Garmin nuvi 200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator | List Price: $419.98
Discount Price: Too low to display
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Platform: Not Machine Specific
Brand: Garmin
Binding: Electronics
Features: - 3.5-Inch Qvga Display
- Sleek, Pocketable Form Factor
- Thinner Than Current Nuvi
- No Flip-Up Antenna
- Full Us & Canada Coverage
Illegal and terrible directions [Posted on 2008-10-17]
WARNING: Using this for navigation could be very dangerous!!! I just got this and after testing it to plan 2 routes over roads I know very well, I found I cannot trust the routes it chooses. The first one told me to make an illegal left turn in front of 3 lanes of traffic. The next one took me through terrible city traffic over a much longer distance, rather than use the Interstate. It also labeled an Interstate with the wrong number. Yes, I had it configured properly, and downloaded updated software as of Oct 16, 2008. So, the only use for this is as a tiny (possibly inaccurate) map or for GPS coordinates, speed, and elapsed time.
Garmin has better options [Posted on 2008-10-19]
I bought this unit and returned it after a week. My husband has an older model from Garmin and one of the features I love about it is that it tells me what street to turn on. Instead of saying "turn right in .5 miles" - it says "turn right in .5 miles on North Road". This newer model however - does not give you the street names. You have to read the screen to see what the street is - and since this unit is so small - good for portability - I found myself squinting at the screen.
I have since purchased the Nuvi 350 instead.
Pros:
Tiny & Portable
Easy to Program
Cons:
No directions by street name
Recommendation:
Spend $30 more and get the 350 instead.
Basic but invaluable [Posted on 2008-10-26]
On the scale of available GPS navigation systems, the Garmin nüvi 200 is a relatively modest machine with a small price tag and not a lot of the fancy new bells and whistles. But for what you pay, you get a lot. The core functionality (which is all I was interested in) works extremely well and makes this an invaluable tool whenever I am driving to someplace new.
The touchscreen is perfectly adequate; it's neither too sensitive nor difficult to use. Some of the menu navigation is a little non-intuitive (it is not always obvious which things on the map screen are "clickable"), but is reasonable once you get the hang of it. Again, the features are basic, but do everything one would feasibly expect.
This model does not speak the road names, so you'll have to read them off the screen. Thankfully, I find the screen very easy to read in daylight and at night. The device automatically adjusts the brightness and the background colors depending on which side of sunrise and sunset you are. This may seems like a minor feature but is actually very helpful.
The speaking voice is very clear and distinct. Even with the radio on, it's easy to make out the spoken directions.
I have found the maps to be complete and the directions it gives to be reasonable. There have been occasions when driving through an area which I already am familiar with when the device tells me to go a sub-optimal way. However, it has never steered me completely wrong. I find the directions to be completely comparable to the results I get from Google Maps, Yahoo Maps or MapQuest.
Similar to my reaction to cell-phones several years back, a car GPS was something that I hadn't fully appreciated until I actually owned one. Before I bought mine, I figured that it would merely be a helpful and occasionally handy tool. Now I simply am unable to comprehend how I ever drove without one. I've been house shopping recently, and the ability to simply have a list of addresses in the car with me instead of pages and pages of map and direction printouts reduces my stress-levels considerably.
ok gps [Posted on 2008-10-26]
The problem with this device is that it takes forever to find satellites.... up to 20 minutes....
this is just unacceptable!
and the other thing that drives me crazy is the touch screen, my fingers are small and often it clicks itself in a totally different region of the screen!!!
Garmin Nuvi works well [Posted on 2008-10-28]
I have used it since taking it from the box for business and pleasure. No problems at all.
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