Garmin nüvi 295W Wi-Fi Portable GPS Navigator
- Ships in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
- Spoken street names (e.g. “Turn right on Elm street in 500 ft.”)
- Dual-orientation automatically switches between portrait and landscape view
- 3 MP camera with auto-focus
- Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity
- MP3 player with 2.5mm headphone jack/audio line-out
- 1-step navigation from contacts, e-mail, and local search results
Product Description
Torn between the choice of bringing either your GPS unit, your digital camera, or your laptop? No? You’re not alone, but that doesn’t negate the fact that a camera with built-in navigation functionality and WiFi browser capabilities is incredibly convenient. As a matter of fact, once you have a Garmin nuvi 295W in your hot little hands, you’ll be loathe to give it up.Amazon.com Product Description
nüvi 295W offers a new take on an old favorite with Wi-Fi® connectivity, a 3 MP camera with auto-focus, dual orientation capability and much more.
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Dual-orientation with 1-touch navigation
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Get Connected
Wi-Fi connectivity on the nuvi 295W provides a full desktop web experience with an HTML browser so you can surf the web whenever and wherever you choose. Check your e-mail, including Hotmail, G-mail, AOL mail, POP3 and IMAP, and view email attachments in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and JPG. You can also search an abundance of customer-rated points of interest (POIs), such as restaurants, hotels and more, using Google™ Local Search.
Get Going
With a single tap on the dual-oriented screen, you can avoid writing down addresses and go straight to your destination. nüvi 295W offers 1-touch navigation from your e-mail, address book (with up to 5,000 contacts) and local search results. Additionally, the unique 3 MP camera geotags pictures so you can create routes to them. You can also send the picture to a friend to route to or upload to the web to auto-locate on a map.
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The slim, sleek design is
ultra-portable |
Get Turn-by-Turn Directions
With an intuitive interface that greets you with simple, familiar icons and a scrollable menu, nüvi 295W is the perfect travel companion for getting around town. With a quick tap on an icon or flick of the menu, you can easily look up addresses and services and get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination. It comes preloaded with detailed City Navigator® NT street maps for the U.S. and Canada with nearly 6 million points of interest (POIs) such as stores, restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, gas stations, ATMs and more, and speed limits for most major roads. cityXplorer maps are also available for your nüvi 295W. cityXplorer™ maps provide the latest detailed roads and points of interest for metropolitan areas.
Go Beyond Navigation
nüvi 295W isn’t just for navigation. A quick tap provides access to the lengthy feature set, including a calculator, stop watch, calendar, check lists and more. Also included are travel tools such as a JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter and current and 5-day weather forecasts. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect™ Photos and navigate to them. Garmin Locate™ automatically marks your position when you remove nüvi from your car so you’ll never forget where you parked again, and nüvi 295W is compatible with the free Garmin Garage where you can download custom voices and vehicles. Enhance your travel experience with optional microSD™ cards.
Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
Amazon.com is happy to offer this item in Certified Frustration-Free Packaging, a recyclable, easy-to-open alternative to traditional packaging. Products in Frustration-Free Packaging are exactly the same–we’ve just streamlined the packaging. A Frustration-Free Package comes without wire ties, hard plastic “clamshell” casings, and plastic bindings. It’s designed to be opened without the use of a box cutter or knife and will protect your product just as well as traditional packaging. This item ships in its own box, without the need for an additional shipping box. Learn more about Frustration-Free Packaging.
What’s in the Box
nüvi 295W, preloaded City Navigator® NT for North America, vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, USB cable, dashboard disc, and quick start manual
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Certified Frustration-Free Packaging |
Certified Frustration-Free Packaging |
Certified Frustration-Free Packaging
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Just finished my first few hours with the 295W.
Just received the 295W today to replace the 755T that was unfortunately stolen. I was thinking about waiting for the 3790T or 3760T, but needed something before that becomes available.
** UNIT DIMENSIONS / FEEL / RESPONSE **
First impressions of the 295W are pretty good. Good fit and finish, has the right heft to it to where it does not have a “toy” feel. Fit and finish is nicer than the 755T I had. All functions process more quickly than the 755T did, and the touch screen is much more responsive. On my old unit, either the processor bogged down a bit, or the screen sensitivity was not quite there, but it did not respond like the 295W does. Scrolling with the touch screen is nice both in the menus, and in map view mode.
** ROUTING / DIRECTIONS **
The routing seemed faster than the 755T. I will miss the lane assist when I travel to larger cities like L.A. and Atlanta, but for the vast amount of time, it won’t be a big deal. I did purposely take some wrong turns to check the rerouting capabilities, and found that to be very quick.
That said, it did have one hiccup already. ( i.e.- when chose Lowe’s from the POI list, it showed it in two different directions, same address, 5 miles apart. There is only one Lowe’s in my town, and it is not a divided highway or anything).
** UPLOADS **
I have not yet updated the map. It seems strange to have JUST released the unit, and the website suggests there is an updated map set available? I am going to see if I can figure out the version, and when the last one was released. Since I can upload over 60 days from initial use, I may wait a bit.
That said, I did upload some of the extra voices and vehicles that you can get from the Garmin site. It was quick, and seems to be just fine. ( By the way, I did have the problem upload with my prior 755T that made it a brick, and I had to send back and forth with Garmin.)
** WEB / WIRELESS **
Set up with my wireless network. Security settings were easy. The auto download weather is a neat feature, but I don’t see myself carrying this around every day in and out of the house the way I probably would with GarminPhone. The Google Local Search worked well though. The pre-loaded POIs were very good I thought, but there were a couple places I figured it wouldn’t know, and it didn’t. Connected through the web though, it found them in 5 seconds, and then they were added to the unit saved places.
** OVERALL FIRST IMPRESSION **
After being used to the larger 755T screen, this seems a little bit small. Seems like I can’t just glance as quickly at it as the prior unit, but maybe that will change with some time. The spoken directions seem a little bit clearer than the 755 was The response of the unit is very good in my opinion. Not sure how much I will really use the wireless, but I can see it handy traveling when I head to the hotel and might be looking for all the food options locally that the bas POI may not have, etc….
I am headed on a couple hundred mile drive over the next weekend and will see what other opinions arise. I know it’s an initial review, but at least I don’t have any buyer’s remorse at this point. I may still wind up with a 7300 series after those arrive, and put this in the other vehicle, but we’ll see.
**As for the packaging issues mentioned by the first poster, (who may just have wanted to be the first poster, since it certainly was not a PRODUCT review), I can say that while everything did arrive in fine shape, the stuff did just kind of seem tossed in the box. I felt it actually cheapened the Garmin brand to send it this way.
Rating: 4 / 5
GPS Experience:
I have been a GPS user for over 10 years. I have owned Garmin’s, Tom Toms, Magellan’s, Mio, DASH, and others.
Packaging:
You get a brown box with all the Garmin pieces inside and most important it’s recyclable.
Physical unit:
The 295t has a power button on the top, it also has a 2.5mm headphone jack/audio line-out on top. It has volume up and down button on the right side and well as a camera button on the right side. The left side has the USB as well as the windshield bracket connection. The nice thing is that you can connect the power directly to the bracket.
First Impression:
I just received my Nuvi 295t and I have to say that I excited about the concept of being able to connect to the Internet to surf or to find POI’s. I believe that all future PND units will have some kind of wi-fi connection or a bluetooth connection through your phone. The PND companies are loosing market share to all the NAV phones that are on the market. The 3.5 inch screen is SMALL. If you like having a 4.3″ screen or even a 5″ inch screen you might not like this small screen. Remember this a similar size to most NAV phones on the market today.
Navigation:
It has spoken street names (e.g. “Turn right on Elm street in 500 ft.”). The directions given were similar to other Garmin units. The directions were accurate. The unit displays the posted speed limit, and your current speed on the bottom right. It displays your arrival time on the bottom left. On the top of the screen it displays the next turn arrow with the street name. The “Jill” directional voice is low and tiny…it must be a small speaker.
Screen:
3.5″ inches. Dual-orientation automatically switches between portrait and landscape view. The Scrolling menu option was a nice add-on.
Wi-fi(web surfing, weather, e-mail):
Web surfing: Connected to an available hot spot was fast a easy. The web pages display as full web pages. You have the option to enlarge or reduce the web pages with a (+) or (-) that displays on the screen. Loading web pages was average with some taking longer to load.
Weather: while connected via wi-fi you can check your local forecast from the main menu. You would have to use the browser to go to [...] to view radar, and maps.
E-mail: setting an e-mail account was fast and easy. Once you are connected via wi-fi you can check your email from the main menu. The email icon shows how many un-opened emails that you have in your inbox. I was able to setup 2 e-mail accounts. The screen qwerty keyboard is not the greatest but you can still input the URL’s and other info.
Wi-fi (Google searches):
Once you are connected via wi-fi and you have the option to use Google Search to find POI’s that were not listed in the 6 million POI database. The searches were fast and easy. Once they are found the unit can route you to your destination. You can also use 1-step navigation from contacts, e-mail, and local search results.
Rating: 4 / 5
The Garmin nuvi 295W is a nuvifone but without the phone so the same accessories work with it. It has GPS, maps and navigation, lots of information about urban points of interest from ATMs to parking garages, plus wi-fi for web-browsing and email as well as music and widgets. I use it primarily while walking around in Manhattan and it certainly seems to be intended to be used as a handheld device rather than for driving.
This gadget is fun to handle and explore, with a nice physical form, a responsive touch screen, and useful software but it does have problems with the small, dim display, weak speaker, the 2.5mm jack, short battery life, intermittent satellite communication, and customer support with long hold times and no familiarity with the device.
It is still very likable and useful.
**** = I like it
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WARNING! Excessive detail below.
First the good:
It has an attractive design with a nice rubbery easy-grip case. It is very solid and feels right in the hands. The matte touch screen and related software is very responsive to scrolling and tapping, very crisp. It works with fingers, a stylus, or even the cap of a pen.
There is no need to read the instructions as the interface and program software are so intuitive. A hard-copy quick start manual is provided but the full manual is available on the Garmin website to download. There is also help available on the device itself. The most difficult task is setting up email. Calibrating the compass is actually fun.
The maps are accurate and the library of various services and landmarks seems comprehensive although not completely up-to-date: it lists a hospital and a couple of restaurants that have closed recently. It also goes strictly by distance when suggesting nearby points of interest and does not take into account that they may be across a river with a very long travel distance involving bridges or tunnels. Granted, other mapping services also use the “as the crow flies” method but it is still frustrating for someone not familiar with an area. The GPS certainly is accurate in pinpointing current location and even recognizes some walking paths in parks. Route suggestions are useful.
The 3 megapixel camera works well enough, just point, press the button, let it focus, snap the picture. There is no flash but it can geotag. Photos can be emailed or dragged to a computer when the device is attached by USB.
It is very easy to load music (or audiobooks) onto the hard drive and then listen. I created a folder on my computer and filled it with mp3s and then simply dragged it over.
The hard drive shows up as 3.19 GB with 1.66 GB free so there is plenty of room for photos and music and additional map information. It will also accept a MicroSD card for additional storage.
The calendar, clock and alarm functions, weather, calculator, currency convertor, and notepad, all are handy little widgets.
Now for the not-so-good:
It takes about a minute to boot up but there is a progress bar.
The display is not bright enough even at 100% to read it easily outdoors even when the sky is completely overcast. It also smears easily. The display is too small to see comfortably if it is mounted on a dashboard and web browsing is sometimes tedious despite the easy-to-use magnification and re-centering functions.
The internal speaker is not loud enough to listen to music holding the nuvi away from the ear, indoors, at full volume. I cannot understand travel directions when walking around town unless the speaker is against my ear, due to normal ambient noise. So headphones are necessary, but the jack is 2.5 mm (cellphone standard) instead of 3.5 mm (as on iPods). I just can’t imagine what Garmin was thinking when they decided to carry over that 2.5 mm jack from the nuvifone–perhaps VOIP calls?
So definitely, between the small display and the need for headphones, this is best as a handheld device.
The display sometimes refuses to reorient horizontally to vertically or vice versa.
The wi-fi control is buried down in the menus but I discovered that it is possible to go straight back out to the top menu by holding down the back button icon. However, there should be a primary icon for wi-fi just as there is for the browser.
It would be nice if it could import a contact list and bookmarks. Who has time to enter all of their contacts on a mini keyboard?
The nuvi was unable to establish a primary satellite connection until it was in a completely open space well away from any buildings or trees. After the primary satellite connection is made, subsequent connections are much easier but the device often warns that the link is weak and then completely loses the connection. (The 295W still thinks it is on the corner two blocks away from my apartment! ) The satellite connection was also unavailable in a cab so it will need an external antenna in at least some vehicles.
Battery life is four hours in theory but less than two hours for me while in active use, even after calibrating the battery by fully discharging and recharging it and keeping the display at 75% brightness. The customer service rep said keeping wi-fi off would lengthen the usable time. The nuvi 295W comes with a vehicle charger and a USB charger but no wall charger.
Customer support:
Customer support is a big problem. As of May 2010, there is no written customer support information specific to this device on the Garmin website other than manuals. So I called late on a Thursday afternoon and was 25 minutes on hold before a rep picked up and, when I asked, was told that the wait was a little shorter than usual.
After explaining the problem, I was put back on hold for just a few minutes, then the rep tried to help with updating the software but after installing and using the updater, it turned out that there were none available. Then it was back on hold for a few minutes waiting for a specialist. It was suggested that I try resetting the device to the factory defaults (erasing all my data) or that perhaps I just got a dud with malfunctioning hardware and should return it.
Incredibly, neither of the reps I spoke with had been trained to support this device nor had they even actually seen one. I am surprised that a company would release a product without training the customer support people for it or at least letting them handle one. (The nuvifone support is handled by a different division.)
Total time on the phone: 77 minutes.
To be clear, both reps were very friendly and polite and made every effort to be helpful and were generally knowledgeable about their products, just not about this particular device.
Eventually, I was able to figure out the issue and of course it was my own error and not a problem with the nuvi 295W.
Rating: 4 / 5
Overview:
The GPS is really good. It connects fast, redirects nimbly, and is Garmin, so it is reliable. The battery life seems really good, and the other apps are also very nice to have. It plays music, checks your email, and has a calendar. Basically, it is akin to a smart phone without the phone aspect (and without data charges!). If this sounds like something that you might be intrigued by, I suggest you check one of these out. I very much enjoy mine.
Detailed Review:
I have really enjoyed having this little guy around. My previous experience with GPS was a laptop purchased from Dell with a GPS card and CoPilot 11 software. As such, my expectations were pretty low. That system takes five minutes outside of any enclosure to find a signal, and loses it if you sit in your car (it’s perfect if you want to carry around your laptop on foot, open, and get directions to a coffeeshop that you could REMEMBER the way to).
As a comparison, this Garmin Nuvi is awesomely excellent. This thing usually finds satellites in less than a minute, it has good playback quality for sounds (I can hear it over my car radio), the screen is big enough to be functional, but no so large that it is distracting, and it redirects in less than a minute as well. The GPS system is fantastic.
I have had some difficulties in getting it to check my email using the WiFi capabilities, but I think that is user error, so don’t be too worried. The receiver for WiFi seems a bit less powerful than what is in my non-GPS laptop, but that reciever is pretty good, so I expect that this will work well in any urban areas. You should be able to (if you set it up right), get your email at the Starbucks while waiting for your Latte Mocha Frappacino Blast (or whatever).
The fact that it can display Microsoft documents and PDFs natively is particularly nice, along with the calendar functions, as well. I think that if you want to avoid the data charges of a smart phone, this is probably the best thing that you could buy for yourself.
The battery life is pretty good. I ran mine for at least eight hours without a recharge, which is nice if you have a long drive ahead of you. The dash mounter and the car adapter are nice touches for those extended trips, although an included AC adapter would have been a useful as well. In the box, you can charge via vehicle or PC.
I am not sure if the transmissions are encrypted from this device’s web browser or not, so I would have a little precaution about what passwords you enter into it. Nevertheless, it is darned useful.
Conclusions:
If you are an early adopter, or a tech junkie, this may be the upgrade or update you are looking for. If you are a technopeasant, like me, this is a nice, intuitive device that can get you where you are going with a minimum of trouble, and a good battery life. Someone who understands technology can set up the Internet and email for you on here and then you can just have fun.
Harkius
Rating: 5 / 5
The Garmin Nuvi 295W is a mid-range navigator with built-in wireless. It features the well-known and reliable Garmin navigation with the added benefit of a slightly updated UI. The icons for navigation within the UI are easier to see and access and are accessed through a touch screen scroll screen on the main screen.
Fit/finish
The unit feels very sturdy in the hand. It’s solid feel makes it feel like a useful instrument instead of a toy that many other units feel like. The touch screen has a slightly matted appearance that resists smudges and scratches and glare. When in the cradle there is a on/off/sleep button on the side and the volume buttons are on the top.
Navigation
Navigation is typical of Garmin GPS units. The default setting is driving mode, in which you can choose different route settings such as faster, more direct, avoiding tools, etc. If you know where you are going it may send you a way that you question, but it will defiantly get you there. If you are going someplace you’ve never been, you can be rest assured that it will get you there. If you need to deviate from the route it suggests the units improved OS offers lightening fast recalculations. Often times the recalculation will take under 5 seconds.
You can enter waypoints or places to go either from the built-in Google search (for places of interest), restaurants, gas stations, police, hospitals, and other places along your route. You can also enter an address and save that as a favorite and give it a name of your choosing.
You can also choose a pedestrian mode. You go to pedestrian mode when you remove the unit from the cradle.
This is useful for geocaching. It also works well with the myGarmin portion of their website where you can download additions, including up to five geocaches in your area at a time.
In either mode you can also enter GPS coordinates. If in pedestrian mode it will show you how to walk to that coordinate. If it is farther away it will switch to driving mode, drive you to a point near the GPS coordinates and then allow you to walk.
Wifi
The unit has built in WiFi. Setup is quick and easy, though the range is somewhat less than that of say what a laptop computer would be able to pick up, but the signal is strong and reliable. The browser is typical of small units like this and can be improved upon. The e-mail application is great and adding a gmail account is quick and painless because the unit already knows the server settings. Just enter your address and password and you are checking your e-mail.
The built-in Google Search also looks for places of interest near you or your route and you can add that to your favorites or waypoints and be off.
Extras
With all Garmins you can go to myGarmin from their website. You can download customizable maps, geocaches, voices, and new vehicles. Connecting is a snap (hint, choose USB Drive Mode) via the included USB cable which also acts as a charger. You can download map updates, software updates, and lots of fun tools.
Final Verdit
As someone who has only used an older GPS unit, I was impressed the this units functionality, build quality, and interface. As with any GPS there are some limitations. These are overshadowed, however, by the extras on this unit and its lightning fast response, interface, and navigation.
A fun tool for any driver, or any geocacher.
Rating: 5 / 5