Purchase Garmin nüvi 285W/285WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic

The Nuvi 285W compares extremely well with my first love, the Nuvi 350. I drove around for a day with both running at once. With a crisper, larger, and more visible screen, the 285W is a definite jump up. The 285 also is better at getting GPS signals faster even without the antenna flap of the 350. The 285 refreshes the vehicle on the screen much more smoothly. The wider screen shows the side streets and directions way better.
The volume, navigation, speed of turning on, and directions are almost exactly the same. The voice directions are easier to understand, the directions are spoken faster, and the diction is better. The voice is lacking in inflection and is less appealing than "Jane" which I miss. Pressing the screen is a tad harder. The menu is more streamlined and easier to navigate but one thing has changed (Custom Points of Interest are buried under tools-Extras rather than under POI- go figure). I also found out that I EXCEEDED the number of POI when I downloaded some Custom POI and went over the 1000 mark. The new unit looks much better. It has a slippery on/off switch compared to the 350 button.
Updating the unit over the internet is as easy as the 350 but still pokes along at a slow USB speed. Bluetooth and MSN Direct I have not tried and I may not ever bother to turn on but they are there. The price is so much less than the 350 that it is embarrassing to compare the two. Overall verdict? Buy without hesitation if it is your 1st GPS. If you are replacing a 350, do not bother unless Bluetooth is needed or you fall in love with the terrific new wide display.
With a second car came a need for a 2nd GPS. I could not even drive the other car home from NH without cursing about where the next damn gas station was. 3 exits later, finally found a gas station! I can no longer go without a GPS in my car than I could live without the internet.
Smart phone? Not quite there yet and having to fumble mounting the thing, plugging it in, and pulling up the app is way too much hassle for everyday driving. Stick with a dedicated unit that is left set up in the car.
UPDATE: Like a poster before me, my unit suddenly went blank while I was arriving at my destination. It rebooted twice before coming back on without any intervention on my part. Battery was full. Acted like the power switch was suddenly turned off and then while it was 1st rebooting, the power switch was turned off again. Close as I can come to duplicating the issue. So far just the one reboot. If the reboot does not occur again, I will bump this back up to 5 stars.
UPDATE 2: Apparently Garmin or someone objected to the Amazon post about this reboot issue (or my "solution" about maps) and it was removed. Just google "Garmin Nuvi rebooting" to see some of the posts, even on the Garmin site. Sorry if I was the one who had the post removed.Get more detail about Garmin nüvi 285W/285WT 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic.