Nuvi 250 Arrives for Review at GPSLodge

Update: I have posted my Review of the Nuvi 250

Well, the Garmin Nuvi 250 was officially announced yesterday, and I am happy to say that we have a new Nuvi 250 at the GPS Lodge for review. The Nuvi 250 is a very stylish and attractive unit, that has some classic lines making it new, but distinctively a Nuvi. It's amazingly small and has a bit of that uncontrollable appeal that comes with holding an iPod for the first time. You roll it around in your hands a few times, put it down and then pick it up and do it again. It appears above next to a Garmin C340, which is part of the older C-series that the Nuvi 200 series is thought to be replacing.

The Nuvi 200 series will be differentiated by their map content. The Nuvi 200 will have the continental US, the Nuvi 250, will have North America (all US+Canada+Puerto Rico), while the Nuvi 270 will follow in the footsteps of its big brothers, the Nuvi 370 and Nuvi 670 to add North American AND Euro maps pre-loaded.

The Nuvi 250 has a 3.5 inch touchscreen and comes with NAVTEQ maps/POI's weighing in with over 6 million POI locations.

Like it's other Nuvi brothers, the Nuvi 250 will be able to run Garmin's Savers Guides and the Garmin Travel Guides; two optional packages that allow you to add more depth and detail to the information that you can carry around with you, either saving money at locations near where you are, or the travel guides taking you on your own guided tour.

What's Not There?
When you compare the Nuvi 250 (and the rest of the Nuvi 200 series) to the Nuvi 350 there are some notable differences. What do we shed for the savings when you step down form the Nuvi 350 system? Well, sorry, there is no MP3 player, nor is there any ability to play audio books (no biggie there). The flip up antenna was switched out for an integrated one (a plus in my mind). There is no traffic capability in the line, and there is no text-to-speech. These two are some sacrifices that are being made, but I think that it's a decent trade-off for the entry models.

So while we are having a bit of a Nor'Easter up here near Boston, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to go driving. Can't wait.

What's in the Box?

The Nuvi will come with: