GARMIN nüvi 205 3.5" GPS Navigation

Pros: Easy to use.

Cons: Turns on by itself when battery runs low thus draining whatever power is left then Takes a while to turn on, load and acquire signal from Satellites if battery is dead.

Pros: It can find much more locations compare to TomTom. Very easy to use.

Cons: Not very sensitive when I get off from highway to freeder. It sometimes just not showing the correct direction after that. Long wait when it starts up to search satellite.

Other Thoughts: The picture viewer quality is not good. It displays the pictures in very low resolution. Useless.

Pros: Bought this unit to replace older 250 Nuvi. Worked better and used twice on trip through NY/NJ. Prompts at right times for turns, etc. 3 egs for performance.
Unit sale price better than cost to upgrade map.

Cons: Garmin doesn't do very well in saying it up front. You must register and update 60 days from registration/acquiring satellite. Sad to say I didn't understand/update in time and now I have two Nuvi's with out of date maps. Contacted Garmin, not much sympathy.

Other Thoughts: I really don't want to spend all that money to upgrade the map.

Pros: its small. some people don't think of this but i can just stuff it in my back back and i would never know it was there.
sturdy build. i have dropped it a bunch of times.

Cons: its small. the suction cup doesn't always stick sometimes i find it falling off my window. i can not get the sticky part to stick to my dash.

abc key board???
slow map refresh. doesn't really matter.

Pros: I realize now that I've been spoiled w/ my little Garmin nuvi 350. It's served me well having been a little work horse for the past few years. But it's starting to glitch a little once in a while so I thought I'd better begin looking for a replacement. I tried this little 205 out and learned in short order this is NOT the GPS for me.

Overall I'm nonplussed by it. But there are a couple of "Pros" I'll mention.

1st: I really like the speed limit and speed displayed in the navigation window. Very helpful.

2nd: While I don't like the tonal quality or the mechanical sound of the voice, the volume is quite sufficient.

3rd: I like that it is small and compact like my 350.

Cons: There are a no. of "Cons" I could list here but suffice it to say that this is a stripped down GPS w/ few if any useful bells and whistles.

The real deal breaker for me was not being able to use the GPS while it's charging. I tried it out for the 1st time yesterday and, w/ it having been powered up for only a little over an hour it was already at half charge. That's just not going to cut it. I'm on the road constantly - sometimes traveling for hours b4 reaching my destinations. I need a GPS that is in for the long haul and, when its battery is low, I can just plug it in and forge ahead.

Other Thoughts: This is a good little very basic GPS for tooling around for short periods of time or distances. It is not for the professional on the road or the road warrior or trucker or any person needing a GPS while traveling for long periods of time or distances. Those of us in that category need to shell out more bucks for a higher-end GPS.

I'll be returning this little critter and begin my quest for a better fit.

Pros: Smaller than old unit. Works just as good after you figure out the different ways of configuring it and using it.

Cons: None

Pros: Touch screen, easy to use, installed in seconds, easy to see, bright, fast with next to no visible latency when recalculating or starting up.

Cons: Makes me wish I had someone I could buy this for as a gift!

Other Thoughts: If you occasionally get lost or just don't ever like to ask for directions this is the device for you! Everyone who has ridden with me and "Lola" wants to play with her. All your friends will too! Ha ha but on a more serious note I bought this for the intention of long distance travel. This thing is accurate to within several feet and you can go to an exact address. Or near a city ect. Many many functions you can explore but also not to cluttered. Sometimes a new toy with to many bell's and whissles can be a hastle when all you want to do with it is the basics. Not so in this case. Its a great product and I would recommend to anyone of my friends! Enjoy.

Pros: Used this unit or the 205W widescreen model at Myrtle Beach, SC, Miami, Fl, And for a trip to Dallas, TX. IT WILL GET YOU THERE !! I missed a few turns at times at night in Atlanta and Texas but it recalculated and got me there! I used printed trip maps before the trips to track its progress. The free downloads, vehicles, updates, and voices were easy via Garmins web site/USB cable. If you are comfortable using a PC, you will learn these quickly, I never looked at the owners manual .

Cons: No USB cable included at the cheap price but bought the generic version for 4 dollars shipped. The additional voice comments can be annoying but slightly, I did download the Nightmare voice for free which was amusing. FACTORY SET To find SHORTEST ROUTE, CHANGE IT TO FASTEST ROUTE IMMEDIATELY !! No Home charger, only the car charger, a generic USB cable is required for downloads and PC charging at home.

Other Thoughts: For simple inexpensive navigation worth every penny. We now have four and keep them on around home to play and learn there pecularities. Be sure of your address destination, ZIP CODE is a must to avoid duplicate named addresses in the vicinity of your destination.

Pros: I have successfully used this unit to drive from New York to Los Angeles and back on more than one occasion. I have also used it to travel in both cities and it has never led me astray.

The interface is simple and intuitive. It's very easy to use, even while driving (although you should avoid doing so. Safety first.)

The POI (point of interest) system is really useful and helpful for finding things like gas stations and food.

I would recommend this unit for anyone looking for a GPS system. I bought one for my dad and for my girlfriend's father.

Cons: These are minor issues, but...

I live in Southern California and the GPS voice mispronounces some of the street names. (Cahuenga, Tujunga, Canada without the "Spanish N," etc.)

The clock in the nuvi 205 doesn't automatically reset when crossing time zones.

It can sometimes take a few seconds to acquire a satellite when you first start it up, especially when you start in a garage. It's harder to acquire while moving, so if you wait a second in your driveway (or wherever) it will pick you up.

These are really minor issues and don't really affect my assessment of the product.

Other Thoughts: I used to work as a Production Assistant and had to drive all over LA every day. This thing was invaluable.

It could theoretically be used as a handheld personal GPS, but it's kind of bulky for that task.

You won't miss the MP3 function. There are probably about 46 devices in your home that are better suited to play MP3s anyway.

Interesting Anecdote: I was driving through Illinois late one night and I needed gas. The POI system pointed me to a gas station but it was closed when I got there. I went to the next station it recommended but it was closed too. I finally asked a woman at a 24-hour grocery store and she told me it was illegal to sell gas in that county after 10pm (or maybe it was 11). The Nuvi 205 will not tell you these things - then again you wouldn't expect it to.

I use it every single day and would recommend it to anyone.

Pros: Small, easy to set up, easy to use and easy to detach from car and use in portable pedestrian mode. Internal battery lasts 4 hours. Has customizable features and offers one free map update. Has Automobile, bicycle and pedestrian modes.

Cons: Took a little time to adjust 3d map scale to my preference, but eventually got to where I liked it. Map does not always display side roads that you pass, but this may be do to the scale setting I use.

Map screen doesn't show miles to destination, but shows ETA. Would prefer it show both. Miles to destination is shown on a separate screen however.

I did not like that the default location pointer was a "car" that seemed too large for the map. Luckily this is changeable and I changed to a smaller 3D arrow pointer.

Finally the map software I downloaded from Garmin to use on my PC in order to set routes and transfer to the Nuvi is not intuitive. Fortunately though setting routes and destinations on the Nuvi itself is fairly intuitive.

Other Thoughts: Bought this because my wife's car did not have GPS and we were taking it on an 800 mile trip from Indiana to Washington DC with an interim stop at a state park in West Vir. I saw this on sale at Newegg and snapped it right up. Was a little concerned it was the base model but after using realized it was all I needed. Has more features than the built in GPS in my Ford Escape.

First thing I did after receiving was to update the software via my pc then updated the map.

It doesn't come with a USB cable, but I was able to use one I already had lying around. USB cable also charges it so if you have one you won't need to buy an AC adaptor for in house use. Of course battery lasts 4 hours so if just taking out of car for brief use in a hotel room or house you most likely won't need AC adaptor anyway.

We actually used the POI feature to find hotels, gas stations and Starbucks while on the road.

All in all for the price this little unit delivered more than I expect