Garmin nüvi 1250 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

by Garmin

Product Details

User's Guide [581kb PDF]

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User's Guide [1.41mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 3.7 x 0.6 x 2.9 inches ; 4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001U0O7QC
• Item model number: 010-00783-20
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (130 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,687 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Edition: 1250 - North American Maps

Amazon.com Product Description

nüvi 1250 redefines portable, affordable navigation. This thin GPS has preloaded maps for North America or Europe, announces streets by name, offers pedestrian navigation options and calculates a more fuel-efficient route with ecoRoute™.

Just over a half-inch thick.

Garmin greets you with two simple questions: "Where to?" and "View Map." This screen is central to every navigation function and route-planning tool. Simply plug and play.

The device announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road.

An ultra-thin GPS navigator with great Garmin features like CityXplorer and ecoRoute.

Navigate City Transit
With its enhanced pedestrian navigation capabilities, nüvi 1250 is the perfect travel companion for getting around town. Download optional cityXplorer™ content to help you navigate city public transit. Know where to walk, where to catch the bus, subway, tram or other transportation and how long it will take to get there. It easily fits in your pocket or purse. cityXplorer maps are available for select cities throughout North America and Europe. And with prices as low as $9.99, you'll have money left over to spend in the big city.

Get Turn-by-Turn Directions
nüvi 1250's intuitive interface greets you with two simple questions: "Where To?" and "View Map." Touch the color screen to easily look up addresses and services and get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination. It comes preloaded with detailed City Navigator® NT street maps, nearly 6 million points of interest (POIs), 2-D or 3-D mapsand the speed limit for most major roads in the U.S. and Europe. Its digital elevation maps show youshaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. With the 1250's enhanced user interface, you can slide your finger to conveniently scroll between screens. You also can upload custom points of interest (POIs). And with HotFix® satellite prediction, nüvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.

Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 1250 saves you gas and money with ecoRoute — a green feature that calculates the most fuel-efficient route, tracks fuel usage and more. The 1250 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. It's also compatible with lifetime traffic alerts (receiver purchase required). 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. The 1250 features Garmin Lock™, an anti-theft feature, and is compatible with our free Garmin Garage™ where you can download custom voices and vehicles. Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in microSD™ cards.

What's in the Box
nüvi 1250, Preloaded City Navigator® NT North America (U.S. and Canada), Vehicle suction cup mount, Vehicle power cable, Dashboard disc, Quick start manual

Compare all Garmin nüvis
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Visit Garmin.com at https://www8.garmin.com/support/download.jsp to get the latest firmware updates for your nüvi to keep it current and performing at its best.

Product Description

nüvi 1250 redefines portable, affordable navigation. This thin GPS has preloaded maps for North America or Europe, announces streets by name, offers pedestrian navigation options and calculates a more fuel-efficient route with ecoRoute.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Upgrade from Old TomTom One 3rd Edition, June 27, 2009

By 

B. Franklin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 1200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)

Pros: Small size, good text-to-speech, SD mapcard, ease-of-use, bright display, great suction cup mount, great satellite performance, decent maps (so far), clear and loud speaker

Cons: No prepare route, limited alternative route options, no USB-to-miniUSB cable for computer hookup

I bought this GPS for a planned trip to France, the smaller size (fits better in my pocket) and text-to-speech feature, along with SD mapcard capability were my reasons. I have had the Nuvi 1200 for 3 days and the adjustment from Tomtom think to Nuvi think has been relatively painless.
The suction cup mount (with its lever application) is a definite upgrade from the Tomtom. Also the auto detection for day/night mode is nice. Satellite performance seems even better than the Tomtom, and Tomtom has great reception. The map screen is bright and uncluttered, my wife says it is noticeably sharper. So far the maps seem to be comprehensive, won't really know until I use the Nuvi more.
The only things I miss (and/or could not find) was the ability to plan a trip when you were not at that location (Tomtom has a "Prepare Route" option that allows you to specify the departure point)and the ability to easily avoid a road when you start out (Tomtom has a "Find Alternative" option which allow 6 options such as "Avoid Roadblock", "Travel Via", "Calculate Alternative", etc.). Nuvi does have a "Detour" option that shows its alternatives to a selected route but they can only be selected, not tweeked by the user.
While it is not a big deal is seems like for the current price ($200) that the Nuvi could include a USB-to-miniUSB cable. After all this is not a $69 no-name GPS. And it is clear that Garmin/Nuvi expects you to hook up to a computer, there is software on the Nuvi so you can register your Nuvi at their website, also this is how you get your one free map update.
My wife and I were also both puzzled by one small Nuvi human factor mistake. We were trying to enter a numerical address (i.e 20th St) and after entering "20th" the Nuvi presented a two item list:

20th (Ave NE, Ave NW, Ave SE, Ave SW
20th Ave Ln NW

We were stumped for a while, where is 20th Street!! It turns out that you need to select "20th (Ave NE, Ave NW, Ave SE, Ave SW". After you do, you will be presented with all the "20th" options, including 20th Street.
Note that specifying "20th St" resulted on a "No matches found": error message!

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another solid nuvi GPS but in many ways nothing new, July 2, 2009

By 

JerryWithaJ (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 1260/1260T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic (Electronics)

I got my 1260T from an authorized dealer on June 19 and used it along side of my 255 with MSN traffic. Because my MSN subscription would have to be renewed and maps upgraded soon, I thought buying a new GPS wouldn't cost much more and would give me a chance to get the latest bells and whistles. However, there aren't that many new bells and whistles to be had. I recommend reading the product description carefully. Unless the 1260T has what you consider a "can't-do-without"
feature not available on the 265T, I'd recommend taking advantage of the low prices for the 265T that can now had with the arrival the 1260T. In fact, that's what I did. I returned the 1260T and purchased the 265T saving more than 1/3 of the cost of the 1260T.

** On trips of 30 minutes or more, the 1260T initially reported arrival times that were 4 to 5 minutes earlier than the 255 over the same route. The 255's estimates were more appropriate. Someone on another forum told me that this would change as the 1260T learned my driving habits. It didn't happen in the 10 days I used the unit continuously.

** The 1260T's voices sound very thin compared to 2xx units, but it makes them easier to hear over road noise.

** Even though the GPS is now a mature product, the 1260T continues Garmin's practice of not having a QWERTY keyboard in 3.5" units.

** Even though the GPS is now a mature product, the 1260T does not allow for zip code entry.

** The speed indicator turns to magenta in the afternoon and red at night when speed exceeds the posted limit. Magenta is a terrible color for text.

** To erase favorites, one now goes to Settings / My Data

** The unit IS thinner than the 2xx series, but not "Oh, wow!" thin.

** The instructions from the 1260T and 255 are nearly identical. The estimates of distances to next turn are the same. The 1260T sometimes gives voice alerts 0.1 mile before the 255, say at 0.3 mile rather than 0.2 mile, but for the most part using both units is like listening in stereo.

** Emily now refers to "slip roads" rather than "ramps".

I did not experiment with the new pedestrian features. In terms of how it works in auto mode, I find nothing compelling over the 265T.

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Upgrade From Nuvi 350, July 4, 2009

By 

R. M. Mayhew (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Garmin nüvi 1260/1260T 3.5-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic (Electronics)

My wife is the world's biggest Garmin fan. Her Nuvi 350 was stolen recently and we replaced it with the 1260T. This looked like it was the top of the line for the smaller 3.5 inch units, which is the same size as the stolen unit.

As noted by another reviewer, the keyboard is not QWERTY. We purchased an iPod Touch recently and using that keyboard is easy and familiar. The Garmin though, with a straight across A, B, C, D, E, etc. layout takes more time and makes us look like it is our first day of typing class. There must be a reason Garmin did this but we're not happy about it.

Our Nuvi 350 came with a nice case. The 1260T does not. We are in the market for a case and plan to spend $10 to $20 for one, which then increases the price of this replacement purchase.

Overall the unit is the same as the Nuvi 350 but after three years we expected more of a "WOW" factor from the upgrade.

PUBLIC SERVICE NOTICE: We don't use the suction cup windshield mount and the old Nuvi 350 was hidden in the glovebox so the thieves got randomly lucky. We'll be taking it out of the car more often now (the 1260T is a little thinner so this is easier to do). A police friend told us thieves check the windshield for the "suction cup circle" and that's an indication the car uses a GPS. Just a word to the wise.

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