Navigate the United States and Canada with ease with this GPS that features free lifetime traffic updates, up to 1,000 waypoints and customizable points of interest for easy route planning. The "Where Am I?" emergency locator and travel assistant tools provide additional support.
Average Customer Rating:
4.5 out of 5(503 Reviews)
Rating Breakdown
(503 reviews)
5 stars
(325)
4 stars
(131)
3 stars
(19)
2 stars
(13)
1 star
(15)
463 of 503 (92%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Review 1 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
1.05
Very disappointed02/08/2010
By Chloe2from Decatur, IL
Value for Price
2.05
Ease of Use
4.05
What's great about it: It was correct most of the time. What's not so great: The times it wasn't correct, cost me a lot of time on a long trip.
"I have used Garmin in the past and haven't been disappointed..until I bought this one for myself. I checked reviews on this product, which were great, so I chose this one. First time I used it I took an 8 hr trip of which took me through St. Louis, Mo. As you come into St. Louis it is 6 lanes across, with 2 major exits on the rt side. It is a pretty dangerous area. I was quite sure that I was suppose to take a certain exit but the GPS told me that it was a different exit a mile up the road. Then as I passed the exit it told me to take it on the rt. Problem was I had just passed it. It did re-route me but added about 25 min to my trip, and a few more highways. Then I needed to go to a O'Reilleys to get my windshield wiper fixed, it "said" it was w/in 1 mile, so we picked it. It took up about 7 miles out of our way and NOT to a O'Reilleys it took us to some office building. On our return home we were looking for a specific big chain restraunt to go to, checked the GPS and it said there wasn't one. As we look up, there was a highway sign showing upcoming restraunts, it was on there and was only about 1-1/2 miles away. I would return this product in a heartbeat but I threw the box away because I was so sure I would love it. So to sum it up this product is worthless, and I may just buy a new one..a TomTom next time of which I was very much against when I started the process of looking for a GPS."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:No
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Review 2 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Great product for the money.02/07/2010
By SeanoftheDeadfrom Ohio
Value for Price
4.05
Durability
4.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
3.05
What's great about it: Easy to use and set up. What's not so great: Wish I could use my data cards from my handheld GPS with it.
"I purchased this product after getting lost in an unfamiliar area of town and spending more time trying to get out of it than it would have taken me just to deal with traffic. It is simple, compact, and easy to use. I am a big fan of Garmin and have a few Garmin products. I just wish they were more interchangeable and Mac friendly. Overall, this is a great little GPS for a car."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 3 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
The BEST GPS for the Money!!!02/05/2010
By alc322from Tampa, FL
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Easy to set up and understand What's not so great: Gets a little confused in heavy rain
"I needed a GPS because it is very difficult finding streets in the Tampa Bay area. Streets don't continue when they are supposed to, for example. I bought this GPS, set it up in my car. It took about 3 minutes to find the satelites and it locates about 99.9% of the locations. The only complain is that any brand new roads or building are not up to date. For example, 2 schools in my neighborhood are showing west of me instead of east. Other than that, this is the best GPS for the money."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 4 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Great product. Simple to use.02/05/2010
By arg1012from Eau Claire, WI
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Easy to use What's not so great: Very close to specific destination, but could be a little more accurate.
"I've purchased 2 of these GPSs. One back in November and one as a christmas gift in Decmeber. I have been very happy with mine and the one I purchased for my parents. It is a simple GPS to use. The touchscreen works well and it's not complicated. It's pretty accurate to destinations, though I've notice sometimes it will show the destination on the opposite side of the rode. So, it gets a little confusing if you've never been to the place you're traveling to and you're not exactly sure where it is and the GPS tells you it's on the opposite side of the road than it actually is. Overall, the battery life seems to work well. The suction cup to the windshield works wonderful.
It's good enough for what we need it for. We don't need all the little extras like the blue-tooth capability, internet, etc. Definitely happy with the purchase."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 5 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Best overall GPS in this price tier!02/03/2010
By JPS007from Concord, NC
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
4.05
Features
4.05
What's great about it: Easy menu navigation, turn by turn What's not so great: Nothing
"I have had this GPS for about six months and can find very few, if any, faults. Battery life is great. GPC satellite acquisition is quick. After downloading the most current map for free from Garmin, I found that most places that I wanted to go were included in the GPS. It does exactly as described!"
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 6 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Great GPS!02/03/2010
By randstarrfrom Corona, CA
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
4.05
What's great about it: easy, right out of the box! traffic notifications have been accurate so far! What's not so great: no bluetooth, but i can live without!
"great buy during black friday. FM traffic receiver works great in the orange county area! easy to use...great eco feature which helps you run fuel reports, and helps you to drive more efficiently..."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 7 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Works Great!02/02/2010
By Vanessa09er
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Easy to set-up; worked right out of the box once co-ordinates obtained What's not so great: Didn't say it was switching to an alternate route
"I started playing with it right away. Once the co-ordinates were loaded (there is a little lag time), it gave me the directions and worked immediately. I put in one address and purposely didn't go with the directions. It re-calculated and continued to work as described. Two comments: while the directions for a long distance trip were very good, it said to make a left into the compound while the hotel's directions and a visual check showed the hotel was on the right. #2, this GPS has the traffic alert, in which it will re-route you if there is congestion ahead. On the way home, it re-routed me. I heard it say take Rte. A; whereas, I had been on Rte. B (which was the route I'd taken to get to the hotel). I stayed on Rte. B and went right into the traffic jam. I didn't realize it was re-routing me due to traffic. I simply thought it was taking me back a different way. I've had fun with it and it has worked just fine in other outings."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 8 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
3.05
Could Be Better01/30/2010
By Anonymousfrom GA
Value for Price
4.05
Durability
4.05
Ease of Use
2.05
Features
2.05
What's great about it: 4.3 Inch Screen and Good Price On Sale What's not so great: Points of Interest, Searching, Map Usability
"This is my first GPS and I liked it at first. I bought it at the Cyber Monday sale price which seemed like a really good deal at the time But, the more I use it, the less I like it. The one free map download and install process took hours, even with a high speed (12MB) connection. It is not easy to zoom in and out and see an overall view of the route it has calculated for you. Sometimes it shows sidestreet names and sometimes it doesn't. Searching for Points of Interest is very frustrating. It can be extremely slow and I have already found many examples of well-established locations that it can't find and are not in the list. When using it on routes I already know, it can make some strange decisions. One day, when I was within a quarter mile of my office, it routed me almost 2 miles out of the way, trying to have me turn right when my office was on the left. I live in a major city and I still haven't gotten any benefit from the traffic feature. I can't even tell whether it works or not.
My one experience with customer service was good. The lady I spoke to was very nice and answered my questions. The unit is lightweight and starts up quickly. It occasionally has trouble locating satellites in cloudy weather.
Bottom line, I still don't trust it and can't tell if it is going to prove to be helpful in the long run. I don't know whether that will change as I use it more on trips or in locations where I am not already familiar with the best routes. I know this for sure though, I would not buy this model again if I was buying for the first time."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:No
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Review 9 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Easy to use!01/30/2010
By emoyfrom Schaumburg, IL
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Pretty easy to setup, good directions, fast at recalculating What's not so great: It gets confused underground (this is normal), it told me a wrong turn in Chicago once
"Great unit. I love the traffic feature, note you must be plugged into power to access traffic, it does not work on battery. The battery life is about 3-5 hours of constant use, if I recall correctly. I can't remember exactly what I measured.
If you have it in the car, make sure it's on the dash for like 1 minute before using it, it takes a little bit of effort to find the satellite it can not see the sky. It will find the sat eventually. This is pretty typical of GPS units I believe. you can start driving in the general correct direction while it seeks and it will eventually give you directions once it finds the signal.
The screen is nice and big and easy to read. I love the drive to point feature, I can add a bunch of addresses and make it stop at one then the next then the next. The only thing is the time estimates are horrible, I am used to using Google Maps online and printing directions, those time estimates are great!"
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 10 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Best GPS01/29/2010
By Anonymousfrom Waterford, CT
Value for Price
4.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
4.05
Features
4.05
What's great about it: It picks up on wrong turns quickly. What's not so great: It's a little difficult to figure out how to save favorites and locations. It isn't really very clear.
"I recently bought this GPS for my husband and we really love it. We have taken a few local trips with it and it has beens great. We have even taken a few wrong turns on purpose and it picks up on it right away and gives us a different route. We highly recommed the Garmin."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 11 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
4.05
Garmin 255wt01/29/2010
By dcwoody153from California
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Get's me to where I'm going What's not so great: speaker quality
"1)The unit's speaker is not clear enough at high volumes, so when you turn it up, it gets distorted. 2)It seems to always want to put me on a certain highway, instead of just giving me a direct route. 3)It seems to take awhile to acquire a satalite.
Overall, a great unit, and nice to have with you. It would just be nice if those issues were addressed."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 12 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Nice GPS01/29/2010
By UBfrom WW, RI
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Was quite easy to setup and simple to use. Plus it had a great price. What's not so great: Nothing yet!
"Picked this GPS for a gift for Christmas. It was on sale online only, what a great price, have not seen the price as low yet. Have used the GPS a few times and we are quite happy with it. Very simple to setup at the start and easy to use. Recaluculates quite quickly once you go off the original route. It has "Live Traffic Updates", great when heading into Boston. Great purchase and great find!"
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 13 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
1.05
Customer service makes cable companies look good01/28/2010
By djsbadgerfrom Bolingbrook
Value for Price
1.05
Durability
1.05
Ease of Use
1.05
Features
1.05
What's great about it: GPS seems to work ok What's not so great: Traffic, which I specifically wanted does not work.
"The basic unit seems ok, but I paid for the traffic feature and after the first week of using it, it disappeared. I've talked to their awful customer support multiple times with each call taking about 20-30 minutes. The last time, it took me 30 minutes to get through, only to have to wait another 20 minutes to get technical support. They wouldn't give me a new traffic receiver before downloading the latest map, but after the 6 hour download process (using DSL), still no traffic. Probably a decent product if you get one that works (others online have had similar problem), but the customer service is among the worst I've ever had to deal with."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:No
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Review 14 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
4.05
Use it almost daily.01/28/2010
By GIGI36from Philadelphia
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
4.05
What's great about it: easy to set up, easy to use, price What's not so great: doesn't come with USB cable, map updates take FOREVER
"I got this gps mainly for my job. I'm a social worker, and I make home visits all over the city of Philadelphia. I got tired of going online and printing out directions for all of my home visits and case openings, so I decided to get this as a X-mas gift to myself. This unit was really easy to setup. Even though there's no user manual included in the box, you truly don't need one. This unit is very intuitive, and almost anyone can figure out how to use it just from playing with it for 5-10minutes. I wish a USB cable came with it, but you can buy one easily while you're at Best Buy. I got the free map update, but it did take forever to finish downloading everything. It took about an hour and a half to complete the update. I use this GPS alot, as I make a number of visits every month to addresses in parts of the city I'm not too familiar with. I've never gotten "lost" when using my gps, and I'm sure it has saved me much time and gas. It also has shown me better routes to clients' homes that I'm already familiar with. I realized that for a few of my clients, I was not driving the quickest/shortest route. I also like to use the points of interest feature often. I spend some days out in the field making visits all day, and sometimes need to find a place to have lunch, get gas, or use the bathroom. I think this unit is best for those who want a unit to get them where they need to go, with a few nice features. If you're a real "techie", and are looking for something with tons of extra useless features, this probably would not be the best choice."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 15 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Great GPS01/27/2010
By KathyC123from Chicago
What's great about it: The screen is easy to see see and the GPS is easy to use. What's not so great: The suction mount does not always stick well, but just get the Garmin dashboard friction mount and it's great.
"I bought the Garmin friction mount and it works great with it."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 16 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
4.05
Good overall01/26/2010
By scooter186from Chicago, IL
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
4.05
Ease of Use
4.05
Features
4.05
What's great about it: User friendly, good maps and navigation What's not so great: Traffic feature and "points of interest" feature a work in progress
"This is the second GPS I have owned, but I have seen and used many.
Positives: Overall, I will say it is a good deal for the price. It includes all the standard features you would expect from a typical Garmin GPS, and it was so easy to use that we just got another one for my mom (who has never used a GPS in her life). Generally, I have found that Garmins are quicker to load and more user-friendly than any other model out there.
Negatives: 1) The traffic feature is usually about an hour behind, and therefore wrong about 75% of the time. But I'll cut them some slack because the technology is new. 2) The "points of interest" search feature seems to only work when it feels like it. I've had a hard time searching for relatively easy venues (i.e. United Center), and it usually takes more than one search to find what you're looking for. Don't expect to find any small or new businesses with it. Again, new technology but much to be improved."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 17 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Thrilled01/26/2010
By blessedbyrelivfrom Orange, CA
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Easy to set up, easy to use
"Gave to our kids for Christmas and they called to tell us it was the best gift ever. Easy to set up, easy to use, accurate. They love them!"
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 18 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Good device01/26/2010
By Shonafrom Jersey
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
5.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
4.05
What's great about it: Easy to set up, easy to understand, good directions, good battery life What's not so great: sometimes satellite connection is slow
"I like all aspects of this device - you can update it online, and the directions are concise."
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 19 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Garmin NUVI255WT01/26/2010
By BennyDfrom Dayton, OH
Value for Price
4.05
Durability
4.05
Ease of Use
4.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Provides travel routes about which I had not considered What's not so great: uploading new maps
"This is a great product. However, I have had trouble uploading the new map updates that came with it. In fact, after over an hour on the phone with the tech center (which, by the way, were excellent and spoke English), it was decided I should return the unit for a different one. The new one is working just find but I am afraid to try to update the map for fear I will have the same problem. The problem was that after about 7 seconds of uploading, the Garmin would shut off. Otherwise, I highly recommend this product"
Would you recommend this product to a friend?:Yes
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Review 20 for Garmin nüvi 255WT GPS
Customer Rating
5.05
Very good GPS for the price01/25/2010
By BSCfrom Hummelstown, PA
Value for Price
5.05
Durability
4.05
Ease of Use
5.05
Features
5.05
What's great about it: Text to speech, wide screen, lifetime traffice, low price What's not so great: nothing so far
"This is a great GPS for the price. With text to speech, widescreen, and lifetime traffic, this unit was a great value. I have been using it for a month and sofar I have not encountered any problems."
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