before but was not entirely familiar with the area. On the way there it took me exactly as I had gone before when I used MapQuest. On the way home it told me to drive northeast about 1.1 miles to catch a different highway when I was actually trying to go southeast. Needless to say I ignored the advice. After about five minutes it was clear that I should have listened and my wife and son made some unwarranted comments about how I always think I know better. Forty-five minutes later, rather than twenty-five, we pulled into the driveway and the abuse came to an end. If you get a GPS, keep an open mind about where it tells you to go.
It seems like the Tom-Tom was a little more intuitive about addresses when I was keying them in but the Garmin was easy enough. It helps to know the city you are going to.
The screen on the map has tons of information including speed limit signs and I love the speed limit signs.
Free Traffic
I had to go to my uncle's funeral in some podunk Missouri town. The navigation on the way there was perfect and it took me right to the Funeral Home. On the way home there was one of those rainstorms where you know you should pull off but visibility was so low the next guy would probably just run into the back of you. So it is white knuckle time and about 20 minutes into it the traffic icon changes and shows a one minute delay. About a minute later a little blip shows up on the road ahead of me. As I got closer to the symbol the road went down to one lane and as I cleared the crest of the hill there was a Police car on the shoulder and a car that had slid off the road. It was nice to get the heads up given the road conditions and surprising because I was almost an hour and a half away from St. Louis.
In daily conditions I can't say there is anything too surprising. So far it is just heavy traffic in all the usual places and the unit always shows a delay of some type when I go back and forth to work. I will say it is nice to get an ETA based on the traffic delays.
TTS/Sound
Text-to-Speech is good; the words can be a little strange when you use some of the different dialects. Sound for directions is plenty good. I only have it at sixty percent because after that it interferes with my music. If you need to hear the directions you are going to have to turn the music down a little anyway.
Bluetooth
I didn't really have high expectations for Bluetooth. I already own a Jabra that sits on my visor. The Bluetooth on the Garmin is actually better than the Jabra but sound is still a little too weak for a phone. This feature was about a good as I would have expected.
Overall this was well worth the $250 I paid for it. The traffic was the dealmaker for me and the ads are not an issue at all. They only take up a incredibly small portion of the screen and just go away on their own.
