Garmin Nuvi 200W
Jan
1
2008
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| Store | Rating | Best Prices |
|---|---|---|
Compare all prices on the Garmin nuvi 200w Auto GPS ranging from $143.52 to $349.99. | ||
 |  In Stock at Buydig.com | $179.99 |
 |  In Stock at Dell SMB | $199.99 |
 | In Stock at Dell.com | $249.99 |
 | In Stock at AVALON TRONIX | $143.52 |
 | In Stock at TigerDirect.com | $149.96 |
 | In Stock at PCNation | $197.88 |
 | In Stock at Zappos.com | $199.00 |
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Garmin is trying to charge me $299 for a European map for my Nuvi200W. For that price, I can buy a Navigon 5100 PLUS European map. Garmin= no customer support.
I bought the 200w last month (my first GPS). I traveled from Myrtle Beach to Roanoke, 320 miles. During the trip, I traveled on three sections of four lane highway that were not on the 200w. I cannot tell date of pre-installed maps, but needless to say, I was disappointed. When a map update comes out, will I have to pay for it? Is this shortcoming normal? Should I return it for another? I love my unit otherwise. Any insight or suggestions would be appreciated.
I just purchased 200w, works well for basic GPS as thats all I wanted. Few things I wanted to point out, 3 out of 10 times its slow to find SATs, one cure is to power off and back on works best ive seen. Mine was a refurb from CC and when I reg’d it on Garmins website I was able to get free map update. Mine came with 07 and got 08, plus I got a firmware update to 3.40. Also down loaded new vehicles, many fun free items you can down load. Since I am PC tech, I already had USB to mini USB cable that you need to connect to your PC. Love the auto backlight feture for night driving. Maps are pretty acurate although yesterday it put me at the wrong end of a long street when trying to locate a home. I know its not the GPS’s fault, map issue. I read many reviews of other makes and went with this due to cost, features, reliability, ease of use. When I got it, took it out of box, plugged it in and was up and running in 5 min.
I purchased this devise and returned it to the store after 3 days. It was slow to pick out the satilites, over 5 mins. Had to email about map updates. Tried to download updates as the maps on the devise were extremely outdated. I was informed that the unit’s memory was to small and had to delete most of the voice files so that the maps could fit. After several hours of waiting for the downloads and uploads, I gave up. I had a similar experience with Navigon 2100. The maps were extemely outdated and tried to update the maps. I was told I had to purchase a subscription to get the new maps. Will not ever by these products again.
Garmin and NAVION use the same map vendor for North America maps so you could expect to see an almost identical map between them.
I recently purchased a NUvi 200W but it positions me 3 to 400 meters off from where I really am … any insights on how to fix this?
thanks
Luc, what are you using to determine your “actual” location?
Tim, well, I switch it on, it finds its satellite signals all good, I click on map … then tells me I’m THERE .. when i’m actually HERE …. which is 3-400 meters off
I need more information than that… Are you judging against a set of known coordinates, a POI, a street number? Some types of “here” and “there” are not expected to have that kind of accuracy, while other things might.
Can you download other ‘voices’ for your Nuvi 200W? I have a whole bunch of foreign-language ones, but only two English (American & British). How about if I want a sexy Australian one…can I get it as a download from Garmin?
My two week old 200W lost its maps and doesn’t work. Customer support after 35 minutes put me to another customer support with a hold pattern of 35 minutes. That may be the worst customer service ever. ‘Don’t answer the phone and customers will hang-up and not complain.’ To make it worst I went against my better judgment and bought it from [snip] which is a worse buy. I recommend looking elsewhere.
I bought a Garmin Nuvi 200W because I thought it had some of the features I wanted in a GPS unit for the vehicle. On a clear day it works as it should. However on a cloudy day with cloud cover it does not work at all. The receivers they put in the unit is not sensitive enough to locate the satellites in order for the unit to work! Therefore I rate this as a worthless piece of “JUNK”. I would not recommend this for anyone. I also owned another Garmin GPS unit. It got hot on the dashboard of the vehicle and quit working. Garmin puts out nothing but junk!!
Cloud cover has no impact on GPS performance.
I have a Nuvi 200w since December 2007, got the free map update in Febuary 2008, have had no problems with the unit. It is sold as a basic no frills gps unit and does that as well as any gps unit out there. There will always be new roads out there that are not included until the next mapping update. Perhaps Garmin should include a system like TOM TOM’s mapshare whereby users can report mapping errors to each other. On the subject of no satelite signal, remember certain antiglare windscreens interfere with satelite reception.
Is there any software/firmware upgrade to essentially change a Garmin 200W into a 260W. Just to turn on the sound to announce street names?
Mike - No.
Two major issues I have with the 200W is that the map does not move/scroll smoothly while navigating, which makes the map a second or two behind where you actually are. If your coming up to streets that are close together is very confusing as to which one to turn on.
Also, the map tends to auto zoom when navigating at intersections and highway interchanges. It is often the case that when there are close interstate ramps, it is very difficult to tell where to go after the first one is taken. The map zooms close enough to not be able to see where to go next. When zoomed, the interstate roads blend together keeping the readability low when really needing the accuracy.