21. Pros

• Unparalleled ease of use
• 4.3" bright wide-screen display
• New maps
• New internal antenna makes for an overall slimmer GPS, and no longer requires the fold-out style antenna used on previous nuvi units (there's also fewer moving parts to break)
• Garmin is a mature company and everything here just works the way it's supposed to. No unpleasant surprises, or buggy code. Software feels well tested and thoughtfully implemented
• Improved 3D angle on map screen over previous nuvi's - easier to see where to turn
• High performance GPS receiver
• Excellent windshield mount
• Hardware feels more rugged than previous Garmin nuvi's
• Slightly updated map screen maintains nuvi's ease of use, but adds some nice refinements (i.e. slight bevel effect on the arrival time and next turn indicators)
• Same large POI database as more expensive nuvi 300/600 series units
• Same NAVTEQ powered mapping data as more expensive nuvi 300/600 series units
• Same excellent routing engine as other Garmin nuvi/StreetPilot units
• Ability to see a list of all maneuvers (Turn List) before you start driving
• Updated documentation is less verbose, easier to understand than previous Garmin manuals
• Mapping data is stored in memory rather than a hard disk, making the unit very lightweight and less susceptible to hard disk failure or damage from dropping
• Fast boot/shutdown times
• Overall zippy and responsive to use
• Respectable battery life (5 hours)
• Ability to route to lat/long coordinates

22. Cons

• Expensive
• No text-to-speech
• Sometimes the nuvi waits too long to reroute if you miss a turn - this is especially annoying at complex intersections
• Route simulation mode only operates at 1x speed; no way to accelerate the simulator
• POI's not as complete as Magellan's POI database
• Only supports a single waypoint, or stop, along a route. No real multi-destination support
• During testing I noticed occasional GPS "drift" - a situation where your position appears to drift slowly back and forth on the map even though you are stationary (like in a parked car, for example). The unit I tested was a pre-production unit, and Garmin will very likely correct this issue in the final version.
• No bluetooth

23. Conclusion

Take a good long look at any of Garmin's recent products (nuvi 660, 680, StreetPilot c550) and it's no surprise why Garmin is the number one GPS manufacturer in the world (by a significant margin).

The nuvi 250W is another home run for Garmin, as the company continues to deliver highly refined, easy to use products that consumers love. Garmin's combination of hardware design, routing logic, and user interface is as good as I've seen, and so far proven unbeatable by the competition.

Despite being billed as an entry-level nuvi, the 250W actually improves upon some critical features, such as the updated map screen, address input interface, new mapping data, and more solid construction. The nuvi 250W combines the StreetPilot c550's ease of use with nuvi's elegant styling, coming together to form an outstanding GPS that's highly effective, easy to use, and stylish all in one slick package. Garmin's windshield mounting hardware is excellent, as is the routing engine. The nuvi 250W is easier to use than previous nuvi's (mostly because the non-essential features have been stripped away from the interface); this is a GPS you could loan your parents, or a first-time GPS user and they would be able to use it without reading the instructions.

There's a lot to love about the nuvi 250W -- bright, wide screen, new NAVTEQ maps, and Garmin's unparalleled ease of use. However, given the relatively high price of the nuvi 250W (around $530 as of this writing), the 250W lacks some important features found on wide-screen GPS units from competitors such as Magellan and TomTom. For example, Magellan's Maestro 4040 sells for almost $100 less, yet it includes text-to-speech, Bluetooth for hands-free speakerphone, and can support the optional TrafficKit. TomTom's ONE XL has a similar feature set as the nuvi 250W, but sells for about $130 less.

Magellan's Maestro 4040 and TomTom's ONE XL aren't as competent navigators as Garmin's nuvi 250W, so in some regards the high price of the nuvi is justified. However, Garmin's stiffest competition may be it's own product line; with street pricing on the nuvi 660 quickly plummeting to the $500 mark, the nuvi 660 offers the same excellent wide-screen navigation as the 250W but adds Bluetooth, text-to-speech, real-time traffic, and an FM transmitter for piping audio through your car's stereo system. The nuvi 660 doesn't ship with Garmin's new maps, so that's another selling point for the 250W.

Speaking of new maps, that's one of the best things about the 250W. Garmin's newest NAVTEQ-powered maps are excellent, and in my testing I found them better than TomTom's newest maps. If you already own a Garmin GPS, the company says you can expect to pay around $80 to upgrade the maps on your GPS.

Pricing issues aside, the Garmin nuvi 250W is a great unit that combines ease of use, new maps, and excellent navigation capabilities in a thin, wide-screen GPS. The nuvi 250W is better at navigation than the more feature-rich units from Magellan and TomTom. If your primary concern is getting from point A to B and you're less concerned with extra features (and you don't mind paying a little extra for Garmin's excellent routing engine), then you should take a serious look at the nuvi 250W.