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| Garmin nuvi 200 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator | 
 enlarge | Brand: Garmin
Category: CE
List Price: $419.98
Buy Refurbished: $113.35
You Save: $306.63 (73%)
New (68) Used (12) Refurbished (11)
Avg. Customer Rating:  496 reviews
Sales Rank: 222
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Color: SILVER
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 320 x 240
Display Size: 3.5
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 3.8 x 0.8 x 2.8
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: Nuvi 200
Model: Nuvi 200
UPC: 753759065607
EAN: 0753759065607
ASIN: B000NVZE5M
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Garmin nuvi200 Comments June 19, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I will not go into the device specs, etc. since I am short on time; and that information can be acquired elsewhere.
I bought this thing a few weeks ago in preparation for a trip to NY. I chose it over a TomTom and a Magellan, that had similar features and were within the same price range.
The nuvi200 is not bad (though not spectacular either) considering the $150+ price tag (less $25 combined w/ Amazon rewards I recently received).
The device is small, compact, light and does not look like it came from a Mattel factory in China. The battery life of the nuvi200 is average and in my experience, somewhere between 4-4.5 hrs if you keep it on constantly running solely on battery. It also comes with the handy car kit which does what it's supposed to do.
As for functionality, I was not completely satisfied for the following reasons:
1. POIs are lacking and outdated (even after update).
2. It takes a significant amount of time for the device to perform a manually entered search for a POI.
3. Some of the route calculations are impractical. A number of times, the nuvi200 has taken me through the longest routes possible instead of plotting a simple, more efficient course to get to a destination.
4. I also discovered that there is a difference with the nuvi200's satellite reception if the device is plugged in or you are running on battery power.
As I mentioned earlier, I bought the nuvi200 for a trip to NY. The nuvi200 got me to my destination without any complications, however, it did not use the most practical route and took me the longer way than the one I would have taken. Once I arrived in NY, I intended to use the nuvi200 to navigate me on foot (there is a pedestrian and bicycle mode), so I could find different restaurants and subway stations. Unfortunately, the device did not work at all in the city. It seems that when the nuvi200 runs on battery power, the satellite reception is weaker or almost non-existent if you are in an area surrounded by large buildings. I tried using the device in pedestrian mode for 3 days and was not able to pick-up a signal even once. What really bothers me is that the nuvi200 could not even pick-up satellite reception while I was at the Seaport Pier. That made no sense to me at all considering that the area is relatively open and unobstructed. I discovered that the only way to get it to work in NY city on foot would be a) go home to my sister's apartment and go up to the 6th floor and b) plug the nuvi200 in the car lighter socket.
Luckily, I do not live in NY and the nuvi200 seems to work most of the time in my area.
With regard to the SD card slot, I have no use for it since I do not believe in using my GPS as a convergence device. It does what it's supposed to do without the need for an SD card.
A neat function that the nuvi200 has, is the capability to add additional POIs from external sources for free. All you need is an Internet connection, a USB cable and a computer. By searching the Internet for nuvi200 POIs, you will be able to find some neat stuff like free POIs for restaurants, state parks, red light camera locations, etc. You will also find that Garmin and other companies out there offer additional POIs that you may purchase and load into your device. I was able to acquire (for free) a POI for red light cameras for the entire US. This feature comes in pretty handy, especially since I live around the DC area where there are cameras almost literally at every corner. Once you load the red light camera POIs into your nuvi200, the system will give you a warning beep and display a message which informs the driver that there is red light camera up ahead.
If you decide to purchase this device, I would recommend going to the Garmin website to acquire the free map updates (one-time only) and other cool free stuff such as a huge selection of vehicle icons that you may use for your GPS.
Overall, I think that the nuvi200 is a good buy and would recommend it for people who are on a slim budget. However, if you have the money to splurge anyway and are looking for more features in a GPS (s/a text-to-speech, longer battery life, or bluetooth), then I would go for a higher-end model nuvi.
For more information on the different models and features of the different kinds of nuvis, you may refer to the chart in the Amazon description of the product. It will more or less give you a breakdown of what you need to know.
 Garmin Nuvi 200 June 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I built some of my own computers so I know a little about electronics,The Garmin 200 is a great navigational tool, It may be one of the less advanced GPS that Garmin puts out but sometimes I think that is better, I have not used other GPS units like Tom Tom or others but I believe this unit is superior, The manual doesn't even tell all the functions that this unit does, They (Garmin) should put out a more detailed instruction book then it has for the people that would like to know much more, I know they probably kept it simple because many people just do not understand instructions no matter how they are explained, Maybe that is why they kept it simple and basic. I sat down when I got it and just played with it until I found out the many things it will do that aren't advertised. Garmin will never say this but don't be messing around with any files in the unit, Don't delete anything from it, The files that are there are there for a reason, I did have a problem after I got an SD card for my Garmin, I recently had a relative send my non reduced photos of their new baby which downloaded was many mb's per picture, So I have this file floating around with my photosuite logo on it, I believe it was about nine to ten mb's which turned out to be about the same size as the map file in the 200 nuvi, The problem ,(which I called Garmin and worked it out)When I installed the Garmin software it put a Photosuite logo on their file and I thought it was the unreduced picture file from before and deleted it, I tried to open it and it said nothing about a connection to Garmin, I couldn't open the file so I figured it was a corrupt file with the pictures , What it was is the Garmin software assigned my photo program logo to the file so some reason, we couldn't figure out why, but I as I thought better of it and stopped the function to delete the file ,To late it was gone,couldn't find it anywhere, Usually it's put in the recycling bin ,but it was gone . I had to call Garmin and we tried everything to recover the file and install it back into the garmin but no good, Somehow it corrupted the map files in the unit, Garmin said that they have a fix on the way to solve the problem with access to deleting important files from the GPS, Sorry I wrote this much but maybe this will help someone else not make the same mistake, I had to send it back for another unit. As I said don't delete anything unless you know exactly what it is. Garmin was fantastic and very professional ,There was no problem. This unit is great and I would tell everyone that wants a entry level GPS to buy one, The company backs the product one hundred percent.Thanks
love it June 17, 2008
easy to use easy to carry in my pocket love it so much i bought 2
Totally Satisfied June 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchesed the Nuvi 200 after returning another brand GPS. I am a retired school teacher, have no agendas other than to share my experiences, and am fairly technologally savy-- so when the other brand failed to accept the destinations that I tried to enter--the keyboard entry would hang up--it became obvious that it would not function as I needed it to. The other brand was very slow to recalculate routes almost to the point of being ridiculous--continuing to prompt a U Turn after several miles. I returned it and was very happy to see how user friendly the Nuvi 200 is. I do not miss the text to speech feature that the other brand touted as I am now pretty familiar with the Garmin screen layout. Garmin makes an affordable user friendly GPS in the Nuvi 200. I do recommend the friction mount as the suction cup mount isn't working on our Prius dashboard. I ordered the friction mount unit yesterday from Amazon.
Holy Crap, This Thing Is So Awesome!!! June 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was a little reluctant to buy this, because of the negative reviews. Some complained about it having the old map, some say that the directions were wrong. So I worried.
But last week I went to a grocery store in my neighborhood where they had it on sale, and I say "Oh, what the heck," and bought it. Now, my reaction:
- I used it to find some tricky addresses in my city, and the thing worked beautifully. It took a while at first to find the maps and to recalculate directions when I purposely turned the wrong way, but after that, it only takes some 20 seconds to find the maps when I turn it on, and recalculating takes less than 10 seconds.
- The thing came with the 2008 map, so I was happy. But I decided to register, just so I could download some extra features they have on the website, and as a thank you, Garmin allowed me to download the 2009 map for free, so now I'm even happier. It's big though, over 2GB, but the link is in your account for 15 days, so you have time to download it. I didn't really see any difference in the map when it comes to my town. A school that opened a year ago isn't there yet, but if I had the address I'm sure it would have taken me there anyway.
- The screen is pretty good. You can't see it well when the sun is really bright, but you can see it well enough I guess. Besides, the voice directs you where to go anyway, so that compensates for that.
- Some people complain that it doesn't say the name of the streets out loud, and I'm still trying to figure out why that is bad. I really don't need that feature, since the instructions are so clear that you really have to have some severe problem to not understand them. And if you do, you shouldn't be driving anyway.
- The suction cup is the bomb. I put it in the window next to me, because I like having it at hands reach, but if you need to put it in the dashboard, it includes an adapter that you stick in there. I didn't think much of it, since there are so many extra suction cups they sell in addition to the GPS, but this one is more than enough.
Overall, a great product. It's not top of the line, but hey, you can get it for dirt cheap, so if you have a horrible sense of direction, like me, and don't have a lot of extra cash laying around, this is the thing.
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