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Garmin 265WT - Anybody got one?

Art Mulder said:
I've been browsing and browsing... just yesterday I found that some models offer a "detour" option, so that if there is a slowdown on the highway it should help you route around it... That's something I'd want. But I haven't yet found a review that says how well it works.
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Art,

My tom tom does this, it's very handy. I can say 'avoid the george washington bridge' and she'll say "ok" and just plot a route right around it. A couple weeks ago, there was a 20 mile backup on the new jersey turnpike, so she took me on a tour of the backwoods. We ended up only losing about ten minutes travel time, instead of the two or three hours we would have lost in the past.

And she's *so* cheerful about it! If I miss a turn, she just smiles, recalculates, and says "Make a U-turn... and take me with you!" in that sultry voice of hers. In fact, Doorlink gets a little jealous... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Bill Lantry said:
...that sultry voice of hers. In fact, Doorlink gets a little jealous... ;)
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Let me guess... Doorlink complains about you going driving "with Heather", right? :rofl::rofl:

More seriously... Charlie's comments about the 265WT and lifetime traffic were interesting. Unfortunately, according to the navteq website, it doesn't include my city. However, it does include Toronto, which is the main headache in this area of Ontario.

Looks like you really need to keep your eyes open for features, though. Costco.ca currently has the 260W with a manufacturer's $20 discount, which puts it $45 cheaper than the 265WT. I checked it out because I thought it couldn't be that different, 260W and 265WT seem pretty close in terms of part numbers... but the 260W does NOT have the lifetime traffic from Navteq. Caveat Emptor!
 
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Hey folks, just thought I'd dig up this old thread because I discovered something funny about the Garmin 265wt just last week.

We've had this GPS since early October, and on the whole we quite enjoy it. It's gotten us around unfamiliar cities, and helped us out with other trips.
I particular I rather like the ETA number that it puts up. I was shocked at how accurate it was!

However, there is one rather nasty "gotcha" in this GPS that will snag unsuspecting motorists. Let me explain...

Last week we took the family down to Sandusky, OH, to have a mini vacation at the Kalahari Waterpark. (great fun for the family by the way, highly recommended). Living in London, the shortest distance to Sandusky is around the west end of Lake Erie. I can either cross at Detroit/Windsor or Sarnia/Port Huron.

So we hop in the car, and my wife programs the GPS and clicks "go". Calculating... Calculating... Calculating... It would hit 99% and get stuck. What was going on!? We double- and triple-checked the address, we tried a few variations on the destination (different streets in Sandusky, etc). We tried just letting it sit for fifteen minutes, no luck. Still stuck at Calculating, 99%. Finally we tried putting in our planned lunch stop in Michigan, and it gave me a route. Sort of. It told us to turn around, and head for Niagara Falls. Then it was going to route us the other way around Lake Erie, through PA, and then OH... and it basically turned a 4hr drive into an expected 8hr drive.

What !?!?

Well it cleared up when we got into MI -- I do know how to get that far without a GPS! -- and then it was well behaved from then on.
And eventually we discovered what was the problem...

We had it set to avoid toll roads.
(there is a toll highway in Toronto that we never drive on, since we find the price too high, and the alternate highway is not that horrible. But we'd set the GPS that way since it kept trying to send us down that highway when we passed Toronto.)

The Bridge to the USA in Sarnia, charges toll. So does the Bridge in Detroit. In fact, I would have bet that so did the bridges in Niagara Falls, but apparently there is at least one that doesn't.

So, any other GPS users out there , if your GPS suddenly seems to be steering you in a really weird direction, this might be why!
 
We have a Garmin Nuvi (forget the model) and I'll call it 85% satisfactory.
We just bought a Tom-Tom for our daughter. I like the visuals on the Garmin better than the TT.
But, they both work essentially the same.
Understand, the mapping service is not from the companies that make the hardware. And, the mapping is out of date. New roads often do not show up. Some very old roads (some as much as 100 years) that may not even exist anymore often do show up.
When we try to take a certain route ours will try to take us down a particular gravel road that dead ends in a half mile, right at the gate of the farm we used to own. On another it will try to send us down a jeep trail that dead ends at the White River and would be impossible to get back out of with a two wheel drive vehicle.
They are handy devices, I recommend having one. But 100% dependence on them can be very risky. Do apply common sense with what the electronic lady is telling you.
BTW, they are constantly going on sale. I wasn't able to tell the difference in features between a $650.00 model and an $89.00 one. Comparison shopping will pay.
 
Art Mulder said:
...We had it set to avoid toll roads.
...The Bridge to the USA in Sarnia, charges toll. So does the Bridge in Detroit. In fact, I would have bet that so did the bridges in Niagara Falls, but apparently there is at least one that doesn't...
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The "Peace Bridge" from Ontario into Buffalo doesn't charge a toll into the U.S. It's only tolled (about $3.50) going from U.S. into Canada.

That probably explains the GPS routing for you.
 
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