Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6598 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Garmin
• Model: 010-00717-12
• Released on: 2008-05-16

Manufacturer's Description

Simple, safe and portable with optional traffic re-routing, the nüvi 255 is your personal travel assistant for life on the go. This simple, safety-minded navigator leads the way with turn-by-turn directions, lifetime traffic avoidance and a unique, advanced safety camera warning system to get you there on time and keep you safe on the road. Packed with up to millions of points of interest (POIs) and maps for Europe, the 255 is compact, versatile and easy to use.

Simplicity and safety

Nüvi 255 comes preloaded with City Navigator® NT map data for Europe. Simply touch the colour screen, key in your destination and nüvi takes you there with turn-by-turn spoken directions, 2-D or 3-D mapping and smooth map redraw rates. Digital elevation maps show shaded contours for an understanding of the surrounding terrain. In addition, nüvi 255 accepts custom points of interest such as traffic blackspots and post offices and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. With HotFix™ satellite prediction, Garmin calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.

'Where Am I?' gives you details about your location in a flash. Simply tap the car icon for your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, nearest address, contact details for your vehicle rescue service and directions to the closest hospital, police or petrol station.

Nüvi 255’s advanced Cyclops safety camera database helps you travel with the confidence you are driving safely, responsibly and legally. As you approach one of hundreds of fixed, mobile and temporary safety cameras, variable limit or red light speed cameras across Europe, it gives an audible alert, overspeed warning and speed limit information.

Nüvi 255 also comes with Garmin Lock™, an inventive anti-theft protection system that uses GPS to lock to a secure location of your choice.

Traffic avoidance

The nüvi 255T model adds lifetime traffic alerts to provide dependable delay information and keep you aware of jams, accidents and roadworks on your route. These alerts are informed by real-time data from reliable sources including the Highways Agency, police traffic control centres and more than 8000 traffic flow cameras and sensors on motorways and trunk roads across England, Wales and Scotland. This service is broadcast over a national network of FM radio stations to ensure an excellent reception.

Your traffic is always a toggle away. Just flick between your navigation screen and congestion delay information, reassured you will be guided safely to your destination. nüvi 255T’s versatile navigation works with the traffic alerts to report on the tailbacks and suggest a better route around the delay.

Enhanced navigation

Nüvi 255 comes with photo navigation to revolutionise your sightseeing. Plan trips to landmarks and attractions simply and easily before you set off. Choose and save location-tagged photographs from millions of Google Panoramio pictures in a wish-list of places to visit. Then, at your leisure, select a photo destination on your Garmin for turn-by-turn directions straight to the scene.

Other built-in travel tools include a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, a currency and measurement converter, calculator and more.

Personalise your nüvi 255 with your choice of background photograph. To customise your screen further, select a new vehicle icon from the Garmin Garage. With a wide range of wheels including off-road vehicles, motorbikes and classic cars, you can now tailor your Garmin to suit your style.

Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in microSD cards such as Garmin Travel and Language Guides as well as links to third-party content providers including RoadTour and The Good Pub Guide 2008.

Compact, bright navigation

Nüvi 255 has a sleek, slim design to fit comfortably in your pocket or purse. Its rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot with up to 4 hours’ usage between charges.

View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant colour. The sunlight-readable 3.5-inch display is easy to view - from any direction.

Nüvi 255: Simple, safe and portable European navigation with traffic avoidance.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Great but don't bother with the Traffic version
I used to have TomTom on my phone and I've used a comparable TomTom device that my boss has. I'm also a proper geek and spent a lot of time researching online the best option to go for. 5 pre-purchase points:

1) Garmin use the better map-tech. Everything I've read leaves me to belive that Navteq are the better provider

2) Look at any other GPS device (non-automotive) and Garmin is pretty much the last word in accuracy and reliability.

3) TomTom customer service - Every time I looked for reviews of TomTom products I was greeted with tales of truly APPALLING customer service - regardless of the product, if the aftersales sucks I am not risking my cash.

4) Map updates - If new maps become available for your new TomTom, you get a free upgrade if its within 30 days of purchase. With Garmin you get 60 days.

5) If you're a Mac user, don't use the TomTom software (such as it is for the Mac), it will brick your device (according to all the reviews I've read) and then you'll have to deal with point number 3)

So, I finally settled on this 255T. Incredibly easy to use, lots of add-ons and useful free softtware from Garmin's website. There was a map update available right away so I installed the software and then clicked the go button, and it was all done for me (took a little while to complete).

I've only used it a couple days, it has the same problems as every satnav I have ever used in that it seems to want to take me the scenic route to the M25 and is confused by the road system in the town I live in. However, that was the only trouble I had with it, it guided me to a destination I had never driven to before up in Milton Keynes faultlessly. So the navigation part, the accuracy, the ease of use and the available extras - fantastic. (All UK Tesco Stores and Football stadiums available to download as Points of Interest!)

Downsides:

1) Once I joined the M1 it was convinced that there were variable 50MPH speed cameras - after the first 5 miles beeping I turned the camera alerts off - its' possibel I just need to update that part of the software so no biggy, especially as rather than keeping an eye out for speed cameras I just don't break the speed limit as a rule.

2) Traffic alerting - save yourself 15 notes, this doesn't work. Full stop.

So fairly lengthy review, first time I have bothered but for people considering the alternative, I wanted to put down my experience/findings etc. Go with Garmin, the important bits work brilliantly.

Fantastic!!
I love this sat nav! Never had one before but found this simple to set up and easy to use. Not really any instructions in the box though, so if you need to, go to the Garmin web page and download manual. Brilliant price for what you are getting.

Good SatNav that's well worth the money.
I bought this satnav because we hired a Garmin in the USA and were impressed by its simplicity and how it could easily find a multitude of restaurants and tourist attractions etc. The real selling point was the bean bag mount that sits on the dashboard rather than sticking to the windscreen. Get the beanbag mount even though it is expensive.
The 255T logs on to satellites really quickly so you can get going in unfamiliar places without having to guess which direction to start off in. Everything about the 255T is easy to use with big clear icons and finding your destination by postcode or by address is easy. Calculating the route is fast too. OK, so it's all good news except that while we were on our long journey from London to Newcastle and back all the talk was about what it doesn't or can't do so here are the gripes and limitations.
Firstly it only has two navigation choices for driving; "Faster Time" and "Shorter Distance". We had it set to "Faster Time" and there are two ways to get up north; The M1 and the A1 and we mostly go A1 which we find to be quicker and more interesting but Nuvi tried to get us to go up the M1 from the M25 but I skipped that junction and took 21a, the A414 to Hatfield to pick up the A1 there. For the 10 miles or so to Hatfield Nuvi tried to get us to U turn back to the M25 and M1 but we persisted and only at the point of going onto the A1 did it accept defeat. The estimated time of arrival then dropped by half an hour so I think the "Fastest Time" algorithm is not perfect. More experiments need to be done I think...
The 255T does not have enough adjustment of simple features such as what is displayed on the map screen. It only shows the distance to the next turn, your speed and the arrival time. These are big enough to read easily but you can't change them. I'd like to see the remaining journey distance rather than the speed (my car has a speedo) but you can't change it like you can on a NavMan.
The manual says tap the arrival time to view a map of the whole journey - except it doesn't work.
Every time you touch the screen it gives an unnecessary annoying beep and there seems to be no way to turn it off.
I use "Favourites" often but the icon is not on the front page of the menu so you have to scroll to press it then you have to choose what type of favourite then you choose the destination. It's too many clicks for what is probably the most used option.
The speed camera database works well and gently but persistently beeps at you if you are going too fast. Unfortunately it tells you of the location of every possible mobile camera so it is beeping a lot even though there is no camera there.
My wife would prefer a male voice but there is only one (very nice) female voice.
Hopefully you will see these as minor gripes and buy a Nuvi 255T so I'll end on some positives.
It leaves a blue line showing everywhere you've been in minute detail. My house and garden look like spaghetti where I've walked around testing it. Where the road has been changed such as on the A1 where roundabouts have been bypassed, the blue line goes over the fields.
The traffic sensing is interesting. If it is getting a signal you see a green icon of a traffic jam. If the traffic is a bit heavy it goes yellow and it shows you how much time you will lose over the whole journey. If there is a jam it goes red and may detour you if there is a quicker alternative. Coming home down the A1 the traffic was busy and showed yellow with a 2 minute delay a few times and we did slow a bit. At one point it showed red with a 9 minute delay but there was no major jam. I think this is an interesting feature and I'm glad I paid a little extra for the "T" version.