14. Adding a Stop, or Via, to the Route

Figure 43: Adding a Stop Along the Route

Search for a destination while already en route to a destination address and the nuvi 250W will ask whether you want to use this as a new destination address, or if you want to continue to your original destination by way of the new address.

Note that you can only insert one additional stop along a route. Garmin's nuvi series don't support true multi-destination routing (although they do provide a way to add a single stop along a route).

15. Canceling the Route

Figure 44: Canceling the Route

Including the Stop button is a nice feature. I've tested a lot of GPS devices and have found that canceling a route can be a surprisingly difficult task. For example, TomTom's GPS units don't have any way to cancel the route (you can make it appear by switching the TomTom to "Advanced" mode, but under the default menu there's no way to cancel the current route).

In my testing I found the detour function worked well - you don't get any options for how far you want to avoid the current problem, or choose from a list of alternate routes, but it does provide a quick, easy way to get off the current road if you run into a problem.

16. Saving Your Current Location

Figure 45: Saving Your Current Location

Tapping on the vehicle icon on the map screen allows you to save your current location, as well as view your exact coordinates and elevation. This is a handy way to save addresses that may not have valid street addresses, such as a favorite park, or roadside vegetable stand.

Saving your current location adds the current position to the nuvi's Address Book, and allows you to name the location.

17. Garmin's Updated Maps

Figure 46: Garmin's City Navigator North America NT 2008 Maps

Garmin's nuvi 250W ships pre-loaded with Garmin's newest maps, City Navigator North America NT 2008. Although Garmin enjoys the position as the #1 GPS manufacturer in the world (by a large margin), they're previous NT v8 maps were getting a little moldy, as they were several years old.

Thankfully, Garmin has (finally) released their new maps, and the NT 2008 maps are a major improvement over the previous maps.

18. Custom Vehicle Icons

Figure 47: Custom Vehicle Icons Can Be Downloaded Via Garmin.com

One of the more entertaining features of Garmin's nuvi 250W (and all other nuvi models) is the ability to download and install custom vehicle icons. Garmin's library of free, downloadable vehicle icons are available at www.garmin.com/vehicles.

Garmin frequently adds new vehicles to the library, so if you're into these icons you might want to check back every few months for new icons.

Figure 48: Changing the Vehicle Icon Displayed on the Map

Once you've downloaded the vehicle icons from Garmin's website, you'll want to unzip the files, connect the nuvi to your PC, and then copy the new vehicle icons into the Garmin/vehicle folder on your nuvi.

One you've copied over the new vehicles, the icon that represents your vehicle on the map can be changed to one of the new downloaded icons by tapping on Main Menu -> Setup (wrench) -> Settings -> Map -> Change...

Figure 49: Custom Vehicle Icons

As you browse the various installed vehicle icons, the nuvi displays the new icon on the map so you can see how it will look. Figure 49, above, shows the "Station Wagon" and "RV" vehicle icons.

Figure 50: Custom Vehicle Icons

Prefer to see yourself on 2 wheels? Download the motorcycle vehicle icon!

19. Routing Engine Performance

All the bells and whistles aside, what really matters on any GPS is the quality of the maps, and how well the GPS figures out the best way to get from point A to B..

The single most common complaint I hear is "the GPS took me on a crazy route that I would never have chosen and was not the best/shortest way."

Arguably the most critical components of any turn-by-turn GPS navigation system are the routing engine and map accuracy. The routing engine is the software on a GPS that decides which route the unit should choose to get from point A to point B. Many people falsely assume that simply having the same maps on two GPS devices will result in the same routing choices. Not so, as there is a great deal of math and decision-making involved when calculating the "best" route.

Not surprisingly, this also one of the most difficult and complex aspects for GPS manufacturers to get right, and is the aspect of GPS navigation that is least well understood by consumers.

The two largest mapping data providers are NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas . NAVTEQ is generally more accurate and complete in North America, so it's preferable to buy a GPS that uses NAVTEQ rather than Tele Atlas (as of this writing). (for more detailed information on both NAVTEQ and Tele Atlas, check out "NAVTEQ vs. Tele Atlas, Which one is Better?")

However, there is a lot more to a routing engine than just the mapping data provider. How a given GPS will determine the "best" route is the result of not only the mapping data, but also how many additional data points, or attributes, are factored into the equation. For example, are certain roads closed after hours or on the weekend? What is the average rate of speed for a given road? Statistically speaking, more accidents happen when making left turns as opposed to right turns -- is the GPS unit factoring that into the route? Each company takes all this data and compiles it in different ways, making unique decisions about what data is more important than others. The number of attributes used varies depending on how much money the manufacturer is willing to spend on their mapping data. For example, a full NAVTEQ map database that includes all available attributes can cost the manufacturer twice as much as a basic set of attributes.

All Magellan and Garmin GPS units use NAVTEQ mapping data, while TomTom uses Tele Atlas. Magellan's Maestro unit ships with 2007 NAVTEQ maps pre-installed, while the Garmin nuvi's NAVTEQ maps are several years old, (although Garmin is planning to release updated maps within the next month or two). TomTom newly updated Tele Atlas maps are also from 2007.

To test the Garmin nuvi 250W's routing engine, I entered three different trips of varying distance in three different regions of the United States and compared the nuvi's results to a Magellan Maestro 4050 and a TomTom ONE XL. It's the battle of the wide-screen GPS units!

Our first test took us along the Northeast, starting in Southbury, CT and ending in New York City:

Magellan's Maestro 4050, Garmin's nuvi 250W, and TomTom's ONE XL all get us to our destination address, but the Garmin nuvi 250W chooses a slightly faster route, provides more detailed navigation instructions, and is also the only GPS to announce what side of the street our destination address is on.

TomTom's ONE XL faired the worst in this test, routing us in such a way that the destination address is actually on the left side of the street. We would then either have to make an illegal U-turn or go around the block to arrive at 135 Central Park West on our right. TomTom also has less detailed navigation prompts than the Magellan Maestro 4050. TomTom also uses yards instead of feet, which is impractical here in the Units States.

Yahoo! Maps (not shown in the table above) chooses a route identical to Garmin's route, but estimates the trip will take 3 minutes longer (1 hour 22 minutes) than Garmin estimates. Google Maps also chooses the same route as the Garmin nuvi.

So far Garmin's nuvi is in the lead in our routing battle. However, sometimes a GPS that routes perfectly well in one area can perform terribly in another region. Our first test used a trip that was approximately 80 miles in length and took us from Connecticut to New York City.