Garmin nüvi 265/265T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
by Garmin
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin nüvi 265/265T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic
Customer Review: Best bang for your buck Garmin - 265T
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a Garmin c320 for a few years that I was mostly happy with, but I was ready to upgrade after hearing about some of the new features. Here are the highlights that, in my opinion, make this GPS the best bang for your buck.
* Like all Garmins, the interface is designed for ease of use. My grandparents use a Garmin. However, if you are looking for customization, you might want to consider a TomTom.
* The routing engine is very good. Caveat: Be wary that the points of interest (POI) addresses may be inaccurate. If you have a specific address, enter it!
* The 265T is much quicker at getting a satellite lock when turning on than my c320. Starting from power on, usually about 10-15 seconds vs. 1-2 minutes before.
* The traffic service is free (ad-supported). Other makes and models require a subscription, which I'm not a big fan of. The ads are unobtrusive and appear only on startup and on arriving at your destination.
* Text to speech
* The new interface is much more helpful, specifically, the upcoming turn direction indicator.
The higher end Garmin features, such as lane assist, 3-D building view, mp3 player, etc. seem superfluous to me. Voice recognition would be cool, but the 855 and 885T models are very expensive. If you want a widescreen model, the 265WT is exactly the same except for a bigger screen. Still, I don't have any problem reading the 265T's screen and its approx. $50 cheaper.
P.S. I would highly recommend getting the Garmin Friction Mount as well. This will prevent suction cup rings on your windshield, to reduce your profile for theft.
Customer Review: Great product!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought a refurbished unit and received the wrong clip with it (to attach it to the windshield). I was not happy to have to repackage and ship that back to the store; I thought the company should have just sent me the correct one and written off the minor cost of the other. Apart from that, I love the Garmin. I have an old Garmin IQ3600 (which no longer finds a satellite) and have bought my children each a Garmin 265. They loved theirs and found them easy to use, so I bought the upgraded 265T to get the free traffic subscription and hands free phone link-up. I bought a refurbished one however so it wouldn't cost much more than the 265. I do find it easy to use and convenient to carry. (I bought the pink leather carry case to protect it in my purse.) I haven't used the traffic rerouter so can't comment on that. (Most of my travel is in Washington DC where I can count on bad traffic regardless of my route.) The hands free phone link-up does work, but I have to lean towards the unit and talk really loud for callers to hear me. So I only use it when necessary, it isn't practical for a nice phone conversation on a long drive. All in all though it's a good product. I just purchased maps for Europe and will see how those work. I plan to use them walking and the device only holds a charge for 3 hours, so I'm not sure how that will work. I'd love to use my kids Garmins too (between the 3 of ours we would have a charged unit all day) but they say the maps can only be used on 1 unit - we'll see. Reviews said a refurbished unit has all the benefits of a new one and is just as good. I would agree, and it's a huge savings. So, I'm overall very happy with my purchase and recommend it to others.Customer Review: Outstanding Unit!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my 4th Garmin GPS and I love it! The other writer mentioned the extra "tumor" for about 3 inches. If that bothers you, well I am NOT that anal and it is hardly even obvious. Who cares about the power cable any way? The unit's screen is clear, bright, easy to read. Lot's of improvements. Considered the 265WT but frankly just prefer the smaller screen for walking or riding a bike, just fits in pockets better and still large enough to see easily in an automobile. I agree that the start-up is FAST-FAST. A great improvement over several previous Garmin models. I highly recommend this one!
**I have now used this for a few weeks. The screen is actually brighter and the colors much more vivid than previous models I have owned. Up-to-date locations and the voice is an improvement over prior models as well, much easier to understand street names and names of saved people\locations. For the money-you can't go wrong. When I go to Europe again in the future I am getting the 275 model which is the same as this but has maps for Europe as well. Again, I do prefer the 3.5" vs. the 4.3" screen size. It's very easy to see in the car and so compact for walking, hiking etc. Garmin keeps making improvements and this little unit is a GREAT value, highly-highly recommend it.
***OK, I have used this for months now and it has NEVER gotten me lost, never. Previous models at least got me lost once. I am more than pleased I made the investment in this little puppy. Fast, easy to see (even in bright conditions, better than prior Garmins I had). It's worth the extra bucks to get this vs. others, well worth it and I could not be more pleased now.
Customer Review: Well worth it
Summary: 4 Stars
It is accurate in giving directions most of the time. But I suspect that the maps will need to be updated in a year or two. There are some routes that I take going within New Jersey where it flakes out a little bit because the actual roads have changed and these changes are not reflected in the map. For instance, it would talk about streets that have been turned into a roundabout so the directions will no longer be accurate. I have experienced this a couple of times(in different locations in New York and New Jersey) since I bought it about a month ago. So I'm guessing that the maps are not newly updated as of Feb 2010.
For some odd reason, I notice that it works slower when I'm in New York city. When I make a wrong turn, it is suppose to detect that and recalculate the route to lead me to my destination. But it would take a while to recognize that I'm already off course (which is anywhere between 10-30 seconds) and then a little while longer for it to recalculate my new route. This doesn't happen all the time though. But it happens to me more often than not when I'm in the city.
Despite all these, I love this gadget. I never leave home without it. I always find what I'm looking for and the routes that it comes up with are pretty convenient and usually relatively light on traffic. It's small enough to fit in my pocket but the screen is big enough for me to see it clearly while driving. The time it takes for the map to load up is pretty decent (less than minute). It only takes maybe 10 seconds for the map to load up if it is opened in the location where it was last used.
Customer Review: Brand-name, mediocre unit. Good for tech challenged, not for keen users
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros:
1. Free lifetime traffic
2. Next turn arrow at top corner
3. Free one time map update
Cons:
1. Limited routing choice: Faster (Highway) or shorter (back roads). There is nothing in between. Faster choice will give extreme high preference on Highways; As a result, faster routes are not always faster.
2. There is no choice of avoiding U-turns.
3. When you start entering address, it will not show you recently used cities. So even when I am entering a street address in home town, I have to re-enter city name every time.
4. Compound that problem with non-QWERTY keyboard. I never guessed a non-standard keyboard is such an annoyance. If you need to search for characters when you are in a hurry (may be when you are stopped in a traffic light), you will feel the pain.
5. Routing does not consider delays at intersections due to traffic lights. As a result, ETAs are incorrect.
6. You can not customize to display distance to your destination (instead of ETA)
7. Navteq problem: For highways with a physical divider, it will ignore crossovers as a valid route. To understand: enter 9513 N Tryon St, 28262 in Google map. Navteq will not recognize N Tryon St (northbound) and Barton Creek Dr as a valid intersection. As a result, Garmin will not allow a left turn across the crossover.
8. Trail color is pink (an eyesore)
Summary: I am keeping this as a back-up unit since it has traffic information and latest maps. I will use 3yr old Mio as my primary GPS.