Customer Reviews

Garmin nüvi 295W 3.5-Inch Widescreen Wi-Fi Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(91)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

Update: September 17, 2010
After a few months of regular use, I still like this unit fine. My biggest problem with it is that the battery drains so fast when it's turned off. Even if I disable wi-fi and gps, it drains a full charge after one or two days of no use. The battery also takes a long time to charge compared to a phone, camera, or mp3 player.

Update: August 4, 2010
Just returned from a 1,400 mile trip thru KY, TN, NC, & SC. This GPS worked pretty good most of the time, but it can loose it's postition on the map as well as graphic details if you use the zoom, rotate, or other features while in the course of navigating. On some occassions, I'd wait for a few minutes and eventually it would correct itself. Other times I waited, but I had to power cycle the unit to get it back on course. Also, at gas stops and rest stops, it recalculated the route correctly most of the time. Sometimes I'd get off for gas and the GPS would recalculate my route in the opposite direction of the interstate that I just left! The GPS signal was always strong and satelites were always found within 30 seconds.
Regarding the Wi-Fi, it was compatible with the free Wi-Fi at the inn's where I stayed, but if it was a place where you have to pay for Wi-Fi service, this device was not compatible. This was also the case in Las Vegas.

Update: July 12, 2010
Just returned from Las Vegas. This GPS could not even pick up a satelite at all while walking the strip. Not even on the raised pedestrian bridges where I had a huge view of the sky. However, it got a great signal at The Grand Canyon (of course).

Update: July 2,2010
I dock it another star for the false advertising and poor support.
I purchased the add-on 10 dollar cityXplorer map of Las Vegas from Garmin's website. After I downloaded it, I couldn't find any evidence that it was installed. I emailed tech support to find out how I could confirm that it was installed and working. After three days of back and forth email help from their support I was convinced that I was gonna have to call. I called support, waited one hour to talk to a guy who walked me through the same process that I'd already done. He said, I'll see bus routes on my GPS when I get to Vegas. That's the upgrade?
They don't have this unit on hand to work with, and they are using support directions for other units which don't have the same menu's as the 295W. A few hours after talking to the tech, I got an email from Garmin saying that the cityXplorer maps enhanced pedestrian mode is not compatible with this model. They issued me a refund for the Las Vegas map upgrade. This is an advertised function of the GPS that does not work.

My original review:
My 3 year old Tom Tom was swiped from the car, so I was forced to shop for a replacement. This unit caught my eye right away due to the Wi Fi. I am a cheapskate prepaid phone guy, so the idea of smart phone features without the monthly charges sounded good. The family gave me this for Fathers Day and I've had two days to play with it. Here's my impression:

This device feels good. Solid and light. Responsive buttons and touchscreen. Good resolution and contrast. Navigation is simple, and within 20 minutes I had learned the layout of apps, menus and interface as well as configured the personal stuff(home address, wi fi connection, 2 email accounts, home page, and a couple of bookmarks). Very simple. No manual needed. I connected it to the computer and registered it at Garmin's website. Serial number is behind the battery pack, so write it down first. I downloaded the device update which took nearly an hour. The one-time map update refused to install. I downloaded it, went to install and the file was corrupt. tried it again. Same result. Oh well, I'll try later. I grabbed a different vehicle icon and some geotags and downloaded the pdf users manual while at the website, and then copied two albums to the device.

Web Browser - sluggish but effective. I would use it for banking, news, stocks, etc, but I wouldn't do my christmas shopping with it! The + and - zoom buttons work as good as pinching the screen (apple). Wi Fi signal is fair, but will not reach my garage 50 ft. from the router.

MP3 Player - This is a basic MP3 player that has features like repeat, shuffle, playlist, album art, etc. The internal speaker is not made for listening to music. The headphone jack is oddly not standard 3.5mm.

Apps - Nice practical assortment. All I need in a handheld really. The tools are well designed for their specific purpose. Biggest let down is that it can't import calender and contacts. That could save a lot of time! Email app is great.

Navigation - Google Local Search is a brilliant addition to this GPS. It helped me find some lesser known establishments, and provided ratings for restaurants. Satellites are found quickly when outside, but I must be near a window to get a signal if indoors. Route calculation is fast. Voice guidance is clear and surprisingly good at pronouncing tricky street names. It recalculates a wrong turn in seconds.

Mount - The windshield mount has a quick release button that detaches the GPS from the cradle, as well as the suction cup lever that makes it easy to attach/remove from the windshield. This is much nicer than the Tom Tom set up.

Overall I am very pleased with this GPS. It will be great for my basic traveling needs. I think it will be especially nice for exploring a new city pedestrian style. I think that this device will allow me to leave my laptop at home on many trips, while avoiding expensive monthly charges of an iPhone or Droid. I give it four stars because I like it a lot, but there is room for improvement (standard headphone jack, synchronized contacts and calendars, an included case or wrist strap, maps that download correctly)

Just finished my first few hours with the 295W.

Just received the 295W today to replace the 755T that was unfortunately stolen. I was thinking about waiting for the 3790T or 3760T, but needed something before that becomes available.

** UNIT DIMENSIONS / FEEL / RESPONSE **
First impressions of the 295W are pretty good. Good fit and finish, has the right heft to it to where it does not have a "toy" feel. Fit and finish is nicer than the 755T I had. All functions process more quickly than the 755T did, and the touch screen is much more responsive. On my old unit, either the processor bogged down a bit, or the screen sensitivity was not quite there, but it did not respond like the 295W does. Scrolling with the touch screen is nice both in the menus, and in map view mode.

** ROUTING / DIRECTIONS **
The routing seemed faster than the 755T. I will miss the lane assist when I travel to larger cities like L.A. and Atlanta, but for the vast amount of time, it won't be a big deal. I did purposely take some wrong turns to check the rerouting capabilities, and found that to be very quick.

That said, it did have one hiccup already. ( i.e.- when chose Lowe's from the POI list, it showed it in two different directions, same address, 5 miles apart. There is only one Lowe's in my town, and it is not a divided highway or anything).


** UPLOADS **
I have not yet updated the map. It seems strange to have JUST released the unit, and the website suggests there is an updated map set available? I am going to see if I can figure out the version, and when the last one was released. Since I can upload over 60 days from initial use, I may wait a bit.

That said, I did upload some of the extra voices and vehicles that you can get from the Garmin site. It was quick, and seems to be just fine. ( By the way, I did have the problem upload with my prior 755T that made it a brick, and I had to send back and forth with Garmin.)

** WEB / WIRELESS **
Set up with my wireless network. Security settings were easy. The auto download weather is a neat feature, but I don't see myself carrying this around every day in and out of the house the way I probably would with GarminPhone. The Google Local Search worked well though. The pre-loaded POIs were very good I thought, but there were a couple places I figured it wouldn't know, and it didn't. Connected through the web though, it found them in 5 seconds, and then they were added to the unit saved places.


** OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSION **
After being used to the larger 755T screen, this seems a little bit small. Seems like I can't just glance as quickly at it as the prior unit, but maybe that will change with some time. The spoken directions seem a little bit clearer than the 755 was The response of the unit is very good in my opinion. Not sure how much I will really use the wireless, but I can see it handy traveling when I head to the hotel and might be looking for all the food options locally that the bas POI may not have, etc....


I am headed on a couple hundred mile drive over the next weekend and will see what other opinions arise. I know it's an initial review, but at least I don't have any buyer's remorse at this point. I may still wind up with a 7300 series after those arrive, and put this in the other vehicle, but we'll see.

**As for the packaging issues mentioned by the first poster, (who may just have wanted to be the first poster, since it certainly was not a PRODUCT review), I can say that while everything did arrive in fine shape, the stuff did just kind of seem tossed in the box. I felt it actually cheapened the Garmin brand to send it this way.

GPS Experience:
I have been a GPS user for over 10 years. I have owned Garmin's, Tom Toms, Magellan's, Mio, DASH, and others.

Packaging:
You get a brown box with all the Garmin pieces inside and most important it's recyclable.

Physical unit:
The 295t has a power button on the top, it also has a 2.5mm headphone jack/audio line-out on top. It has volume up and down button on the right side and well as a camera button on the right side. The left side has the USB as well as the windshield bracket connection. The nice thing is that you can connect the power directly to the bracket.

First Impression:
I just received my Nuvi 295t and I have to say that I excited about the concept of being able to connect to the Internet to surf or to find POI's. I believe that all future PND units will have some kind of wi-fi connection or a bluetooth connection through your phone. The PND companies are loosing market share to all the NAV phones that are on the market. The 3.5 inch screen is SMALL. If you like having a 4.3" screen or even a 5" inch screen you might not like this small screen. Remember this a similar size to most NAV phones on the market today.

Navigation:
It has spoken street names (e.g. "Turn right on Elm street in 500 ft."). The directions given were similar to other Garmin units. The directions were accurate. The unit displays the posted speed limit, and your current speed on the bottom right. It displays your arrival time on the bottom left. On the top of the screen it displays the next turn arrow with the street name. The "Jill" directional voice is low and tiny...it must be a small speaker.

Screen:
3.5" inches. Dual-orientation automatically switches between portrait and landscape view. The Scrolling menu option was a nice add-on.

Wi-fi(web surfing, weather, e-mail):
Web surfing: Connected to an available hot spot was fast a easy. The web pages display as full web pages. You have the option to enlarge or reduce the web pages with a (+) or (-) that displays on the screen. Loading web pages was average with some taking longer to load.
Weather: while connected via wi-fi you can check your local forecast from the main menu. You would have to use the browser to go to [...] to view radar, and maps.
E-mail: setting an e-mail account was fast and easy. Once you are connected via wi-fi you can check your email from the main menu. The email icon shows how many un-opened emails that you have in your inbox. I was able to setup 2 e-mail accounts. The screen qwerty keyboard is not the greatest but you can still input the URL's and other info.

Wi-fi (Google searches):
Once you are connected via wi-fi and you have the option to use Google Search to find POI's that were not listed in the 6 million POI database. The searches were fast and easy. Once they are found the unit can route you to your destination. You can also use 1-step navigation from contacts, e-mail, and local search results.

The Garmin Nuvi 295W is a mid-range navigator with built-in wireless. It features the well-known and reliable Garmin navigation with the added benefit of a slightly updated UI. The icons for navigation within the UI are easier to see and access and are accessed through a touch screen scroll screen on the main screen.

Fit/finish
The unit feels very sturdy in the hand. It's solid feel makes it feel like a useful instrument instead of a toy that many other units feel like. The touch screen has a slightly matted appearance that resists smudges and scratches and glare. When in the cradle there is a on/off/sleep button on the side and the volume buttons are on the top.

Navigation
Navigation is typical of Garmin GPS units. The default setting is driving mode, in which you can choose different route settings such as faster, more direct, avoiding tools, etc. If you know where you are going it may send you a way that you question, but it will defiantly get you there. If you are going someplace you've never been, you can be rest assured that it will get you there. If you need to deviate from the route it suggests the units improved OS offers lightening fast recalculations. Often times the recalculation will take under 5 seconds.
You can enter waypoints or places to go either from the built-in Google search (for places of interest), restaurants, gas stations, police, hospitals, and other places along your route. You can also enter an address and save that as a favorite and give it a name of your choosing.
You can also choose a pedestrian mode. You go to pedestrian mode when you remove the unit from the cradle.

This is useful for geocaching. It also works well with the myGarmin portion of their website where you can download additions, including up to five geocaches in your area at a time.
In either mode you can also enter GPS coordinates. If in pedestrian mode it will show you how to walk to that coordinate. If it is farther away it will switch to driving mode, drive you to a point near the GPS coordinates and then allow you to walk.

Wifi
The unit has built in WiFi. Setup is quick and easy, though the range is somewhat less than that of say what a laptop computer would be able to pick up, but the signal is strong and reliable. The browser is typical of small units like this and can be improved upon. The e-mail application is great and adding a gmail account is quick and painless because the unit already knows the server settings. Just enter your address and password and you are checking your e-mail.
The built-in Google Search also looks for places of interest near you or your route and you can add that to your favorites or waypoints and be off.

Extras
With all Garmins you can go to myGarmin from their website. You can download customizable maps, geocaches, voices, and new vehicles. Connecting is a snap (hint, choose USB Drive Mode) via the included USB cable which also acts as a charger. You can download map updates, software updates, and lots of fun tools.

Final Verdit
As someone who has only used an older GPS unit, I was impressed the this units functionality, build quality, and interface. As with any GPS there are some limitations. These are overshadowed, however, by the extras on this unit and its lightning fast response, interface, and navigation.

A fun tool for any driver, or any geocacher.

Overview:
The GPS is really good. It connects fast, redirects nimbly, and is Garmin, so it is reliable. The battery life seems really good, and the other apps are also very nice to have. It plays music, checks your email, and has a calendar. Basically, it is akin to a smart phone without the phone aspect (and without data charges!). If this sounds like something that you might be intrigued by, I suggest you check one of these out. I very much enjoy mine.

Detailed Review:
I have really enjoyed having this little guy around. My previous experience with GPS was a laptop purchased from Dell with a GPS card and CoPilot 11 software. As such, my expectations were pretty low. That system takes five minutes outside of any enclosure to find a signal, and loses it if you sit in your car (it's perfect if you want to carry around your laptop on foot, open, and get directions to a coffeeshop that you could REMEMBER the way to).

As a comparison, this Garmin Nuvi is awesomely excellent. This thing usually finds satellites in less than a minute, it has good playback quality for sounds (I can hear it over my car radio), the screen is big enough to be functional, but no so large that it is distracting, and it redirects in less than a minute as well. The GPS system is fantastic.

I have had some difficulties in getting it to check my email using the WiFi capabilities, but I think that is user error, so don't be too worried. The receiver for WiFi seems a bit less powerful than what is in my non-GPS laptop, but that reciever is pretty good, so I expect that this will work well in any urban areas. You should be able to (if you set it up right), get your email at the Starbucks while waiting for your Latte Mocha Frappacino Blast (or whatever).

The fact that it can display Microsoft documents and PDFs natively is particularly nice, along with the calendar functions, as well. I think that if you want to avoid the data charges of a smart phone, this is probably the best thing that you could buy for yourself.

The battery life is pretty good. I ran mine for at least eight hours without a recharge, which is nice if you have a long drive ahead of you. The dash mounter and the car adapter are nice touches for those extended trips, although an included AC adapter would have been a useful as well. In the box, you can charge via vehicle or PC.

I am not sure if the transmissions are encrypted from this device's web browser or not, so I would have a little precaution about what passwords you enter into it. Nevertheless, it is darned useful.

Conclusions:
If you are an early adopter, or a tech junkie, this may be the upgrade or update you are looking for. If you are a technopeasant, like me, this is a nice, intuitive device that can get you where you are going with a minimum of trouble, and a good battery life. Someone who understands technology can set up the Internet and email for you on here and then you can just have fun.

Harkius

I'm still bitter that I bought this unit after receiving an email from Amazon saying how great it is and that they are the exclusive dealer of it... then they send me another email 2 weeks later saying that they reduced the price by $80 and don't you feel like a fool for responding to our first email? Ha Ha. (in Amazon's defense, they did say that I could contact Garmin to unregister all of the maps I purchased, package up the device and mail it back, wait for the refund to show up on my credit card, then hope the price hasn't doubled and buy it again... I wonder if they would ship the exact same unit back to me?).

The thing about a device that appears to do just about everything is that it really doesn't do any of them very well. My advice is to buy a Netbook, Ipad or similar device for Internet and e-Mail and buy a GPS for navigation. The screen is way too small and the pages load too slowly to be anything but frustrating. The battery only lasts for about 3 hours at the most so you won't want to waste any of that time listening to MP3s if you're concerned about getting lost. The camera seems to work ok if you're outside in bright daylight but not so good indoors. A small, inexpensive digital camera with a built-in flash and a good lens will serve you better while traveling.

You should know that, if you want to pre-load several CityMaps before you go on vacation, you'll need to bring them on separate microSD cards (1 per map). All the maps use the same filename and if you try to load a second one it will over-write the first.

The GPS function of this device has performed well so far and I'm looking forward to taking it on vacation soon. I just won't be able to leave all the other devices at home that I thought this unit would replace.

I like Garmin so much that I have one for each of our 3 cars, old Garmin and 2 other nuvi models. Original Garmin is a big clunky thing that cost way too much and has to be loaded with maps that cover only a minimal area. Big old Garmin does not come with lots of memory. So seeing this on Amazon at a good price with lots of add ons, who could resist replacing it. Newest Nuvi was easy to set up and we were off on a maiden voyage 11 miles away. It took forever to locate where we were, even slower than big clunky old Garmin and certainly slower than my other NUVI's. Playing with it, I could also see that unlike my other Nuvi's, I did not seem to be able to easily search for restaurants and gas stations in other distant cities. When traveling long distances. I like to plan our stops along our route.

Furthermore as we approached our destination I was given one warning about .3 miles away but unlike my other NUVI's there was no visual countdown from that point on... .2 miles, .1 miles, 500 ft etc. Since our destination had no signs nor was there an street number, we sailed past it. Suddenly, Nuvi went from 35mph to a walking speed even though the car was still going down the road. My other Garmins would scold me and tell me to turn around. Old Garmin scolded so harshly, I thought it was my mother! Not this one. It assumed I arrived at my destination and then promptly forgot about me.

The WIFI and the searches that use WIFI are pretty useless unless you are in a WIFI hotspot. All in all, it is not a bargain if it doesn't easily route you using a reasonable path. And if I am in a car, I want it to stay in a car mode. Old clunky Garmin is still fine and if I plan a cross country trip then I will simply go to one of my other NUVI's that have less add ons but do exactly what I want it to do. It sounded better on paper, kind of like my ex husband!

WARNING! I am not technologically advanced and I am not normally a GPS user. There are already some fantastic reviews from people that know what they are talking about on this product, so if you are an advanced user, check those out first.

I have never used GPS - I live in a city that is built on a grid system and I have lived here for 30 years, so I have never really had a need. When I travel I use the Google Maps on my Blackberry Pearl and now my iPhone. GPS has long seemed like one of those lazy gadgets that are nice to have but totally not essential.

Boy was I wrong.

I took my new Garmin 295W out for a spin the day I got it and I was instantly hooked. The touch screen is crisp and super responsive. The directions have been accurate every single time. The Garmin fit nicely in its holder and was easy to use while driving with both touch and voice. The screen was a little dim but as long as the sun wasn't shining into my car, it was fine. I found the voice a little hard to hear until I plugged the unit into my car stereo system and the screen was a little small to see well while driving, which leads me to feel that this unit would be better used as a hand held, so I tried that out.

Walking around my town I found the camera to be a great addition and finding restaurants and things to do a breeze! It is a feature I would have never thought to use but I found it absolutely indispensable. I would probably never use any of the other features unless I forgot my phone at home(like email or the web browser), but the 295W is well worth the price just for the GPS and the Points of Interest. I did find the Points of Interest to be a little out of date, though. When I was done, I used the Garmin Locate to get me back to my car and I loved it! No more wandering around looking for my car when I forget where I parked.

Where this unit really came in handy was when riding my motorcycle. I put in my destination, looped the earpiece into my helmet and I was off. Using the spoken directions I easily and quickly found my way. The unit is so small and portable that I really can't ever imagine being without it, but it will certainly be essential on motorcycle trips - no more stopping the bike, taking off my gloves, opening my pack, taking out a map or my phone and then doing it all in reverse to get going again.

I didn't mind the packaging on this product - I like that there was so little to throw away and the unit felt very secure and safe. I don't need a package to make me feel like I got my money's worth out of a product, so I would personally prefer more of this type of packaging.

All told, I love my Garmin 295W. I don't know how I ever lived without it.

The Garmin nuvi 295W is a nuvifone but without the phone so the same accessories work with it. It has GPS, maps and navigation, lots of information about urban points of interest from ATMs to parking garages, plus wi-fi for web-browsing and email as well as music and widgets. I use it primarily while walking around in Manhattan and it certainly seems to be intended to be used as a handheld device rather than for driving.

This gadget is fun to handle and explore, with a nice physical form, a responsive touch screen, and useful software but it does have problems with the small, dim display, weak speaker, the 2.5mm jack, short battery life, intermittent satellite communication, and customer support with long hold times and no familiarity with the device.

It is still very likable and useful.
**** = I like it
__________________________________________________________________

WARNING! Excessive detail below.

First the good:

It has an attractive design with a nice rubbery easy-grip case. It is very solid and feels right in the hands. The matte touch screen and related software is very responsive to scrolling and tapping, very crisp. It works with fingers, a stylus, or even the cap of a pen.

There is no need to read the instructions as the interface and program software are so intuitive. A hard-copy quick start manual is provided but the full manual is available on the Garmin website to download. There is also help available on the device itself. The most difficult task is setting up email. Calibrating the compass is actually fun.

The maps are accurate and the library of various services and landmarks seems comprehensive although not completely up-to-date: it lists a hospital and a couple of restaurants that have closed recently. It also goes strictly by distance when suggesting nearby points of interest and does not take into account that they may be across a river with a very long travel distance involving bridges or tunnels. Granted, other mapping services also use the "as the crow flies" method but it is still frustrating for someone not familiar with an area. The GPS certainly is accurate in pinpointing current location and even recognizes some walking paths in parks. Route suggestions are useful.

The 3 megapixel camera works well enough, just point, press the button, let it focus, snap the picture. There is no flash but it can geotag. Photos can be emailed or dragged to a computer when the device is attached by USB.

It is very easy to load music (or audiobooks) onto the hard drive and then listen. I created a folder on my computer and filled it with mp3s and then simply dragged it over.

The hard drive shows up as 3.19 GB with 1.66 GB free so there is plenty of room for photos and music and additional map information. It will also accept a MicroSD card for additional storage.

The calendar, clock and alarm functions, weather, calculator, currency convertor, and notepad, all are handy little widgets.

Now for the not-so-good:

It takes about a minute to boot up but there is a progress bar.

The display is not bright enough even at 100% to read it easily outdoors even when the sky is completely overcast. It also smears easily. The display is too small to see comfortably if it is mounted on a dashboard and web browsing is sometimes tedious despite the easy-to-use magnification and re-centering functions.

The internal speaker is not loud enough to listen to music holding the nuvi away from the ear, indoors, at full volume. I cannot understand travel directions when walking around town unless the speaker is against my ear, due to normal ambient noise. So headphones are necessary, but the jack is 2.5 mm (cellphone standard) instead of 3.5 mm (as on iPods). I just can't imagine what Garmin was thinking when they decided to carry over that 2.5 mm jack from the nuvifone--perhaps VOIP calls?

So definitely, between the small display and the need for headphones, this is best as a handheld device.

The display sometimes refuses to reorient horizontally to vertically or vice versa.

The wi-fi control is buried down in the menus but I discovered that it is possible to go straight back out to the top menu by holding down the back button icon. However, there should be a primary icon for wi-fi just as there is for the browser.

It would be nice if it could import a contact list and bookmarks. Who has time to enter all of their contacts on a mini keyboard?

The nuvi was unable to establish a primary satellite connection until it was in a completely open space well away from any buildings or trees. After the primary satellite connection is made, subsequent connections are much easier but the device often warns that the link is weak and then completely loses the connection. (The 295W still thinks it is on the corner two blocks away from my apartment! ) The satellite connection was also unavailable in a cab so it will need an external antenna in at least some vehicles.

Battery life is four hours in theory but less than two hours for me while in active use, even after calibrating the battery by fully discharging and recharging it and keeping the display at 75% brightness. The customer service rep said keeping wi-fi off would lengthen the usable time. The nuvi 295W comes with a vehicle charger and a USB charger but no wall charger.

Customer support:

Customer support is a big problem. As of May 2010, there is no written customer support information specific to this device on the Garmin website other than manuals. So I called late on a Thursday afternoon and was 25 minutes on hold before a rep picked up and, when I asked, was told that the wait was a little shorter than usual.

After explaining the problem, I was put back on hold for just a few minutes, then the rep tried to help with updating the software but after installing and using the updater, it turned out that there were none available. Then it was back on hold for a few minutes waiting for a specialist. It was suggested that I try resetting the device to the factory defaults (erasing all my data) or that perhaps I just got a dud with malfunctioning hardware and should return it.

Incredibly, neither of the reps I spoke with had been trained to support this device nor had they even actually seen one. I am surprised that a company would release a product without training the customer support people for it or at least letting them handle one. (The nuvifone support is handled by a different division.)

Total time on the phone: 77 minutes.

To be clear, both reps were very friendly and polite and made every effort to be helpful and were generally knowledgeable about their products, just not about this particular device.

Eventually, I was able to figure out the issue and of course it was my own error and not a problem with the nuvi 295W.

The Garmin Nüvi has an impressive array of features, and I wanted to try a variety of them out before posting a review. For clarity's sake, I'll break this review down into categories that address the specific functions I tested.

First off, navigation: The screen is nice and clear and it's very easy to follow the directions. I really like how the screen will show posted speed limits. I'm sometimes confused even on my local roads because speed limits will change and posted signs are rare, making it difficult to remember what the speed limit is on that particular segment of the road.

The database isn't entirely complete. I've had several problems finding some points of interest that have been in my area for years. The Google Local Search can fill this gap, but that will only work if you're in an area with WiFi. Needless to say, when you're on the road and this isn't available, Google Local Search isn't going to do you much good. My suggestion is to find your destinations ahead of time as you can then either make them a favorite or pull them up in the previous searches.

I've used the unit both when traveling in areas with which I'm familiar and with which I'm unfamiliar. Naturally, I found that when I'm driving in an area I know well, I often know better routes than what the Nüvi recommends. Sometimes I'll take the suggested route just to see how it pans out and there have been times when it was really inefficient. Now, of course no one really needs a GPS device to get around places they already know, but I wanted to evaluate the product this way because it gives an overall sense of how good the routing is. I don't have any major quibbles with it, but it is worth noting that it doesn't always take you on the quickest route. However, it is great for providing you with some back roads directions, and it took me down side streets I wouldn't have otherwise known how to navigate.

We took the Garmin with us on a trip and found it to be completely invaluable. While running dangerously low on gas one day, we used it to help us locate the nearest gas station. We also used it to help us get to every one of our destinations, some of which were so off the beaten path we would surely have had a lot of trouble finding them without the aid of a GPS device.

I was formerly a big user of Google maps and, while that does work well, I've never been comfortable with having to try to juggle with a printout, trying to read in snatches at red lights or with quick glances while on a freeway. I love that the Nüvi eliminates this. It's so much easier to just glance at the screen and see what my next turn is.

E-mail: The e-mail feature is really handy for someone like me, who doesn't currently own an Internet-ready phone. Though I don't necessarily feel the need to be constantly connected, it is nice to know I can give my e-mail a quick check in case I'm waiting for anything important. However, because the touchpad keyboard can be really difficult to use (and this is true of when you're typing in the name of a destination you want to search for), I don't think the e-mail functionality is one I'm all that likely to use very often. It can be extremely frustrating to have to go back and try the same letter three times because you have to move your finger a fraction of an inch to get the unit to process the correct keystroke.

Camera: I like the camera on this device a great deal more than the camera on my cell phone, particularly because it works so nicely when taking a landscape-oriented photo. The image quality is pretty good. I think taking photos will require some practice as the camera sometimes immediately took the picture upon pressing the button but, at other times, required me to push the button several times before the picture was finally captured. I also like how the device allows for some slight editing of the photos when using them as wallpaper. It allows the user to change the photo's orientation and zoom in or out. When you edit a photo, it takes you through both the portrait and landscape versions of the photo.

Web Browser: The browser function is handy in a pinch, but not something for which you'd throw your computer over. Because the screen is so small (it is a GPS device, after all), it can be frustrating to try to tap the exact position on the screen that will open the link you're trying to open. Naturally, you also have to be somewhere with WiFi in order to be able to use this function, and I imagine that if you're in a WiFi hotspot with the intent of surfing the web, you're more likely to want to bring a more web-friendly device with you. Basically, the web browser is kind of nifty but not at all necessary.

Battery Life: I had thought that this device might be fun to use for some geocaching, but experience has shown me that it probably wouldn't prove all that reliable for this purpose. This is because the battery life is extremely short. I was amazed that simply running errands around town for an hour or two could pretty much drain the battery dead. You can eliminate this problem by using the dash mount and keeping the charger plugged in, but that's obviously not an option if you're using the device while walking or riding a bike. This was my one serious disappointment with the unit. It should also be noted that, once drained, it does take some time for the battery to be recharged, which I also found rather annoying.

On the whole, I've found that my Garmin has become one pretty indispensable piece of modern technology. It's not only convenient, it provides me with some peace of mind as I now know that, no matter where I go, I won't run the risk of being lost and I won't have the stress of having to pull over, take out a map, and trying to figure out where I am and how to get back to where I want to be. That alone makes the device pretty precious to me.