I used to always get lost. I could drive into cities I'd visited for years and manage to get lost. I would call my boyfriend to get me un-stuck and he'd patiently guide me back out to where I should be via my cellphone. Finally, he decided that he would help me help myself. He did a ton of research and decided to get me this Garmin n�vi 200W GPS as a present.
I've been using this for almost a year now and I *adore* it. It has been incredibly helpful on more occasions than I can count. I have all my main locations programmed into it now, and just its "time to arrival" feature is greatly helpful. I love that there's a one-button "take me home" selection. It makes me happy just to press it - to know that my nuvi will safely get me home no matter where I am!
Sure, being able to customize your pointer, your location icons and even the speaking voice are fun. You can put on a nightmarish voice for Halloween, and turn your pointer into a little sportscar. Really though, all of those pale next to its great functionality. You can turn on and off the voice - I prefer it off, my boyfriend prefers it on. If you get mixed up, it doesn't complain. It simply says "recalculating" and in a moment it has a new route for you!
Does it have issues? Sometimes the route it takes is a bit different than one I would take. No problem - I start on my preferred route and it quickly recalculates and knows where I'm going. There's also sometimes that it gets confused about whether you can turn left or right. For example, when I go to a certain destination, I get off the highway and need to turn left. The first time I went there, it told me to turn right - and then it told me to do a u-turn. For some reason it didn't think I could turn left. Every time I went to that location afterwards I had to remember to ignore the GPS after I got off the highway and to turn left even though it said to turn right. I wish there was a way to "train" the unit to go the way I told it to, rather than having to remember this "override" each time.
I love the way it turns black at night, white during the day all on its own, knowing the changing sunset and sunrise times. Its display is quite clear and very easy to read. I haven't had any problems with it getting satellite signals and have used it in a number of locations. I pack my GPS with me when I travel and it's been amazingly helpful in getting me around.
I can't see any reason to get any other unit. Maybe some act as MP3 players - but I already have a MP3 player. This does exactly what I want from a GPS - it gets me to my destination and gets me home again.
Highly recommended!
