Garmin nüvi 205 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

by Garmin

Product Features

• 3.5-inch Touch Screen Navigation with Turn by Turn spoken Directions
• Pre-loaded Maps for continental U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico with 6.5 million searchable points of interest
• FM Traffic or MSN Direct Traffic/Content compatible (with optional GDB 55 receiver)
• Easy to Use Interface; slim, pocket-sized form factor; 4-hour rechargeable battery
• 3D terrain views, navigate to photo, and automatic time zone adjustment

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Product Description

Color: Standard

Amazon.com

Portable and affordable, nüvi 205 is your personal travel assistant for life on the go. This navigator leads the way with turn-by-turn directions and optional MSN® Direct services to get you there on time and keep you informed. It's packed with millions of destinations and maps for the contiguous U.S. or regional sections of Europe. Like the rest of the compact nüvi 2x5-series, the 205 is priced right and ultra-easy to use.

Navigate With Ease
nüvi 205 comes preloaded with City Navigator® NT map data for the contiguous U.S. or one European region or country (click versions tab to view all). Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions, 2-D or 3-D maps and smooth map redraw rates as you navigate. Its digital elevation maps show you shaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. In addition, nüvi 205 accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. With HotFix® satellite prediction, nüvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.

Take It With You
Like the rest of the nüvi 2x5-series, nüvi 205 sports a sleek, slim design and fits comfortably in your pocket or purse. Its rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot. With its "Where Am I?" emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations.

Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 205 includes many travel tools, including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect™ Photos and navigate to them. The 205 is compatible with optional enhanced MSN® Direct content (subscription and receiver required) and our free Garmin Garage™ where you can download animated vehicles that show your location on the map. It also comes with Garmin Lock™, an anti-theft feature. Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in microSD™ cards such as Garmin Travel Guides for detailed data on attractions.

What's in the Box
nüvi 205, preloaded City Navigator® NT data for the lower 48 states, Hawaii and Puerto Rico (no Alaska or Canada detail), vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, and quick start manual.

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All nüvis come with detailed NAVTEQ maps containing more than 6 million pre-loaded point of interest locations.

Product Description

Portable and powerful, The Garmin?? n??vi?? 205 is your personal travel assistant for life on the go. This navigator leads the way with turn-by-turn directions and optional MSN?? Direct services to get you there on time and keep you informed. It's packed with millions of destinations and maps for the contiguous U.S., Canada, or regional sections of Europe.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

318 of 326 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A GPS for all that is required from a GPS.. July 22, 2008

By Mika

Color Name:Standard

Ok..now I feel morally obliged to offer my review after reading so many other reviews to base my buying decision. The inner voice kept asking me to post a review even though it is boring like mowing somebody elses lawn.

I have used nuvi 205 couple of times and find it really well designed. Garmin has tweaked the screen-interface and I must say that it really works in favour of the users.
Users care less about mp3 and other cosmetic stuff provided in nuvi 350. All we care about is a smart GPS that guides us through the best route. 205 has all those ingredients!!

Nuvi 205 does not have spoken street names but it does have voice guidance that says something like " turn right in next 1 mile". Users who typically find guidance through one of those green-freeway-signs are smart enough to figure the street name. Moreover, the street name is right on top of the screen. In my view, it is a waste of $$ to pay 100 bucks more for just yelling street names when it is right in front of you. Satellite acquisition and Route recalculation also seemed to have improved a bit. I have not used the traffic support and POI to offer any good comments. One little feature I find cool is the speed limit mentioned on the screen. This way user doesnt have to be on lookout for signs showing the limit. Of course, this is of little use to people who drive in left lane @ >70...

And for those of you who think that GPS should offer more..205 does have photo navigation, customized car-shaped icons, world travel clock, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator.....I wouldnt really give big grades for having them..

Hope that this review helps users..to navigate to the best GPS!!

147 of 149 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all changes are improvements January 4, 2009

By Spinolio

Color Name:Standard|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've had the Nuvi 205 for about six weeks and use it several times a week. I also have a Nuvi 200 that I've owned for a little more than a year. I opted to buy the new 205 instead of upgrading the maps in the 200 because the 205 was available for only $118. Since I have both units, this will be something of a comparison review.

For the most part I like the Garmin interface, and they've made a few improvements in the 205. The speed limit information is very handy, and it's nice that the zoom in/out "buttons" are now placed next to each other. I love having a constant display of the street I am currently on. It also finds satellites faster than does the Nuvi 200. The suction cup mount is much improved, with the rubber cup itself being softer and tackier. The mount for my 200 would often lose suction and fall off the windshield.

The Garmin literature touts the 205's new faster processor as being able to redraw the map more smoothly. This appears to be true, but this also appears to be a case of technology for technology's sake, and it has actually made the unit more difficult to use. This applies primarily to situations where a destination has been entered. Anytime the car approaches a turn along the calculated route, the display begins to zoom in, presumably in order to show more detail. Unfortunately the zooming is done in such a way that the upcoming turn remains at a fixed distance out ahead of the current position (on the screen). It almost appears as though the car has stopped moving, especially when there are few details on the map to provide a visual cue that the display is zooming. Once the zooming in stops, the map rapidly rushes by. When I first used the 205 I missed several turns because I thought I wasn't very close to the intersection and then suddenly the intersection was behind me. Even now that I've grown accustomed to it, I still find myself double checking the map with the distance-until-turn reading. I never had to do this with the Nuvi 200.

Other nit-picks
===============
* The Nuvi 205 gets lost more often when I'm downtown. The buildings seem to confuse it whereas the 200 has no problem.

* The rerouting is sometimes baffling after I've missed a turn. It once sent me two miles along a couple of roads to turn around in a cul-de-sac and then retrace my route. I don't know if this is the case with the 200 because I didn't miss turns with it.

* The LCD display is not as good as the Nuvi 200's, with lower contrast and viewing angles.

* Battery life is not quite as good as the Nuvi 200's, presumably because it now has a faster processor.

* It does not display the compass heading when following a calculated route. It displays the current speed instead. Every car has a speedometer, but not that many have compasses. I really don't need validation of my speed, but I would like to know my current direction.

* Searching the POI database is often so slow that it's unusable. This is not new to the 205. As an example, yesterday I had some extra time after running an errand and wanted to find a Toyota dealer to look at a new car. There are quite a few Toyota dealers in KC, but I didn't know what dealers were in the immediate area, so I just entered 'Toyota'. After five minutes it had returned no results. If you know the exact name (Superior Toyota, for example), the search speed is reasonable, but that limits the usefulness.

My feedback to Garmin:
======================
* When displaying turns on calculated routes, just zoom in once or twice when approaching a turn rather than in a longer continuous zoom that sometimes makes it appear that the vehicle is not getting closer to the upcoming turn.

* Use a better LCD screen.

* Improve the POI searching or make more categories.

* When displaying a calculated route, make the bottom left button/readout user configurable. It currently displays the speed, and when you touch that area of the screen it displays all sorts of navigation info (including the compass heading). The user should be able to touch any item on that screen and have that be the new value displayed in the lower left corner of the main screen.

* Draw major roads with thinner lines. Sometimes the highways are drawn with such thick lines that useful details are obscured.

100 of 100 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Garmin Nuvi 205 - Great Basic GPS With Updated Features September 2, 2008

By Mark #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Color Name:Standard

The Garmin nüvi 205 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator is one of several updated models in the 200 series. It's funny to admit this, but using some of the higher end versions has actually made me like this model more. Sure, this doesn't have the 4.3 inch widescreen of the 600 series, or the W models like the Garmin nuvi 205W and Garmin Nuvi 255W. And it doesn't give you Bluetooth like the 600 series and others. But what it does give you is a GPS unit that covers the basics very well, is very affordable, and has been updated with a LOT more features than entry level models from the competition. So if you need a starter GPS, this is probably the daddy of them all right now.

Pros:
+ Great performing unit for a starter GPS unit
+ Comes with all the things you need, GPS, window mount and car power adapter
+ Updated Garmin features including HotFix to speed up satellite acquisition
+ Included compatibility with MSND traffic service (though not great in all areas)
+ Improved pedestrian mode
+ Improved interface with slick look and feel
+ Cool extras like photo navigation and cool web features
+ Nice pricing

Cons:
- Still some software issues to be worked out with updates
- 3D view still needs some work
- Not the least expensive starter unit on the market
- Garmin still overcharges for map updates
- Traffic services not great in all areas

Pros

The updated interface is very nice, though many of the changes are subtle in terms of functionality. The look and feel are definitely slicker, but there are also extra directional markers. In order to really access all the extra info, you have to change your settings to display "most detail." Either way, those who've used the 200 will definitely notice the improvements.

The main complaint that all GPS units have to overcome is the dreaded delay in finding satellites. All models and all brands have this issue to one degree or another. Now with the Hotfix, the 205 and other updated models do find satellites a little faster than before. You will still have issues locating satellites indoors, but under standard use outdoors you will see it find satellites faster.

The other feature that is aided by the update is pedestrian mode. This feature is not used too often. In fact, it's somewhat hard to find in the menu settings. But the problem that was often encountered with the older generation of products was that in cities like NY with tall skyscrapers, it was very hard to find and hold a signal long enough to use pedestrian mode. Now, it can still take a while but is noticeably faster and more reliable.

Some of the newer Garmin features like photo navigation and send custom location info to your GPS unit are really slick. You can go to the Garmin website to access these things and more. Still, those are all true extras. You don't need those things to enjoy the main function of this guy, which is to give you directions via GPS navigation.

You will also need to consider accessories such as the Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for Nüvi Series. The included window mounting suction cup may not be enough for your needs.

Cons

There are some things you should know about the MSN Traffic Service. For some people, this is going to be a great service. For others, not so much. Garmin should be given extra points for integrating the functionality. This service has been offered with other models for a while I'm very familiar with it. The shortcomings are not totally the fault of Garmin. The bottom line is that the MSN traffic data may be stale depending on where you live. You need current data to reroute around rush hour jams or accidents. It's not ready for prime-time everywhere yet. And when the service improves, believe me I plan to use it full time.

The 3D terrain maps are the result of people clamoring for altitude data. Well, the data is now there, though it seems somewhat limited. These 3D maps are not very useful and it is difficult to display the information without zooming out to distances that are not ideal.

Certainly, Garmin isn't the low cost provider when it comes starter units, updated maps and POIs. But those cons are all minor. Overall, this is a nice improvement and a great starter unit.

Conclusion

If you are looking for an upgrade for your Garmin nüvi 200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator, you are probably going to want to step up to the Garmin nüvi 660 4.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator or better. If you need a starter unit for yourself or as a gift, the 205 definitely needs to be on your list of models to consider.

Enjoy.