I'm actually a professional navigator (aviation), so this is what I do and I've used many, many GPS for all different purposes over the years, including various automotive GPS.

My first comment is a GPS is just an aid, like everything else. If you expect to turn it on and turn your brain off you're going to have problems. But if you use it properly as an aid to your own good judgment it's an incredible tool.

For example, sometimes in your local area that you know like the back of your hand it won't take the optimum route. I've found that 75% of the time that's because the GPS is 'set' wrong--it's set to optimize long cross-country trips, not inter-city zigging around. So of course it will tend to sometimes take you 'the long way' around using major roads.

Why this is a problem for people who already know where they're going I'm not sure, and if I'm in a city/area I don't know, I don't really care that much if it takes me 15 minutes to get somewhere I could have gotten in 10 with perfect local knowledge. And in fact, in those situations I think I'd just as soon be on 'main roads' anyhow.

Secondly, no GPS company creates its own map data--they all go out and buy them from a third party. In this case Garmin uses Navtec (I believe). You could switch to a Lowrance GPS and guess what? You're still going to have Navtec map data. Personally I haven't seen a whole lot of difference in the quality and detail of the data--there are only two companies that do it, Navtec and somebody else, and there just isnt' a whole lot of difference. It is true that each GPS will use different routing algorhythms, but whatever difference there is has always seemed to me to be quibbling about 98 vs 96% 'relibility.' There may be a difference, but it's not much, and as long as you're staying on top of hte 'big picture' it wont' make much practical difference.

I'm not saying the data's going to always be perfect and updated and have all the roads--but if it's not in navtec on your Garmin it's not going to be in navtec on your Lowrance, and that's just the way it's going to be, unfortunately. But at least with Garmin you can update your POIs, and you can't do that will all companies.

HOWEVER, you DO have to 'unlock' the data on your 200W to get the full detail that's there, and nowhere, unless I missed it, does the manual tell you to do that. So if you haven't gone to the Garmin website, found the 200W page, hooked up your GPS to your computer via USB and 'unlocked' your data you're not getting the full detail that's actually there.

Fair enough, you can 'blame' Garmin some for not making that clearer, but again, in the end the map data is the map data--you're not really going to get any better from another company.

In the way that tivo liberates you from the clock, a GPS liberates you from 'navigating', and errors that would have been a huge problem before just don't matter anymore. With a GPA there's no such thing as a 'mistake'--there's only an infinite number of points from which an optimum route to your destination can and will be planned. So if you 'miss a turn' or something, don't worry about it--just relax, let the GPS calculate the new 'optimum' route and go from there.

So I think all the worry about routing is somewhat overblown--with a GPS you're talking about the difference between 20 and 25 minutes in getting there, as opposed to 20 minutes and ever getting there at all, or stopping and asking directions 3 times, or making 14 turns to double back to where you were 'supposed to be' to start over with a map or written directions. So sort of mentally ditch all the old mindset about navigating and realize you're always on your way and you're never 'in trouble'--errors and imperfections just don't matter like they do with maps, so don't give them the weight you're used to.

USE THE MAP! It will help you with your overall situational awareness and help you catch situations where maybe the GPS routing, for whatever reason, isn't optimal or what you want it to be. If you want to do something else, just point the car in that direction and let the GPS start calculating. Simply use the moving map as a moving map-you'll always be in the center, keep 'aiming' the car where you want to go, and you can pick up following the voice commands anytime you like. Remember, you own the GPS, the GPS doesn't own you!

If you're going on a 1200 mile trip, don't just plug in your destination and go. You can do that, but everytime you miss a turn, get off for gas, food, etc, then it will have to recalculate the entire 1200 mile route, and yes, depending on the complexity that could take 3 or 4 minutes. And those 3 or 4 minutes getting from Burger Doodle backl to the interstate are the only ones that matter--the next 2 hours cruising down I-95 or whatever you don't need the GPS. So pick an arbitrary point along your way only 150 miles away, as you approach it just pick another one, and so on. A lot of times I'll just 'poke' a point along my route and tell it to 'go there'--doesn't matter if it's really exactly on the road or not because I'll be jabbing another point 200 miles down the road 15 minutes before I get it. That way it can always recalculate quickly and easily--and recalculating quickly and easily is the name of the game because by definition when its recalculating is when you need the help. So help it help you--don't tell it to go from Miami to Los Angeles and expect it to calculate quickly!

Finally, although you may not know it, the 200W has TONS of extra screens and commands never mentioned in the 'manual'--to be generous to that booklet! For example, press and hold the satellite 'tuning' bars on teh menu screen. After a few seconds it will pop you into a satellite detail screen listing the individual satellites, azimuths, etc. Get on a Garmin forum and scroll around and you'll find lots of these--shortcuts, etc, instead of having to back out screen by screen, for example.

Personally I'd say don't ever use that 3-D view, and I know maybe it's different for me since I live in the world of charts and maps but if you can, use the north-up vs track-up view. That way, when you're not moving dead north/south you have the benefit of the wide screen out in front of you and you can see what's coming--and you're just generally more aware of what's going on that way anyhow so that you can sort of be doublechecking the GPS as you go. I personally can't deal with my frame of reference moving everytime I turn and stay oriented, if you can then go for it!

I'm kind of a 'Lowrance guy,' btw, but I think the 200W is a great little GPS and for the money I think it's as good a value as I've seen. Just remember to use it as an aid (even if it's your 99% aid, which it will be) and with a little common sense and you'll wonder how you ever lived without one!

Update to add--I simply don't have the time delay getting the satellites. Maybe AT MOST it's taken 2 minutes--generally for me I'd say 30 seconds.

I was struggling between Tomtom one 3rd (and Tomtom go 720) and Garmin 200w. I did research on internet and spent my time in Fry's and Circuity City. I really like Tomtom's software especially the user interface. But I am troubled by the 3.5 screen size. This matters because it doesn't have text to speak and we have to read the streen name sometime. Tomtom go 720 sounds very good but I have to manage my budget (will 2008 be a saving or making $ year?) I ordered nuvi 200w at Costco online for $199. So far I am very happy. My boy keeps

saying "This is crazy!". I live in south bay, CA. nuvi 200w picks up signal in 1 minute 1st time and position accurately. I guess the accurancy is in 20 feet. I do notice some map issues: when I turn to a parking lot, it most likely will have no map to match it so that it can't tell your the direction if you need to go thru it. Also

it sometime can not tell which is major street so that it suggest you to take a route which actually is 25mph small street.

I totally agree that the driver is still the master and this GPS is just an aid. Keep in mind, the GPS will recaculate it if you decide to take a "better" route. It will work out, I assure you.

I wanted to wait a little while before I wrote my review for this product. It is now about 2 months after I bought the Garmin and I wanted to share my experiences with it.

The Positives:

-Very Simple

-Easy to Use

-Long Battery Life

-Clear and Loud Directions stated (the british voice is sexier than american)

-Great display (easy to view on Sunny Days)

-Phone Numbers to the Location

-Touch and Save Location for Easy Backtracking/relocation. (ie: if you're driving by an outlook in the mountains that you really like simply touch the vehicle icon on the screen and press "YES" to save coordinates. Name the Location and that location will be saved in your Favorites)

The Downsides:

-Not for Truckers/RVs..etc. !!! This Unit only has three options: Automobile, Bicycle or Pedestrian. I was guided off a main highway onto a backroad because it was quicker. However, I soon found myself going underneath of a small country tunnel that was no more than 12 feet high (if that). A Semi or RV would NOT have fit through there, and no warning was giving about the upcoming low clearance on the Garmin.

(*There are other devices that allow the person to select "Truck/Trailor/RV..etc" so that they do not guide you under small tunnels. This model however is not one of them)

-Random Errors: While in Kansas City MO, I ran a search for Pottery and found a local business by the Name "Personalized Pottery" on Flint Street. I pressed Go, and off we went. However when we "Arrived at our destination" we were on 27th street in a Residential Neighborhood. We later found the pottery place out of luck by driving by a shopping Center over 2 miles away.

Another Error I found was when I typed in my friend's address in Waynesboro Va. Her address was not on the Garmin. We were giving the option of House Number 726 and 782. Her's was 734. Very odd....they had lived there for nearly 20 years.

A third Error I had was in the same town when I searched a Dominos. It stated it was 0.5mi from my location, but when I Arrived, there was no Domino's in Sight. The good thing was though, Garmin had the Number to the Dominos so we called and got directions. Once again, the place was far away. This time closer to 5 miles.

-Non-specific Commands: If you come to an intersection that has a sharp turn to the right and a slight veer to the right, the Garmin will Simple say "Turn Right". However, you do not know which Right to take, and often times it is the slight Veer to the Right. I wish it said "Veer Right" instead of "Turn Right", but the Garmin always was able to get me back to where I needed to be.

I know I've said alot of negatives about My New Garmin, but don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE IT!! Just keep in mind that it is a Navigational Tool, but not necessarily a guide. You're still the one with the Brain, so use it! The Garmin will spout off several commands very quickly and at first you may 'freak out' a bit and rush into something. Listen to the commands. If she says turn in 0.3 miles.... Take a quick second to look at what road, and then look for that ahead. Try not to get "robotic" and do what she says whenever she says it. Also, if you're going too fast and she commands you to Turn right- Don't slam on your Breaks to make the turn.....keep going, search for a place to turn around or wait for the Garmin to Recalculate.

I have used my Garmin in MT, SD,IA,IN,WV, VA,NC,MO,KS, Washington DC and CA including Los Angeles and San Francisco.

FOR ANYONE GOING TO A MAJOR CITY INVEST IN A GARMIN!! IT MAY JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE! For anyone who has driven in LA, you know Exits come Very quickly, one right after the other; trying to use a paper map could be lethal at speeds between 55-80mph. Bite the bullet and buy a Garmin, or if you're renting a car, Invest in renting one for the week. I promise you, it is one of the best investments I ever made.

I also bought one for my best friend who just moved to Florida and he's loving it.

One Last Tip. While I was in San Francisco, I left my car in one of many many parking garages. I knew I would lose track of where i left it, so I saved the coordinates to my Favorites. After finishing my business for the day I put my Garmin in Pedestrian Mode and it guided me back to my Car. The catch is that I forgot to take it out of Pedestrian Mode and when I entered an address back in LA it took FOREVER to calculate the trip. (this was because it was calculating the fastest route by foot). It finally told me to turn left, but it was a One way street. I would have caused an accident. I passed by the street and the Garmin recalculated, again and again. I thought it was broken because it was taking about 2-3 minutes to recalculate a route when usually it takes the Garmin about 4 seconds. Finally I remembered that I had it in Pedestrian, so I changed the option to Automobile, "STOPPED" the trip and then hit the address in LA again and off I went no problem. I say all that to say don't make the same mistake I made. If you're Garmin is running slow, check the settings. Also if there is no Arrival time, chances are you have it in Pedestrian Mode.

Well this Appraisal has been VERY long, but I wanted it to be thorough. I know $200-$300 is a lot to spend on a device, but just think about all the arguments you will avoid with your friend or significant other when you're tired and it's 2 in the morning, and think about the gas money you'll save on getting lost and turned around, and guys just think- you'll never have to ask for directions again...well unless you're looking for the Domino's Pizza in Waynesboro.

Good Luck- and Safe Traveling! 80)

-jP

The Garmin nuvi 200W has everything I needed in a GPS, for a great price - online.

I did alot of extensive research scouring the latest reviews and the hands down winners were the Garmin widescreens. The 200W has a sharp, bright widescreen touch display,up to date 2008 maps, the best routing engine available combined with the easiest to use interface. The included POI database or "yellowbook" includes the address and phone number and is great for finding information on navigating to new and old places.

Unless you wand to spend $200 and up for text to speech (not needed or worth it),bluetooth and an mp3 player, this is the one to buy. I recommend you download "webupdater" to update the software and the new vehicle icons from the Garmin website. I used my digital camera to pc cable. I additionally use my RAZR charger to charge my Nuvi in house. Can't wait to use it on our next vacation.

I got it about a month ago. Works fine most of the time, but sometimes, when I switch it ON while on a trip, it takes quite some time to acquire the satellites, which is kind of annoying. I haven't updated any software yet, but that's going to be my next step.

After renting cars with Garmin Nuvi's, I knew I liked the Nuvi line. The big question was, which features did I need and want. Well, the 200W is exactly what I needed. The wide-screen is a big benefit over the smaller screen 200 and 350 models. I thought I wanted the "text-to-speech" feature, which announces actual street names, but it turns out that I don't really miss that. I thought long and hard about getting the Nuvi 350, but there are many features in the 350 that I'd just never use (like Bluetooth, for example), and I think the wide screen is a "must."

This is simple to use, and just has the basic features that I really needed.

I purchased and compared several "entry level" gps systems and tried them out. I compared the Mio C230, TomTom one LE, Becker 7934, and Maxx Digital PN3000 to the Nuvi 200W. Obviously the screen on the Nuvi is larger than the others (except Becker) so the display is easier to read. My real concern was the function of the unit and the preinstalled POI database which I find important. I don't need an mp3 player, movie viewer or anything else. Just a reliable GPS. First the C230

Mio has a great product in the C230. The MioMap software seems very good. The screen is very easy to read and the unit can be extensively customized to suit you taste. Navigation is fairly straight forward but takes some getting used to. Not as easy as TomTom or Garmin. The C230 uses a Sirf III chipset and tele altas maps. The C230 acquired a signal in less than 30 seconds every time I used it. Even inside my home. I used it to route to locations I was familiar with and about 90% of the time the Mio chose the route I would have taken. I found the accuracy to be spot on and the detail on the screen is among the best of the bunch. My only complaints, whichare the reasons I returned the Mio is the POI database is pathetic, and battery life too short. Mio claims they cut the database down to save memory space, but the POI databases take up little room and could have easily been added as they are on the C220. Had the database been included the Mio is a winner. There are forums claiming you can upgrade the POIs but they seem difficult to do and I have read that it slows the unit down significantly. Pre installed is the way to go.

TomTom One LE. I bought this from best buy. The unit uses a "Hammerhead" chipset and teleatlas maps. I found this unit to be very well built. The Hammerhead chipset locks on to a signal faster than any of the others. The interface is easy to use and offers a lot of options. The screen is easy to read and offers good information about speed, distance to objective, direction of travel etc. One thing I did not care for was that the maps look very cartoonish. Especially compared to the Mio. Now for the negatives. Battery life was terrible. Maybe an hour and a half. not a big deal in a car with power, but if you like to have the unit while walking a bit city it is not good. The routing engine used was not very good. It would take me on routes that were neither the fastest nor shortest distance and would frequently require u-turns. In fact while navigating to one location (Staples), the LE had me make a u-turn before I reached the store. This I am sure is due to the mapping software which I found to be not as accurate as units using Navteq maps. The LE has a decent number of POIs, even better when the maps are updated to the 710 version. The inaccuracy of the maps was the deciding factor. It also seems slow to process some things, the processor is 266Mhz and it shows.

The Becker won't take long. The interface is difficult to navigate. The screen is large and nice, but the color scheme was terrible. I tried it a couple of times for navigation and found it not worth spending the time trying to learn how to use it. I would not recommend this unit.

Maxx digital was purchased at Office Depot for $99.00. How can you go wrong?. Actually this is not a bad gps. It uses Navteq maps and the interface is easy to use. It uses a Centrality Atlas II chipset with an integrated 300 Mhz processor. If offers an mp3 player and picture viewer. These were not selling points for me as I want this just for GPS. The routing was pretty good. It chose longer routes a couple of times but its processor is pretty slow. It takes longer to acquire a signal then the LE and NUVI and loses the signal nore easily. The biggest downside in my opinion was the POIs again. Pretty small and support for this unit is non existent. I sent emails, called and left messages and never heard from them. Not a good sign for a new GPS system. It may work for some at the $99.00 price, put I would rather spend another $50.00 and get something better.

Now the Garmin. This one is a keeper for me. The screen is bright and easy to read. The navigation is the easiest of all of them. The POI database is extensive, over 6,000,000 entries, but it could use better search features. The signal acquired in a reasonable amount of time, usually less than a minute. Not as fast as the Mio or TomTom. The navigation has been almost flawless. I have read that Garmin excels in this area and I have to believe this is true. The routing was much better than the others, Mio is close, and the Navteq maps are much better IMHO than tele atlas. The Nuvi offers more detail on the map. It would be nice if Garmin would allow POIs to be seen on the map like the TomTom and Mio. They have icons which appear as you approach different locations. The battery life has been excellent. At least twice as long as the others. Obviously the wide screen makes for a better display, but the small screen Nuvi 200 has all of the same features and has mostly excellent reviews as well. I have not been able to find info on which chipset and processor the Nuvi uses. I hope to find this out but so far the Nuvi has performed very well.

Not a very scientific review but I hope this helps. If you want a navigation device that is accurate and easy to use it is hard to beat the Nuvi 200W

Recently went on 3300 mile road trip with the 200W. Without exception the unit was spot on accurate and worked great. ONLY problem is initial startup/acquisition time to locate satellites which ranged anywhere between 1 minute to 5 minutes. May not seem like much but when you're sitting in the car waiting to get going it often seems much longer. The 200W has the most recent Navteq 2008 maps for North America. Unit is very slim and light making it easy to stick in a pocket or use just walking around a new city. Point of Interest database was very helpful finding fuel, groceries, etc nearby and was very intuitive and simple to use. I would give the unit 4.5 stars if I could as the startup issue, while sometimes nagging, isn't that bad considering the overall value and functionality this unit offers. The unit does not speak street names, rather "turn left" but you're saving $$$ for a feature which seems of little added value.

This is a great GPS! I use it in my patrol car as a Deputy Sheriff. I enter and navigate to well over a dozen different addresses every day. I have only found a few instances where the map showed a road thru that wasn't there and those were recent road changes ( <6 months since the change).

The reasons I didn't give it 5 stars:

1. The on screen keyboard is permanently stuck in ABCDE format. I really wish it could be changed to QWERTY style since thats what most people are used to. The TomTom's can do this and so can the really high end Garmins. Seems like a relatively simple software update.

2. The distance to turn seems a little off. For example, it will say "turn in 90 feet" while I am two car lengths back from the intersection. Not sure if this is a deficiency of the GPS receiver or the software. Its not really a big deal most of the time since roads are geneally separated by enough distance that its obvious.

If you are considering the significantly more expensive nuvi 350, then I suggest you determine how important the speaking of street names and the 'traval assistant' stuff really is. For me, it wasn't worth the extra couple of hundred dollars.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the 200W.

Wow! After using this on a long vacation I can't imagine not having it. Just get in the car, plug in where you want to go (takes about 30-60 seconds) and you're off! Even going to places we know, it shows us the the secret back roads and short cuts which is ideal when you're not a local and move around a lot. The kids love tracking where we are, when we'll arrive and which way to turn next--this was totally unexpected. My wife, who usually hates anything electronic, now uses it to go on errands and find new places--even a skeptic is sold on it! After reading all the reviews and talking with a friend who has a 660 I decided on the Nuvi 200 Widescreen. It has only what we need and not all the other stuff we don't like maps of Canada, bluetooth, traffic updates that don't work, and MP3, and the 200 doesn't have the annoying flip up antenna. It recieves a signal from the backseat and while getting passed around the car by the kids or even from under the seat when you thought you turned it off. A nice feature is that the location directory lists the address AND phone number of each business or location so you can call for a reservation or ask questions. And since the directory sorts by proximity to your location its better than a yellow pages! You can easily adjust the volume from loud to mute and adjust the amount of prompting before a turn. It recalculates course changes in less than half a block. I also recommend the Garmin friction mount which is rock steady on the dash and allows for quick removal while parking or transering it to another car--wish it was included. Amazon had the best price for the Nuvi 200W and shipping was free!