Garmin Nuvi 205WT Satellite Navigation System - UK Mapping, Widescreen, Built-in Traffic - Electronics / Photography (Garmin)

affordable and wide, nüvi 205W is your personal travel assistant for life on the go. This nav leads the way with turn-by-turn directions, HOTFIX satellite prediction and RDS TMC traffic receiver (UK only) to get you there on time and informed. It's packed with millions of destinations and maps for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Like the rest of the sleek nüvi 2x5-series, the 205WT is priced right and ultra-easy to use.See MoreWith nüvi 205WT's widescreen display, you'll always get the big picture. View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant colour. Its sunlight-readable, 4.3-inch display is easy to read from any direction.Navigate With Easenüvi 205WT comes preloaded with City Navigator® NT map data for the United Kingdom & Ireland. Simply touch the colour screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with turn-by-turn voice directions, 2-D or 3-D maps and smooth map updates as you navigate. Its digital elevation maps show you shaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. In addition, nüvi 205WT accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. With HotFixTM satellite prediction, nüvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.Take It With YouLike the rest of the nüvi 2x5-series, nüvi 205WT sports a sleek, slim design and fits comfortably in your pocket or purse. Its rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot. With its "Where Am I?" emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and petrol stations.Go Beyond NavigationNavigation is just the beginning. nüvi 205WT includes many travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock

Customer Reviews of Garmin Nuvi 205WT Satellite Navigation System - UK Mapping, Widescreen, Built-in Traffic

B. J. Juniper
Somerset, UK
3rd January 2009

A good start in SatNav
I had not previously owned any GPS device and, like other reviewers of this unit, I did a bit of on-line and in-store research. Having plumped for the 205WT I decided to get mains charger, a case and a PC link cable [which also works with my Mac]. The map base for the UK is excellent. I was invited to update it as soon as I registered the purchase and, following the instructions, I was told it might take 'a few hours'. In fact, over a moderate broadband connection, it took 14 hrs. Once the Garmin is turned on, however, the satellites are soon found and the route computed spectacularly quickly. It needs to be used with discretion - the shortest route can be very traffic heavy as I found on my first sortie through south London. The traffic information can be treated only as a rough guide. On a long journey it may predict delays which are several hours away and which have evaporated by the time you get there. The safety camera warnings are not that great - some were missed and others were over cautious - in several places in SW England it warns of mobile speed cameras in 30mph limits where the limit is 40mph. I have not, therefore, bothered to pay for updates.
The voice instructions have little grasp of junction priorities in rural areas - it will often tell you to make a turn where you are simply following the road, but a glance at the visual display is all it needs to show you where you should be going. Finding places of interest is less reliable - trying to find a M&S store on the south coast along the A27 brought up mostly details of random stores in London.
However, for my day job, which often means I have to find 6 or more places by postcode in locations I've never been to before, the unit has proved reliable and accurate - it is much safer than trying to read a road atlas and Multimap printout on the passenger seat. It deserves its 3 stars for that alone. I rate it as good value for money as a basic unit, but with a caution to use it as a tool, not as the ultimate solution to your navigation problems.

john
UK
20th December 2008

Garmin Nuvi 205WT
well if your like me you will wonder what sat nav to get, there were so many!!! after a bit of research on the net and having seen friends sat nav i went for the Garmin 205 WT. It did everything i needed in a sat nav, i didt want to pay extra for any gadgets on it that i am never going to use anyway! and i am nnot going to drive in Europe!
I am not dissapointed, great unit, so easy to use, finds its signal quickly, auto re-routes, the camera warning tone can be adjusted so it does not annoy you like some do i have seen. Traffic feature seems to work very well. Do buy a pc cable when you purchase your garmin though as does not come with one, there only a few pound so thats no hassle. 10/10

dovefancier
London, England, UK
14th December 2008

Also get a USB (mini) cable! It's a 'must'
I won't be long - enough reviews are available here, so let me just add a couple of things: you'll definitely need a USB (mini) cable with your Garmin Sat Nav, because

1) with a USB (mini) cable, you CAN recharge your Garmin Sat Nav with your PC/Mac, which is not clearly mentioned in the user's manual. Remember, your Sat Nav doesn't come with this cable or an AC adapter (you need to buy them separately!), so you can't recharge the battery until you connect it with the vehicle power cable.

2) with this cable, you can also download the latest map, update the software, and configure the Sat Nav via Garmin's website. You'll need to do all this (and it's simple) if you want draw out the maximum performance from your Sat Nav!

Hope this helps!

Clockwork
Essex UK
4th December 2008

Excellent piece of kit!
Having reluctantly decided to purchase a satnav after a couple of disasters due to traffic accidents, I plumped for this model.

Anyone purchasing their first sat nav will be aware of how daunting the market is. I spent hours checking reviews including those on here and, after weighing up the pros & cons, bought the 205. In fact, I bought this on the recommendation of another reviewer of the 255, who suggested the cheaper version if you didn't require European mapping, thanks!

The unit is so easy to use and has exceptional clarity. With it's built-in traffic warnings (essential for me), which have been very accurate both in location and density and safety camera warnings, the unit has the same level of features as much dearer units.

I won't list all the features as these are available on the 255 reviews, but I heartily recommend either unit depending on what mapping you require.