My Garmin Nuvi 255W GPS navigator

I have just bought a Garmin Nuvi 255W portable GPS navigator in PIKOM PC Fair II 2009 at the price of RM849. It is a SING/MAL unit which comes with new features such as Junction View, Lane Assist, etc.

Here are some useful information for those who are also interested in this model of Garmin GPS navigator. Note that this unit is a localized version sold in Malaysia and Singapore only.

In the packaging box, there is:

• The Garmin Nuvi 255W GPS navigator
• Vehicle suction cup mount
• Vehicle power cable
• Dashboard disk
• Quick start manual

Free gifts from vendor as PC Fair promotion:

• Screen protector film
• Garmin leather case
• USB cable

There is no complete user manual come with the box, but the full user manual in PDF format can be downloaded from Garmin website.

The following maps are preloaded in the GPS navigator:

• City Navigator Singapore/Malaysia NT v4.02
• Malsingmaps Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei NT 2009.5
• Thailand v9.0 EN (No Pain)

And I managed to install Malfreemaps v1.68 together with MFM SRTM Topo v1.02 available in http://www.malfreemaps.com/.

How do we know this is a SING/MAL unit which supports Junction View and Lane Assist?

• Underneath the packaging box, the SKU number should be 010-00718-69 and barcode labeled with "nuvi 255W, SING/MAL".
• In Tools > Settings > System > About screen, you should be able to see "SgMy Software Ver. 2.70".
• You can set the unit into simulation mode and travel through some major junctions around KL urban area to see how it works. Ask the vendor to demo to you on the unit that you're going to buy.
  

There are many ways to navigate and set destination in the Garmin Nuvi 255W GPS. You can set the location by address, telephone number, various points of interest (POI, such as those shown below), intersections, coordinates, etc.

This unit supports the "speak street name" feature, but you have to select a speaking voice that support for Text-to-speech (TTS) in order for this feature to function. There is one mandarin speaker voice which support TTS, but she will just spell out the name like "J-A-L-A-N ..." instead of pronouncing it as "Jalan ...". Anyhow, the American and British TTS are working well with Malaysian road names.