Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
by Garmin
|
List Price: Our Price: $128.99 You Save: $91.00 (41%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $64.79 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
Customer Review: Feature-packed entry-level GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the first GPS I've owned so I can't easily compare it to other models. I can tell you, though, that the Nuvi 265 has surpassed my expectations for a GPS of this price.
In terms of ease of use, I have no complaints. You turn it on, skip through a screen telling you not be stupid with programming it while driving, input a state, then city, then street address and you're good to go. You can have it give you the fastest route or shortest time as well.
The 4.3-inch screen is great. The display shows your route in purple, the names of cross streets, the speed limit of the road your on (along with your current speed, which is great for avoiding tickets), and the estimated time of arrival which updates in real time (which is much better than converting miles to go in your head). It shows the street name of the next maneuver you're going to make, but not the name of the street you're currently on, like in some other models I've seen. Hitting the car icon on the map will tell you your exact location with your coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and show you where nearby hospitals, police stations and gas stations are. You can also customize the view so you can either look down on the map at an angle (as if you were in flight), or you can view the map from straight above as if it were a paper map.
One of my favorite features is the FM traffic receiver, which is integrated with the power cord. This receives FM traffic signals and posts a green, yellow or red icon on the left side of the screen which alerts you to any traffic delays along your route. You can touch the icon and have it tell you where the traffic is on the route and how long it should delay your trip. Then, if you want, you can have it reroute your trip around the delay. This is all seamlessly integrated with the normal functions of the GPS and you can choose how much you make use of it, but I think it's pretty amazing.
Another great feature is the Bluetooth capability, which allows you to make cell phone calls through the GPS device rather than holding onto the phone or using a Bluetooth headset. It lets you access your contacts list, recent calls and other basic call functions through the screen of the GPS without having to touch your phone. You can even use the devices Points of Interest library to make a call to one of your POIs. Pairing with the Bluetooth requires a read of the instructions, but after the initial pairing everything works quickly.
For those who are eco-minded, it has a feature that lets you input your car's fuel efficiency profile and then gives you fuel cost of your trip, a report on your fuel economy, and has a "challenge" that rates you out of a 100 on your ability to maintain a constant speed and by accelerating/decelerating smoothly. I don't think I'll ever use this, but others might find it interesting.
When I plugged the device into my computer, the integration with Windows 7 was very solid. Everything's automated so there's no leafing through a manual to figure out how to get the computer to recognize it. To interact with the Garmin website for map downloads, all you have to do is download a small program and a Firefox plugin. The website then uses these to read your device for software and map versions and it tells you automatically whether updates are available. The initial map update, which was free, took about an hour and a half so I just let it sit and it pretty much did everything without any user input. The website lets you download free car icons (you can change the car icon on the screen to a bald eagle, airplane, or walking person, if that kind of stuff interests you) and download additional voices at no charge.
Cons of the 265 are: it takes around 30 seconds to a minute to acquire satellites after turning it on and punching in an address. It's never taken longer than that for me after the initial satellite-pairing during the first time use (which took about 10 minutes), but I imagine this might be an issue if you were doing some city-driving or something where you needed to make a decision about where to turn quickly after entering the destination address. Another con is the volume, which as others have said is a little bit low, especially when you have the radio on at a reasonable volume or the AC blowing hard. One last minor issue is that when you type in a new address, it assumes the address is in the same state as the previous one, so if you are changing states you will have to go through a few extra screens to get there. In addition (not on my device but on a friend's 265), I have seen it take us in circles in a complicated area with lots of turns. But since I've been using mine I have not had it get me lost yet.
I've had the 265 for a month now and love it, and I can't imagine going on long or new trips without it now. Considering the price, it is quite feature-packed and powerful and should satisfy both entry-level users and those who have owned other devices. I would recommend buying the Garmin Portable Friction Mount which allows you to place the device anywhere on the dash (without suction cups), move it around at will and quickly take the unit and mount off the dash and hide it in your glove box so thieves can't see you have a GPS in your car. I've been very happy with this GPS and think others will enjoy it as well.
Customer Review: Nice little GPS for the price, with Garmin routing and great customer service.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my 4th Garmin Nuvi, I have used several in the last few years. This unit offers you a nice balance between features and price.
Some of the great things are:
- Screen size of 4.3 inches, a must to be able to see your route clearly
- Size of unit, slim easy to mount and carry with you in your pocket
- Routing, having used Magellan and Tom Tom in addition to Garmin I prefer Garmin routing the most followed by Magellan and Tom Tom. However, each one has its quirks. Garmin says "recalculating" if you take a wrong turn while Magellan just reroutes without even telling you that you missed the original route. Also Magellan tends to warn you to take an exit sooner than Garmin in some cases which can be nice. Overall, with each map update, I find Garmin giving me some funny routes, like it will tell you to take an exit off the highway and then bring you back to the same highway. So using common sense always helps when going to a new place. It can also get confused sometimes in down town areas where many roads are often one way so keeping eyes and ears open is helpful. However it's no worse than any other GPS system out there. The turn by turn voice directions with street names are nice as you never have to look at the screen if you don't want to.
- Bluetooth - Very user friendly, loads your complete phonebook and shows you all missed calls etc. just like your phone screen. Taking a call is easy and audio quality is fair
- You can upload Custom POIs/ way points using POI Loader software. A lot of POIs are also available free on the web on different sites. I keep updating the addresses of Starbucks, Walmart, Traffic cam intersections etc through these free databases.
- Use SD card to expand memory
- More user friendly interface than previous Garmin Nuvi's. FINALLY a QWERTY keyboard from Garmin(yay!)
- Where am I feature? which tells you the closest gas station, hospital etc, I end up using this a lot when travel
- Speed limit indicator - Tells you the speed limit for major roads and warns you if you're going too fast, although sometimes it can be funky and tell you to go slower than the speed limit indicated
- Eco-route - Gives you a more fuel efficient route - to be honest I haven't used it much, I prefer the options shortest route, shortest time
- Garmin anti theft lock - Allows you to set a passcode, so if your GPS gets stolen it can't be unlocked or if your car gets stolen the person won't be able to use the GPS to get all your info like home address etc.
- Photo Viewer - I don't find this very useful, but some may appreciate it.
- Garmin Customer Service - I have used them several times in the last 5 years, although you have to call in day time hours, you get a real live person from their US office and they are always polite and helpful. They have often gone beyond what I would expect - like replacing an old mount although it was out of warranty, replacing my charger when I lost it by mistake etc., even sending me an international charger (for free) when I was traveling which has won them my loyalty.
Disappointing:
- Traffic feature has helped once in a while to avoid major jams but usually it seems to be 1 hour behind in its updates and may tell you to watch out for traffic where there is none any more. It's best to use your knowledge for your local city routes and work commute and use this feature mainly in unfamiliar cities. Also the "free" lifetime traffic feature comes with ads - so every now and then an ad or a coupon will pop up which can be annoying.
Other features not available on this Nuvi, which can be found on other models:
-Lane Assist that guides you to the right lane to take that exit etc.
- FM transmitter - So you can't use your car audio, however, it was never a very usable feature in other Nuvis due to the static I experienced
- MP3 and Audiobook player - I don't miss it as I never used it anyway, my phone is enough!
- Traffic trends - gives you route based on most common traffic patterns
-My Trends - Gives you new routes based on past behavior
Why buy a GPS? Although I have a GPS on my phone, I like having a dedicated system as the routing is often better and more intuitive. Also, when traveling often there may be no 3G coverage but the satellite navigation system still works. Once when I had car trouble in a remote location where I had no wireless coverage my Nuvi was able to guide me to the closest repair shop through its database. A life saver!
Overall this is a nice system, there are more full featured ones available but this one offers you the most for the best price. A great buy.
Customer Review: Works great! - Nuvi 265WT
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this unit online from a private seller, it's a refurbished one, but looks good as new. Has a stuck (not dead) pixel, but nothing to make it not work. This is my first official portable GPS that I own. I've used GPS units before and have one in our Acura RL, so I have experiences with other types and brands.
I've used it a few times and will try to give my input in as much details as possible. I live in Minneapolis, MN and driving a Honda Del Sol when I use the GPS.
Ease Of Use: The User Interface is very easy to use, pretty much straight forward and I like how it's setup much better than my friend's TomTom. You don't need to be a techie like I am to be able to use this. If you can read, you can use this. I love how you're able to customize the animated vehicle on the GPS. I found a vehicle with my lucky number, 24 on it, so LOVE IT!
Display: It's very bright and clear, the scrolling is smooth on the screen when you're driving and your icon is tracking where you are. I'm using the latest 2011 North American map and everything looks great! Even when I switch to 3D mode, the screen is scrolling smoothly and doesn't skip (very, very little). The 4.3" screen is nice, just the right size and you won't have crossed eyes using it.
Bluetooth: When I went to pair my crap cellphone (RAZR V3t) to the 265WT, it worked like a charm. I am quite impressed with the Bluetooth, the call is clear, people can hear me fine and overall, a nice feature to have, so I don't fry my brain with the cell radiation. (O:
Software: The Garmin software installed on my computer without a hitch. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate 32-Bit. I was able to log into my GPS with the USB cable with no problems to update my map. I recommend using computers running Windows XP Pro or newer. I'm a computer IT guy and anything below XP Pro, you're going to likely run into problems.
Satellite: This unit picks up the satellite pretty good when you're outside and even picked up the signal inside our condo too. When you're in the clear outside, picking up satellites takes less than a few seconds. I'm impressed at how accurate it is when I am driving and don't think it can get any better.
ReRouting: I purposely took wrong turns to see how fast the unit re-routes me and it's pretty fast, I don't think anyone will have a problem if they miss a turn. Keep in mind when you're using a GPS, you can't expect it to be so precise at telling you when to turn. You just need to see what street is coming up next on the GPS and use your own judgment by paying attention to the highway signs. This is much better than printing out sheets after sheets of directions on bing maps or google maps. Using a GPS is just an extension to what you know to help you get to where you're going. The Garmin even picked up the detours that is going on in my area, so that is very nice and saves time.
Maps & POIs: The 2011 maps works great and with loads of POIs loaded on to the GPS, it's nice to know where a gas station is when you need one. I really love this feature and makes me feel a lot more confidence being on the road knowing I can find something when I need it. As I mentioned before, upgrading the maps is a breeze if you're using a good computer.
Lifetime Traffic: I use the car adapter with the traffic receiver, I've noticed a couple of coupons that pops up, but it does NOT get in the way of your viewing at all. Not sure what others are saying when they complained about it blocking their maps. Take my word, it does not get in the way and you can even TURN IT OFF.
CONS: The only thing that I found wrong (which is nothing) was that the GPS showed that I was driving when I wasn't. lol! It only lasted a few seconds before the icon on the GPS stopped moving. Gave me a good laugh more than anything, but I think it's the satellites messing with the GPS.
Overall, this is a GREAT GPS and I'd HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that is looking for one. I am using this GPS mainly so I don't have to print out anymore directions online. Wasted a lot of papers doing that. Also much better then trying to read the directions while driving at night when it's dark! I know there are reviews on here that complains about the GPS not being right on or something, but we have to be real here. The GPS is a small unit and it works like it's supposed to, so don't be TOO picky when it comes to buying any GPS. This Garmin is as accurate as it's going to get, it knows when you're turning, so that is pretty darn good.
If you need a good GPS, this one is IT!
Customer Review: Best GPS I have ever Owned
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Customer Review: Our First GPS, no more watching maps,or map blasts!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Love it!!! I got this for my wife for Christmas, our first GPS. I have read through many reviews both on this site and at NewEgg on this and other units before I bought this one.I am glad I did my homework, this unit did not disappoint. We took it with us on a trip from Florida to Virginia for a week to visit our kids for Christmas. So we traveled to many unfamiliar places.
First I went to Garmins webpage, and yeah I guess Christmas day was not a good time, the website was way slow, so I came back later. Garmins website is confusing and a bit of a pain to navigate but I finally found my way through and was able to update the unit. Many people have said map updates take forever. Its a 3 step process, Search for updates, download, then install.The site said it could take hours, my time was about 30 -40 minutes.
Good Points 1) Love the blue tooth phone link, I was able to link my wife's phone to the Garmin easily. It was very helpful to answer calls on the Garmin when driving, rather than search for her phone. We were talking to our children as we traveled many times.
2) Love that we can talk and still have use of our routes and features at the same time. We had a destination plugged in, received a call, my daughter wanted to meet us for lunch on the way, she gave us new address of the restaurant, I plugged it in and set go,( my wife is driving, I'm navigating), all while talking on the Garmin. If we did not have the blue tooth enabled, I would be talking on a cell phone, while trying to use the Garmin, I would need three hands.
3)Love the flexibility. We had just got this unit so we were not familiar with all the features, My daughter had one and showed us all you can do, she basically poked everything on the screen to see what it did. So we see now we can previous the route, see where we are going, and if we don't like it, we can see where we want to go instead.Found a restaurant my wife likes along the way with the points of interest. Worked great.
4) Maps were pretty accurate, never had a road it couldn't find yet.When we started the trip, it could not find a road close to our house we use, but on the return trip it found it.
5) Downloaded some other vehicle pics to customize our, a nice touch.
6) Love the auto zoom in zoom out. On the way home, we had the map zoomed out, it was a simple route we already knew. When we come to a change of routes, it automatically zoomed in, told us where to turn, then zoomed back out to an overview. Great feature.
7) love the scroll and zoom in and out on the map to see where you are and want to go.
Bad point: We were traveling across Virginia , from one daughters house to another. I wanted to take inter state highway,( I was driving) I knew my route, but the GPS wanted to take us a more direct route, on smaller roads. So we had a crazy morning, the GPS told us one way, I wanted to go another, and we could not see any way to change the GPS,s route.We were going crazy, my wife is saying the GPS is going crazy and it was a mess. Bottom line, I drove until I found my highway, then the GPS had no choice but to use my route.We may have fixed this problem if we had changed some of the route choices, but my wife was not familiar with the unit at the time. So lesson learned , either follow the GPS route, or ignore, look for the route you want to go, using the scroll and map, then eventually the GPS will follow your route.
Bottom line, we love the unit, we will take it with us every where, and now my wife can talk on the phone, hands free, a safety issue since she talks on the phone while driving many times.