First of all, I can't begin to explain on how amazing this little GPS is. I am not afraid to admit that I'm HORRIBLE with any sort of directions, but this Nuvi helps me out so much. Its so simple, easy to see, and the color pink adds some girlyness to it.

Cons: It takes a little while to acquire the satelites, especially when you first turn it on, and sometimes you need to switch between the Fastest Route and Shortest Distance because the directions are kinda weird.

But other than that, anyone who isn't looking to spend a fortune on a GPS, this is definetely the one for you.

Purchased the Nuvi 250 just before going on vacation to California. We traveled from Anaheim through Oxnard, Ventura, Ojai, and Santa Barbara; and all points in between. Worked great everywhere. I highly recommend

it. It's got all the bang for the buck.

Garman came exactly how I ordered it. It is a wonderful gadget, I wonder how I've lived so long without one!

We purchased this for my husband for work. He goes on road calls throught the area and needs the quickest route. I did take it on vacation and it only missed on one turn. It is just the right size to tuck in my glovebox. I would recommend the Garmin Nuvi 250 to anyone.

This is my first navigation system and I am very pleased with the Garmin Nuvi 250. I would recommend not putting a screen protector on the Nuvi. After a week of having a screen protector on the Nuvi it started to freeze up and I didn't know why. I realized that the screen protector was the problem. As soon as I removed the screen protector it went back to normal.

This is a great product! This is our second nuvi 250 in the family! Easy to use...

Works just as advertised. You will need to update the maps with more current info, and this doesn't have good construction info. when you use the detour, you need to be close to the area that you are detouring around. the 400 series would probably have more of that.

First off, I bought this as a convenience, not a necessity. I used to use those book type detailed maps and when it was time to replace it for around fifty bucks, I decided to pay about ninety more and get all of the convenience GPS units offer. I hated trying to follow roads from page to page on those book maps. Plus, I only got one metro area for my money.

For the money I can't complain too much. The June, 2008 Consumer Reports came out two weeks after my purchase and I would refer you to that issue for a detailed review of all the top brands on the market.

What I don't like about this unit is that roughly half the time I think there are better routes to take. I was hoping it would take into account peak commute times when calculating Fastest Route. I mean it's not the fastest route if it takes you through bottle necks during traffic times. I'm not saying it should have built in traffic alerts. That is a subscription service, but it should at least be smart enough to identify bottle necks and calculate speed as a combination of time and speed limits. It calculates everything as if you are the only one on the road. And in Atlanta you cannot drive like that. There are so many times that navigating to a freeway is not the best option. So, you could tell it to do the Shortest Route, but that is the other extreme. It may have you do some crazy maneuvering just to save a few feet in distance.

Secondly, when I know I don't like the route it has chosen I tell it to detour. It gives me another route and that is it. If I tell it to detour again, it only goes back to its original route. Very frustrating. Now if I was in unfamiliar territory I suppose it would get me to my destination without getting lost and I would be none the wiser for taking a stupid route. But in my testing of my area, the problem is that I have not built a great deal of confidence in this thing.

CR rated this one with less than average routing, but if you were to get one of the upgraded models, the routing is above average. So, I can't justify the extra money, but it may be worth it to you.

ONE LAST THING.....IMPORTANT. I just called Garmin support, which was very fast and helpful btw, and they let me know that a new 2009 North America map was available for my unit that I just bought. It came with 2008 maps, which I assumed was current, but I am eligible for a free download until June 1, 2008. When you register your product online with Garmin, it asks you for the units serial number and then tells you what updates are available. I'm in the process of upgrading and am very pleased to get the most current maps for free. After June 1st you will have to pay for the same map.

Love the unit! Compact, reliable, great database for points of interest, restaurants, gas, and hotels. Fits in a shirt pocket. Quick satellite recognotion. Best windshield mount out there. 8 hours of battery time make it great for city touring on foot or hiking in the woods. Will give altitude as you hike in the mountains. SD chip reader is nice for viewing digital pictures while on the road. Standard size easier in the pocket, consider the Wide version if your vision is not what it used to be. Dims automatically at night. Pleasant voice and easy all-touchscreen controls. No Bluetooth, but I seldom would need it. Kids names it "Sacajawea" ie. Lewis and Clark, and nicknamed 'her' "Sacki." Good GPS choice, no regrets.

The Nuvi 250 GPS is simple and easy to use. It is very intuitive. The built in maps cover all of North America. I was using an Garmin IQUE 3600 PDA GPS which did not have any built in maps. The problem with my IQUE, it took time to setup the dash mount and acquire enough GPS satelites links. The Nuvi in contrast quickly attaches to a windshield mount via suction cup and a small 12V auto adapter. Within seconds, the GPS satelites are quickly acquired. In comparison, the Nuvi maintained it connection to satelite links better than my IQUE. The IQUE had a tendency to lose the satelite link in metro urban areas where the Nuvi to date has never lost a satelite link connection. The Nuvi's programming interface is simple to use. WebUpdates are very simple to perform provided you have the USB cable which I had already had from my Streetpilot c330 unit. With an SD memory, you can display pictures, but the Nuvi's performance with large jpeg pictures is fairly slow. But, you didn't buy a GPS to display pictures. The small form factor makes it possible to carry it while walking around New York City. Good luck with your decision.