Garmin - Nuvi 205

The Garmin Nuvi products are aimed at not just providing the best navigational and travel solutions that GPS technology can offer but to also make these devices affordable so that more people can enjoy driving safely and without stress. Keeping this in mind, Garmin introduced the Nuvi 200 and the Nuvi 2X5 series that provide a great balance between advanced navigational tools and an affordable price tag. Most of the essential hi-tech features find their way into the Nuvi 205W but without jacking up the price, making it a great buy.

Features

Like all Nuvi GPS devices, the Nuvi 205W also contains world-class navigational tools. However there are some new features that add special functionality to this set.

As usual you can request the device to map a route in many different ways. You can either directly enter the address or use any of the points of interest to indicate your destination. The Nuvi 205W will also keep a log of places and cities you have visited making it easier for you specify if it is any one of those locations. However, the Nuvi 205W also provides you with the direction and the accurate distance of where you are to make the next turn. Just as the device is instructing you on what turn to take, you can also view the speed of you vehicle on the screen.

Another very useful feature in the Nuvi 205W is what is called the emergency location feature. Imagine you are in an unfamiliar area or in an emergency and need to know how to get to a known address. The emergency locator will of course tell you your exact location, giving you even the co-ordinates but in addition will give you a list of helpful, nearby locations like gas stations, police stations, hospitals, clinics and so on.

There are some attractive add-on options that you could try with your Nuvi 205W. The most useful one is either the FM traffic receiver or an MSN Direct receiver. Both provide you with regular updates on the traffic. Even as you are driving you can keep getting real-time information on the traffic along your route. If there are trouble spots because of a traffic build-up or road construction, you will immediately know of it. In fact, you can ask the device to plan a new route avoiding the trouble spots. However, if you would like similar real-time information on weather, news and the stock market, you are better off using MSN Direct.

The Nuvi 205 is the very base model with a 3.5-inch touch-screen and provides all standard navigational tools along with maps of the United States. The Nuvi 205W has a wider screen of 4.3 inches. The Nuvi 255 and 255W provide voice prompts and additional maps of North America and Alaska. Moving up to the Nuvi 265T gives you an integrated Blutooth technology and FM receiver while 275T has all these features and a complete map set of North America and Europe.