Garmin Nuvi 255w automotive GPS

We're planning a trip out East this summer and will be doing a lot of day trips to areas and cities we're not too familiar with. I figured a GPS would be a nice tool to have for the road trip. I picked up the Garmin Nuvi 255w ($219) today and gave it a spin around the city. Very impressed so far and it's a good basic GPS unit. Nothing fancy (no Bluetooth or MP3 or Traffic updates etc...) but it does do Text To Speech and has a nice 4.3" widescreen display.

Here's the unit I got:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=13431



I've uploaded some custom vehicle images as well as some various voices to choose from (all free from Garmin). There are quite a few web sites where you can download bundes that have collections of Points Of Interest like all the Tim Horton's or TD Bank's etc... very useful when travelling in an unfamiliar part of the countr.

Anyone esle have any GPS units? I'm curious to get their feedback. I did a bit of research on a number of units and the Garmin 2x5 series seems to be getting very good reviews for quality of build and support.

So far... so good.

My brothers and I bought my dad a Tomtom GO 730 for christmas this past year. My father is completely computer illiterate, but absolutely loves the thing, and praises it to pretty much everyone he meets.

He just recently added European maps to it, via expandable memory, but had a little trouble doing so, as he is not savvy with computers at all. After a bit of deliberation on my part, we managed to fix the problem.

He seems to love it so far, but we have not been able to see whether or not the European maps have worked. It will not let us access them in North America for some reason. He's going to Europe at the end of the week, so hopefully it will work. I'll let you know how it goes.

And Shabbs, if you need any help or have any questions about Atlantic Canada, just ask... I'll do my best to help... And if I can't, I'm sure one of SensFan71, Caissie, HockeyHero, or Cronie should have the answer!

TigerDirect.ca has this for $199.95 (or a refurb for $20 less). Maybe you can get a price-match.

wprager wrote:TigerDirect.ca has this for $199.95 (or a refurb for $20 less). Maybe you can get a price-match.

Hot damn! I'll be getting that discount...

Bass Destruction wrote:And Shabbs, if you need any help or have any questions about Atlantic Canada, just ask... I'll do my best to help... And if I can't, I'm sure one of SensFan71, Caissie, HockeyHero, or Cronie should have the answer!

Sweet. We're going with another couple who's family has a cottage right on the beach with a sweet ocean view... should be wicked. Looking forward to it.

Yeah I have the Nuvi 250W... The only difference is the text to speech, in other words it will say "turn at next right" instead of the actual street name...

It's a great little gadget... I'd recommend it to anybody...

For those with GPS units, the site POIFriend is very good for downloadable Points Of Interest:

http://www.poifriend.com/

They have a lot of official bundles from Tim Horton's, Canadian Tire, RBC, CIBC etc...

Very cool stuff, and free.

Bass Destruction wrote:My brothers and I bought my dad a Tomtom GO 730 for christmas this past year. My father is completely computer illiterate, but absolutely loves the thing, and praises it to pretty much everyone he meets.

He just recently added European maps to it, via expandable memory, but had a little trouble doing so, as he is not savvy with computers at all. After a bit of deliberation on my part, we managed to fix the problem.

He seems to love it so far, but we have not been able to see whether or not the European maps have worked. It will not let us access them in North America for some reason. He's going to Europe at the end of the week, so hopefully it will work. I'll let you know how it goes.

And Shabbs, if you need any help or have any questions about Atlantic Canada, just ask... I'll do my best to help... And if I can't, I'm sure one of SensFan71, Caissie, HockeyHero, or Cronie should have the answer!

with some of the others, you can access the other countries only if you turn off the GPS function, and put it into "simulation" mode (i.e. you can view and manipulate the maps, but it can't tell you where you are or how to get to somewhere)

The Source (Radio Shack) has this model on for $190, but the flyer says something like "Hurry, they won't last long".

Acrobat wrote:

Bass Destruction wrote:My brothers and I bought my dad a Tomtom GO 730 for christmas this past year. My father is completely computer illiterate, but absolutely loves the thing, and praises it to pretty much everyone he meets.

He just recently added European maps to it, via expandable memory, but had a little trouble doing so, as he is not savvy with computers at all. After a bit of deliberation on my part, we managed to fix the problem.

He seems to love it so far, but we have not been able to see whether or not the European maps have worked. It will not let us access them in North America for some reason. He's going to Europe at the end of the week, so hopefully it will work. I'll let you know how it goes.

And Shabbs, if you need any help or have any questions about Atlantic Canada, just ask... I'll do my best to help... And if I can't, I'm sure one of SensFan71, Caissie, HockeyHero, or Cronie should have the answer!

with some of the others, you can access the other countries only if you turn off the GPS function, and put it into "simulation" mode (i.e. you can view and manipulate the maps, but it can't tell you where you are or how to get to somewhere)

Cool, thanks for the tip!

For the Tomtom, there is an option to have John Cleese as the voice... But you do have to pay extra. I think it would be hilarious

Bass Destruction wrote:For the Tomtom, there is an option to have John Cleese as the voice... But you do have to pay extra. I think it would be hilarious

There's a Homer Simpson one for the TomTom as well. I think that would be funny for the first hour of a trip... and then not so funny.

shabbs wrote:We're planning a trip out East this summer and will be doing a lot of day trips to areas and cities we're not too familiar with. I figured a GPS would be a nice tool to have for the road trip. I picked up the Garmin Nuvi 255w ($219) today and gave it a spin around the city. Very impressed so far and it's a good basic GPS unit. Nothing fancy (no Bluetooth or MP3 or Traffic updates etc...) but it does do Text To Speech and has a nice 4.3" widescreen display.

Here's the unit I got:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=13431

I've uploaded some custom vehicle images as well as some various voices to choose from (all free from Garmin). There are quite a few web sites where you can download bundes that have collections of Points Of Interest like all the Tim Horton's or TD Bank's etc... very useful when travelling in an unfamiliar part of the countr.

Anyone esle have any GPS units? I'm curious to get their feedback. I did a bit of research on a number of units and the Garmin 2x5 series seems to be getting very good reviews for quality of build and support.

So far... so good.

Went searching for the more-recent thread where I was asking about GPS and found this one instead. I got my wife the 265W and, wow, that $219 is only 18 months ago -- I got the 265W for about half that price a couple of weeks ago.

It's insane how fast these prices drop eh? That was a good price at the time too. 18 months in the Tech Industry is a lifetime...

shabbs wrote:It's insane how fast these prices drop eh? That was a good price at the time too. 18 months in the Tech Industry is a lifetime...

I just checked it now and it's $99.97 at TigerDirect.ca. I think I got it for $110.

So why didn't the G12 fall to half the price of what the G11 went for when it first came out? Oops, sorry, wrong thread.

Anyone know if you can download routes to the 265W? Planning a trip to NH and ME and, while I don't mind the Nuvi telling me where to go on short trips, for longer ones I prefer knowing the route ahead of time. Sometimes it's just good to know what to expect before you leave the house rather than a few seconds before a turn, other times I may want to alter the route for some reason.

I like the Google maps interface but, frankly, I've gotten some weird results with it lately (predicted driving time -- and sometimes driving distance being way off). I wouldn't mind trying out a different route source.

I know with some other models you can go to some website and create your route, then download it to the device via the USB. Can something similar be done with the 265W?

Even if not, the 265W does allow me some route modifications (I think) even though it's tough to do it on a 4" screen. So if you know of any sites that let you plan a route (other than Google and Mapquest) let me know.

You should be able to save your Google Maps/Mapquest route to your GPS and then have it follow that specific path. I think you'll need to have it connected first and there should be an option to "send to GPS" from the map program.

Hmm, just took a closer look at my device. No USB port. There is a slot for connecting something, but I have no idea what (and whatever it is, I don't have it). Reading through the Help pages gives me some ideas -- mostly that this is a feature-limited device. Bummer, on the one hand, but on the other it gives me a reason for looking for a new one

I like looking.

shabbs wrote:You should be able to save your Google Maps/Mapquest route to your GPS and then have it follow that specific path. I think you'll need to have it connected first and there should be an option to "send to GPS" from the map program.

The 265 has a "Detour" feature, although it does not appear that it is a planning feature, but an en-route feature. In other words you come to a road you cannot take and you touch the detour button to calculate an alternate route.

For route planning you can add stops or via points. I suppose if I want to cross at Ogdensburg and not go through Montreal then I could add Ogdensburg as a via point, and then it should calculate the rest of the route accordingly. Not as easy as dragging a point on the route in Google, but it's at least possible.

OK, all you Ottawans. I've heard people say in the past that crossing at Cornwall is better than going through Montreal. Is it, really? I'd have to take a ferry between NY and VT (fun for the kids, avoids going through Montreal, shorter driving distance even if longer trip time, and it'll cost roughly $25 to get across). Any thoughts?

wprager wrote:Hmm, just took a closer look at my device. No USB port. There is a slot for connecting something, but I have no idea what (and whatever it is, I don't have it). Reading through the Help pages gives me some ideas -- mostly that this is a feature-limited device. Bummer, on the one hand, but on the other it gives me a reason for looking for a new one

I like looking.

There should be a USB slot on the back, just like the 255. When you connect it via power in the car, doesn't that go via the USB interface?



How do you update your maps/POIs otherwise?

Good point. I d/l the maps when I first got it so that must be it. It's just that I've been using it only for recharging since then.

The Silfer Server wrote:My brothers and I bought my dad a Tomtom GO 730 for christmas this past year. My father is completely computer illiterate, but absolutely loves the thing, and praises it to pretty much everyone he meets.

He just recently added European maps to it, via expandable memory, but had a little trouble doing so, as he is not savvy with computers at all. After a bit of deliberation on my part, we managed to fix the problem.

He seems to love it so far, but we have not been able to see whether or not the European maps have worked. It will not let us access them in North America for some reason. He's going to Europe at the end of the week, so hopefully it will work. I'll let you know how it goes.

And Shabbs, if you need any help or have any questions about Atlantic Canada, just ask... I'll do my best to help... And if I can't, I'm sure one of SensFan71, Caissie, HockeyHero, or Cronie should have the answer!

Me too... originally from Halifax...

wprager wrote:Good point. I d/l the maps when I first got it so that must be it. It's just that I've been using it only for recharging since then.

Connect it up, fire up the Garmin web site and it will be able to detect your unit.

If you want to upgrade your Garmin with the 2012 maps FOR FREE go here:

http://www.haklabs.com/2011/garmin-2012-map-update/

Excellent.

POI Friend is a great resource for POIs to load on your GPS.

http://www.poifriend.com/

Trend Micro blocked haklabs. I'm on the work VPN now, so I'll get off eventually, but in the past when I checked it out the procedure seemed quite involved. Have they changed at all?

wprager wrote:Trend Micro blocked haklabs. I'm on the work VPN now, so I'll get off eventually, but in the past when I checked it out the procedure seemed quite involved. Have they changed at all?

Method 2 Part A should work for you. I use it for my 255. Download the unlocked IMG file, backup your current one, delete it and copy over the new unlocked one, reboot.

Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:Trend Micro blocked haklabs. I'm on the work VPN now, so I'll get off eventually, but in the past when I checked it out the procedure seemed quite involved. Have they changed at all?

Method 2 Part A should work for you. I use it for my 255. Download the unlocked IMG file, backup your current one, delete it and copy over the new unlocked one, reboot.

Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

But first I'd need a utility that would let me access the files on the unit, right?

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:Trend Micro blocked haklabs. I'm on the work VPN now, so I'll get off eventually, but in the past when I checked it out the procedure seemed quite involved. Have they changed at all?

Method 2 Part A should work for you. I use it for my 255. Download the unlocked IMG file, backup your current one, delete it and copy over the new unlocked one, reboot.

Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

But first I'd need a utility that would let me access the files on the unit, right?

Plug it into your computer and away you go... it's simply a USB device.

Well, that's different, then. And I can get the 2012 maps? Very cool. Must be tachyon-powered.

Yes. Yes, you can. I just updated my 255w to the 2012.10 maps. Sweet!

TrendMicro disabled (it wasn't just the work VPN; it's something new they pushed on us). Torrent ... bitting? That's a pretty big file. Rogers does not appear to be throttling me -- why can't I get the same speed with Torchwood?

There are three .img files and some other types in the torrent -- do I need *just* the gmapprom.img? That would speed things up a bit.

wprager wrote:There are three .img files and some other types in the torrent -- do I need *just* the gmapprom.img? That would speed things up a bit.

I updated all three .img files. The big one is the main map one. The other two are very small. I pulled it down pretty quickly... was coming in around 750KB/s.

While waiting for the huge file to download, I went looking for some more car files. On a lark, I googled "Millenium_Falcon.srt" and, surprise, surprise:

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=a9ceeac2e1e9b06e&lc=3082&id=A9CEEAC2E1E9B06E!416

I've downloaded the Enterprise and Voyager as well. They've got Simpsons, Startsky and Hutch, General Lee and a ton of other "real" cars.

HA HA! Awesome!

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:There are three .img files and some other types in the torrent -- do I need *just* the gmapprom.img? That would speed things up a bit.

I updated all three .img files. The big one is the main map one. The other two are very small. I pulled it down pretty quickly... was coming in around 750KB/s.

I wonder, if I copy over the GMAP3D.IMG file if the functionality is there in the unit to display it.

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:There are three .img files and some other types in the torrent -- do I need *just* the gmapprom.img? That would speed things up a bit.

I updated all three .img files. The big one is the main map one. The other two are very small. I pulled it down pretty quickly... was coming in around 750KB/s.

I wonder, if I copy over the GMAP3D.IMG file if the functionality is there in the unit to display it.

Do you have one on your device in the first place? I would only replace files that you have on your device.

Make sure you took a backup of any files you are replacing.

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:There are three .img files and some other types in the torrent -- do I need *just* the gmapprom.img? That would speed things up a bit.

I updated all three .img files. The big one is the main map one. The other two are very small. I pulled it down pretty quickly... was coming in around 750KB/s.

I wonder, if I copy over the GMAP3D.IMG file if the functionality is there in the unit to display it.

Do you have one on your device in the first place? I would only replace files that you have on your device.

Make sure you took a backup of any files you are replacing.

No, I don't. I have a feeling it wouldn't work, and it's not important enough for me to care.

I still hasn't finished downloading. I guess Rogers' Throttling Police finally found me.

Finally done. My car is now the Millenium Falcon! I wonder if the Terry Fox extension is on the map. It just got opened 3 days ago.

Nope, no Terry Fox extension yet. 2012, yeah, sure.

wprager wrote:Nope, no Terry Fox extension yet. 2012, yeah, sure.

Heh heh. Wait for the next update. 3 days ago? That's expecting a bit much...