Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic by Garmin
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Digital camera reviews of Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
Digital camera Review: An upgrade from my prior Nuvis
Summary: 4 Stars
Nice, wider screen. The FM traffic receiver is OK but don't count on it too much. Sometimes it stops announcing the next turn, you have to reboot the GPS. The Bluetooth is a nice feature. However, I still find it indispensable and I can put up with the flaws. Good deal for the price.Digital camera Review: Another rave review
Summary: 5 Stars
For the money, I couldn't complain if I wanted to. It's accurate, concise and does precisely what I want it to do. I did not give it five stars on the display because it will wash out in direct sunlight, but since I don't use it in that capacity it isn't important to me. Highly recommended. You should spring for the friction mount, it's worth every penny.Digital camera Review: Another winner from Garmin
Summary: 4 Stars
I loved my wife's Garmin so much that I wanted my own (with updated maps). I have been working with computer tech and in the field for well over 20 years and have never come across a device that just worked like I did these Garmins. I could easily have given these guys 5 stars if for their method of updating the device - ridiculous! Just after purchasing, (Which I was buying because I wanted the latest maps possible, and the cost of getting new Maps was more than half the cost of just buying new - so I got myself one and figured I would update the maps.
For starters - I am not a Windows zealot (so strike one for me - I could not even get the device registered on their Windows only Activx Registration process - needed to have their support do it for me - Which they did without fail but it did take some time.
Even after that, could not download the insane 2+ gig update through their Windows only Activx based download process (come-on simple web based ftp, or any other means of multi-platform download available that have been around forever). I ended up giving up and had to use a computer at work that was Windows based.
There is no doubt that this device (and I am sure all of the Garmin devices) would be slam dunk purchase for all of humanity once they get their update process cleaned up. There is no way that there shold have been a 2+ gig download to update the maps - there has GOT to be a better way. And dump the single platform ActivX garbage - you should be able to access web sites, download data, register products from any OS (from BeOS - to Solaris) without any hindrance. And for that I gave then a 4 instead of a 5.
Digital camera Review: Arrived fast, easy setup, but didn't meet the test.
Summary: 2 Stars
This was my first GPS and I searched a lot of Garmin and Tom-Tom reviews before making my selection. The best price was on Amazon and I bought it for a trip out west to Lake Tahoe, CA. After picking up my rental car at the airport I punched in the name and address of my hotel, Garmin kept routing me through business sections and ended up at a deadend trying to get on the highway! By the end of the trip I was ready to throw it out the window. After visiting a park one day I punched in the current location coordinates so I could return later for another hike. Garmin never found it later! Fortunately following my nose I found it again on my own, but Garmin never did. I searched on Radio Shack and it never found the local store that had been there for several years, only found one 20+ miles away! After trying a Tom-Tom (touch screen shattered the first month) and then another Garmin model 885T which kept getting me lost on business trips in New Jersey, I finally purchased a Magellan Maestro which I'm very happy with -- has great features, accurate, dependable -- that's all I ask of a GPS!Digital camera Review: Audio Quality is Very Poor
Summary: 2 Stars
This is a very good GPS if all you want is basic navigation, but the audio quality makes it completely unacceptable for BlueTooth usage which is one of its features. That may or may not be important to many people, but my wife uses it heavily as a hands-free bluetooth device with her phone.
We love Garmin and had a StreetPilot c550 for many years and it had excellent audio quality (it even had an MP3 player built in so the audio had to be good). It looks to me that over the years since then Garmin has decided that audio quality wasn't that important and put in a very cheap ineffective speaker in all the new 4.3 inch screen models in order to reduce cost.
When the unit reads directions to you, the voice is understandable although it is muffled and very "tinny". When you attempt to make a bluetooth call through the unit with a phone, the voices are unintelligible. I returned this unit to Amazon and got a 1390 instead and it was a little better but had the same basic problem so it seems to be common to all the 4.3 inch Garmins. I'm now going to try a 1490 which comes in a 5 inch case and presumably has a different speaker system to see if it's better. I tried one in a Best Buy store and it seems to be much better.