Test Drive

Well I received my Garmin 255w today. Shipped overnight. I did all the updates, registered my device, and added extra features and new icons and voices. That aspect was somewhat difficult for people who aren't too good with technology and gadgets. But for myself I got it done fairly simple. Took about an hour maybe. I have to say that having a GPS for your car or bike is VERY convenient and fun lol. The screen size is perfect, and the volume is actually quite loud and I am hearing impaired! The touch screen is very basic, therefore easy to use. You can save your home address on the device, and if you're out somewhere far just click on Where To? then Go Home and you'll get instant directions from wherever you are straight back to your home. You can transfer maps and/or directions from google maps or mapquest to your gps. So if you are in your car headed to a new place or area and you want directions just type an address it'll search and go from there, wherever you are. The signal and time it takes to display and say stuff is pretty good for me. The Points of Interest feature is handy but has flaws. We searched for Food/a place to eat, and chose Bamboo Garden, it gave us directions but the place was closed down and another business was in its place. Nothing's perfect. But overall my wife and I really like having a GPS with us. I don't regret my purchase. Oh, one more thing: You might need to buy a mini usb cable, as mine didn't come with one. Luckily I found one in my closet from an old device.

Not sure if this navigation technology is up to date

We used this for our vacation for a week in Washington DC area visiting from greater NY area. It turned out Garmin 255w was an indispensable tool for our trip. It helped us to find POI and get there in a way never possible without it. However, we find the navigation was not always perfect. I itemize the problems:

(1) Driving back from central DC to our hotel, we wanted to drop in to a grocery store. We picked a Safeway as the name was familiar to us. It gave us a weird route to get into it. It can be reproduced by turning GPS simulator on (all other examples presented in this review can be tested in this manner). Set current position to, say, the south side of National Air and Space Museum in downtown DC. Then go to POI/Shopping/Grocery and Spell Safeway. You should find one at 6300 Central Ave about 6.4 miles away. Select it and "Go". The route basically uses E Capitol St NE but in the end it goes past the Safeway, makes a right turn about two blocks away and comes back using Addison Rd S. In reality all you have to do is to turn left at the signal in front of Safeway. Because we were blindly following 255w, we completely missed this and had to do exactly what 255w told us. We tested this with Google map after we came back home. We find that Google gives an obviously more natural route.

(2) Our hotel was in Capitol Heights. Set current location to be at the intersection of Central Ave. and Hampton Park Blvd, Capitol Heights, MD. Go to POI/food/All food and spell-search for nearest Old Country Buffet using spell 'buffet'. You will find one 14.2 miles away at 9608 Fort Meade Rd. We went there. However, next day we accidentally found a nearer one, only 5.1 miles away at The Centre at Forestville, 3443 Donnell Drive, Forestville, MD 20747. Google finds this one with no problem. This location seems to be open as early as 2007 as we find a review in that year, so the older database is not an excuse.

(3) The third one is about avoiding toll roads. We know it is next to impossible to avoid all toll roads to enter New York from New Jersey, but it shouldn't be an excuse to give a complete nonsense. Set current location, say, to the intersection of Port Imperial Blvd and Baldwin Ave., Weehawken, NJ. Then from tools/settings/navigation/Avoidances, select toll roads in addition to default selections. Then from POI/transit/Ground transportation, spell grand and select Grand Central Terminal which is a mere 2.5 miles away if Lincoln tunnel is used. The result 255w gives is stunning 3319 miles, asking you to go all the way around Great Lakes passing through Kansas City, Mineapolis, Ottawa and Montreal. This is a total nonsense. Do the same in Google map, then you will be given the same route regardless of toll road setting. The only difference is that if you check 'Avoid tolls' then you will be warned that the route has tolls. Because of this I have no trust in 255w's capability to avoid tolls and use it as if it does not have this capability.


We updated the map of our 255w only a week ago, so we should have about the latest map available. Map update is not an excuse. Because routing is so fundamental to this kind of GPS, I was somewhat surprised to find the level of maturity the 255w has today. It seems so much weaker compared to Google Map.

Usually OK, but beware rural areas

I bought the Nuvi 255W in February and had no problem with it when driving the the Metro NY area. The problems started when I took it to Nova Scotia for a driving vacation. On the first morning the unit just died. I called tech support several times and was given a waiting time of over 45 minutes. Since this would have cost more in cell phone roaming fees than buying a new unit, I bought a new Nuvi 255W. The driving directions in rural Nova Scotia were quirky and downright dangerous at times. Many times the unit directed me to turn onto "unpaved (and unnamed) road" which sometimes was only a hiking trail (no, the unit was not on pedestrian setting). Even some of the named roads it chose were unpaved. I stopped trusting it altogether unless I was driving within a built up area. I would buy Garmin only if you don't plan to drive in rural areas.

USB mini cable to register product -- they don't supply

I was surprised that Garmin didn't include a mini USB cable that is needed to register their product. They want to sell you one for $15. That's my only gripe.

the quality of product

i used it not offense i just bought it for 3 weeks it seems shutdown itself that make me hate it so far i still don't know why i would like to send it back factory. i try to check battery still full. you should think too much when you need to buy refurbish product.

takes the worry out of falling

this is a good additional as a garmen accessory. easy to put up and take down. stays in place. makes it possible for both front seat people to see without straining necks. my husband says he can see a lot easier using this bean bag to put the garment on. we're 2 old people trying to make our lives easier. this little gadget filled that bill. we recommend it. it is kind of ugly, but who cares? maybe they should think of a neutral color like beige or grey or tan instead of only black. some guy is probably in charge of marketing. i don't want pink, just a few color choices.

Best Portable Mount Anywhere

This is our second Garmin Portable Mount purchase. This one was purchased as a gift along with an new Garmin 265WT for our adult daughter and spouse. We have used OUR Garmin Portable Mount for more than 2 years and have NO issues or complaints. It stays put on your dash regardless of any radical driving manuevers, and does not mar the dash surface.
Since thieves look for the permanently mounted GPS elbow or the telltale suction cup circle on the windshield to identify what cars have GPS units, the Garmin Portable mount is easily stowed in the glove box, console, or trunk.
I highly recommend the Garmin Portable Friction Mount.

Garmin Portable Friction Mount - Awesome!!!

The Garmin Portable Friction Mount is awesome. It is stable, durable, and does not slide on the dash board on turns.

Perfect

I bought this item after my suction cup mount stopped sticking. Wouldn't you know it, the day after I ordered this, the suction cup mount gave out while I was driving & dropped my gps onto the middle console of my car. It hit hard enough to break the on/off switch. Really ticked me off! Not only was my gps broken, but I was now lost downtown. Thankfully my gps unit was replaced & I immediately put its suction cup out of sight. No way will I use that again. This friction mount is perfect. It's easy to use, easy to move whenever needed, stays put, & I'm not scared of it sending my gps unit flying.

Works Like A Charm

Does exactly what it says. Stays in place. It's not plastic so it won't break. Happy I went with this one.

works As Intended Purcase the Garmin 5" Leather Case

My only complaint was I couldn't find a decent case. I rolled the dice, purchased the Garmin and it fit perfectly.

not that great but usable

I've been using an OnCourseNavigator 8 on my PDA before, so this would be the basis of my comparison. The problem with PDA is that it requires carrying around too many components (PDA, mount, GPS receiver), and without power PDA discharges the battery and loses the information after a few days even when turned off. And PDA really is not intended for the in-car use, I've had a few failures with the cables or contacts. So I've decided to get a dedicated GPS unit. I've had a pretty bad experience with my old Garmin and would never buy a Garmin product again, so this time Tomtom it is.

It turns on fast. It acquires the satellites fast (beats that old Garmin i've used for the receiver by a long way). The screen is bright and I've never had an issue with seeing it even in the bright sunlight, unlike the PDA. And obviously the 5" display is much bigger and better than 3.5" in the PDA.

There is a choice of the pre-recorded voices but only one computer-generated US English voice "Susan". People who complain that it's hard to understand are probably from places where they speak slowly. If you're from say New Jersey or Virgina, there is no problem. It's not great, I'd like it to be a lot more high-pitched and thus clearer, but it's acceptable. The pre-recorded voices aren't any better. The directions given with the pre-recorded voices and with the computer-generated voice are different. With the pre-recorded voices they suck, with computer voice they're OK and compensate for the deficiencies of the on-screen information. The volume changes with the speed, and I find it annoying. By comparison, in OCN8 the voice is much better, and the voice directions are somewhat better, even than the computer voice version, even without text-to-speech in OCN.

I don't use the 3D view since when the GPS determines an incorrect position (between tall buildings in a city, or just thinking of a parallel road, it goes crazy and unusable while the 2D view still gives the good idea. The 2D map view in Tomtom has a bunch of issues. First, almost all of the streets on it are left unlabeled. Second, there is no way to make it keep the same zoom. It rescales automatically after a little while. The zoom buttons don't work continuously, they require the repeated poking. And the map redrawing is just glacial slow. There is also no way to drag the map on the screen, zooming in and out are the only options.

There is a separate "map browse" mode where some of these issues go away: the streets get labeled, the scale stays fixed, zoom can be adjusted smoothly, and the map can be dragged. However getting into that mode takes 3 clicks. Every time it returns to the last browsed place, and getting to the GPS position takes one more click, and it doesn't track the GPS position automatically. The redrawing is still hugely slow, both on zoom and on dragging, and very annoying. OCN8 is light years ahead here.

There are multiple color modes for both day and night, all of them not that good. There is not enough contrast between the plotted route and the roads in general, especially interstates tend to be too close to it. For the day mode the best I've found is with red-brown route and greenish interstates. The night modes are all poor, with shades of the same color used for both the roads and the route. (OCN8 day mode is even worse but I use it always in the night mode with the roads blue and the route bright white).

The routing is OK, about the same in Tomtom and OCN, both of them sometimes looking strange if you know the area. The route summary is much better in Tomtom, since it includes the interstate exit numbers. The driving instruction display is better in OCN, since it shows two steps ahead, not just one, but with the computer voice Tomtom at least tells the second step vocally. I still haven't found a way to adjust the route manually in Tomtom. In OCN it's a little awkward but doable and obvious.

The battery life is not that good, about 90 minutes or so. The user-friendliness of setup is great, giving the explanations at just the right time during the initial setup.

the map is really bad

I bought this GPS a month ago. The screen is good, as well as personlized settings. However, the map, which is a key point for a GPS, is not good at all. I could not find my destinations no matter which way I searched them. This situation happened quite offen. I think that's why this 5 inch screen GPS is so cheap. Money never goes to the wrong way.

This is an awesome GPS with ew cons

Pros: most of the things described in the item description is upto the mark. However i has no option to expand the memory. the unit i got has a bug in it. the desciption of the bug is as follow. If i set a owner name in GPS and turn off and then turn on it starts but hangs on on the page showing this belongs to "Owner's name" and stucks there/ of u press continue on that page it does not go anywhere so the GPS stops there. then u have to connect to a pc with tom tom home and rest the owner. then it works

Disappointed In Texas

I just received my 540s and was very excited to see it work. I first signed up for TomTom home, in order to make sure I had the latest updates. Unfortunately one of the downloads failed and continues to fail. I've done all the troubleshooting that they tell you to, but alas nothing worked. I am thinking of sending it back before I even take it out for a ride. I feel that if it's all ready not downloading all the miniscule updates, what can of problems will I have in the future. It's too bad, I really like the unit and the ease at which I can use it. This is my first GPS and I was leaning more towards the Garmin Nuvi 265W 4.3" Widescreen Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigator w/ City Navigator NT North America, but choose this one even though it did not have an expansion slot. Think I will be returning and getting the other.

Test Drive

Well I received my Garmin 255w today. Shipped overnight. I did all the updates, registered my device, and added extra features and new icons and voices. That aspect was somewhat difficult for people who aren't too good with technology and gadgets. But for myself I got it done fairly simple. Took about an hour maybe. I have to say that having a GPS for your car or bike is VERY convenient and fun lol. The screen size is perfect, and the volume is actually quite loud and I am hearing impaired! The touch screen is very basic, therefore easy to use. You can save your home address on the device, and if you're out somewhere far just click on Where To? then Go Home and you'll get instant directions from wherever you are straight back to your home. You can transfer maps and/or directions from google maps or mapquest to your gps. So if you are in your car headed to a new place or area and you want directions just type an address it'll search and go from there, wherever you are. The signal and time it takes to display and say stuff is pretty good for me. The Points of Interest feature is handy but has flaws. We searched for Food/a place to eat, and chose Bamboo Garden, it gave us directions but the place was closed down and another business was in its place. Nothing's perfect. But overall my wife and I really like having a GPS with us. I don't regret my purchase. Oh, one more thing: You might need to buy a mini usb cable, as mine didn't come with one. Luckily I found one in my closet from an old device.

Not sure if this navigation technology is up to date

We used this for our vacation for a week in Washington DC area visiting from greater NY area. It turned out Garmin 255w was an indispensable tool for our trip. It helped us to find POI and get there in a way never possible without it. However, we find the navigation was not always perfect. I itemize the problems:

(1) Driving back from central DC to our hotel, we wanted to drop in to a grocery store. We picked a Safeway as the name was familiar to us. It gave us a weird route to get into it. It can be reproduced by turning GPS simulator on (all other examples presented in this review can be tested in this manner). Set current position to, say, the south side of National Air and Space Museum in downtown DC. Then go to POI/Shopping/Grocery and Spell Safeway. You should find one at 6300 Central Ave about 6.4 miles away. Select it and "Go". The route basically uses E Capitol St NE but in the end it goes past the Safeway, makes a right turn about two blocks away and comes back using Addison Rd S. In reality all you have to do is to turn left at the signal in front of Safeway. Because we were blindly following 255w, we completely missed this and had to do exactly what 255w told us. We tested this with Google map after we came back home. We find that Google gives an obviously more natural route.

(2) Our hotel was in Capitol Heights. Set current location to be at the intersection of Central Ave. and Hampton Park Blvd, Capitol Heights, MD. Go to POI/food/All food and spell-search for nearest Old Country Buffet using spell 'buffet'. You will find one 14.2 miles away at 9608 Fort Meade Rd. We went there. However, next day we accidentally found a nearer one, only 5.1 miles away at The Centre at Forestville, 3443 Donnell Drive, Forestville, MD 20747. Google finds this one with no problem. This location seems to be open as early as 2007 as we find a review in that year, so the older database is not an excuse.

(3) The third one is about avoiding toll roads. We know it is next to impossible to avoid all toll roads to enter New York from New Jersey, but it shouldn't be an excuse to give a complete nonsense. Set current location, say, to the intersection of Port Imperial Blvd and Baldwin Ave., Weehawken, NJ. Then from tools/settings/navigation/Avoidances, select toll roads in addition to default selections. Then from POI/transit/Ground transportation, spell grand and select Grand Central Terminal which is a mere 2.5 miles away if Lincoln tunnel is used. The result 255w gives is stunning 3319 miles, asking you to go all the way around Great Lakes passing through Kansas City, Mineapolis, Ottawa and Montreal. This is a total nonsense. Do the same in Google map, then you will be given the same route regardless of toll road setting. The only difference is that if you check 'Avoid tolls' then you will be warned that the route has tolls. Because of this I have no trust in 255w's capability to avoid tolls and use it as if it does not have this capability.


We updated the map of our 255w only a week ago, so we should have about the latest map available. Map update is not an excuse. Because routing is so fundamental to this kind of GPS, I was somewhat surprised to find the level of maturity the 255w has today. It seems so much weaker compared to Google Map.

Usually OK, but beware rural areas

I bought the Nuvi 255W in February and had no problem with it when driving the the Metro NY area. The problems started when I took it to Nova Scotia for a driving vacation. On the first morning the unit just died. I called tech support several times and was given a waiting time of over 45 minutes. Since this would have cost more in cell phone roaming fees than buying a new unit, I bought a new Nuvi 255W. The driving directions in rural Nova Scotia were quirky and downright dangerous at times. Many times the unit directed me to turn onto "unpaved (and unnamed) road" which sometimes was only a hiking trail (no, the unit was not on pedestrian setting). Even some of the named roads it chose were unpaved. I stopped trusting it altogether unless I was driving within a built up area. I would buy Garmin only if you don't plan to drive in rural areas.

USB mini cable to register product -- they don't supply

I was surprised that Garmin didn't include a mini USB cable that is needed to register their product. They want to sell you one for $15. That's my only gripe.

the quality of product

i used it not offense i just bought it for 3 weeks it seems shutdown itself that make me hate it so far i still don't know why i would like to send it back factory. i try to check battery still full. you should think too much when you need to buy refurbish product.

Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic

I bought this product as I was planning for my road trip to Canada. This product was very useful during my trip. As I was travelling with little one, I have to make some unscheduled stops but GPS was able to put me back on track without any mistake.

Free traffic information was useful but not accurate enough. Now having so many free traffic information websites and resources available, there is definitely room for improvement in that area.

Routing overall takes you to the destination but sometime those are questionable. Bottom line I did not get lost may have burned more gas :-) It could be good to have a feature where you can navigate the whole route map. As of now you can zoom in and out.

Overall, this product is user friendly, easy to configure, POI works great. It is very easy to mount on windshield. Traffic information is good to have. Re-routing calculation is fast and quick. I like this product by having the peace of mind, no matter were you are going.

Good value for the Money

Got the 265WT two weeks ago. It worked well on my road trip to Maine. Picked up satellites quickly. Routing was fairly quick and traffic information was helpful. One issue involves updating the information on the points of interest function. We found a few of the points of interest were either closed or no longer exist. After my purchase I did see that Garmin started providing the traffic function on one of the lower models (255, I believe) and would have considered that model if I had seen it at that time which is 20 - 30 dollars cheaper.

Nuvi is great

For general use, Nuvi is great. The traffic is not super accurate, but you can't expect it to know about a crash within 5 minutes of it occuring. But the yellow, orange, and red color coding is a bit inconsistant in the metro Atlanta area.
The screen can be hard to see in harsh sunlight and also with polorized sunglasses.

love it

I live in the DFW metroplex, and this thing will route me around traffic. This has saved me HOURS by routing me around wrecks. I love this thing.

Simply the best GPS that I have

We have two 265t and like them over my other GPSs by different brands. Now, I got the 265wt with a larger 4.3 lcd for my wife. She really likes and enjoys using it. These Garmin 265's are simply the best GPS at this price.

Excellent quality...

The item is durable and looks good. It blends in well and stays where you want it while driving down the road.

Stable Dashboard Mount

I was slightly skeptical about the TomTom GPS Dashboard Mount, since other reviewers reported that it slides off the dash. That may be why it now comes with an adhesive tab that sticks to the dash; a hook grips a loop on the mount. I did not use this feature since I want to be able to move the GPS between cars.
We used the TomTom Dashboard Mount (w/o the adehesive) on a Philadelphia to Chicago trip. Positioned on the dash of our Traverse it did not budge at all during the trip. Worked fine.

Not worth the price

Do not waste your money on this product. The Tom Tom does not adhere to the mount and keeps falling off.

It works

Got this with a new TomTom GPS. I was dubious at first but after using it several times on long trips...it works! Sits right on the dash so it insn't blocking your windshield view. It does have a real "funky" saftey hook that has to be permanently afixed to the dashboard, which I don't care much for. Other than that, can't complain.

Fine Product

Holds GPS on dashboard of Toyota Camry in 90+-degree heat. Just what I wanted & expected. No more falls off of windshield in heat.

Undecided but returning unit

I ordered this unit to replace my Beltronics Vector 940. I had that unit for many years but dropped it on the ground and sadly that was the end of that.
I was ready for another Bel but after reading some on-line reviews I decided to go with the Whistler mostly due to the better test results of Ka band detection around curves, not to mention the additional features such as electronic compass and display options.
Packaging: Not that it necessarily matters much but this unit came in a plastic bubble or blister package. The Bel came in a nice box that had a certain quality about it that was lacking with the Whistler packaging. I guess the Whistler was packaged to be more retail store friendly.
Accessories: The unit came with your basic cord, suction mount (adjustable by way of bending the metal), and a small folded 'manual'. The Bel came with extra fuses, power cord clips, and an adjustable suction mount. The Bel also came with a full size 'book'-style user guide.
Construction: The XTR-695 is kind of big. The plastic has somewhat of a cheap feel to it. This is not cell phone quality construction but more 'cheap radio' quality. On-line photos of this unit do not really convey the true look. It's not horrible but it is huge and the headphone jack and other external features don't have a quality feel to them. The headphone jack does not look like it will take a standard mp3 player type headphone plug. I will give the Whislter a 'C' on fit and finish.
Display: The display is nice but a little short (the case is so big the display could have been a little longer). The tower LEDs are great but at night they light up the interior of your car like a disco - you HAVE to disable them at night or you'll be a cop magnet. Yes radar detectors are legal in most states but you don't need a cop nabbing you for something he may have let you go on initially but has changed his mind because you are using a radar detector.
In the daytime the display can be hard to see. Adjusting the backlighting color helps with this. The maximum brightness level just isn't quite bright enough. The Bel had a 'recessed' display so the housing extended out a little further then the display, creating a visor effect which was very useful in daytime driving. I could be wrong with my terminology but the Bel had a LED display while the Whislter seems to have a LCD display. Whatever they are called I will take the Bel type display over the Whistler. The multi-colors of the Whistler are nice but what matters most is being able to read the display, not how cool it looks.
Controls: I found the controls to be laid out ok. I don't like the fact that you have to press the menu button 18 times to get to a certain setting, such as the 'tower LED disable' option. A really useful feature would have been a dedicated 'display' button to cycle through presets of different display settings.
Features: I like the auto power on feature but with my Subaru Wrx I turn the key to 'on' and I pause to let the fuel pump do its thing for 4 seconds, then I start the engine. This causes the Whistler to come on, then switch off and back on again. Not a huge issue but more of an FYI. I'm sure it won't hurt the unit.
The power on self test is cool but also sounds like an 80's video game. The quality of sound and voice is good.
The compass is a nice feature even if it just gives you something to look at other then 'Highway' or whatever most other brands' units display when not reporting detection.
The Battery Voltage meter is also cool but I dont know how often anybody would use this. A nice option would be to have a choice to set the unit to auto-cycle through compass, voltage, etc. but its' not a big deal.
Performance: Let me tell you I was initially impressed with detection. The first night I installed the unit I test drove it in my small town. It picked up X band 3 times and each time it gave me advanced notice of oncoming police cars (they left their radar guns on apparently). It also picked up Ka band in the next town over; it wasn't until I was on top of the police car but he was facing east as I was driving north so I didn't feel that it missed...it may have been his direction or he may have waited until I was close to turn on his unit.
The next several days told a different story. Traveling to work up a major highway I saw no police cars and had no falsing from the Whistler. On the way out of state it was pretty much the same until I hit a city area and it picked up some false signals. This is expected so it was tolerable. Switching the unit to City mode didn't stop the falsing as far as I could tell. Also, there are several 'city' modes but I just wanted to be able to hit one button. This is important and should have been built into the unit.
The longer I use the Whistler the more disappointed I become. The more highway driving I do the more I scratch my head. The unit falses during highway driving on X and K band often and maybe even Ka band (it alerts for Ka but I have yet to find the police car and believe me I know where they hide as I have been taking this route to work for 10 years). X and K are easy to dismiss as interference from alarms or other detectors (this is supposedly filtered out by the Whistler) but when Ka band alerts you find yourself visually scanning for a police car that never appears.
This kind of device behavior leads to the bad habit of ignoring alerts and leaving you with the potential for a ticket. I don't know if its that the unit is so sensitive that it picks up radar guns from 'too far' away or if its simply not doing well in my area. A lot of times it will alert me of 'PULSE' radar but again police cars are nowhere to be found. At some point it all becomes too much information and/or too much false information.
Driving in some small towns the XTR-695 will go through X band, K band, then pulse, all false signals and the unit will do this even after switching to City mode.

In trying to engineer a unit with multiple features and options it is my opinion that Whistler failed to just keep it simple. The Bel unit I used to own had a techie mode for those folks that wanted to see the detected frequency and other 'techie' items, perhaps Whistler needs to provide this option.
The positive reviews of this unit on certain radar-detector focused web sites really has me confused. It could be that Whislter for so long had been the lower end or cheap brand when it came to radar detectors so when Whistler finally released a unit with decent design, ok quality, and "better then before" detection, people gave it higher marks then earned. I now am even more curious as to how this unit fetches such a high retail price that is so close the the Beltronics 940/955 units. While I am returning this unit I now do not know what to expect from Bel so I do not know if I should even go with a new Bel detector.
Summary: In closing I would say I cannot recommend this unit. Sure it was great at detecting the old X band guns the police in my town use but that's nearly useless...I already know my town and know not to even go 3 miles per hour over the 25mph speed limit.
To be fair I have not owned this unit long enough to truly rate Ka band detection during 'wide open' highway driving. It could be that this unit excells on open highways and will work perfectly in that scenario. Also many state police officers 'know better' and only turn their guns on when they see their potential target coming. I'll give this unit the benefit of doubt and say that it may work just fine at detecting Ka band.
My problem is there is so much falsing I actually started to wonder if the 100 degree temperatures here in the Northeast have something to do with the units falsing.
And so I am returning the unit to Amazon for a refund not for any specific reason but because while the XTR-695 may be a good solution for others it is not for me. The combination of the Whistler's cheap feel, falsing, and spotty detection, all influenced my decision.
And by the way, Amazon should really consider packing their electronics orders with more then one sheet of packing bubble. The contents of the shipping carton tend to slide, bounce, and/or roll around during shipping and this cannot be too kind to the item, especially electronic items.

Whistler XTR-695 is only adequate

I purchased this unit based upon several reliable on-line reviews for its accuracy and comparisons to other competing brands in the same price range. My experience in use, is that its performance is only adequate. I get false alerts from other stationary sources like microwave/cellphone towers and commercial building alarm systems. Recently, while driving, I passed a motorcycle patrolman and my laser alert warning did not activate until I was practically on top of him. I am finding that the laser alert function is functionally useless. I tried to save some money by buying a mid-range product rather than the high-end stuff and I got what I paid for -- mid-range performance.

Works well

This thing works really well. After driving for 2 weeks with this nice little cops detectors I can tell that in Utah most highway patrol cops use radars with a frequency 34.7 GHz and 35.5 Ghz, sometimes I can see 34.9 or 34.3 GHZ. Some State troopers use K band only radars and this guy will tell you what it is. Basically, I got a ticket from a state trooper for 230$ and decided it's time for to know where they're hiding. This radar detector spotted an evil Dodge of local highway patrol behind the bridge where he was hiding. No way I'd see him. On Friday nights Highway patrols are all over the place, last week of a month the same thing.This detectors keeps me in check all the time and I've avoided many tickets since and it'd paid off its cost. 4 stars cos it gives false signals on X band(like all others do) and sometimes screams on K and KA band also false. But guys, don't be fooled if you pass a highway patrol car on the road that just pulled someone over and it doesn't go off, it doesn't go off because at the moment that cop pulled someone over he fixes his speed and his radar is not working anymore. Also don't be fooled when it doesn't go off when a police car drives behind you, not all police cars have speed radars, cos they're not highway patrol! So don't expect it to go off near 911 police or some detective.. Hope you drive safe and never get a ticket.

good radar detector

my third whistler. so far, no complaints, works fine. sometimes goes into a fit with no obvious targets in sight, might be responding to other radar detectors?

Great Fuzzbuster

I was looking at the Bell's but when I seen all the extra features the Whistler has and it was $60 cheaper, it was a no brainer. Sine receiving the Whistler I have not been disappointed in it's performance. It's a great fuzz-buster!

Garmin nuvi 855 is a DISCONTINUED product...

...but it wasn't when I ordered it 4 days ago! Still debating to send it back if the price drops alot.

Faulty Product

Do NOT purchase this Garmin product. I previously had a Garmin 250W and LOVED it. But the price is so low on this model because it's apparently hit or miss on weather it will actually function. The one I received powers off as soon as the voice tries to speak the first direction. Does NOT function. Will be returned immediately.

Best GPS on the Market

With all the negative reviews, I was a bit apprehensive. Glad to report that I couldn't be happier. The volume is fine, snappy response even with map at maximum detail, no lockups, the voice recognition is excellent, the FM transmitter works great and crystal clear (have a rear antenna on my 2003 Cadillac), and no problem updating the system software and downloading the free 2011 map update. I would normally go with a refurbished unit but spent about $10.00 more to purchase at Walmart online for a faster return if needed. This 855 has everything that I wanted and at a great price. Didn't want bluetooth or traffic reports (traffic available if needed). Buy this unit.

For those that have a problem with the volume, there is an easy fix. Simply download the free "TTSVoiceEditor" at [...]

Open the "jack.vpm" or "jill.vpm" file in the "Voice" folder on your computer connected 855 unit. Increase the volume to "99" from the default of "65" and save the file back to the "Voice" directory and you are done. Don't forget to save a copy of the original in case you want to change back or the unlikely event that you make a mistake.

You can also doubleclick on any of the default voice prompts and change them to anything you want. Changed "drive to highlighted route" to "we are off to see the wizard".

Since I love wife jokes, I changed the "recalculating" prompt to "Linda must be driving, recalculating". Change to 2 spaces to get rid of the word entirely. The unit will just start giving you new directions without saying "recalculating".

regret it!

The internal speaker in my old Garmin Nuvi 350 was dying and I decided to replace it. I saw this one with a good pricing and many new features! I used it couple of times during a 600 mile drive and everytime I ended up following just road signs! Even though the navigation settings were identical as my previous Garmin GPS, when both were simultaneously used, I realized the new one gave a much longer distance route!!! It has a very slow response time meaning was missing turns! To add to the troubles, it freezes in the middle and I had to pullover twice on the highway to reset it! This should be taken off the market- it is dangerous!

garmin 855

Was suprised at the ease of which this navigator worked. As with every thing new once getting use to how it communicated with you it became a blessing on the last 3000 mile trip I just made.

Not for Garmin 800 series

From sitting in a hot car the glue has on several occasions started to melt and stick to my Navigation unit. It is difficult use the case with my Garmin 855 because the fit is too snug.

Great Carrying Case

This is a great carrying case that you don't have to mess with zippers. Unit fits nice and snug and is easy for my wife to carry in her purse. Carry it with you and avoid having it stollen like the last one.

Basic carrying case not recommended for Garmin 855

The basic case, as suggested by Amazon, is not a good choice for th Garmin 855 GPS.
The case is too tight and frequently will turn itself on while struggoing with the fit.
If left in the case for a few days, it is almost impossible to remove.

Garmin 1300 GPS and the case

A review that is short and sweet:

* The case is a perfect fit for my Garmin nüvi 1300 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator.

* The price for the case was righteous.

* The quality of construction is excellent.

Another AmazonBasics excellent value!

Perfect fit for Garmin nüvi 765/765T

Every AmazonBasics product I have gotten has been excellent quality, and this is another example of a quality basic product.

The faux-leather exterior seems reasonably durable, pliable, and low odor. The interior is soft and scratch free and may help remove fingerprints as the device is put in and taken out.

I don't see much use for the "pocket", it is too small and tight to get much in there.

Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging doesn't always make a great gift box but is my preference for low waste and easy opening.

Not the best one out there

I think it is time to buy a new unit. I Connected unit to satellites OK. Changed home and voice settings OK. Screen menus very intuitive. My most significant probolem came when I registered the thing. Had to download software. OK. Then they suggested a map update (good for 60-90 days from purchase). My mistake was when I went for the upgrade. Since then I've spent about seven hours on the computer, all downloads "successful", mymaps says all's OK, but my little garmin says "No detailed maps found that can support routing". Thank you, that's why I bought it. I've tried everything, it doesn't work any more. When I try to send Garmin an email inquiry, it won't send it because my "browser is not supported." I bought this computer in Feb of 98. What's for Safari not being "supported"? I have to wait for the service M-F in the morning.- so I have to lose work to get support? Thanks I've been using computers for 8 years. Can't recommend this model. And Garmin gets a big F for support. I thought it was sweet as the voice accompanied me to work.

Bad luck?

I purchased my Nuvi 205w on May 12, 2010 from Amazon. Everything was great, price, shipping, etc, however, this review is not about the service, but the product.
I knew this was a super basic product, but all I was looking for was simply a moving map that let me know how and where I'm going.
Sadly, after 1 week of excitement putting my tomtom in the drawer, Nuvi had failed me with a common problem that many customers had addressed: Freezing at start up.
This Nuvi 205W had frozen at "load map" at least 15 times over the past 3 months of usage. What it means is, usually when you turn it on, the system requires the GPS to load the maps on the device, and after the maps are loaded, the GPS will show the menu and start looking for a signal. However, on this Nuvi, it's either loading the map forever, or it just turns itself off after the map is loaded(after the loading bar is full).
And that wasn't the end of it. According to the support, I should be able to back-up my GPS if this happens, so after I do a hard-reset, I can import the back-up back to the device. So I tried and tried with my Mac and my PC, but evidently it didn't like my computers. Not only it was dead silence, it stayed on the "load map" section and never went on. So I decided to just do hard reset every time and erase all the data on it since connecting it to my mac/pc did not help at all.
Last but not least, starting a month ago it wouldn't even allow me to do a hard reset anymore, so now I have a GPS that won't even turn on. And since I had to go out of country for a while, I didn't bother to have to deal with it.

I definitely didn't expect to pay about 100+ dollars to have a nice looking black screen suck to my windshield. I realized it has passed the return date on Amazon, so I contacted Garmin's support agents, and hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

Maybe it was just my bad luck. After all this is an item I've been looking at for a few months before finally decided to get it, which has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon... I guess for now I'll stick to my Tomtom which saved my life the first time that Nuvi backed on me.

Garmin 205W

Easy to use for basic directions. However, it can be rather annoying if you decide to take your own route. The nuvi will attempt, many times, to turn you around so you can follow it's chosen route.

great product for great price

dad bought one so i already know what i was getting i am writing this even before i recieved it from amazon. come on 99 dollars for a garmin that is 4.3 inchs square what a deal, it even tells you the speed limit on most road frickin awsome

Not bad, but gets lost

The Garmin nuvi 205W works well enough, but it does occassionally get lost. Actually not lost, just sometimes picks the wrong way and has to correct itself. We were in Bosaton, and it constantly had to "recalclulate" because the confusing streets in Boston kept screwing us up (me and the machine). Also I was under the impression that it had Canadian maps, it does not...my oversite, not a fault of the machine. Over all it's OK, but Id suggest spending a bit more and getting one with more maps and voice announce for street names...

It Works!

It does what it was made for! If it doesn't I hope you dont reproduce!!!

Well made functional case for your Nuvi

Nothing fancy, but well made, and well padded case to protect your Nuvi, it fits perfectly.

Nuvi 3970T Leather protective case

They gotta be kidding advertising that this is a custom case for the 3970T. The Nuvi is a very thin unit. Put it into this case and it falls right out! Not what you want with a $445. gps! Don't throw your money away on this case.

ok product

protects my garmin but if you don't put it in right it will turn on the switch

Excellent for the Nuvi 660

I actually got this bundled with my Nuvi 660. I was initially concerned that the fit was too tight, but over time, the case quickly adapted to the unit and the unit can be slipped in and out with ease, and without slipping out on its own.

Pros:
1. Excellent quality, fit and finish; minimalist design
2. Nuvi 660 will not slip out on its own, but very easy to slip the unit in or out manually
3. Inner padding is soft and will not scratch

Cons:
1. Has a pocket that is unusable for all practical purposes; it fits the unit like a glove and there's no space to squeeze anything in there

The case does not have any extra features; no belt loop or straps or other pockets. This doesn't bother me since I've never had any reason to carry my auto gps unit on my person. I've only needed to throw it into glove box in the car or into my backpack while travelling. For these purposes, this case works great.

Garmin nüvi 265W/265WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic

I bought this product as I was planning for my road trip to Canada. This product was very useful during my trip. As I was travelling with little one, I have to make some unscheduled stops but GPS was able to put me back on track without any mistake.

Free traffic information was useful but not accurate enough. Now having so many free traffic information websites and resources available, there is definitely room for improvement in that area.

Routing overall takes you to the destination but sometime those are questionable. Bottom line I did not get lost may have burned more gas :-) It could be good to have a feature where you can navigate the whole route map. As of now you can zoom in and out.

Overall, this product is user friendly, easy to configure, POI works great. It is very easy to mount on windshield. Traffic information is good to have. Re-routing calculation is fast and quick. I like this product by having the peace of mind, no matter were you are going.

Good value for the Money

Got the 265WT two weeks ago. It worked well on my road trip to Maine. Picked up satellites quickly. Routing was fairly quick and traffic information was helpful. One issue involves updating the information on the points of interest function. We found a few of the points of interest were either closed or no longer exist. After my purchase I did see that Garmin started providing the traffic function on one of the lower models (255, I believe) and would have considered that model if I had seen it at that time which is 20 - 30 dollars cheaper.

Nuvi is great

For general use, Nuvi is great. The traffic is not super accurate, but you can't expect it to know about a crash within 5 minutes of it occuring. But the yellow, orange, and red color coding is a bit inconsistant in the metro Atlanta area.
The screen can be hard to see in harsh sunlight and also with polorized sunglasses.

love it

I live in the DFW metroplex, and this thing will route me around traffic. This has saved me HOURS by routing me around wrecks. I love this thing.

Simply the best GPS that I have

We have two 265t and like them over my other GPSs by different brands. Now, I got the 265wt with a larger 4.3 lcd for my wife. She really likes and enjoys using it. These Garmin 265's are simply the best GPS at this price.

Not quite as Advertised.

Purchased this recently after seeing my father-in-law's TomTom 540TM.

According to TomTom's web pages and description, this device was supposed to be similar to the 540 besides the screen size, which was ok with me. However, I've found that it isn't quite what is advertised. The first problem is in the lane assist features. The Tom-Tom web page suggests that this device will show a nice graphic at interchanges illustrating what lanes to be in. I've seen this feature work as shown on their web page on the 540 my father-in-law has, but it does not work like that on the 335. Instead, the 335 has some basic arrows that show up under the main graphics in either blue or white to illustrate what lanes to be in and what lanes you shouldn't be in. While this is ok as a passenger, it is difficult to see while driving and trying to keep an eye on the road. Fortunately, the voice queues do a decent job of keeping you in the correct lanes.

The map downloads and traffic feature do seem to work well on this device. I am not a fan of how their map download works since they have you download the full map, when it would be much more effective to provide updates for only those things that have changed. Downloading ~2GB in one file is not as straight forward as it sounds and it took 4 times to get a successful download (files were corrupt the previous tries). The traffic feature is quite useful, although its estimates of delays aren't very accurate. That is probably to be expected since traffic is often dynamic and ever changing. It is nice that at least I know it is coming up.

I do like a lot of the features in the Tom Tom. The directions are quite accurate, and they do a good job of giving advanced notice of when to make turns. I find that when I deviate from the projected route that the Tom Tom does a fairly decent job of updating the route. However, there have been a couple of occasions where I have deviated from a route to have the Tom Tom suggest an alternative that was clearly bad in an effort to get me back to the original route. In each case, prolonged neglect of the directions resulted in the Tom Tom asking whether I wanted to change my route, which I found odd... Most of the time it just changes it.

I do find the points of interest and itinerary features nice. The points of interest allow me to find a close by gas station or restaurant and with experimentation one can navigate to such a place without deviating from the ultimate goal. The only problem I've had is that in searching for a POI, the distance can get a bit deceiving as it isn't always given for the location you are currently at but rather from where you are searching relative to. An example is that I was driving through the bay area north of San Francisco, CA (Santa Rosa area) and looking for a restaurant in the Santa Rosa area. When I search by name relative to where I was at, no results were returned, which is fine. Instead I chose to search relative to a city. The result showed the restaurant to be 10 miles, but it was actually 10 miles from that city, which ended up being 20 miles from where I was at (when I was 10 miles from that city to begin with). While it wasn't a big deal, I feel like the results should show the distance relative to where the GPS is at either instead of or in addition to relative to the location searched.

Last, the voice directions are not bad, but they aren't great either. Only the computer voices give directions that include street and city names, which can be essential when you are in an urban area and you are counting on audio since looking at the screen can be distracting. The problem is that living in California and using the default computer voice has it doing a less than perfect job at pronouncing items. While it picks up some details in pronouncing Spanish based words (San Jose is done decently), it does a horrible job for other Spanish based words (San Francisco, San Jose). Interestingly enough, if I download the UK based computer voice, the pronunciation improves quite a bit. That is probably something any Tom Tom user should consider if they are having that problem. The only problem with the UK based voice is that distances are given in Yards once you are down under a mile from a direction as opposed to fractions of a mile. It isn't a big deal, but when you are used to 1/2, 1/4, etc of a mile, it can be a bit confusing. I've adjusted as I'd rather hear my cities and streets pronounced correctly than the distances.

Overall, the device is decent, although I will say that the "deal of the day" value made it better than full price would have. I do find that many of the features are good and that as long as Tom Tom stays with the basic operations, I'll buy one in the future when I finally need an upgrade.

Very dissatisfied, gets you to the general area , not a specific address.

The unit is inaccurate. When it tells you that you have arrived at your destination (i.e. an address with street and number) you may still be a distance away from it and you have to physically hunt for it. My previous unit was an older Garmin and it pinpointed the destination with a statement such as "you have arrived at your destination on the right". My 335 may dump me at the end of the street instead of the actual address or some distance before the actual address. Then you have to start searching business names or house numbers until you find it, maybe a quarter mile away. Maybe I've just been spoiled by my previous Garmin.

Watch out . . . not an honorable company - I would not buy again

I purchased two 355 TM's directly from Amazon. One was DOA, the flash memory was defective. I was unable to update it with the current software release and maps. When I contracted TomTom they first offered to replace it with a refurbished unit. I said that was unacceptable, this was a new unit and I wanted it replace with a new unit. After 45 minutes I finally got a supervisors approval to replace it with a new unit. (every time I called it took at least one hour to conduct my business). When the replacement arrived it was a less expensive 340-S unit. (fewer features - no lifetime maps, no traffic updates) I called and complained after 45 minutes, a supervisor agreed I had been promised a new 355 TM unit, it was in the notes, but all they were going to do was replace it with the 340-S. no matter what I said, that was all they were going to do. I GOT SCR***D. From my experience this is a disreputable company STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

Pretty good, but room for improvement

I've been testing this out for about a month, and for the most part, I really like it. Any time I've entered an address, it led me right where I needed to go and gave easy-to-follow instructions. I've come up with quite a few things that bother me about this device, which is why I didn't give it a higher rating. But the fact that it has not yet led me astray is the most important thing and why I didn't give it a lower rating.

These are the strikes: It doesn't say right or left at the destination. One of the few times I used it to navigate to someplace unfamiliar, it said "You have arrived at your destination" in the middle of a busy street with office buildings on both sides. I needed one of those buildings and didn't know which way to turn. One more right or left would have been very helpful.

The "manual" basically tells you how to turn the thing on and that's it. Most of the features and settings need to be discovered. If you're a jump right in sort of person, this isn't a big deal, but I like to read what something is capable of before I start using it.

While it navigates to an entered address without a problem, I have noticed that many locations are not on its map. It lets you search for "points of interest" like restaurants and gas stations, but is missing some. I have found at least one local restaurant not listed and when I searched for local parks, it listed only one of at least half a dozen in our area.

Free Maps and Traffic sealed the deal

I upgraded from a low end Nexstar and was going to pull the trigger on a Garmin, but I couldn't pass up the free map and traffic updates and the IQ Routes technology of the TomTom, so I pulled the trigger on the TomTom XL 335TM. I was concerned about some of the issues other people were having with the software and map updates, but besides the updates taking so long, I had no problems. You gotta be patient and let it do it's update thing. Also, had no problem with the windshield mount. Used it on a 750 mile trip to Texas and I have to say I am pleased with how it worked. Liked the Advanced Lane Guidance feature. About the only the only negative I have found so far is that it doesn't tell you which side of the street your destination is on and also doesn't show you the destination address when you arrive. That's is a nice feature to have when you have saved a route a few days before you leave on your trip, and saved it as a name other than the address. Overall, it's a great unit!!

Mothers PowerBall Worthless!

I followed the instructions for this product to the "T" and it made the cloud on my headlight worse. Don't buy this product! Worthless!

Worked for Me!

This product worked well for my 2001 Ford Ranger. The headlights lenses were pretty bad after 9 years. I followed the given instructions. First I used the powerball with the liquid and had limited success. Then I tried the sanding squares. That was the turning point for me. Just follow the instructions that Mother's provides and you will be ok. Don't fret when you finish the sanding procedure--the powerball and the liquid product will finish it in no time. I am very pleased with this product, and recommend it to anyone who wants to restore their headlights back to near-new condition.

Mother's Powerball Car Lens Polisher

A typical, excellent product from Mother's. I cleaned and polished my original head and tail lights on my 93 Mustang. It took about an hour using my power drill, and now they sparkle like new! Thanks Mom!!!

Works as advertised

I used this on four different cars, two quite bad. It restored all four from good to like new, depending on how pitted and weathered they were before. Three were foggy but the layer of gunk on them wasn't thick. Just the polish worked fine. On my car, a 2001 Highlander, the first time through got them just good enough to see the bulbs underneath. I polished them twice more after washing. They're now very clear, but slightly yellowed. I'm quite pleased.

The last car was a neighbors 2006 Mustang. Her's needed sanding and then polishing, a 1+ hr job. Like my car, the lenses have a slight yellow tint and a very slight surface fogginess, but you can see the bulbs underneath clearly and the car looks good.

Garages charge $30 - $100 to polish headlight lenses so this is a great value.

Pretty Good Stuff

The headlight restoration kit does the job but it was work. The 1998 Honda CR-V took over two hours to get rid of the yellowing but some of the fogginess is still on the light. Even with that, this made a huge improvement. I used up the cordless drill battery very quickly and switched to a variable speed plug-in drill. That worked much better. The 2000 Toyota Tacoma took about 5 minutes per light and were like new. Will use on 2001 Highlander this weekend. Use very little of the polish at a time and replenish often or you will sling the stuff everywhere. The kit comes with some sanding pads to use on lights with severe yellowing & fogginess. However, I did not try that on any of the vehicles, yet. I may give it a try on the honda to see if I can get it totally clear. All in all - good product.

awesome gps for the price

works very well best for the money by far. garmin's are the only gps to go with. tom toms and others suck if you buy anything else other then a garmin you will be disappointed

1st GPS

I have seen GPS devices in the past and had decided to invest in one for my work after becoming lost while trying to go to a job interview (thus losing the opportunity for the job.) Both my husband & I have used the device and we love it. It works so well... it's easy to use, and it doesn't matter if its bright daylight or darkness of night, I can see everything clearly, I know what to expect, and it's so much fun. I wish I had invested in one sooner and I'm so glad this was the one I chose to buy this one.

Quite impressive!

I was a bit reluctant to buy this at first, but after reading so many reviews from Amazon buyers, I decided to go for it. After it arrived, I was very impressed with how easy it was to use it. It is as good as any portable GPS I have had. And yes, it does loose the signal, I can live with that rather than getting lost. I am very happy with the purchase and it was well worth the money spent. By the way, it arrived very quickly and I was very pleased with the short delivery time.

Nice improvement over the 350 model

I've had a Nuvi 350 model for a few years which worked well, but this 1330T has some nice improvements:
- The screen is bigger and brighter and has a wider viewing angle so my passenger can see it.
- The upper left corner shows the miles to the next turn and whether left or right turn - very helpful. This also shows multi lanes and which to be in.
- The traffic antenna is built in the power cord, so no extra wire required. I buried the power cord under the dash and on top of the radio and it still works.
- The sound is much louder and easily understood.
- The arrival time box can be changed to miles to destination which is more helpful for short trips.
The only thing I do not like is the power cord is plugged directly into the back of the 1350T, so to remove it from the cradle, you have to disconnect the cord as a 2nd step. However I permanently wired mine to a 12 volt source under the dash so I won't be taking it out often anyway.

Extremely pleased

This is a fantastic GPS! Screen is a great size! Features are easy to use and the battery life actually holds a charge, unlike a lot of other models our there. I highly recommend this make and model to anyone looking to get a new GPS!

Never got this item from Amazon

Any convenience of ordering went right out the window when Amazon chose to send my package by USPS. They (USPS)said i had moved and I had not. Had i known they were sending it USPS I would have put my p.o. box in the address. As we know many vendors will not deliver to PO boxes so this matter NEEDS TO BE CLEAR WHEN PURCHASING WHAT CARRIER IS BEING USED. I work full time and cannot spend a lot of time figuring out WHAT AMAZON IS GOING TO DO WITH MY package. I ordered two similar items from ebay which came almost immediately. ebay didn't have the other accessory but AMAZON did. otherwise I would not have used them (AMAZON)as this has happened more than once before.

If AMAZON had a more interactive custiomer service venue I might not have to write this .

frustrated x Amazon customer.

Glad I bought it

When i first ordered my Garmin 705 I didn't feel I needed a cadance monitor, but after riding and talking with more experianced riders i thought i would buy one. It really does help improve your riding by being aware of your average cadance..

Good Accessory For My Garmin Forerunner 305

I've had my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor for awhile now and have only used it for running events. I recently purchased a road bike and bought this to track my bike workouts.

Installation was easy to understand. All the components are held in place with "zip ties" which makes it easy. We had no difficulty getting the sensors to align. The product is small and lightweight, so unless you are worried about ounces added to your bike weight (if you are, you're probably buying an expensive cycle computer), it does not add appreciable weight or bulk. After installation, you turn on your Forerunner and tell it that you have now installed the sensor (consult your Forerunner instruction booklet) and it immediately picked it up. That's all there is to it. You are then able to monitor pedal cadence and speed of your ride.

I would absolutely recommend this if you already have a Forerunner 305 and now want to monitor bike workouts.

If you are serious about becoming a better rider get this!!

I never thought I needed this piece of tech till I got it. WOW! Combined with the Forerunner 305, you can really track your performance and pedaling efficiency like never before. It works like it's supposed to, and the best part - when you're indoors on the trainer, you'll know exactly how many miles you've done! It has made training a lot more fun, and when you're training hard, you need all the help you can get! Installation was easy, setup was automatic. Pony up the extra few bucks for this unit, you won't regret it! Highly recommended.

Review for Garmin GSC 10 Sensor

I love the extra info I'm now getting on my training bike runs. Highly recommend the Garmin GSC 10 - Speed & cadence sensor to all road bikers.

Great. Cheap. Works.

I would agree with the majority of the reviews. I purchased this for my car. I don't have the MP3 connection but do have a tape deck. And I wasn't thrilled with the quality of sound with the FM tuners (my brother has one for his car). There is a little bit of a clicking sound that appears once it starts playing, but with road nose and the general nose of the car, it is a non-issue...can't even hear it. The quality of the sound is not as good as if having a direct MP3 connection, but I consider it very good...(not sure it's even fair to compare). I use this primarily for audio books, and I am very happy with my purchase. I have not had to try the fix that some of the other reviewers had (something about needing to take out a pin on the inside of the cassette).

I would definitely recommend!

Occasionally doesn't work, but good overall

It sounds good, and the adjustable orientation for the wire is great.

Occasionally it won't work right away. I have to take it out and spin the gears with my finger, and then it starts working again. I'm thinking it's probably the result of always leaving it in my car in the Texas summer.

I ordered another one

Cassette adapters in the past have generally lasted for a few years for me. My last one conked out on me just a few days ago, after many years (more than 4 I think) of service, and it was no longer outputting all channels (worthless). So I ordered this one. At less than $8, I'm ordering another one! I have two items that do not have alternative inputs: A boombox with CD and a tapedeck, and my car that I bought in 2002, also equipped with both CD and tape.

The sound quality is good. I haven't had it long enough to really put it under scrutiny. Basically, I played the songs that I know the other one was leaving the channel out of to make sure it worked, and that it wasn't my ipod and ipad that somehow both had the same issue at the same exact time ;-) I have not experienced the auto-reverse issue that others have, and the dual direction of the wire is not really a necessity for me, but it is a nice feature.

Overall, great product, be sure to read reviews of others that have had this product longer. I can't comment on longevity...

Worked great until it didn't

I got this about 4 1/2 months ago and really liked it. The sound quality was pretty solid and I was impressed that it was made with an adaptable cord for playing it either in a car stereo or a more conventional tape player. Unfortunately, about a month ago, I noticed that the tape would abruptly stop for a few seconds and then go back to playing. This became more and more frequent until it was happening every few seconds. When I took the tape out, I realized that there was a loose part (a belt, maybe...that's what it would be in a car) that was causing the problem. I tried fixing it, but to no avail. Now I'm shopping for a new one. Perhaps this was a chance occurrence, but the new one I buy won't be one of these.

Works great, can't beat the price!

FM Transmitters are pretty much all just mono sound and unless you're out in the country or buy a premium transmitter for over $50, they sound pretty crappy at best. I drive a ten year-old Mercedes with a tape player in it, I figured I would buy this and it wouldn't work and I would have to return it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Works perfectly with my Motorola Droid cell phone.

TomTom XXl 540M

I have had the TomTom for about 6 weeks and have had no problems. I used the map update when I first received it and it worked just fine. I have not had any of the problems discussed by some other reviewers. The touch screen is quite sensitive and sometimes it thinks you have touched it twice. Do not touch the screen when affixing to windshield! Attach the holder and then press the unit into place, without touching the screen! I am using it in my Tacoma pickup. It did come loose from my windshield once when on a washboard road for about 2 miles. I bought the portable dash mount thingy and I would NOT do that again - too much vibration transferred to the unit making it hard to see. The windshield mount works just fine and has virtually no vibration transfer. I have found it to be quite accurate - better than MapQuest on a couple of occasions. I like the advance notification on turns, especially if you have two turns in quick succession. I gave it 4 stars because I have not had it long enough for long term evaluation. I would purchase again. Buy the house charger so you can program in your locations without sitting in the vehicle. The battery is only good for about 4 hours when fully charged - seems they never are when you need them, like a phone! I have not tried the update feature yet, so I cannot comment on that.

Thoughts on XXL 540M

Overall : excellent. The 5 inch screen is far easier to view than the usual 4.3s. Ultimately customizable with other pictures and icons in lieu of the boring arrow that indicates your location on the screen. The night view is also cool and a little JamesBondish. I opted for an extra-cost celebrity voice but was disappointed that there was no notice that you give up the Spoken Street Names feature when choosing other than a machine generated voice. Irresponsible that they give no forewarning to that loss before ordering (and paying).

TomTom XXL540M -- great gift for Techno-Challenged friend!

Out-of-the-Box great gift for a techno-challenged friend... mounted it on the (optional and recommended) dashboard mount, plugged it into the accessory outlet, and she has been a happy camper ever since. We have the lifetime maps, but have not yet done anything with TomTom to register. Current OOB (OutOfBox) map is very detailed, including our little known and remote mountain community. Unit tracks our narrow winding roads beautifully. Unit is quick to acquire, and remains locked onto satellites, always 3-D, presents real-time info without skipping a beat, almost like a jet's heads-up display.

5" screen was thought to possibly be a little hefty, but have discovered it's perfect -- easy to see yet does not interfere or distract from driving.

Nice menuing system, clean and uncluttered, intuitive.

Previous poor to bad experiences with the later Garmins turned us to this item, and now that my older trusty StreetPilot is recently becoming flakey and now chronically complaining about out-of-date maps (the world is still pretty much the same today as it was 3 years ago, Garmin, get off my back for upgrades!), I think I'll "upgrade" from Garmin to TomTom. Wish they had a backcountry/topo unit, though, I'd have one in a heartbeat.

No experience with Customer Support (ideally, no one should need this if the manufacturer produces a good product), the Lifetime Maps option, or the need to download anything more from the web for this little gem. It's my kind of hardware: Plug-n-Play.

ps: nice shipping packing from Amazon, they're getting better at that.

TomTom vs Magellan

I recently bought the TomTom XXL. My prior GPS was a Magellan. The TomTom is a vastly superior navigation device. The Magellan's routing was based on distance and posted speed limits, and I'm pretty sure it ignored traffic lights. This results in terrible directions when any city traffic is involved. For example, to get from central NJ to the upper east side of Manhattan, the Magellan wanted you to take the Lincoln Tunnel and then go thru midtown traffic, and take city streets to the upper east side. No one in his right mind would take such a route, as it adds about a half hour onto the trip (about twice as long as necessary, and far more stressful as well). The TomTom gave the correct route, namely taking the GW bridge, and then heading south down the FDR. The TomTom routing is based on actual drive times, not posted limits, and also takes lights into account. The Magellan did very badly in every city I have been to.

Even in rural and suburban areas, the TomTom is far superior. For example, to get to northwest Connecticut from NJ, the Magellan routes you thru lots of small towns, which have lots of trafic and traffic lights, even if you request the fastest route. The TomTom routes you up the NY Thruway, then heads east across the Hudson River to the destination. This is much faster, and much easier driving as well. The Magellan performs far worse than a road map, even if you don't spend much time plotting a route. So far, the TomTom has always produced excellent routes.

The Magellan had a couple of minor advantages. Their model of an 'address book' is somewhat nicer than the TomTom's 'favorite places,' as it allows you to store some additional information. Also the Magellan came with AAA guidebook info. The TomTom has extensive points of interest, but no information about them. For planning potential sightseeing stops on a trip, the Magellan is more useful. But if you know where you want to go, the TomTom will get you there much more quickly and easily.

Pretty good product

I own 3 Magellan GPS units, this is my first TomTom. Ordered through Amazon it arrived early and in good shape. Set up was straightforward but it took a long time to download the new software/firmware, even with a high speed connection. (about 2 hours) The unit acquired a signal quickly and seems able to maintain a lock, even indoors or in mountainous terrain. The screen is bright and easy to read and there are a number of voices to choose from. The touchscreen is very responsive and navigation is simple. It has all the standard features that most GPS units offer but included are periodic map updates which may be an important feature if you are in a fast growing area. It also allows users to upload new map data including POI and streets, which is then verified by TomTom and added. The unit automatically establishes the "fastest" route to destination and while you can ask for a detour, I haven't been able to figure out what route options might be available. Magellan allows one to choose "Fastest Time" "Shortest Distance" "Most Use of Freeways" "Least Use of Freeways" and TomTom apparently does not. This unit also calculates the "potential" for traffic and routes to avoid it, assuming it's a faster route to destination. The one option that Magellan has that TomTom does not is an "Elevation" reading. I contacted TomTom support which was a neutral experience, and was told that this is only a navigation device and this feature wasn't included, though the capability is there. There are a number of third party programs available via "Google" search. I tried two of the simplest and couldn't get either to work.
Overall, not a bad unit but could be better with some simple added features. It does what a GPS is supposed to do, it's reasonably fast in doing it, not a lot of "frills", and doesn't give the constantand annoying "calculating route" that Magellan does every time you deviate slightly from your route. It just changes automatically.