6. Finding An Address

The nüvi 205 allows you to input a destination using a number of different methods. You can navigate to a street address, search for a specific business name, search for a Point of Interest (POI) by category (restaurant, hotel, etc.), input an intersection, a geo-coded photo, or even a set of coordinates.

Probably the most common destination type is a street address. To demonstrate the nüvi's address entry system, I'll enter an address in New York City:

Figure 29: Main Menu

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

Figure 30: Choose Address as the Destination Type

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

Figure 31: Select the State

The nüvi 205 automatically selects the State you are currently located in (Massachusetts, in this case).

If your destination address is in a State other than your current location, tap Change Country.

Figure 32: Select the Country

For some odd reason, you have to choose "United States" as the country, even though the 205 ships with maps only for the US. I supposed this could make sense if you have the European version, or if you have additional maps installed.

Figure 33: Enter the State Name

I'm entering a destination address in New York, so I type out N-E-W-space, and the nüvi automatically figures out that I'm spelling New York.

Figure 34: Select State

Tap the State name of your destination address.

Figure 35: Spell or Search for the City

If you know the City name of your destination address, tap Spell City to enter it. If you're not sure of the city name, but know the street name, tap Search All to search all cities within the chosen State for matching street names.

Figure 36: Enter the City Name

I'm entering a destination address in New York City, so I type out N-E-W-space, and the nüvi will automatically produce a short list of matching City names to choose from.

Figure 37: Select City

Once enough letters have been entered that the nüvi can narrow the results to a short list of possible matches, the results list is automatically displayed. I'll tap on New York, NY to continue on to the next step.

Figure 38: Enter House Number

Use the on-screen keypad to enter the house or building number of the destination address, then touch Done.

Figure 39: Enter Street Name

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...

When entering a street name, you only enter the main portion of the street name. For example, if you are looking for "North Main Street", you would only enter "Main" as the search criteria, and the GPS would then display a list of matching street names that includes all variations of "Main Street", such as "South Main Street" and "North Main Street".

Tip: Tapping on the folder icon in the upper left corner displays a list of recently used street names.

Figure 40: Address Confirmation Screen

With the address fully entered into the nüvi 205, the destination can be viewed on the map by tapping Map, saved to the address book by tapping Save, or the nüvi can start driving to the destination by pressing the large green Go! button.

A nice new enhancement to the nüvi 205 is the route summary information that is displayed to the left of the green Go! button. This information box displays after a second or two (it's an animated box that slides out to the left of the Go! button), and shows the total distance, and estimated drive time.

Touch the large green Go! button to start navigating to the destination.

Figure 41: Garmin nüvi 205, Map Screen