8. Entering An Address

To test the nüvi 500's address entry system, I'll enter a destination address in New York City.

Figure 40: Where To?

To begin entering a destination address, tap "Where to?" from the Main Menu.

Figure 41: Entering a Street Address as a Destination

After tapping on Where to? from the Main Menu, tap on Address to begin inputting a street address.

Figure 42: Changing the Destination Address' State

The nüvi 500 automatically sets the State to your current position. If your destination address is in a State other than your current location, you'll need to tap on "Change Country". For some odd reason this button says "Change Country" instead of the more intuitive "Change State/Province" used on other nüvi models.

Figure 43: Entering the State Name

After tapping on "Change State/Province", use the on-screen keyboard to enter the name of the State or province of the destination address. Once enough letters have been entered, the nüvi 500 will automatically produce a list of possible matching States to choose from.

Figure 44: Choosing a State Name From the Results List

In this example, I'm entering a destination address in New York State, so I type out N-E-W-space, and the nüvi 500 automatically produces a short list of matching States (just one, in this case) to choose from. I tap on "New York" and continue on to the next step.

The nüvi 500 feels fast and responsive, allowing me to enter the city name as quickly as I can type, without any annoying delays or sluggishness.

However, I did find myself wishing that the text entry system was more like Magellan's QuickSpell system, which dims out invalid letters as you type, only allowing you to press keys that would spell a valid city name. TomTom also has a similar text entry system. These systems reduce the likelihood of misspellings and make text entry generally easier and faster, and would be a welcome addition to the Garmin nüvi product line.

Figure 45: Entering A City Name

If you know the name of the city your destination address is located in, tap on "Spell City" to enter the name. If you're not sure what city the destination address is in, tapping "Search All" lets you search the entire State.

I'll tap on "Spell City" to continue, since I know the destination is located in New York City.

Figure 46: Spelling the City Name

Entering the city name is identical to the process for entering the State name; once enough letters have been entered the nüvi automatically produces a list of results.

Figure 47: Selecting the City

After tapping N-E-W on the on-screen keyboard, the nüvi 500 produces the results list shown above. I'll tap "New York, NY" to continue. Note that nüvi would have accepted either "New York" or "Manhattan" as valid city names for this destination.

Figure 48: Entering the House/Building Number

Like many GPS units, the nüvi 500 asks you for the house number before the street name, which some users can find confusing at first.

One downside of entering the house number before the street name is that the GPS cannot list the valid range of house numbers on a given street, as Magellan's GPS units do. For example, if you're trying to get to a house on "South Main Street", Magellan's GPS units will ask for the street name first, then show you the valid range of houses along South Main Street, allowing you to pick a house number even if you're not sure of the exact address.

Figure 49: Viewing Recently Entered Information

Tip: when using the on-screen keyboard to input state, city, or street names, tapping on the folder icon in the upper left corner displays a short list of recently used entries. For example, when entering the city name, you can tap the folder icon and select a recently used city from the drop down list.

Figure 50: Entering the House Number

Use the keypad to input the building or house number, then tap Done to continue.

Figure 51: Entering the Street Name

The final step in entering the destination address is to input the street name. In this example I'm entering an address on "Central Park West" in New York City, so I start to spell out C-E-N-T-R-A-L...

Note that when entering a street name, you only enter the main portion of the street name, and allow the GPS to search for possible matches. For example, if you are looking for "North Main" street, you would only enter "Main" as the search criteria, and the GPS would product a list of matching street names, such as "South Main Street" and "North Main Street".

Figure 52: Select Street

The nüvi 500 produces a list of possible matches for the street name I entered. I'll tap the first result to continue.

Figure 53: Choosing An Address From The Results List

The full street address appears in the results list. I'll tap on "135 Central Park W" to continue.

Figure 54: Address Confirmation Screen

With the address fully entered, the destination can be viewed on the map by tapping Map, saved to the address book by tapping Save, or the GPS can start driving to the destination by pressing the large green Go! button.

The nüvi 500 is the first nüvi to display the "Route Info" on the address confirmation screen. "Route Info" is a new enhancement that displays the distance and estimated total drive time to the destination address.

Figure 55: Viewing the Destination Address on the Map

Tapping Map on the previous menu displays the destination address on the map. This is a nice feature as it allows you to see what the streets will look like at the destination address before you start navigating, and also lets you validate that the destination address is correct.

Figure 56: Navigating to the Destination Address

Tap on the green Go! button and the nüvi 500 starts routing to the destination address.