For our second test, I started out at Fry's Electronics in San Jose, California and entered a destination address at 300 Grove Street in San Francisco (about 46 miles in distance):

Again Garmin chooses the best route, Magellan chooses the second best route, and TomTom's ONE XL chooses the worst route. While Magellan and Garmin both route us along the 101 highway from San Jose to San Francisco, TomTom's ONE XL instead chooses highway 880 North to 80 West -- an odd choice that adds around 4 miles (6 minutes) to the journey. Even worse, TomTom again has us arriving on the wrong side of the street, with our destination address on the left.

Both the Magellan Maestro 4050 and the Garmin nuvi 250W arrive with our destination address on the right side of the street, but only the Garmin actually tells us what side of the street our destination will be on. Occasionally the Magellan unit would verbally announce what side of the street the destination was on, but that was the exception and not the rule.

Garmin's maneuvering instructions are also by far the most detailed. It's not shown in the table above, but the angle of Garmin's turn icons actually vary to indicate the upcoming turn's actual angle, a feature not found on either the Maestro or the TomTom ONE XL. Garmin wins routing test #2.

For the third test, I chose a short, 3-mile trip from Beacon Street in Boston to Cambridge, Massachusetts:

The results of test #3 are consistent with the previous two tests: TomTom's ONE XL chooses a route that's about 30% longer than Magellan's Maestro or Garmin's nuvi. Garmin chooses a route that's slightly longer in distance than Magellan's Maestro, but is actually a shorter drive time, and Magellan's Maestro plots an acceptable route that's only slightly worse than Garmin's. It's interesting to see such varied routing results even on a short trip of less than 3 miles -- just goes to show you how different every GPS unit actually is.

The routing engine on the Maestro 4050 produced consistently solid results, soundly beating TomTom's new ONE XL unit, and closely matching Garmin's routing engine. Garmin edged out Magellan in all three tests, choosing slightly more efficient routes with more detailed turn instructions and shorter drive times.

TomTom's ONE XL unit performed poorly in all three routing engine tests, producing the longest routes in all three tests, and putting us on the wrong side of the street at our destination address.

Again, only Garmin's GPS unit announced what side of the street our destination address was on.

All three tests showed Garmin's nuvi 250W as the clear winner with the strongest routing engine. Magellan's Maestro unit performed admirably, coming in second place. TomTom's ONE XL (with TomTom's newest maps installed) came in a distant 3rd place in all three tests.

20. Configuring Preferences

Figure 51: Accessing the Settings Menu

Many aspects of the nuvi can be customized to suit your individual preferences. To access the Settings pages, tap on the wrench icon from the Main Menu, then tap "Settings".

Figure 52: Settings Menu, Page 1

Page 1 of the settings menu allows you to customize system, security, navigation, and time preferences. Scroll down (by tapping on the down arrow in the lower right hand corner) to see page 2, shown below.

Figure 53: Settings Menu, Page 2

Page 2 of the settings menu is where you'll find the time, language, display, and map settings.

Figure 54: Configuring System Settings

The System settings page allows you to enable/disable the "GPS Simulator", set the "Usage Mode", and specify whether you want to use Miles/Feet or Kilometers/Meters.

Figure 55: Setting the Usage Mode

The nuvi 250W can be set to Automobile, Bicycle, or Pedestrian mode.

Figure 56: Configuring Garmin Lock

Garmin Lock is an anti-theft feature that requires a 4 digit PIN (that you specify) be entered every time the device is powered on. When Garmin Lock is enabled, the device is disabled from performing any functions until the 4 digit code is entered.

Safe Mode (enabled by default) makes it so you cannot enter an address while the vehicle is in motion. You'll likely want to turn this feature off, otherwise you'll have to be stopped before you can enter a destination.

Figure 57: Configuring Navigation Preferences

The Navigation settings menu is where you can specify routing preferences and enable/disable avoidances.

Figure 58: Route Preferences

There are three Route Preference settings to choose from: "Faster Time", "Shorter Distance" and "Off Road". In my testing I found "Faster Time" almost always chose the best route.

Figure 59: Configuring Avoidances

Avoidances are things you want the GPS to avoid making you do. There are six defined "Avoidances" to choose from:

• U-Turns
• Highways
• Toll Roads
• Ferries
• Carpool Lanes
• Unpaved Roads

By default, U-Turns and Unpaved Roads are marked for avoidance. Selecting an avoidance means the GPS will avoid making that maneuver, or taking that type of road. For example, if you wanted to avoid highways on a given trip, you could select "Highways" under Avoidances and the nuvi will route you to your destination without using highways.