Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 11-15 of 467
 285W vs the venerable Nuvi 350. December 21, 2009
John E. Pombrio (Manchester, CT United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Nuvi 285W compares extremely well with my first love, the Nuvi 350. I drove around for a day with both running at once. With a crisper, larger, and more visible screen, the 285W is a definite jump up. The 285 also is better at getting GPS signals faster even without the antenna flap of the 350. The 285 refreshes the vehicle on the screen much more smoothly. The wider screen shows the side streets and directions way better.
The volume, navigation, speed of turning on, and directions are almost exactly the same. The voice directions are easier to understand, the directions are spoken faster, and the diction is better. The voice is lacking in inflection and is less appealing than "Jane" which I miss. Pressing the screen is a tad harder. The menu is more streamlined and easier to navigate but one thing has changed (Custom Points of Interest are buried under tools-Extras rather than under POI- go figure). I also found out that I EXCEEDED the number of POI when I downloaded some Custom POI and went over the 1000 mark. The new unit looks much better. It has a slippery on/off switch compared to the 350 button.
Updating the unit over the internet is as easy as the 350 but still pokes along at a slow USB speed. Bluetooth and MSN Direct I have not tried and I may not ever bother to turn on but they are there. The price is so much less than the 350 that it is embarrassing to compare the two. Overall verdict? Buy without hesitation if it is your 1st GPS. If you are replacing a 350, do not bother unless Bluetooth is needed or you fall in love with the terrific new wide display.
With a second car came a need for a 2nd GPS. I could not even drive the other car home from NH without cursing about where the next damn gas station was. 3 exits later, finally found a gas station! I can no longer go without a GPS in my car than I could live without the internet.
Smart phone? Not quite there yet and having to fumble mounting the thing, plugging it in, and pulling up the app is way too much hassle for everyday driving. Stick with a dedicated unit that is left set up in the car.
Don't miss this deal! February 10, 2010
E. Dunn (Fairfax, VA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've had Garmins for a long time. And I've recommended them to family and friends who have thanked me later. I have the 760 in my car and it was time replace my wife's old 330C. For the record it lasted about five years. :) I almost got a TomTom this time around, since they have some neat features, but ultimately, this model of Garmin just had nearly everything and then some.
Okay, pros and cons and a few tips.
Pros:
- Boots up fast.
- The new surface mounting grip is awesome (it's an additional expense, but I kinda sorta stole it from my wife since I have this weird bumpy dash, and my current sandbag mount slides all over the place! But this thing has a rubberized bottom that bends and hooks over the dash. I highly recommend getting one!)
- The MSN Direct service is amazing. We paid the $30 to basically extend it out for two years. It's so worth it. First off, the thing boots up with the temperature right on your home screen. It does traffic, of course, but it also has weather, movies, and a whole bunch more. Do you know how cool it is to pull up a weather radar on your GPS? Wow!
- The driving layout is a bit different than my 760. It's actually easier to read. On the 760, the directions are on the top and they look like "Turn Right on Main Street". On the bottom are your distance to the destination and the Arrival time.
Well, what the 285 does is (as you can see by one of the screens) is put your turn direction as an arrow, how far away it is, up at the top. They also squeeze in an easy to read current speed limit on the map, your current speed at the bottom (kind of a nice reminder of when you're speeding! :) ) as well as, if you have the MSN Direct service, the traffic, and a number to easily see how much traffic is impacting your trip. I mean, that's a ton of useful information on one screen. The 760 is still more than a hundred bucks more than this thing! Crazy.
- Pretty much has a lot of other cool features - bluetooth, etc etc. The traffic receiver is also MUCH more stable than on the 760 which is semi-notorious for breaking. I don't see that happening with this one.
- This model supposedly doesn't have multi-destination. Or at least, Garmin says it doesn't, but now that I think about it, I believe it's included automatically. I was just using the thing yesterday, had changed my route and it asked me if I wanted to change my destination or add it. So.. call me confused. ;)
Cons: very few, since I love garmins.
- There are some neat features that are available now that this doesn't have - like being able to input a picture and have the GPS figure out where it is. Not sure how useful this is, but it sure sounds neat.
- Doesn't have the FM transmitter - this is kinda useful.
In Summary, I don't know how you could possibly find more bang for your buck in a GPS, particularly if you spend the extra $30 to get nearly TWO years of traffic, weather, and all the other bells and whistles from MSN Direct. We spent $365 last year for a GPS that needs a new map soon, that is matched by this GPS that was selling for $99 a few days ago.
Excellent for trips & standard users February 22, 2010
Jose Marquez Ramirez (Caracas, VE)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This Garmin GPS is very simple to use. I found a very friendly user interface, very simple to load maps from other countries like Venezuela (my case). All gadgets works fine. Battery works up to 4 hours. Maybe could add more entry info to locate addresses because many other countries use buildings names instead of numbers in home directions.
Outstanding Buy! February 27, 2010
J. Johnson (Columbia, SC)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is my 4th GPS from Garmin and I must say I am, without a doubt, impressed. The first thing that jumped out at me was the fantastic screen resolution. The 285WT provides a great view in either very bright light or dim light, doesn't matter. I set the brightness on 80% and it's just a pleasure to use. Great audio also, easy to hear and understand directions. The device is very user friendly, quick and easy to set up and get going. It connects with satellite reception very fast, it's reliable. I will never go back to a smaller GPS now either, have had a large and small and convinced this size is best for overall use, either walking or driving. Can not recommend this enough. Has enough features for most people, no doubt.
Great Buy... March 2, 2010
NeWt (USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is my first GPS. The 285WT is AWESOME! Easy to use, easy to setup and easy to update. I tried to read as many reviews as I could before I purchased this unit...the only thing I am not too happy about is that this model has been discontinued by Garmin. THAT, makes me wonder, however...this thing ROCKS! The review I read that stated something about "DON'T DO THE UPDATE!!!"...well, apparently they didn't follow the instructions because there was a "caveat" when updating the OS to the unit that said, if you don't let it reboot on it's own, or something to that effect, that the unit would be rendered useless. Well...I guess they didn't wait. So far for me, the unit has been amazing. I don't know how long I'll have "this" unit, but I'll definitely go with Garmin in the future. -N
Showing reviews 11-15 of 467
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