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Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2 in Consumer Electronics
- Size: 4.3" display
- Color: black/gray
- Brand: Garmin
- Model: 010-00575-05
- Platform: Windows
- Format: CD
- Dimensions: 2.80" h x 5.43" w x 5.43" l, 1.37 pounds
Features
- 4.3-inch widescreen touch display lets you view map detail, driving directions, photos, and more in bright, brilliant color
- Preloaded with detailed 2D and 3D City Navigator NT street maps, with over 6 million points of interest
- Voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions with spoken street names and HotFix satellite prediction
- Features Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker for hands-free calling
- NOTE: Model number on the box is 285WT because the traffic receiver is included; however, the model number on the device itself is 285W as the "T" in 285WT refers to the additional component
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description This sleek widescreen navigator takes you there with preloaded maps and turn-by-turn directions that call out streets by name. It delivers real-time local weather, traffic, movie times, stock information, gas prices, news and local events as you navigate. The 285WT provides complete maps for North America and the handy Text-to-Speech feature, so you get turn-by-turn spoken directions with the real names of streets (e.g. "turn left in 50 feet at Nebraska Way", rather than merely "turn left in 50 feet"). Like the rest of the nüvi 205-series, this portable navigator is priced right and ultra-easy to use. Stay Connected The nüvi 285WT offers MSN Direct Service and is compatible with Garmin's lifetime traffic update receiver. Enjoy 9 months of free MSN Direct Service (included) or purchase the GTM 25 and get real-time traffic updates for the life of your nüvi. Choose what's best for you. Intuitive touchscreen interface. Click to enlarge.
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 With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. Click to enlarge.
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 Pair with your compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free. Click to enlarge.
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- Free 9 month trial subscription to MSN Direct services, activation instructions provided
- MSN Direct Traffic Receiver (GDB 55) included in the box
- Extended MSN Direct service subscriptions available for purchase: 12 months for $49.95 + tax (visit MSN for further details)
Which nüvi is Best for You?
Note: All nüvis come with detailed NAVTEQ maps containing more than 6 million pre-loaded point of interest locations.Customer Reviews
I'm impressed!
The Garmin nuvi 285WT is a winner.
The case for the Garmin 285WT is sleek shiny black plastic. The
case seems very sturdy - in fact all the pieces appear to be made of
quality plastic. It comes with the power adapter for the car, and a USB
cable to hook up to your computer. (Some of the less expensive Garmins
do not come with the USB cable, which is a problem because you need a
USB cable to register the unit.)
Pros:
The unit was extremely easy to set up. Upon first use, it guides
you through set-up, which is simple. The icons on the screen are simple
and intuitive. I started using it without even reading the directions.
After the initial settings are entered, it sets about finding the
local satellites. I told it to skip that step, since I was just hooking
it up to a wall charger (sold separately) to charge the batteries. Not
only did it go ahead and find the satellites, it found them while
sitting on my kitchen table. I don't know how it did that, but it did.
There are green bars in the corner of the display showing you how many
satellites have been acquired. There it was, displaying all four green
bars after just a few minutes. That was impressive.
In the car, it locks onto the satellites extremely fast. It is much
faster to find the signals than my friend's TomTom 910. To be fair, the
TomTom is an older unit, but it was a much more expensive unit than the
Garmin 285WT to begin with.
I am using the default voice. It is extremely clear and easy to
understand. It has only messed up on one street name, as it assumed
that N Street was the same as North Street. I am not in an area where
there are street names in Spanish or other languages, so I have not had
the chance to find out how well it deals with those. The voice is much
more understandable than the voice in the TomTom 910 (I hope my friend
doesn't read this...). (The TomTom also consistently mangled Spanish
street names when we took a road trip to San Jose.)
If one drives past a turn that it has selected, the device
instantly says "Recalculating," and immediately updates the directions.
I missed a turn at night in a very dark area, (I would have had a hard
time finding the alternative route) and it didn't miss a beat.
The display is extremely legible both in bright sunlight and at
night. I had to turn the brightness down to the minimum because it was
a bit too bright at night for my taste.
The plastic suction cup holds extremely well. Be sure to take the
transparent protective film off of it before using. I have it mounted
on a Gilsson UBM Portable Car Non-Skid Friction Beanbag Dashboard Mount
for Garmin, TomTom, Magellan and more that has worked out quite well.
The 285WT comes with a feature that I really like called "Where Am
I?" It's an emergency location feature - you can tap the screen to get
your latitude and longitude. So if you get a flat tire out in the
middle of the Mohave Desert, the tow truck from Trona will be able to
find you. Assuming, of course, that tow trucks from Trona also have GPS
devices.
Cons:
It gave me bad directions one time. It was a good thing I knew the
area. Since I just got this unit, I don't know how often this sort of
thing will happen. I am willing to forgive in this instance, because it
seems to perform so well overall. (I don't know how forgiving I'd be if
I had driven miles out of my way...)
Neutral:
This model is Bluetooth. I don't have a Bluetooth phone (I know, I
know, I am using archaic technology...) so I couldn't test that
feature.
The device also comes the MSN Direct (9 months free) which I found
to be of very limited usefulness because I live in a rural area. I
mean, c'mon, around here the 4H Club pancake breakfast at the volunteer
fire department is a Big Deal, and MSN Direct is hardly going to tell
me about things like that. I also don't have traffic concerns of the
type that one would have in Los Angeles or San Francisco, for example.
I also don't know why one needs a Doppler weather display on one's GPS,
unless one is driving through Oklahoma in a thunderstorm during tornado
season. It might be great for that, who knows?
If you live in an urban area, don't get too excited about MSN
Direct, because Microsoft has already announced that they are killing
it in 2012. It was originally developed for a device called a Smart
Watch, which obviously hit the market with a big belly flop, or we'd
all have one. More information can be found on MSN Direct and the
planned demise thereof in an October 28, 2009 article at the PC World
website.
All in all, I am extremely happy with this device, and recommend it
without reservation. In fact, I am buying one for my son for Christmas.
A virtual "hands-on demo" of a great little GPS
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R33QA95VFJHMJ7
Over the years I have purchased over a dozen GPS receivers for myself
and even more as gifts for family and friends. When I got a chance to
use this new Garmin nuvi I jumped at it. Garmin is known for their ease
of use and the 285WT is no exception. With the addition of MSN Direct,
traffic and BlueTooth this is a real value in an entry to mid-level
GPS.
Garmin makes a lot of different nuvi models and understanding the
difference between them can be quite daunting. Essentially the nuvi
285WT and the 265WT are the same unit. They are both MSN compatible and
NAVTEQ FM Traffic compatible. The difference is that the 285WT comes
with the MSN receiver (with some free months, then a monthly charge
util Jan. 2012 when the service will be discontinued) and the 265WT
comes with the NAVTEQ receiver and free lifetime traffic (complete with
pop-up ads when you use it). You can buy the NAVTEQ receiver for your
285WT at any time as well as buying the MSN receiver for a 265WT.
If you are a professional driver (limo, taxi, truck, delivery or
route salesman) you might be better off with a higher end unit such as
the Garmin 1690 (it will auto-sort multiple destinations and then
provides the most direct route, lane guidance with junction view, the
nuLink service and more) or the TomTom version, the 740 Live. If this
is your first GPS, a gift for a new user or if you are upgrading from
an older model, I think that this is an excellent choice.
No GPS is perfect and even the best is dependent on third party
maps which are bound to contain some errors. Also, businesses open and
close frequently so you need to use your own common sense (and even
your sense of humor) at times. Having said this I find that having and
using one is much better than not. I seldom get lost don't need to
print out directions.
The only negatives that I found for the 285 WT is that I wish that
the screen was bigger and that the body was thinner. Magellen has these
features at this price point (and even lower). Also, I think that Lane
Assist should be standard on all newer GPS receivers. All in all though
most users would not miss these features and I recommend it for new
users and up-graders. I hope that this short video review is helpful to
you.
Garmin 010-11280-00 Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for nüvi Portable GPS
A Basic Easy-to-Use GPS Which Offers Excellent Value for Money
I recently (November 28, 2009) received this excellent Garmin nüvi
285W/285WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with
Traffic courtesy of Amazon Vine and, after using it as much as possible
to familiarize myself with it, I can report that, overall, I am very
pleased with this unit.
This is my second Garmin GPS; the first one was the GARMIN
010-00656-00 Nuvi 250W Widescreen Travel Assistant which I have been
using since December 2007. Should anyone reading this review be
interested, I refer that person to my review of the older unit.
This particular one, recently introduced, is really an incremental
update of the 250W in that it too is a "basic" unit, though it does
have more features - many of which may be useful to most people but
also a few which hold no particular interest, at least to me.
Naturally, having additional features makes operation more complex but,
fortunately, some of these can be ignored and/or disabled should the
owner so desire.
I must mention that I definitely prefer simpler units to more
complicated ones, especially when I am driving at 65MPH on a crowded
highway! I do not think that GPS units (or ANYTHING meant for use in a
moving car) should have all sorts of unneeded "bells and whistles"
which can make operation difficult, if not downright dangerous. I think
a cell phone should be a cell phone, a camera should be a camera, a
radio should be a radio -- and a GPS should be a GPS. Period. Obviously
many, many people will disagree with my preferences but, if you are one
of the few who do agree with me (and even if you don't), then I hope
that this review will be of use to you. At least you know my
perspective.
I have noticed that, when adding new features to newer models,
Garmin attempts to keep the interface similar to past ones.
Unfortunately, though well intentioned, this sometimes makes the
interfaces somewhat awkward in use as anyone who uses this new
instrument will quickly discover. I mention below the necessity of
deleting data in several separate locations (screens); this is one
disadvantage of trying to keep the older interfaces.
Now for my review: I shall first discuss some of the new features
that the 285WT has that the 250W did not which I do not like and/or do
not use.
For example, there is a new feature called ecoRoute. If you
activate the "Vehicle Profile" within this feature, the unit will
calculate your fuel costs and approximate gas mileage. Frankly, this is
of little, if any, use, in my opinion, as the data will only be a
general approximation. But when you wish to delete this data for each
trip as well as general trip data, you must do so separately within
each screen in which the data is stored (as many as three separate
screens). To delete such data in the 250W, you need delete the data -
maximum speed and mileage data - from the same screen and this is
relatively simple. Not so with the 285WT. Of course you need not
activate a "Vehicle Profile" and I recommend that, in the interest of
simplicity, that you ignore this feature. After all, of what real use
is it?
This unit also features Bluetooth. If you are one of the many
people who enjoy this feature for use with your cell phone, this will
be of value to you. But, as I do not use a Bluetooth cell phone, I have
disabled it.
I also have no interest at all in the Microsoft Network; I see no
need to have stock market reports on my GPS. Nor do I need their
traffic reports, for which you must pay $50.00 per year after the trial
period (I cannot accurately determine how long the trial period is: the
instruction manual states "3 months" but Amazon, and at least one other
review, states "9 months.") But, whatever the trial period is, I have
no interest in activating MSN Direct and I'm sure you have read in
other reviews that it is to be discontinued in 2012. And it is
certainly easy enough to get such information as it offers from a local
radio news station.
In order to use the MSN Direct, you must use the power cable which
Garmin supplies with the unit. This contains the MSN receiver. If you
use an older power cable, such as this one Garmin nüvi Vehicle Power
Cable the GPS itself will function normally but there will be no MSN.
That's fine with me - I have three of these older cables. I keep one in
each of our two cars and one in the house. (I keep the actual GPS units
in the house too when they are not in use.) I will not be using the
supplied power cable with MSN receiver with my 285WT. (I recommend that
everyone buy at least one spare cable, of whatever type, "just in
case.")
The case on my older 250W is a flat gray color. The new 285WT has a
glossy black finished case. While the glossy black is somewhat more
attractive (but really - who cares?), it shows all of your
fingerprints. The flat gray case does not do this. Thus I much prefer
the older case.
You'll certainly want to have a case for your Garmin; I recommend
this one: Garmin 4.3-Inch Carrying Case [Amazon Frustration-Free
Packaging]. You'll also want a Garmin Portable Friction Mount [Amazon
Frustration-Free Packaging]; this is a FAR better mount than the
supplied windshield-mounted suction-cup mount and, in any case, in
certain states the suction cup mount is banned by law.
I had hoped that Garmin would have improved the "Detour" function
but they have not. When driving and desiring a detour, you must touch
the Menu option at the bottom of the screen and then click on the
Detour function in the next screen. This is the same as on the 250W. I
wish that Garmin would place the Detour function button on the main
screen. That's where it belongs, in my opinion.
Okay, those are the "bad" parts. If you're still with me, I shall
now discuss the "good" parts, the improvements (and they are many and
considerable) over the 250W.
First and foremost - this new unit locks onto the satellites FAR
faster than does the older one. This is VERY noticeable and very
welcome. Three days ago, we visited some friends who live about 35
miles away; traveling to their house is my Garmin "test-bed" to see how
well it functions (the trip is convoluted). Both units take us there
flawlessly but, when restarting the 250W when we wish to "Go Home," for
some reason the 250W will not pick up the satellites until we have
driven almost one mile from their house. This is strange (because it
"knew" where we were when I turned it off) and annoying. (Of course we
know how to get home; we do not really need the Garmin - but this is a
"test.") This happens consistently, each and every time we visit these
friends.
Not so with the 285WT - as soon as I turned it on at their house,
it instantly locked onto the satellites. We were very pleased with this
performance.
I have also noticed that the 285WT consistently locks onto
satellites in my house, even with all the blinds drawn. Obviously there
is no "line-of-sight" here so this performance improvement is quite
amazing and is much improved over the 250W which rarely, if ever, locks
onto the satellites in my house (and is much slower in locking to them
even outdoors, although this is not a major disadvantage in MOST
cases).
So far, no matter where we have gone, or for how long the unit was
turned off, or where we were when we turned it back on (we were not
always at the same location as we were when we turned it off), it
almost instantly locked on to the satellites. Frankly, this is
remarkable.
I should also mention that the boot-up time on the 285WT is much quicker than on the 250W.
The next improvement I note is the virtual keyboard. You have your
choice of a QWERTY keyboard or the one ABCDE featured on the older
Garmins. The QWERTY is a vast improvement. It also features numbers as
well as letters thereby making it unnecessary to go to another screen
to enter numbers. In addition, to get to the symbols (@#$%^), you need
only go to one other screen (as opposed to two on the 250W); this is
indicated at the bottom of the Garmin's keyboard screen.
In addition to the backspace control found on the 250W (which
deletes each letter/number as you backspace), there are cursor controls
as well on the 285WT which allow you to move the cursor to whichever
point you desire and then use the backspace control to delete only the
one undesired letter and replace it with the correct one - just like on
a computer.
All in all, this is a major and welcome improvement and makes typing in addresses, etc., much more convenient.
The screen information has been somewhat improved on the 285T and
is slightly easier to read and comprehend quickly. But, while the new
unit shows the next turn (and there is a pictogram showing the turn),
the green "line" at the top no longer shows the road on which you are
traveling as it does on the 250W. It shows the next turn you must make
- even when that turn is many miles away. This is a step backwards, in
my opinion. You can see the road you're on if you wish - but you must
touch the magenta line (which shows the correct route to your
destination). I feel that the green line should show the actual road on
which you are driving until about four or five miles from your next
turn (you would be able to preview the next turn, if you wished, by
merely touching the green line which will then show you all the steps
subsequent to get to your destination); the pictogram could constantly
show the next turn (as it does now).
The 285WT shows the speed limit on the road you are using if such
data is available to Garmin. Unfortunately, it is not always accurate -
so you better read the road signs and not depend solely on this
feature. (There is a local road which, for years, has had a section of
about a half-mile in which the limit is 35MPH. When I first got the
285WT and drove on this section, it showed the limit to be 40MPH. When
I registered my unit over the internet, I was "forced" to update the
firmware and I took advantage of their free one-time map upgrade. After
doing so, I noticed that now the speed limit listed on that section was
45MPH, the same as the rest of the road! This is not good! The upgrade
made the error worse! I have seen many people pulled over on that
section of the road, the number depending, I suppose, upon just how
strapped for cash the township is. In any event, I do not think anyone
should rely on the speed limit shown on your Garmin even though most of
the time it DOES seem to be accurate.)
There is a particularly welcome new feature on the 285WT within the
Tools section; you click on the Tools icon at the bottom of the screen
(which, for reasons best known to Garmin, is now to the right of the
Volume setting instead of to the left of it, as previously). You click
on that Tools icon and, directly in the center of the following screen,
is a "Where Am I?" icon. Click on that and you will see the actual
coordinates of your location (including elevation), the nearest
address, and the nearest intersection. In addition, and most important,
there are buttons for the nearest Hospitals, Police Stations, and Fuel.
If, while driving, you touch the Vehicle icon on your screen, the
same location information is shown. (It's best to have your "co-pilot"
do this however as it is with most of the options the Garmin has.)
All in all, this is very easy to use and very welcome even if the
nearest address shown is not always "spot-on" accurate (it's close
though).
There is also, within the Tools screen, a My Data section which
features a particularly easy means of setting or changing your Home
location. This is quite useful when traveling, for instance, or, when
using the Pedestrian setting, for changing your Home to the location of
your car in a crowded shopping center. Do that and you'll never have
trouble finding your car again! (You can do that with the 250W as well
but it is quicker and easier with the 285WT.)
I have the screen brightness set to 50% (you'll find the settings
within the Display option under Color Mode), both for Daytime and for
Nighttime. Of course, after the adjustments, I set the Garmin's Color
Mode back to Auto; this changes the screen as the sun goes down. My
wife and I have found that 50% in both options works for us; your
preferences may differ.
I noticed that I had to set the Volume to 90% on my 285WT to
achieve a comfortable sound level which is easy for us to hear; the
corresponding setting on my 250W is 70%. However I am sure that this is
a sample to sample variance and you will have to experiment to find
your own desired volume level.
You have read about Text-to-Speech in which the GPS says the street
names rather than just "turn right" or "turn left" as on the 250W.
Well, at least on this unit. this feature is a bit of a mixed bag.
First, not all of the available "voice" choices feature text-to-speech
(TTS). Only some of them do - and the voices which do so may not please
you. For example, American English does not feature TTS; American
English-Samantha (TTS) does and this is what we're now using. On our
250W, we use British English, which we prefer. British English is also
an option on the 285WT but "she" doesn't feature TTS. For that, if you
want a female British voice, you must use British English-Serena (TTS)
- and "she's" awful, in both my and my wife's opinion. She speaks too
fast and none too clearly, in our opinion, especially in her
pronunciation of road names, and she sounds more "Irish" than "British"
(not that that matters much). But, for us, "she" is unpleasant sounding
and, therefore, essentially unusable. The male voices, in our limited -
thus far - experiences, are more difficult for us to understand in a
moving vehicle so, for the moment, we are staying with our American
English-Samantha (TTS) "companion." (We haven't tried any of the other
languages offered as we speak only English.)
A slight disadvantage to TTS is that, if the road name is a long
one, you could conceivably pass the turn before "she" could get it all
out! (I think that this would be a rare occurrence however.) I still
rely on reading the street names on the top green line.
Personally, I think it would be better for Garmin to offer various
voices and languages and offer the option, for ALL of them, to have TTS
on or off, as the user chooses. Perhaps some day they will be able to
implement that.
Of course all the features in the world are of absolutely no use if
the GPS doesn't take you where you want to go! In this respect, I
believe that this Garmin nüvi 285WT is as good as any on the road,
regardless of price. Is it perfect? Certainly not! As I stated in my
review of the 250W, sometimes you still have to ask! But it is as
accurate a unit as you're going to find. Thus far, in our limited
usage, we have not noticed any differences in the routes chosen by our
285WT from those chosen by our 250W. But I have a Garmin nüMaps
Lifetime North America Map Updates for our 250W and I do keep it
updated so it has the same maps as the 285WT. (I recommend this
"lifetime" option for most people though, as I have it for my 250W, I
shall not be buying it for my 285WT, at least at this time.)
I think I have covered most of the incremental changes that Garmin
has made from its 2007 model, the 250W, to its 2009 model, the 285WT. I
should think, though I do not know, that the same changes will have
been made to other new models within the 200 series. I think that, for
the most part, the operational changes are improvements.
I should like to sum up this review by repeating that I am very
pleased with the new 285WT and its performance. I have mentioned a
number of things I do not like - but do not let that dissuade anyone
from buying this GPS. The advantages GREATLY outweigh any disadvantages
and the changes from the 250W to the 285WT are, for the most part,
significant and good. And after all, NO product is "perfect" - and no
product ever will be!
And though it doesn't "run rings" around the 2-year-old 250W
(except in its much improved satellite reception), for the most part,
it has been greatly improved over its predecessor, especially in its
general ease of use (when certain "features" are disabled), and these
improvements will be especially noticeable to anyone with Garmin
experience. Within its class, this GPS represents excellent value for
money. (It's a constant source of amazement to me that Garmin can offer
such an excellent product at such a low price. And, by the way, if you
are as interested in GPS pricing as I am, you will find that the
ABSOLUTE best place to buy one of these things is right here - from
Amazon!)
I want to thank everyone who has read my review and I hope that it has been of some help.
I highly recommend this Garmin nüvi 285WT to anyone interested in a "basic" Global Positioning System device.
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