![]() ![]() I'd rate it up there with the original Tivo. The Nuvi offers an outstanding consumer experience in every possible way. I'm a proud member of the Nuvi club at last.Īfter using it for about two weeks, I feel like an idiot for waiting so long. I picked up a refurbished Nuvi 200W for $170 shipped. Prices have crashed on the Nuvi GPS models. It's amazing the difference two years can make. The laptop is unwieldy and sometimes frankly even a little dangerous as a navigation device, but people - myself included - will do crazy things to save a buck. I've sort of ignored GPS devices until now, because at $500+ I figured my laptop was "good enough." It's the same solution I relied on when I moved to California in 2005. I've used Microsoft Streets and Trips and an external USB GPS device to navigate unfamiliar areas for years. This is a good sign that Garmin's considering the overall user experience of the device, not just trying to make a housing for a satellite receiver. In addition to the GPS, the Nuvi unit includes an MP3 player, a photo vault, a currency converter, a world clock, a foreign language dictionary, and a travel guide. They've given a lot of thought to an overall package of functionality a traveler might want in a single pocket device. The Garmin Nuvi is the first GPS I've seen that meets my bar for a good user experience. Despite breaking that ground, I still felt that the TomTom product I saw came up short. From the branding to the startup sound to the UI, they had clearly thought about the product as a consumer experience. In my case, TomTom had the first GPS with that distinction. Sometimes you encounter a product and get the strong feeling its the first one in its category to really be Designed, with a capital "D". GPS units have suffered from a wide range of UI problems, such as the heavy use of jargon, awkward use of a few buttons to accomplish complex tasks (such as entering an address), and cumbersome systems for transferring maps to a device with limited memory. From time to time I've looked at the category, but beyond the flat-out magic of finding your way using satellites, I found little captivating about the products themselves. Garmin and other manufacturers have been making GPS units since the late 1980s, and during that time have continually made incremental improvements in size, form factor, performance, and UI. In early 2006, Jan Miksovsky heaped similar levels of ebullient praise on the the Nuvi: ![]() ![]() Next to the iPod it's the the best piece of consumer electronics I've purchased in the last 5 years. The Garmin Nuvi GPS first got my attention when it came not just recommended, but insanely recommended by Jason Fried in late 2005. ![]()
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