Satanic Navigation systems have become a common everyday item for many people who drive on a regular basis, but as with anything else technological there are hundreds on the market and a bewildering array of options to choose from.

I have the Garmin Nuvi 250, Garmin have a well established reputation for making good quality GPS receivers and many of my military and outdoor activity loving friends have them for use when hiking, boating, or even just a short ramble throug unfamiliar territory (though one friend has his soley to record the locations of his favourite pubs). So I had high hopes that my little unit would be a good product to use.

Removing the unit from the box setting it up is very simple, a short calibration test ensures that the screen settings are working correctly, then a 'Warning' screen which suggests you make alterations only when stationary, then on to the planning screen.

Once you start driving it will predict the time you will arrive at your destination, generally I find this is a pretty generous estimate arriving a couple of minutes earlier than it predicts even on relatively short journeys (and without speeding), but throughout the drive it will recalculate this information which is great in free moving traffic but if you get stuck in a jam it reasonably obviously cant calculate accurately so tends to blank out until you are moving again.

Since having it I have had to drive almost the length and bredth of the UK and on journeys to places are far afield as Lydd, Stirling, Skeeby (a tiny village near Scotch Corner), and even on drives through Manchester city centre (where I almost always get lost) it hasnt sent me the wrong way once, yes admittedly it does occasionally miss mini roundabouts but this could be due to them being built since the last update of the stored maps, but vitally it has never missed a turn and has always taken me directly to my destination address, on journeys where I know other routes it quickly recalculates the routes according to the turnings I have chosen mid drive though you can set it to avoid certain roads, types of road or towns if you want it to.
Personally I have a loatheing of the A1M which is unsurpassed by virtually anything else so the Skeeby drive was one I dreaded but when asking it to not put me on 'that' road it suggested a route via Harrogate avoding the majority of 'it' which was around 10 miles shorter but 20 mins longer which suited me just fine!

My single complaint about it is that the voice instructions arent loud enough, when driving my rattle trap of a car along a motorway or fairly bumpy road with the radio on at even a lower than normal volume it is hard to hear what the nice lady is telling me to do, which at times does mean I miss turnings when it isnt safe to look at the display. It doesnt have things like jam avoidance as other high end models might but thats what we have traffic bulletins for.