My Awesome Travel Companion: Garmin Nuvi 255

Author's Rating:

Pros: Reasonably priced, reliable.

Cons: Will sometimes take you on a route you don't expect.

The Bottom Line: 
Long distance road trips and my little Garmin Nuvi 255 go hand in hand.

Author's Review
Last summer I went on a road trip from Davenport, Washington to Branson, Missouri. Initially I was just planning to use maps I found online, but a co-worker suggested I buy a GPS. I did a bit of research and finally bought a Garmin Nuvi 255 on eBay. My new little friend arrived in a timely manner and I set out to figure out how to use it. At first I had a bit of a difficult time as the manual wasn't as clear as I would have liked it to be, but eventually I mastered it.

Road trips have always been fun for me, and the Garmin Nuvi 255 made it even more fun. Nice features include speed tracking - no guessing if my speedometer was right or not - and since my car didn't have cruise control this was great. The display showed me how many miles to go to the next destination and that was fun as well, as watching the miles tick down made the trip seem to go faster.

I initially programmed in my final destination, and the Garmin Nuvi 255 told me how to get there. I had a few bad moments when I ended up in an area that my printed maps did not reflect me going to, but a text to my son soon reassured me that I was on the right road.

There was some horrible road construction heading south into Missouri, which wasn't a lot of fun. On the way home, though, the Garmin Nuvi 255 took me a different route that enabled me to completely miss the road construction - without me asking it to do so. While I appreciated this after the fact, I did have some bad moments when I realized I was not going back home the same way I came.

The Garmin Nuvi 255 comes with a 3.5 inch screen. It's size was perfect for me, as my car has a small area in the lower middle dash that the Garmin Nuvi 255 fit into perfectly.  I was able to see the display while driving without having to pick it up and look at it.

Touch screen was nice and I did not have any problems inputting addresses. I did not use the waypoint function on this trip - just inputted my destination and off I went. The audible voice telling me where to turn, etc was pleasant to the ear and loud enough to be heard without straining.

The battery is supposed to last about four hours. While driving I had it plugged in to my power supply in the car so I do not know if it does last four hours or not. I did not have any problems with the battery on that trip or subsequent shorter trips I have taken.

If you take a wrong turn when driving with the Garmin Nuvi 255, it will recalculate where you are supposed to be. This was nice when I was looking for a particular motel in an unfamiliar town in the dark and went the wrong way.

Overall, I am very pleased with my Garmin Nuvi 255. It worked great on my long trip to Missouri and has continued to work great on shorter trips in my local area. While this particular model may not have as many options as other, more expensive models, it worked just great for me and I would be happy to recommend it to other people.

As I noted above, I purchased my Garmin Nuvi 255 from eBay. I chose a vendor with free shipping and paid right around $90 for it. The average price now is around $84 online.