10 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Garmin nuvi 200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigaton
Date of Review: Feb 28, 2008
The Bottom Line: maybe the more expensive models are worth it, but i'm sticking to google maps
I was very excited when I got the Garmin nuvi 200. Finally, my own GPS! No more paper print outs from map quest! I will have my own personal assistant to guide me on my journeys throughout this great land!
Boy was I wrong!
The setup and install are super fast and really easy. I had it in my car in no time and plotted my first trip, from work to home.
That one didn't go very smoothly and the Garmin nuvi 200 led me to a much longer route than I usually take.
Ok, maybe it doesn't know the city as well as I do, and maybe the route it picked was best according to its algorithm or something so I gave it another try.
I used it for a while to navigate to some close by places and it worked ok. It was missing some places in its database (like a grocery store that has been open for at least 4 years) but that could have just been a glitch. The worst came when I actually needed it to navigate to places I didn't know.
First came an address that is very close by to my house, but I wasn't sure what the best way to get there was (lots of one way streets and such), so I plugged in the address and off I go.
The Garmin nuvi 200 sent me towards the freeway, which was a bit strange for such a short distance, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and followed its directions. It told me to get off at the next exit, but unfortunately, that exit didn't exist. I ended up spending 30 minutes backtracking and was almost late to my destination.
I was puzzled by it, so I poked around in its settings and made sure it was set to shortest distance.
Then came the second problem. I realized that it wasn't doing very well in my city, so I thought maybe it can help when I travel. I took it on a trip to Vegas, and once it told me I need to take the interstate to get from the airport to my hotel on the strip (which is right around the corner from the airport) I realized this isn't going to work.
I ended up returning it.