First impressions of the Garmin Nuvi 250w are very positive, as it looks very sleek and cool when you take it out of the box. It has an impressive wide screen that looks great, and compared to rival GPS products seems to be of a higher quality. It’s slim too so you can easily store it in your pocket once you get of your car, and could purchase a compatible Garmin GPS carry case if you are concerned about scratching the display.
You probably won’t need to read the instructions, but if you do then you can be rest assured that the text is very comprehensive and covers everything to get started with. The Nuvi 250w is a very easy sat nav GPS product so it’s unlikely that you will even need the manual in truth.
One thing that was absent from the packaging was a USB cable, which presents a slight problem if you want to connect the Nuvi 250w to your PC in order to do software updates, and in particular a free Garmin Nuvi 250w map update which all new customers of Garmin get as standard in the initial 90 days of ownership. You have to buy the USB cable separately and this will cost you around 6 US dollars from the Garmin online store.
With regards to the maps, customers based in the United States will get City Navigator NT for North America included, or the European version if you are based in the UK. The maps are provided by a company called Navteq and these are extremely accurate, unless of course you need an update once some roads or addresses changed.
The GPS signal seems to be strong, and on average you should wait no longer than five seconds for the satellites to be picked up once you have turned the Nuvi 250w – which in sat nav terms is relatively quick – as you might be familiar with the frustration of having to wait for a satellite signal on other products or previous Nuvi models.
The on-screen maps are clear and simple to read and when driving you will see a blue or green bar at the top of the map. You can press this and it will let you route in text only mode – so for example some drivers could find this handy if you are wanting to have a quick glance at the road ahead in later parts of your car journey.
An interesting feature of the Garmin Nuvi 205w is the larger database that it comes with that includes files called Points of Interest (or POIs). This feature allows you to find local services close to your location – so for example gas stations, restaurants, tourist attractions, and shopping malls. You simply select which one you want to go to and press Go… and the Nuvi 250w will take you there over the quickest, or shortest route – whichever you prefer.
Despite the absence of the USB cable which helps you get free map updates for Garmin GPS devices, the Garmin Nuvi 250w is an extremely impressive GSP sat nav that should give you a few years of safe and accurate driving assistance. It’s a popular model, and one of their best-selling and it’s easy to see why.