This GPS will get you to where you are going, but this was the first one i have bought so i didn't know what i was looking for. I have used a friend's Street Pilot exclusively up until this one so that is what i judged it on. It does not pronounce the street names and I like that feature. It also does not have the "find me" feature which has been helpful on the Street Pilot. I returned this for the 650 and am much happier.

I bought this as a Xmas gift but wound up returning it. I'm sure it is a fine product, but was missing a key feature that my Nuvi 260 has - turn by turn voice with street names. This is a feature key to the needs of the person I bought it for.

First of all, you're reading this because of the European maps, aren't you? If you're not interested in European maps there's newer devices that give you a bit more features for the same price (although I see the price of this guy is dropping fast). But given that most devices come with US maps and then you'd have to shell out a hundred bucks to get European maps, buying a GPS with US+Canada+Europe for $120 is an AWESOME deal. Plus if you register with Garmin online (which takes 5 minutes of your time), you get an upgrade to the 2009 maps for free.

I first used this device in Paris in Pedestrian (walking) mode. I read a lot of reviews complaining about the pedestrian mode not working very well, and not being able to get satellites in cities. I had NO PROBLEMS at all in Paris. I was there for a week and there was one day that it couldn't find satellites for 10 minutes. Other than that, it found and kept satellites effortlessly even in the narrow Parisian streets. You also have to be a bit creative. Even if the device does NOT find a satellite, you can still browse the map and try to figure out where you are, since it does show you street names. So even when it couldn't find satellites, I still found the interactive maps extremely useful and a life saver. Battery life was pretty good, usually lasting me for the entire day (I would turn the device off during meals and inside museums & metro to save battery). And it charges with mini-usb, so that's super easy to charge without having to purchase an additional custom charger. Sweet! Well thought, Garmin!!! I will say sometimes in pedestrian mode it was hard to figure out what direction I was heading, but that's not too surprising. Sure, It's much more accurate in Car mode than in is in Pedestrian.

After that, I used it in Auto mode for a week in Provence, France. Again, effortlessly. It even told me where to go in the narrow streets of Avignon (yikes!). The Points-Of-Interest were great and very useful and we found restaurants thanks to our GPS all the time. The maps were accurate and the instructions very useful.

This device DOES have text-to-speech so you can turn that feature on and let the GPS speak to you without having to look at it. Very nice.

Another nice feature is the Detour. A few times we hit road construction, or roads that were either closed or jammed, so I hit the "Detour" button and the device found a new route for me. Very nice. And it does a very nice job recalculating a new route for you when you miss your turn or take an incorrect turn. +++.

Another thing I did with the GPS is I used it to bookmark where I had parked my car. In our travels, we would find parking, bookmark in the GPS where the car was, and then walk around a city for a couple of hours. Of course, by then you have forgotten where you left your car! So I can go to Favorites and find the bookmark to where I left my car. Very nice!

This made our trip to France absolutely effortless and enjoyable. Two months ago we drove in Germany without a GPS and it was an absolute nightmare. This trip was completley different thanks to Garmin! I am happy to give this device a 5 star rating.

It does take a surprisingly long amount of time to lock satellites when you first boot (sometimes a couple of minutes), but perhaps my expectations there are too high. Sometimes it locks satellites within a few seconds, but yes, sometimes, it can take a couple of minutes. Also there are bigger screens out there today, but I loved the 3.5 compact size since it fit in my pocket perfectly.

An Absolute MUST. I don't know how I EVER travelled without this jewel!!!

Garmin has a lot of different models and it becomes very confusing to pick the right one. After looking into all the Garmin models and reading reviews I decided that I need the Garmin 200. I shopped around for a good deal (I missed the Walmart deals on Black Friday when they had this for $97). I found this one the 270 which has additional maps for Europe, which I do not need, but ships at a lower price than 200.

Here are my pros:
1. Simple barebones GPS unit
2. Good routing
3. Small and sleek

Cons:
1. Slightly expensive than the Tom Tom but this one has better routing than the Tom Tom which has some problems in my area.

Bottomline:
I would recommend the Garmin nuvi 2xx series. However, if you are a bargain shopper, check the prices of all 2xx series models. Sometimes a model with more features is cheaper than the one with fewer features.

Tfft. I bought this in January 2008, paying $309. It was, however, worth having whilst traveling in Scotland last spring and fall. Good maps there -- but a bit out of date in Ireland. Easy enough to program, loud enough, and all that.