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: Accurate and simple
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the Nuvi 265WT about a month ago to use on our trip to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I live in Hawaii so we don't usually go on road trips. Used in Vegas to travel from the airport to the hotel and to various outlet shopping centers and malls. Also used it to travel from Vegas to LA and around the Northridge area.
The directions were accurate and easy to follow. It also found gas stations and a Walmart less than a mile away. Overall, it made finding our destinations a breeze.
When using it on Oahu, it doesn't always seem to take you on the fastest route but neither does Mapquest or Google maps.
Digital camera Review: Accurate and user friendly
Summary: 4 Stars
This product proved to be very effective in getting me where I wanted to go. I purchased it to replace an old unit and this one worked to perfection. The bluetooth allowed me to link my phone with the gps and I was able to drive and answer call effortless. I would certainly reccommend the product for those who are seeking a gps that is easy to use and comparable for getting you where you want to go.Digital camera Review: Advertising you cannot turn off.
Summary: 1 Stars
I can't fault the operation of the Nuvi, but I was horrified to discover that some nitwit at Garmin decided it was OK to palace advertising in their product that cannot be turned off by the purchaser. Often, when the device senses the vehicle has stopped, it will pop up a totally irrelevant text ad on the map. As I said (and have confirmed with Garmin tech support) YOU CANNOT TURN THESE OFF. Basically, you're paying Garmin for the right to carry around an advertising delivery device.
Even more reprehensible is that fact that this "feature" is not mentioned on their website, the product's packaging, or - most damning of all - on the demo unit I used prior to making my purchase. I feel Garmin has acted deceptively by hiding this "feature" until the moment the device is out of it's packaging and installed in your car.
As a previously loyal Garmin customer, I am very disappointed.
Digital camera Review: Affordable option for those who want traffic reporting
Summary: 4 Stars
After using an older Nuvi 350 for a couple years, the faster response and shorter startup times for the 265WT are appreciated. Even though this is considered to be part of the lower-end line of the Nuvi's, it comes with features that far surpass a basic model (traffic, picture viewing, bluetooth phone link). The traffic is a nice feature, especially with the linked re-routing capability from my daily commute between Baltimore, MD and Alexandria, VA (around the D.C. traffic!), but I've noticed that it isn't updated quite as fast as I can get to a problem spot. Also, I'll oftentimes take a detour to avoid one accident only to hit another jam which only updates on the GPS AS I hit the traffic (sigh). I can't fault Garmin, as it's a matter of news hitting the people who process the FM traffic report.
Another thing to point out is that the traffic rerouting seems automatic ONLY when you first turn on the GPS, or when your current path is just very very bad. Obviously the threshold for very bad can vary depending on the impatience of the driver, but I would like it for alternate routes to be calculated behind the scenes (for faster detour updates) or for it to recalculate paths dynamically as traffic jam information is updated to the unit.
As far as the rest of the unit is concerned, it has been working well. I believe I've had one crash in the couple months I've been using it, but it seemed to reboot itself automatically and continued right where it left off, without me having to retype in destination. The updated interface is overall nice, but I miss the integrated compass direction I recall the 350 having. The 3D terrain thing is more of a gimmick in my opinion, as it reduces contrast of the map and makes it harder for me to see the displayed information. One thing I found odd was that when the direction list mode is used by touching the top part of the standard screen, you have to use the back button rather than the big central "Show Map" button to go (back) to the standard map + next direction hybrid view. "Show map" pulls up a 3D terrain zoomed out large map of the overall route dialed in, subject to the same cluttered display with poor contrast mentioned earlier. It would also be nice for immediately-following directions to be listed right after the next direction under the standard map + direction hybrid view, eg. Take exit ramp on right, and immediately get over 3 lanes to the left once you merge onto the next highway (so that you can take a left turn at the stop light a 100 yds after the merge.!)
Since the traffic antenna is integrated with the car power unit, it must be plugged in to get the traffic capability. This means that I'll rarely use the unit's built-in battery, and also that the battery will most likely have a shorter lifespan since it'll constantly be in charging mode (assuming it behaves like laptop batteries).
Disappointingly, the mounting system is very basic (you have to flex the plastic clips to pull it off) and not nearly as nice as the spring-loaded release mechanism featured in the higher end Nuvi's (our older 350, and the very similar appearing 750). This, coupled with the fact that the power/FM transmitter is plugged directly into the backside and not centered (so it is somewhat unbalanced) makes one-handed detachment of the GPS almost impossible. I miss how the power plugged into the cradle of our older 350 which made it really simple to take the GPS with us when we left the car.
I have not used the bluetooth functionality and have read that the GPS is limited to acting only as a dial-pad and speaker/mic. Importantly, access to the phonebook doesn't seem to be available through the unit according to others, but again I can't fault Garmin, since I imagine it'd be a nightmare to support higher functionality with every bluetooth-enabled phone, as they all seem to have a different OS/interface.
Two of my friends bought the nuvi 750 for about what I paid for the 265WT, but I would not trade. If they had a 265WT's features with the 750's mounting cradle, it'd be perfect.
Digital camera Review: All Defective Items
Summary: 1 Stars
Sent back 2 of these GPS, 265WT, Wouldnt stay on but a few seconds, and then shut off. Im really surprised, at the customer service dept. I requested a call back and they never, had the common decency, to return my call.