By: S.Mangus

S.Mangus — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:23:55 +0000

I rarely get lost, have no trouble reading maps, but using the Garmin nuvi 265WT is sure a lot easier, especially when traveling alone. I can’t compare it with other navigators, but I found it generally easy to use, and though the first look at it seemed rather complicated, I found I needed to check the manual (online, not with the product) only once or twice to pretty much figure out everything.
The maps are key features in a navigator, of course, but I found the decisions the nuvi made were often better than my own decisions would have been. Tested it in my own “backyard” and it took me on some routes I wouldn’t have, but which I should have, chosen. In other cases, it picked some of my favorite tricky shortcut routes that I thought it would never find. Most interesting was the time I asked it to return home by the most economical way, and it twisted and turned until we were on rarely used dirt roads throug the woods. Exciting in its way, but a bit scary if it had been at night or in unknown territory.
On another trip from a hotel to the Mt. Vernon Inn in Virginia, it took busy streets and highways to the Inn, but the return route was a beautiful route along the Potomac River. Perhaps it was because I asked it to stop at a Dunkin Donuts on the way back, though.
There were two problems I noted with it. I was taking a trip from Massachusetts to Maryland one sunny day, and the nuvi was on the dash, in the sun all day. It apparently was overheating, even though the AC was on and the outdoor temperatures weren’t too high. While it continued to navigate with no problem, it responded very slowly to any menu selections, taking minutes in some cases before the screen changed. The manual warns against leaving it on the dash of a parked car, which makes sense, but it shouldn’t exhibit a problem when you’re using it in a moving car.
The second problem occurred when traveling back from the Mt. Vernon Inn that I mentioned above. I asked it to find and go by a Dunkin Donuts on the route back, but we would have gone by the DD if the passengers didn’t happen to spot it. When we left the DD, the nuvi had us go around the block and come back to it, this time letting us know that we had arrived–and it would have had us do it again, apparently, as it seemed to get into a loop. I had to stop the trip and re-set the destination.
Generally, though, it was great to have, giving me a wonderful degree of freedom to “take the road less traveled” when I was in somewhat unfamiliar territory, confident that any side-trips would end without being lost.

Comments on: Portable GPS Navigation

By: S.Mangus