Description

For peace of mind on the go, nüvi 255 leads the way with voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions that speak street names and optional MSN Direct® to get you there on time and keep you informed. It's packed with millions of destinations and maps for North America. Like the rest of the compact nüvi 2x5-series, this portable navigator is priced right and ultra-easy to use.

Navigate With Ease
nüvi 255 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator® NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. It even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road. 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 updates 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 255 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 255 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 255 includes many travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currencFor peace of mind on the go, nüvi 255 leads the way with voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions that speak street names and optional MSN Direct to get you there on time and keep you informed. It's packed with millions of destinations and maps for North America or Europe. This portable navigator is priced right and ultra-easy to use.

Navigate With Ease
nüvi 255 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (POIs) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. It even announces the name of exits and streets so you never have to take your eyes off the road. 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 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 255 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
nüvi 255 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 255 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 255 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.

nüvi 255: Simple navigation at an affordable price

Customer Reviews

 Garmin - Aug 28, 2010

I love it! We used it on vacation and never got lost. the touch screen along with the features was easy to use.

 I was very unimpressed with this gps - Aug 23, 2010

I had this gps for only a few months, used only a few times and it already broke. the screen freezes on me and takes a few days till it will go back to working use. this is not what i expected when i was looking into garmin gps because i heard they're supposed to be top of the line. oh well.

 excellent GPS at an affordable price! - Aug 22, 2010

This GPS is excellent places you exactly where you want to go, we recalculated if you make an error, it is generally very good, I recommend

 Gets you where you want to go! - Aug 22, 2010

We are the 5th in the family to get one, easy to use an accurate and very affordable.

 Great little gps - Aug 21, 2010

This 255 Nuvi replaced my 260 Nuvi mainly to get the new updated map and POI's. It is a nice little gps that can be slipped into my shirt pocket when I leave the vehicle and used when sight seeing walking, especially to find your way back to vehicle. Hint: I glued a small grey patch of Velcro (loop-the soft side) onto the vehicle dash which matches dash color and the matching Velcro patch (hook) onto the back of the gps. This makes for easy mounting and removal and keeps prying eyes from noticing you may have a gps in vehicle.

 GOOD VALUE - Aug 09, 2010

Works great. Don't know why anyone would spend more money for a more expensive. Good display, voice announces names of streets.

 Pretty Good - Aug 06, 2010

What more can I ask for under $100 bucks, the device talks to you and the user interface is pretty easy. It is also, small enough to put in my pocket and take with me so I don't have to leave it in the boiling hot car.

I even bought one for my parents as I thought that the interface was easy even for them to use (they are in there late 60s/early 70s).

 Nice gps but - Aug 05, 2010

This is a very good gps as gpses go. Unfortunately, the touchscreen stopped working after 4 months. I wrote to Garmin support and had a quick and easy fix. Good customer service but I still wish the problem had not occured

 Excellent for the Price - Aug 05, 2010

I bought this GPS device for $94, and I think it was a great deal. I wanted this GPS specifically for my motorcycle and mountain bike, and bought this with the ChargerCity handlebar mount. You can see my review on this mount also (it is excellent). I have taken this GPS on both my motorcycle (from Detroit to northern Michigan along the back roads) and on my mountain bike (through southern Ohio on bike trails and a little on the roads). The Nuvi 255 performed well in most cases, but a little quirky in others.

On the trip to northern Michigan on the motorcycle, the route was not efficient. However, I was able to put in a waypoint in order to force it to route me the way I wanted, based on my own assessment from Google Maps. It actually shaved off more than 40 minutes from the trip. Makes me wonder why it didn't calculate this route in the first place. The display was bright enough to see in the bright sunlight, and I really like that I can see the speed limit, my speed, and the distance to the next turn. That was really helpful and it guided me to my destination flawlessly.

On the trip to southern Ohio, the route that was given was the most efficient, and we found our obscure campground without issue. I used the "off-road" feature to follow our progress on the bike trail (wish these maps were downloadable, but they are not available), and points of interest were generally easy to find although sometimes you need to know the city names the business is in if you are not in that immediate area. This can get annoying if you don't know the name of the city or can't remember how to spell it.

I found the battery life to be about five hours, which is excellent. Charging time is acceptable both through the USB and the car charger. YOu do get a low battery warning when there is about 30 minutes of battery left.

Overall, you need to realize that GPS devices are only as good as their programming and algorithms. When taking a longer trip and you are not familiar with the route you are taking, it helps to view Google Maps in advance to make sure your route on the GPS is somewhat efficient. If not, you can enter waypoints to force a certain route. But the best part about this device is that you don't have to sit with a printed map on your lap and try to navigate and drive at the same time.

 best gps for the lowest price - Jul 28, 2010

very good garmin gps for such a low price,doesnt loose signal anywhere,has nice features to find the food,gas,shopping nearby and calls the street by names couldnt ask for more!

 perfect - Jul 25, 2010

Great Product. Used in multiple states. Hasn't failed yet to get me to my destination.

 Nuvi 255 - Jul 20, 2010

Have only had for about three weeks, but have been very happy so far. Had an older Garmin that had more features, but this one has what I need and has performed very accurately. The biggest drawback is when searching for points of interest using a key word. Very slow. Takes up to a minute or more at times. But all in all I feel it is well worth what they are charging.

 Buy the hard case. - Jul 16, 2010

New to Garmin (first GPS was Magellan), having a little trouble getting used to the navigation commands, the timing of which are ever so slightly different. Has trouble understanding frontage roads versus freeways sometimes. The reason for buying a Garmin was that the Magellan's screen got crushed in the suite-case during a business trip (soft-case came with the unit). Garmin had no case, but there is a $7 hard case available. If you pack your GPS in your luggage, buy the hard case. And if you don't like the voice, program your own with free software from Garmin. I see no need to pay any more for basic navigation.

 Worked great, until it DIED! - Jul 13, 2010

This GPS is fine, except don't expect it to last long. I used this GPS delicately and sparsely and 1 year and 2 months after buying it, it is broken and will not turn on. Since it's no longer under the 1-year warranty, Garmin is going to charge $79 to repair it - which has a 90 day guarantee. CLEARLY NOT WORTH IT, since retail price for a new one is barely more than that!! I'm really upset - don't buy Garmin.

 great gps - Jul 08, 2010

This was the best and easiest to use. It does take a minute to find a satellite link, but once there, smooth sailing all the way. Entering address was easy and fast. Even when I almost got lost, it set me straight right away. What a pleasure!!!!!

 Garmin nuvi 255 - Jul 06, 2010

Great GPS for the money. If you don't do a whole lot of traveling and just need something to get around on this is well worth the money. A+

 Garmin 255 - Jul 05, 2010

This is the 3rd Garmin I have purchased. Gave the first one to my granddaugher and have one for each car. I have no sense of direction and the GPS saved me many mileage but not going to wrong direction.

 Excellent Product!! - Jun 21, 2010

Very pleased with the product and the seller. Received in a much shorter timeframe than anticipated.

 Bleh... - Jun 14, 2010

I debated for several days before buying this GPS. I've always relied on maps and have a pretty good sense of direction, but thought it would come in handy on vacations, finding restaurants, etc.

One grip I have is it's constantly losing contact with and/or 'acquiring satellites"! I don't know how this thing can lose a satellite when I'm driving around in my car with no tall buildings to block its view to the south, where the sats are.

Also, I thought this unit would have a map that 'tracks' as i drive. Instead, I have to 'touch and drag' the map because it won't track as I drive.

I would assume that GPS units like this will eventually become obsolete as more people get smart phones with built-in GPS.

 Garmin Nuvi - Jun 12, 2010

the product worked right out of the box updated the maps and off we went great product easy to use many langueges to choose from, product came when they said it would great product, Thank You

 LOVE IT !!! - Jun 09, 2010

Not only is this Garmin just an awesome product, the vendor from which I purchased it through Amazon was amazing. Fast delivery. Awesome product. All smiles :)

 A little disappointing after using a Garmin Nuvi 350 - Jun 08, 2010

After a couple of years of very satisfactory performance, my Nuvi 350 started to flake out and needed to be replaced. Since all I really need is driving directions and no other special features, I decided on the 255 since it supposedly adequately met those minimal requirements. In theory it does, but in practice there have been disappointments:

(1) Whereas the 350 appears to predominately use recorded speech for its vocabulary, the 255 appears to be 100% synthesized. As a result, the voice is much less pleasant to listen to and somewhat more difficult to understand. Particularly annoying is that although "left" and "right" are usually pronounced clearly, "on right" as in "take ramp on right" always comes out sounding "on reft".

(2) The internal map quality seems worse. For an intersection near my home, the 350 knew that if I am on street A, I should "turn left on B, then turn right" (on C), while the 255 seems to want to skip B and somehow expects me to turn right on C from A.

(3) The 255 sometimes repeats itself, but too late. Coming up to an intersection, it might announce you have to turn right. After sitting at the light, you make the turn, then the 255 might repeat the turn request after the turn is already complete. The 350 never did that.

(4) On a trip today, the 255 woefully underestimated the time required for an intercity route originally estimated at 20 minutes, but eventually adding another 15 minutes by the end of the trip. I don't recall that happening with the 350.

So, beware when comparing Nuvi models. Although a comparison matrix might show two devices have the same feature, the implementation quality of the feature might differ drastically between the models!

 got what I expected; great value - Jun 05, 2010

We confirm others' comments: need to update maps right away. Otherwise, this straight-forward gps works as advertised. Great value for the money.

 cool huh - Jun 05, 2010

garmins are the standard by which i judge a gps' they are thin and lightweight, and pretty much work most if not all of the time for me.

 Garmin Nuvi - May 28, 2010

Screen size is excellent.

285WT does need a subscription through MSN to enable the live traffic. Contemplating purchasing the Garmin Traffic (no service fee) when 3 month free membership on MSN expires.