Get MSN Direct and a big screen for a small price with nüvi 285WT. This widescreen navigator takes you there with preloaded maps and turn-by-turn directions that call out streets by name. It delivers real-time local weather, traffic, movie times, stock information, gas prices, news and local events as you navigate. Like the rest of the nüvi 205-series, this portable navigator is priced right and ultra-easy to use. Intuitive touchscreen interface. Click to enlarge. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. Click to enlarge. Pair with your compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free. Click to enlarge. Stay Connected With next-generation dynamic content from MSN Direct, nüvi 285WT is one resourceful personal travel assistant. Using the included receiver and free trial service to MSN Direct, you can check your flight status, avoid traffic backups, compare local gas prices, get advanced weather information (more…)
The Garmin nuvi 285WT is a winner.
The case for the Garmin 285WT is sleek shiny black plastic. The case seems very sturdy - in fact all the pieces appear to be made of quality plastic. It comes with the power adapter for the car, and a USB cable to hook up to your computer. (Some of the less expensive Garmins do not come with the USB cable, which is a problem because you need a USB cable to register the unit.)
Pros:
The unit was extremely easy to set up. Upon first use, it guides you through set-up, which is simple. The icons on the screen are simple and intuitive. I started using it without even reading the directions.
After the initial settings are entered, it sets about finding the local satellites. I told it to skip that step, since I was just hooking it up to a wall charger (sold separately) to charge the batteries. Not only did it go ahead and find the satellites, it found them while sitting on my kitchen table. I don’t know how it did that, but it did. There are green bars in the corner of the display showing you how many satellites have been acquired. There it was, displaying all four green bars after just a few minutes. That was impressive.
In the car, it locks onto the satellites extremely fast. It is much faster to find the signals than my friend’s TomTom 910. To be fair, the TomTom is an older unit, but it was a much more expensive unit than the Garmin 285WT to begin with.
I am using the default voice. It is extremely clear and easy to understand. It has only messed up on one street name, as it assumed that N Street was the same as North Street. I am not in an area where there are street names in Spanish or other languages, so I have not had the chance to find out how well it deals with those. The voice is much more understandable than the voice in the TomTom 910 (I hope my friend doesn’t read this…). (The TomTom also consistently mangled Spanish street names when we took a road trip to San Jose.)
If one drives past a turn that it has selected, the device instantly says “Recalculating,” and immediately updates the directions. I missed a turn at night in a very dark area, (I would have had a hard time finding the alternative route) and it didn’t miss a beat.
The display is extremely legible both in bright sunlight and at night. I had to turn the brightness down to the minimum because it was a bit too bright at night for my taste.
The plastic suction cup holds extremely well. Be sure to take the transparent protective film off of it before using. I have it mounted on a bean bag dash mount.
Cons:
It gave me bad directions one time. It was a good thing I knew the area. Since I just got this unit, I don’t know how often this sort of thing will happen. I am willing to forgive in this instance, because it seems to perform so well overall. (I don’t know how forgiving I’d be if I had driven miles out of my way…)
Neutral:
This model is Bluetooth. I don’t have a Bluetooth phone (I know, I know, I am using archaic technology…) so I couldn’t test that feature.
The device also comes the MSN Direct (9 months free) which I found to be of very limited usefulness because I live in a rural area. I mean, c’mon, around here the 4H Club pancake breakfast at the volunteer fire department is a Big Deal, and MSN Direct is hardly going to tell me about things like that. I also don’t have traffic concerns of the type that one would have in Los Angeles or San Francisco, for example. I also don’t know why one needs a Doppler weather display on one’s GPS, unless one is driving through Oklahoma in a thunderstorm during tornado season. It might be great for that, who knows?
If you live in an urban area, don’t get too excited about MSN Direct, because Microsoft has already announced that they are killing it in 2012. It was originally developed for a device called a Smart Watch, which obviously hit the market with a big belly flop, or we’d all have one. More information can be found on MSN Direct and the planned demise thereof in an October 28, 2009 article at the PC World website.
All in all, I am extremely happy with this device, and recommend it without reservation. In fact, I am buying one for my son for Christmas.
The unit is great but seeing as it uses the MSN Direct service there might be a problem since I read where Microsoft is discontinuing the service in 2012.
From [...]:
Question: I am looking at the 285wt and was wondering if it will act like the 265wt. There are so many 2×5’s it’s hard to keep it all straight. Garmins website doesn’t offer any information regarding the 285wt since it appears to be a BestBuy only unit. Anyone own one, how does it compare?
Answer: Normally a model with an 8 in the number would indicate that it comes with an MSN Direct adapter cable and support MSN Direct traffic. This would be the only difference between it and a model with a 6 number. So normally a 285 would be a 265 with MSN Direct in place of the normal TMC or Navteq traffic.
In this case it looks like it is actually a device that was specifically made for Best Buy. I found this user review on their website which appears to explain the difference between the 2 models:
“This is a great product that was expressly made for Best Buy. It has several features over and above the 265WT, however a big word of caution. While all the other Garmin 2xxWT units come with free lifetime traffic, this unit requires a subscription (annual or lifetime) to MSN Direct. The added cost far outstrips the cost of the 265WT. Get the 265WT - it’s worth it.”
So it does appear that the Garmin “naming convention” holds here as well. The 285 is a 265 with MSN Direct.