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Written by Dr Azmi Mohd Tamil
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Sep 14, 2008 at 01:41 AM |
Nuvi 205
Review: Garmin Nuvi 205
by Dr Azmi Mohd Tamil
Last Sunday I bought a Garmin Nuvi 205 for RM900 from Starlite Sales & Services for one of my trainee lecturers. Since the shop is in Seremban and I am in Subang, I ordered by phone. I paid by depositing the money into their account via Public Bank Berhad (PBB) ATM and added
RM20 for postal charges. They sent it at 4 pm the next Monday by
courier and I received the item on Tuesday at 2 pm. The device came
along with a car-charger and an automotive windshield mounting bracket
with suction cup mount. However there was no USB cable nor any microSD
card. I tried it out on Wednesday morning prior to handing it over to
the trainee lecturer.
The following is my impression of Nuvi 205 based on the short time I
held it in my hands. Therefore my impression may not be too accurate.
Configuring The Device
On Tuesday night I had a look at the device. Upon switching
on the device, I get the following screen.
To configure, I clicked on "Tools".
Maps
The device came pre-loaded with the following maps;
 
- US 48 state map,
- MalSingMaps free Malaysian map,
- Jerome's Singapore map and
- Thailand free map
How did they put in all these maps into one device? They gave the
following names to the maps so that these maps could co-exist with one
another.
- gmapprom.img (USA) - in another folder called External Maps,
therefore not active.
- gmapbmap.img (basemap of the world)
- gmapprom.img (Peninsular Malaysia)
- gmapsupp.img (Thailand)
- gmaptz.img (Time zone-map for the basemap)
Display
Even at 50% brightness, the screen was bright enough to be seen under
bright sunlight. Much better display than any of my gadgets. Even
better, the battery level was not affected much after 45 minutes of
driving.
Language
You can choose your own language for the device. I chosed British
English since the voice was much nicer than the American English.
Creating Favourite Waypoints
Everybody has their own list of favourite waypoints. How do we get it
into the device? It is easy easy enough by using MapSource. I could
even add a photo to illustrate each waypoint.
1) I plug in the the Nuvi to the PC. It became like an external drive.
Using MapSource, I uploaded all the waypoints into the device.
2) Using Windows Explorer, I browsed the GPX folder in the Nuvi. I
renamed the "temp.gpx" to become "current.gpx". Still using Windows
Explorer, I copied all the related pictures into the JPEG Folder. No
need to resize the pics. The I unplug the Nuvi from the PC. The device
immediately reset into navigation mode.
3) From the mainpage, click on "Where To"?
4) Then click on "Favorites".
5) Select the POI that you want to add the picture
6) Click on the "Edit" button
7) Then click on the "Attach Photo" button
8) Select which picture that you want to attach to the POI
9) Done.
Navigation
It was easy to get a GPS fix. Not even a minute passed although it was
last used in Seremban and I was in Bukit Jelutong when I was trying it
out. I just clicked "Where to", "Favourites", "HUKM" and the device
immediately gave me the best route. I know it is the best route since
I've been using it for a few years, something that I don't see often in
other GPSr. It was configured to show the fastest route. If you want it
to show the shortest route, just change the configuration.
The guide given is quite clear and timely. Even better, there is a
visual prompt on the top left side showing how far is the next
intersection/turn.
As I was driving, I could easily check for nearby hospitals, police
stations and petrol stations from the "Where Am I?" page. This is very
useful indeed, on top of the usual method of searching the POIs. You
can even save your current location as a favourite waypoint.
 
 
Upon reaching my destination, I easily downloaded the tracks into my PC
using MapSource. I could even view the tracks using Google Earth.
Conclusion
I checked the prices at Low Yat Plaza on Wednesday. The Nuvi 200
sells at RM880 and it doesn't have the tracking ability. So Nuvi 205
with its tracking abilty at RM900 is a good buy indeed.
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Last Updated ( Dec 02, 2008 at 02:48 PM )
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