Machina3 Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Garmin's Greatest GPS, 2011-10-07
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Being non-technically minded I had feared getting a GPS. A few friends were happy with theirs. I thought if only there was a good voice command unit , and it had a large, clear screen. Of course it had to be easy enough for me to use. I decided to contact Garmin directly. Garmin offered great buyer assistance. The nuvi2595LMT appeared to be the suitable GPS for a senior citizen who feared sophisticated technology. The operational booklet seemed a bit daunting at first. After trying the 2595LMT out just a few times a few easily answered questions came to mind. The booklet became easy to comprehend. The 2595LMT became easy to use after three short uses. I wouldn't go anywhere without it. I and my co-driver love it.

David M. Manzi Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Mixed bag., 2011-11-13
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
I recently upgraded from an older Garmin to this unit, and while it clearly is improved in some areas, the method of finding addresses leaves LOTS to be desired. In the older unit I could easily change the state, and then enter number, street, and city. Very easy. In this new unit you enter a number, then the street, and then wait. And wait. And wait. Until it finally shows a scrollable list of results for your region which you then need to tediously scroll through to find the combination of street and city you are looking for. Horrible. Yes, you can find a city first, but even that adds lots more steps than the older unit! Why did they change a system that worked so well? Try finding an address on "Main" street and see how long it takes you!On the plus side, sattelite aquisition is much quicker. You have a choice of routes after you (finally) find your destination, the map and unit are, for the most part, responsive. There's lots of options for map details, the voice volume is plenty loud, and the built-in database is comprehensive. The 5" touch screen displays a nice image, and is NOT reflective so it's easier to see, unlike a competitor I returned that had a glossy screen that was impossible to see in daylight due to reflections. The mount is not a powered mount, but works well. It's a standard Garmin mount. Overall, the unit does what it's supposed to do, and it does it very well. My only (and big) complaint is the new method of finding destinations. I'd sure love the option of using the old system.

Hungry Pilot Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Almost 5 stars...almost..., 2011-10-27
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Just bought this unit today from a local store, and was VERY happy that it was ready to go straight out of the box. No activation, no crazy setup screens, and the unit had a GPS fix almost instantly after powering on. Why doesn't it get 5 stars, you ask? Read on...Pros:
Gorgeous design
GPS position fix is locked on faster than you can program a destination in the unit
Huge 5" Touchscreen that was ultra responsive
Traffic/Power Cord is not ginormous or ugly
Voice Control works PERFECTLY (Even on the highway at 80MPH with music at a nice listening volume!!)
The photo-real exit display is amazing (No more confusion on what to look for!)
It's Garmin.... they have this stuff down to near perfection
LIFETIME maps and traffic updatesCons:
The Bluetooth phone pairing was SO quiet during phone calls, it's not even worth using, even in the parking lot with the engine off... (Emailed Garmin support)
Might be too big of a unit for small cars/small windshields
Setting up Voice Control took a little bit of hunting, barely can consider this a con
Ads occasionally pop up as part of the traffic service (Should NOT be part of a $250 GPS unit)Conclusion:
If Garmin can fix the phone call volume problem, it's a 5 star unit all day long. Many other users are experiencing the same problem with various phones... my case was with an iPhone. I'll repost if Garmin presents a solution. Now granted, you don't HAVE to use the hands-free calling, but that means you've paid $40 extra just for voice control... Garmin needs to fix the total package. If you are patient, or don't care about hands-free calling through the unit, buy this thing immediately. I'm a long time TomTom user for cars, and Garmin user for aviation, and I'll never go back to TomTom.... this thing does it all!!!Garmin nüvi 2595LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

ktmailserv Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
An average navigation device; has its quirks and needs improvement, 2011-10-04
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
See updates to original review below:
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First off, I have been a long time Garmin user. Had a old Streetpilot GPS that served me well for a long time. I am familiar with Garmin's user interface. Things have changed with this new nuvi but not so much that the UI feels alien. + Voice Navigation feature is good and exceeded my (low) expectations. There are some caveats though.
a) Not all of the features/settings of the phone are controllable by voice. so, while the feature itself works well, it feels limited in its usefulness.
b) although voice recognition seems to work well in quiet conditions, I did find myself repeating my voice commands while using the device in a slightly noisy environment (such as driving on a highway with road noise filling the cabin space).
+ Touch interface is fine. Just not as responsive (sensitive?) as an iphone. I think this Garmin device has a resistive touchscreen as opposed to a capacitive touchscreen -- which could explain the responsiveness.
+ the route calculation and location search seems faster.
+ The lifetime map and traffic updates, bluetooth is a plus.
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(10/29/11) Updates/Addition to original review:
I am going to knock off a star from the rating as there are various little annoyances with the device.+ Do not like the search feature; it isn't as easy, simple and intuitive as the old streetpilot was. when you search for something, it usually restricts itself to the town you are in. That intelligence is well and good if it works well but it doesn't. It is unable to find the Point-of-interest (POI) if it's in a nearby town (Most often your searches would fall in this category). you have to go through a couple more clicks and inputs before you can find your POI.
+ Brightness changes on switching from car power to battery only power. The brightness setting doesn't change but the actual brightness does. So, you would have to go to the brightness setting to increase the brightness of the screen when you switch.
+ Do not like the touchscreen responsiveness or precision. Often find myself mistyping even when being deliberate and careful in pressing a letter.
+ Voice guidance needs to improve. With the "voice guidance with street names" setting, the device says something like "Turn right on freedom drive". That isn't as helpful as saying "Turn right on freedom drive in 500 feet". So, I am having to look at the distance on the unit.
+ Graphical User Interface (GUI) needs to improve. For instance, saving a place to favorites takes many clicks (unlike the old streetpilot unit). Likewise, finding a place of interest takes more clicks than before. Why so many clicks and screens?!!Overall, I would say Caveat Emptor on buying the device. I bought it and am going to continue to use it as I haven't found any other latest GPS devices which are a cut above this one.

Timothy Theis Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
My 3rd Garmin - New Features and how they worked, 2011-11-25
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
This is my 3rd Garmin GPS. I have become accustomed to their user interface and performance, so I can't compare to other makes. I wanted to talk about the new features that attracted me to this unit and how I evaluated their usefulness on my first 3 hour road trip to a location I know by heart.Feature 1 - 5 inch screen. I am older and am having to use reading glasses to see the GPS mounted to the dash. My earlier unit was a 4 inch. I considered a 7 inch Magellan, but when I found out you couldn't install custom POIs on the Magellan, it ruled that one out for me. We go camping frequently and I have all the state parks as custom POIs. I also have truck stops I like to use. The 5 inch display was definately an improvement for me.Feature 2 - Automated voice recognition. I definately don't like being distracted by touching the screen to see how far the next roadside rest is (see custom POIs above). So I thought telling the GPS what I wanted made a lot of sense. When it comes to "commands" this feature works OK, but I have discovered I have to turn the radio volume down or talk VERY LOUDLY. The latter disturbs my wife :-) However, when you want to provide an address to locate, the unit performed badly. I couldn't get it to correctly locate any of 3 addresses correctly... i.e. "4810 Whitewood Court" ended up with something very strange.Feature 3 - Turn lanes. Knowing which lane you need to be in to correctly exit the highway and be ready for the next turn. There are two distinctly different features on this unit for knowing the turn lanes. One is "Viewing Junctions" which displays a picture of the upcoming junction, complete with signage. This takes up about the right half of the screen. The other turn lane feature is a small area in the upper left corner that shows , by using arrows, the number of lanes. The lane(s) you are to be in are bright white, while the others are grey. I found the arrows to be VERY useful and quick to absorb at a glance. I found the "Viewing Junctions" not very useful, as you had to look over a much larger area of the screen to absorb the information in a glance. I found I had to glance at the "Viewing Junctions" image several times before I understood which lane it wanted me to be in. For me at least, the "Viewing Junction" feature was of no use to me.Feature 4 - Traffic. On my trip there were no traffic problems, so I didn't get to experience any rerouting due to traffic conditions. This feature appears to only work when you are in or around larger cities. Between cities, pressing the traffic button indicated that there was no or weak signal.Feature 5 - Posted speed limits - As you are navigating a small sign appears on the display showing the posted limit and your actual speed. If your actual speed exceeds the posted limit, it turns red. Nice little feature to keep honest people honest.Other Notes:
I found the estimated time of arrival to be more accurate than my previous GPSs. Perhaps because it knows the posted limits as they change along the route??? The menu system is different from my prior GPSs. There is an icon composed of 3 horizontal white bars that, when pressed, bring up other options. Sometimes this icon is in the lower right of the display, sometimes it is located elsewhere depending on where you are in the menus. Since this was a little different than prior units, I am having to get adjusted to this.

Sugarplum Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Long time TomTom user. Surprisingly happy with Garmin Nuvi!, 2011-10-17
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
I have been using TomTom. But when it brought me to a remote, strange place two times in a row (and my model was the one that I had to pay for updates), I knew I had to get another one. In Amazon, I saw this product with rave reviews so I decided to give it a try. And I am happy I did!Here are the cons and pros..Cons- (1) The VOICE: I am the first time Garmin user and I love it in many ways BUT honestly, the voice choices are plain bad! In this category, Tomtom fairs a lot better- it did give me very charming, clear, and natural voice. On the other hand, Garmin gave me very few voice choices. I was so looking forward to using voice that gives me street names (Tomtom did not have this feature) but when I tried this American "Jill," I was like, "What a joke!" It was worse than those automated answering machine voices. So unnatural and abrupt! I finally settled with American "Michelle," who has more elegant and calm voice and I am happy with it (though "Michelle" cannot give me street names). (2) SLOWER, MORE DELIBERATE ARRIVAL CALCULATION & COMMAND: Compared to Tomtom, my new Garmin nuvi is definitely slower in calculating the estimated arrival time based on my vehicle speed. Also, it does not give me directions like "Turn right" soon enough. This is not good when I am supposed to be in "right turn only lane" already. Tomtom gave me "right turn ahead" direction before like one mile, and when I am moderately near, it would remind me one more time - just perfect timing. With Garmin nuvi, I'm learning that I must focus a bit more on direction onscreen ("right turn after 400")to prepare for turns. I am getting the hang of it. Pros- (1) I love lane change assist feature! No more worrying and stressing out! My family is so impressed with the real picture it shows ahead before every junction and exit (with my son going, "Ma! It looks just the same!") :)
(2) It does what navigation is supposed to do. Clear, accurate, and dependable navigation to the destination. Finally, there is a navigation that ensures maps are updated and information is correct. What more can I ask for? Unlike Tomtom, it has NEVER FAILED ME. Cannot be more thrilled! (3) Lifetime map updates - With highways always under constraction, this is huge. 4 free updates a year for lifetime. Cannot beat that. Overall, I would highly recommend this product. I was reluctant to switch from Tomtom to Garmin but I made the right choice. In terms of what navigation is supposed to do, this tops it all. I love driving with my new Garmin nuvi 2595! :-)

robby818 Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
A good one, 2011-10-04
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
My first Garmin was the nuvi 350. It was great in many respects and was so far ahead of the competition when it was released that it felt like a revolutionary device. Since then I must have tried four or five new nuvi models. Very few were as good as that early 350 model and most of them, except my current 660, went back to Amazon. The 2595LMT brings back some of the good memories I had when I first got the 350. Finally, this thing feels fast. Fast in searching, typing, and map drawing. It is an enormous improvement in the one area that has bugged me. No matter how slick looking and thin the nuvis have gotten, the interface felt SLOW and ancient. No more. In terms of route selection, I will update my post as I use it more. My 660 chooses odd routes at times (yes, i disabled all the traffic re-routing (absolute garbage)), I hope the 2595LMT chooses more straightforward routes.Voice control is pretty awesome. When you search by city, it helps a lot to say the city and state. It seems to do well on recognizing Spanish names. La Cañada is a tough one and I couldn't get it to recognize the name. Although as I type this maybe I should try "La Canada Flintridge" since that is the proper name for the city. One suggestion I have is if it comes up with a zero on a search name it should just list cities that are w/i a 100 mile radius or even slicker would be if you could tell it to find the cities within say 50 miles of another city. So if you say to the nuvi "cities NEAR pasadena california" then it would show a list of the cities around pasadena, la canada would be one of them. I don't know if this is just a novel feature that I will quickly get bored of or whether this is a game changer. Time will tell.One gripe about how this and probably many of the newer nuvis plug into the car charger. I loved the fact that on my 350 and 660 I did not have to mess around with a separate power plug. The power input was integrated into the mounting clip. Brilliant. Well, now when you want to remove the nuvi from its stand, it involves two steps- unclip the nuvi from the stand and then unplug the usb/power cable. Cost savings move, but it makes it a pain if you like to hide your nuvi when you park your car. UPDATE- "La Canada Flintridge" in voice command works! However, a family member tried to get to LAX by typing LAX, and got everything with LAX in the name, everything but the airport. If you type "airport" you will get the airport category as a link and then you can pick LAX from a list. The iPhone's google maps is smarter and more intuitive and understands LAX. Garmin has come a long way in searching, but you still have to run searches in a particular way or it will balk and give you a long list of incorrect results. A little annoying and can be very frustrating if you get caught in the loop of entering search terms and getting the wrong results.I've also had a couple of freezes usually when calculating a route. May be related to traffic downloads. If this continues, it will go back...

J. Ingianni "Iggy" Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Why I bought a Garmin Nuvi 2595LMT, 2011-12-02
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Why I bought a Garmin Nuvi 2595LMT.
I have owned many voice command systems in my car from both Magellan and Garmin. I use my gps in my car and in my truck when pulling my 5th wheel. I had a Magellan Maestro 4050 with voice command since 2008 and decided to look around for a new one with a few more bells and whistles. I spent a week solid reading reviews and was ready to buy a Nuvi 3490LMT but kept on reading about software issues and after trying on at BestBuy didn't see it worth $400 for a few additional features.
With that in mind I looked back to Magellan Roadmaster 1700 and a 4700 and even the 5175 Traveller and just couldn't find one that had the features I wanted.
So back to Garmin I looked and found out that The Nuvi 2595LMT had everything I like and needed and was $150 less than the NUVI 3490LMT.What I liked in the Nuvi 2595LMT
5" screen
Voice Commands
Speaks street names, turn by turn
One button to save and name a location.
Free map and traffic for life
Highway Lane selection
Highway Exit enhancement
Highway speed for that highway
Speed limit exceeded notice
Pedestrian mode
Can change icons and voices
Has maps for most of Mexico
Select multiple routes and not just one
You can add coordinates in for a route which I use a lot.And the great price from Amazon which I have bought many items from and has a great return policy.
I will turn off Bluetooth because I already have it in my car and truck stereo systems and to save battery when in pedestrian mode on battery.What I don't like
Nothing yet about the unit.
I hate users who write rviews before they read the manual and learn how to use their unit.
Then complain how the unit doesn't do this or that and the unit does> All they have to do is take the time a read and learn.
I'm sure I will get a lot of negitive remarks to my statement but it really bothers me when the problem is the human factor.With that said I almust add that yes firmware updates are always needed as minor bugs are found and what I see is Garmin in on top of this or they wouldn't be in business long.

Consumer dude Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
my own nuvi 2555 review, and comments on existing reviews, 2011-11-15
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
I've recently replaced by 1450 with the 2555. After reading the reviews here I've concluded that most of the real and tangible complaints reported are due to not learning the UI or not really understanding how garmins work. My experience so far with the 2555 vs the 1450 is quite positive: I like the screen layout, the detail in the maps, and I've verified the basics (I haven't yet played much with routes or vias yet). As others have rightly pointed out, the UI isn't the bees knees, but it does work. one just has to get used to it. Search: It works good and I have no problem learning the newer user interface. One ding I can give Garmin is that the "address" UI does not completely respect the choices made in `searching near' - it magically broadens the searchable area to include the whole state. So, for example, if you set "searching near " to Santa monica, CA and then enter "2645" for the house number and "main" for the street, Nuvi will happily search the entire state of California for 2645 main street. The search itself takes less than 25 seconds on my 2555, which is admirable, but produces a less-than-useful list of things from which to choose. I've asked Garmin to investigate to see if this is intentional or if we can expect a firmware upgrade to fix this silliness. However - if you know the exact address you don't need to use the intelligence of the "address" UI anyway, especially if you get cranky over additional clicks. Just type "2645 main" into the search box (don't use "address" UI) and voila you get a useful results list in less than 5 seconds. The search box respects the city and state so the search is quick and accurate. This corner case aside, if you use the "address" UI for something more unique than main street, say, 1600 pennsylvania avenue, Washington DC, it works quite well, and is quick, easy, and accurate. I will say again, though, that Garmin needs to fix the "address" UI so that it respects the choices made in "searching near". Usability: I just don't get hung up over a couple of extra UI clicks, even though I agree there are too many and that Garmin could benefit from a human factors engineer. POIs can be found easily enough, but if you are expecting this UI to work exactly like another UI that you are familiar with, and you judge this UI against the street pilot for example, you will probably be disappointed because the UI is very different. One UI ding I will give Garmin, however, is that they double-dip you on assuming liability for operating the gps while driving. First, you agree to it when the device boots up (fine ,I can deal with that) but then it also plays big brother and actually warns you that it cannot be operated while driving, and forces a dialog box. That's unnecessary .Elevation accuracy: I think if folks understood the uncertainties of calculating altitude they wouldn't be so critical. Even claiming to know "the correct" altitude is not an exact science - folks need to realize that the Atlantic and Pacific are at different heights, for example, and that tides have to be considered as well, in the calculations. Not to mention that, depending on the number of sats you lock in (called a "fix") , the accuracy of the altitude calculation can change. Accuracy to +/- 50 feet is not uncommon! One ding I will give Garmin in this regard is that they should more details on the number of sats used in the "fix". That would at least help the user to understand why the elevation "changes" and accurate the displayed number actually is.Navigation errors: I've see both Magellan and Garmin navigate incorrectly at times. Probably Tom Tom does as well given the right circumstances; I just haven't used one. None of the gps's are perfect all the time. But one ding I will give Garmin here is that (and this is probably due to Magellan patents) they cannot "make best used of highways". So you are left with a route calculation based on distances and speed limits known to garmin. Most of the time this works, but I too have seen situations where Garmin routed me around robin hood's barn and I had no idea why. But it always got me to where I needed to go, and those situations are not the norm. None of the gps units are immune to this sort of thing. Given the uncertainty of mapping data (Garmin gets maps from a third party), this thing continues to surprise me at how it can calculate an effective route the vast majority of the time. Location re-compute: very pleased with this unit! I drove all over town, turning the gps off, then turning it back on in another location. In all cases, it instantly re-calculated my current position and properly identified nearby POIs. Waking up from "standby" mode the recalculation was instant - on the order of 1-2 seconds. Waking up from a hard power-down forces a new satellite "fix" anyway and recalculates the current position as well. This thing works better than my 4G Android smartphone in that regard.Not knowing what road you are on: Click on the road shown there on the screen! This will cause the garmin to circle the road and tell you its name. Also, the "more" map detail detail will often put the name of the road right on the map itself, along with the side roads which you can check against what you actually see out of the window. Its quite good, actually. Support: I have to give garmin four really awesome gold stars for the fact that US incoming calls are handled by people who have the same primary/native language and country of residence as do I. Kudos Garmin! The only complaint I have is that the wait time can be long, but that aside (and this is not an exaggeration) Garmin technical support has the most helpful and courteous people I have ever dealt with. This alone is a huge plus in my book, and worth every unnecessary UI click known to man.

Jeffrey R. Young "Silver Fox" Say: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
A valuable upgrade from Garmin, 2011-11-09
This review is for: Garmin nüvi 2555LMT 5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Maps and Traffic
Most of the reviews here are for the 2595, not the 2555 that I purchased. I didn't need voice activation or bluetooth so the 2555 is just fine for me.I have to disagree with the reviewer that says it is slow to find where you are. I am a long-time Garmin user and I think it is light years faster than my old Nuvi model. Although some of the new features are a little difficult to get used to I still think this unit deserves the highest marks. The larger screen alone makes it worth an upgrade from an older unit.It's also great to have lifetime maps and traffic upgrades. Again, that gives this model high marks. My favorite feature on the 2555 is the categorization of places you would like to go. For example, on my old unit I used to have search for and then type in "REST A" to find the next rest area on my route. With the 2555 "Rest Area" is a category and therefore only a couple of button presses away.In summary, I am a happy consumer who is enjoying the new features that Garmin has added to it's new 2012 line of GPSs. Well worth the upgrade!