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Thanks, LMB I have loved my Garmin and received it before I had expected.
bought a New GPS and I could not believe that I could get to point A to point B with out getting lost or stopping every other gas station for directions is an awsome little invention I never had any sense of direction maps forget about that one now with my GPS I don't need a navagator next to me in my car.I have my new Bertha that's her name so come ladies and Gents get yourself one YOU WILL JUST LOVE IT
While in map only mode, the Garmin's announce/show names of upcoming main streets so it's always easy to quickly and safely know where you are in relation to the surrounding streets since all surrounding streets are very easy to see/read without having to stare at the screen. RoutingI find the mapping on this and other Garmin units to be somewhat problematic because whichever Garmin model I've tested, I'm ALWAYS directed to go several miles out of my way when I'm within several miles of my home. For me, these Garmin features are logical and intuitive while Magellan's seemed counter intuitive.Bottom LineAlthough the 250W has since been replaced, it would still be worthwhile buy if it could be had for the right price. While it did a better job with the routing within 3 miles of home because it recognized the streets the Garmin did not, I found the actual map to be significantly less useful than our Garmin's map.
This model only announces the direction of the turn and not the street name, which was not a factor at the time of purchase but is now something that I would definitely want to have on any unit I would buy. Another feature I felt the Garmin has it over the Magellan is the location on the screen where the street name you are traveling on appears (at the top). We've owned this GPS since 2007 and have found it to be a fairly reliable basic unit. With any GPS, my requirements are for reliable GPS-oriented features and not lots of bells and whistles that I'll probably never use. Within approx. Other GPS ExperienceWe bought a more sophisticated Magellan Maestro 4250 last year since I thought the extra features on that unit could be useful.
Not so with the Magellan, which requires much more of your attention trying to figure out street names and where you are in relation to the upcoming streets. However, I thought the zoom feature when approaching an upcoming turn and the `turn alarm' when at the turn are each brilliant. MAP COMPARISON - Garmin vs MagellanI prefer the look and utility of Garmin's maps to Magellan's. There are times I don't use the nav/routing feature but only the map, usually when I have a general idea of where to go and may not want to rely on the unit's routing. 3 miles of home, all Garmins route me past several streets I should turn on for the shortest, quickest and most direct route, as it apparently does not recognize one or more of those streets. In addition to color and sharpness, the main reason is that Garmin shows the street names above the road while the Magellan overlays the name on top of the road, which makes street names extremely difficult to read at a glance, even at night. Our 250W boots up very quickly and we've never had it freeze up on us.
Another useful feature is that the unit automatically narrows the possible address choices with each character entered so fewer characters have to be entered than with Garmin However, the map appearance became the deal breaker and the 4250 was returned after using it for 2 weeks. I keep checking in-store units to see if the routing has yet been updated but it has not. The reason- I've found it to be confusing when getting off some expressway ramps where there are several streets close together so I'm not always sure on which street I am supposed to turn on since I have to primarily rely on the voice prompt because I'm driving and can not safely look at the the map other than maybe a quick glance for details. I notified Garmin who told me to report it to Navteq (sp)., which I immediately did.
I checked Garmin's website and it costs more to get it repaired ($125 plus shipping) than to purchase a new one ($118 includes shipping). For 18 months, I used this little gem, yes there were minor flaws, but overall, an excellent GPS. Like I mentioned, the GPS is a slick little unit, but Garmin doesn't seem to care much about warranting their products. If Garmin can't back up their products better, I just assume go purchase a competitors model. Then one day while driving it just stopped working. KAPUT.
I have two Garmins that I use on a daily bases and I havn't gotten lost yet. I don't believe that I order this from Amazon but I use this version of GPS at my work. I trust Garmin over all other GPS in the market today.
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