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The nüvi 285WT offers MSN Direct Service and is compatible with Garmin’s lifetime traffic update receiver. Enjoy 9 months of free MSN Direct Service (included) or purchase the GTM 25 and get real-time traffic updates for the life of your nüvi. Choose what’s best for you.
Intuitive touchscreen interface. Click to enlarge. |
With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. Click to enlarge. |
Pair with your compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free. Click to enlarge. |
MSN Direct
With next-generation dynamic content from MSN Direct, nüvi 285WT is one resourceful personal travel assistant. Using the included receiver and free trial service to MSN Direct, you can check your flight status, avoid traffic backups, compare local gas prices, get advanced weather information, enhanced movie listings, stock information, news and local events when you travel with your unit. Even plan trips from the convenience of your computer, via Windows Live Local, and wirelessly send locations to nüvi 285WT.
- Free 9 month trial subscription to MSN Direct services, activation instructions provided
- MSN Direct Traffic Receiver (GDB 55) included in the box
- Extended MSN Direct service subscriptions available for purchase: 12 months for $49.95 + tax (visit MSN for further details)
Notice: MSN Direct service will be available only until January 1, 2012. Activate a subscription between November 19, 2009, and March 31, 2010, and receive 9 months of MSN Direct service for free.
Integrated Traffic Receiver Capability
Power your nüvi and get lifetime traffic updates all with one cable, the GTM 25 with Lifetime Traffic (purchase required). This optional device provides you with updates from NAVTEQ Traffic, a real-time traffic services provider with no monthly fees or maintenance costs. NAVTEQ Traffic delivers accurate, reliable, lifetime traffic data directly to your compatible navigator. NAVTEQ Traffic provides real-time traffic conditions for more than 90 metropolitan markets in North America, including Toronto, Canada. Find out more on the product detail page.
See More
With nüvi 285WT’s widescreen display, you’ll always get the big picture. View map detail, driving directions, photos and more in bright, brilliant color. Its sunlight-readable, 4.3-inch display is easy to read–from any direction.
Get Turn-by-Turn Directions
nüvi 285WT’s intuitive interface greets you with two simple questions: “Where to?” and “View Map.” Touch the color screen to 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, over 6 million points of interest (POIs), 2-D or 3-D maps and smooth map redraw rates as you navigate. Its digital elevation maps show you shaded contours at higher zoom levels, giving you a big picture of the surrounding terrain. In addition, nüvi 285WT accepts custom points of interest (POIs), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming POIs. With HotFix satellite prediction, nüvi calculates your position faster to get you there quicker.
Make Hands-free Calls with Bluetooth
For hands-free calling, nüvi 285WT integrates Bluetooth wireless technology with a built-in microphone and speaker. Just pair it with your compatible Bluetooth phone and talk hands-free through the 285WT while staying focused on the road. Simply dial numbers with nüvi’s touchscreen keypad to make a call. To answer calls, just tap the screen and speak into its built-in microphone. Enjoy convenient one-touch dialing for contacts and points of interest.
Take It With You
Like the rest of the nüvi 205-series, nüvi 285WT sports a sleek, slim design and fits comfortably in your pocket or purse. Its rechargeable lithium-ion battery makes it convenient for navigation by car or foot. With its “Where Am I?” emergency locator, you always know your location. Simply tap the screen to get your exact latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address and intersection, and the closest hospitals, police stations and fuel stations.
Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 285WT includes many travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock, automatic time zone transition, currency converter, unit converter, calculator and more. With photo navigation, you can download pictures from Garmin Connect Photos and navigate to them. The 285WT is compatible with our free Garmin Garage where you can download animated vehicles that show your location on the map. It also comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature. Enhance your travel experience with optional plug-in SD cards such as Garmin Travel Guides for detailed data on attractions.
What’s in the Box
nüvi 285WT, Preloaded City Navigator NT for North America (full coverage), MSN Direct receiver (GDB 55) with integrated vehicle power cable, 9 months free MSN Direct service, Vehicle suction cup mount, USB cable, Dashboard disc, Quick start manual
Which nüvi is Best for You?
Note: All nüvis come with detailed NAVTEQ maps containing more than 6 million pre-loaded point of interest locations.
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Device
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Screen Size inches (W x H)
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Included Maps
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Text-to-Speech (Directions in Real Street Names)
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Traffic
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Bluetooth
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Media
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FM Transmitter (audio through car stereo system)
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Multi-Point Routing
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Battery life (hours)
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Cont. U.S., Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
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AK and Canada
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Europe
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| nüvi 205 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||||
| nüvi 205w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||||
| nüvi 255 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 255w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 260w | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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Photos | up to 5 | |||||
| nüvi 265T | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 265WT | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 275T | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 285WT | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 9 months free); |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 465T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 755T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) | Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 760 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 5 | |
| nüvi 765T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | |
| nüvi 775T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 |
| nüvi 780 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 9 months free); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 5 | |
| nüvi 785T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 9 months free); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | |
| nüvi 850 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 855 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 885T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (receiver included; 9 months free); FM (with optional receiver) |
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Photos, MP3s |
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up to 4 | |
| nüvi 1200 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | |||||
| nüvi 1250 | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 1260T | 2.8 x 2.1 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 1300 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | |||||
| nüvi 1350 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (with optional receiver) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 1350T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) | Photos | up to 4 | ||||
| nüvi 1370T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 1390T | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos | up to 4 | |||
| nüvi 1490T | 4.4 x 2.5 |
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MSN-enhanced (with optional receiver); FM (receiver included; Lifetime Traffic) |
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Photos |
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up to 4 | ||
| nüvi 1690 | 3.81 x 2.25 |
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NAVTEQ Traffic, 2 years free (Garmin nüLink! service) |
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Photos |
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up to 4 | ||
Keyah says:
The Garmin nuvi 285WT is a winner.
The case for the Garmin 285WT is sleek shiny black plastic. The case seems very sturdy – in fact all the pieces appear to be made of quality plastic. It comes with the power adapter for the car, and a USB cable to hook up to your computer. (Some of the less expensive Garmins do not come with the USB cable, which is a problem because you need a USB cable to register the unit.)
Pros:
The unit was extremely easy to set up. Upon first use, it guides you through set-up, which is simple. The icons on the screen are simple and intuitive. I started using it without even reading the directions.
After the initial settings are entered, it sets about finding the local satellites. I told it to skip that step, since I was just hooking it up to a wall charger (sold separately) to charge the batteries. Not only did it go ahead and find the satellites, it found them while sitting on my kitchen table. I don’t know how it did that, but it did. There are green bars in the corner of the display showing you how many satellites have been acquired. There it was, displaying all four green bars after just a few minutes. That was impressive.
In the car, it locks onto the satellites extremely fast. It is much faster to find the signals than my friend’s TomTom 910. To be fair, the TomTom is an older unit, but it was a much more expensive unit than the Garmin 285WT to begin with.
I am using the default voice. It is extremely clear and easy to understand. It has only messed up on one street name, as it assumed that N Street was the same as North Street. I am not in an area where there are street names in Spanish or other languages, so I have not had the chance to find out how well it deals with those. The voice is much more understandable than the voice in the TomTom 910 (I hope my friend doesn’t read this…). (The TomTom also consistently mangled Spanish street names when we took a road trip to San Jose.)
If one drives past a turn that it has selected, the device instantly says “Recalculating,” and immediately updates the directions. I missed a turn at night in a very dark area, (I would have had a hard time finding the alternative route) and it didn’t miss a beat.
The display is extremely legible both in bright sunlight and at night. I had to turn the brightness down to the minimum because it was a bit too bright at night for my taste.
The plastic suction cup holds extremely well. Be sure to take the transparent protective film off of it before using. I have it mounted on a Gilsson UBM Portable Car Non-Skid Friction Beanbag Dashboard Mount for Garmin, TomTom, Magellan and more that has worked out quite well.
The 285WT comes with a feature that I really like called “Where Am I?” It’s an emergency location feature – you can tap the screen to get your latitude and longitude. So if you get a flat tire out in the middle of the Mohave Desert, the tow truck from Trona will be able to find you. Assuming, of course, that tow trucks from Trona also have GPS devices.
Cons:
It gave me bad directions one time. It was a good thing I knew the area. Since I just got this unit, I don’t know how often this sort of thing will happen. I am willing to forgive in this instance, because it seems to perform so well overall. (I don’t know how forgiving I’d be if I had driven miles out of my way…)
Neutral:
This model is Bluetooth. I don’t have a Bluetooth phone (I know, I know, I am using archaic technology…) so I couldn’t test that feature.
The device also comes the MSN Direct (9 months free) which I found to be of very limited usefulness because I live in a rural area. I mean, c’mon, around here the 4H Club pancake breakfast at the volunteer fire department is a Big Deal, and MSN Direct is hardly going to tell me about things like that. I also don’t have traffic concerns of the type that one would have in Los Angeles or San Francisco, for example. I also don’t know why one needs a Doppler weather display on one’s GPS, unless one is driving through Oklahoma in a thunderstorm during tornado season. It might be great for that, who knows?
If you live in an urban area, don’t get too excited about MSN Direct, because Microsoft has already announced that they are killing it in 2012. It was originally developed for a device called a Smart Watch, which obviously hit the market with a big belly flop, or we’d all have one. More information can be found on MSN Direct and the planned demise thereof in an October 28, 2009 article at the PC World website.
All in all, I am extremely happy with this device, and recommend it without reservation. In fact, I am buying one for my son for Christmas.
December 20, 2009, 6:44 amBabette says:
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Over the years I have purchased over a dozen GPS receivers for myself and even more as gifts for family and friends. When I got a chance to use this new Garmin nuvi I jumped at it. Garmin is known for their ease of use and the 285WT is no exception. With the addition of MSN Direct, traffic and BlueTooth this is a real value in an entry to mid-level GPS.
Garmin makes a lot of different nuvi models and understanding the difference between them can be quite daunting. Essentially the nuvi 285WT and the 265WT are the same unit. They are both MSN compatible and NAVTEQ FM Traffic compatible. The difference is that the 285WT comes with the MSN receiver (with some free months, then a monthly charge util Jan. 2012 when the service will be discontinued) and the 265WT comes with the NAVTEQ receiver and free lifetime traffic (complete with pop-up ads when you use it). You can buy the NAVTEQ receiver for your 285WT at any time as well as buying the MSN receiver for a 265WT.
If you are a professional driver (limo, taxi, truck, delivery or route salesman) you might be better off with a higher end unit such as the Garmin 1690 (it will auto-sort multiple destinations and then provides the most direct route, lane guidance with junction view, the nuLink service and more) or the TomTom version, the 740 Live. If this is your first GPS, a gift for a new user or if you are upgrading from an older model, I think that this is an excellent choice.
No GPS is perfect and even the best is dependent on third party maps which are bound to contain some errors. Also, businesses open and close frequently so you need to use your own common sense (and even your sense of humor) at times. Having said this I find that having and using one is much better than not. I seldom get lost don't need to print out directions.
The only negatives that I found for the 285 WT is that I wish that the screen was bigger and that the body was thinner. Magellen has these features at this price point (and even lower). Also, I think that Lane Assist should be standard on all newer GPS receivers. All in all though most users would not miss these feature and I recommend it for new users and up-graders. I hope that this short video review is helpful to you.
Garmin 010-11280-00 Portable Friction Dashboard Mount for nüvi Portable GPS
December 20, 2009, 10:25 am