Garmin Nuvi 255w - stick or twist?

Joe Pineapples

Hi all

It's my first post on boards.ie so be gentle!

I have a Garmin Nuvi 255w with Ireland/UK/Europe maps - it's the only satnav I've ever had (bought in late 08) and while in general I've found it good in Ireland (esp on smaller roads), the UK and Sicily, I'm at a stage where I need to decide whether to stick with it and update new maps, or switch over to a comparable TomTom model.

I know that from reading here in the GPS forum and elsewhere online that the latest Garmin maps (City Navigator Europe 2011.10?) aren't very up to date on any of the newer Irish motorways/bypasses - I also appreciate the reasons thereof as detailed in garydubh's excellent sticky - and that shelling out €119 for the "lifetime updates" might be a waste of money if it takes another year or so for the Garmin updates to get up-to-date (and this regardless of anything happening to the unit in the meantime).

So! What I'm wondering is if TomTom's latest Irish maps are in any of a better state, or if this is a common problem. I don't actually know any TomTom users here in Ireland to ask directly, hence me throwing it out to the boards.ie community.

The other factor in my decision is largely a POI one, specifically relating to on-map petrol station markers. I know with the Nuvi 255w, whilst driving, I can go to Where To/POI/Fuel, then select a station name, then see its location on the map, then choose it as a via point. It gets you there, but it's a lot of buttons to press while keeping your eyes on the road.

By contrast, I was in a friend's car in Italy a few years ago who had a TomTom, and I seem to recall he had it set to always show all nearby fuel locations on the map with a little petrol pump icon whenever the satnav was on.

So my other question is: have I overlooked the possibility of setting the 255w to do something similar (can't find any instructions on how to do this online anywhere) or if I want that kind of feature on my satnav, should I switch to TomTom (if indeed TomToms can do that and I haven't simply misremembered) or a newer Garmin model?

Any advice or suggestions much appreciated

Cheers

Joe P

KoolKid

Welcome to Boards, Joe.
Map wise Navteq (Garmin) & Tele Atlas (TomTom ) have very little over each other.
The main benefit I see with Tom Tom is the ability to instantly correct a lot of errors on your own device. You can also share these corrections & opt in to use corrections shared by others.
To also includes being able to add POIs & set the device to give audible and/or visual warnings when within a set distance from a POI catagory (ie Petrol station)
No sure myself if this fearure is available on Garmin.

Joe Pineapples

Thanks for that koolkid. Not 100% sure that I can add POIs directly through Garmin but I've found the MyPOIs site so will do a bit of investigating on that when I get the chance to see if I can get around the issue by downloading a POI group from it or somewhere like it, give that a go before I decide whether to update or cross the floor!

mrmac

I'd keep the 255w - it's not a bad unit.
The newer sat navs are not going to be any better at actual navigation, they just have extra add-on features, that you won't really use.

You can add your own POIs, into Extras > Custom POIs
These can be uploaded using Garmin POI Uploader - a free app from Garmin.
You can view these on screen, as well as other POIs, by increasing the level of Map Detail - a setting which you'll find under Map.

I'd advise you to get a 4GB SD Card for the 255w, and buy Garmin Lifetime Updates, instead of buying a new unit. That way you'll have the storage space you'll need for the new European Maps, and they'll always be up to date.

hth

Joe Pineapples

Hey mrmac, thanks for that, all sounds like good advice. As I said to koolkid I'll definitely get stuck into a bit of POI customisation and see how I go with that, deffo agree that in general the 255w is a decent piece of kit.