Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS Review

The Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS is an entry-level automotive GPS device that is designed to get you where you want to go at an affordable price.

This Nuvi GPS is a basic unit with easy-to-use navigation and a few extras that make it a great system for beginners. The Garmin portable GPS is very small, making it easy to slip in your pocket and take on a walking tour.

Despite its small size, the 3.5-inch touch-screen is very bright, sharp, and easy to read.

There are no external buttons except a slider to turn the unit on/off and lock it. All the navigation is done via on-screen buttons.

Garmin nüvi 200W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

This Garmin portable GPS boasts an excellent 5 hours of battery life--a nice feature if you use the portable unit for walking or bicycling.

It has a pedestrian mode and a bicycle mode to optimize navigation for these uses.

It comes pre-loaded with maps of the continental U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. An extensive database of over 6 million points of interest makes finding a wide range of attractions easy. You can search by name or category and the unit will list the nearest points first, as well as their address and phone number, if available.

We rated the basic navigation capability of the Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS highly. Additionally, it is WAAS-enabled, making it very accurate, and it acquires satellite signals quickly.

Voice prompts are clear and easy to follow, although it lacks a text-to-speech function to speak street names. It keeps things simple telling you "turn right" or "turn left" as you approach a turn.

If you miss a turn, the unit quickly recalculates a new route, usually in plenty of time for you to make the proper course correction.

The user interface is likewise very easy to use. Buttons are large, easy to read, and intuitive. The map view is crisp, zooming in before a turn and back out again afterward.

Important information such as next turn and street name, estimated arrival time and distance to next turn are clearly displayed on the map screen. Touching each of these buttons will take you to a screen with more detailed information.

The Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS lacks advanced features such as multiple point routing. You can set only one via point per route. If you want to preview a route in another city, for example, you can do it by turning on the GPS simulator in the Settings/System menu, then setting the starting location. However, it is a complicated and time-consuming process.

A few travel tools are included, such as a picture viewer, world clock, currency and measurement converters, and calculator. These can be useful, although if you travel enough to need them often you will probably want a more advanced GPS system.

You can purchase additional maps, travel guides and savers guides (to locate merchants offering discounts) on SD cards, expanding the Nuvi 200 series GPS capabilities. Also, you can use the Garmin Lock anti-theft feature to disable use without a password.

There are a few minor drawbacks to the Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS that we noticed. It would be nice to have an external volume control to adjust for changing sound levels. The keypad to enter address information is alphabetical--not ideal if you are more familiar with a QWERTY keyboard.

The map view displays estimated arrival time, which is usually too optimistic. If you want time to arrival, often a more useful bit of information, you must calculate it yourself using another clock or watch.

Final Thoughts

Is it worth the money? Yes, we'd say so. If all you want and need is a solid, basic navigation system the Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS is a good choice. If you are looking for more advanced features such as maps of Canada and Alaska, text-to-speech, and an MP3 player, for about $50 more you could get the Garmin Nuvi 350.

In our opinion, the Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS is a great entry-level unit that is ideal for beginning automotive GPS users.

Smart GPS Reviews HOME - from Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS