Garmin nuvi 250 Review

The Garmin Nuvi 250W has been the biggest waste of £170 I think I have ever spent. It has been literally worse than useless, unable to locate signals for sometimes several hours and then losing the signal with the familiar and depressing "lost satellite signal". It's not possible to give a product any stars whatsoever if it won't do what it was purchased for - to navigate. My wife bought a TomTom and it is superb, locating satellite signals within seconds even when indoors, whereas the Garmin almost always gets to the "unable to locate satellite signal" before it finds anything. If, as is so often the case, you need to switch on your satnav whilst in the middle of a journey then the Garmin is useless due to it's inability to locate a signal.

I tried to return the unit to the place of purchase (Halfords) and was told there was nothing wrong with it and that it was normal to take a while to locate a signal. They phoned Garmin who advised that it simply needed updating, even though it was fully up-to-date with the latest software version from Garmin's own website. Appalling service from both Halfords and Garmin.

Garmin should be forced to place a huge disclaimer on the front of the box, stating "This product may take several hours to locate a satellite signal and should only be purchased if you do not intend to use it as a satnav unit".

From now on nothing but a TomTom will be considered.