Spent a weekend reviewing various GPS devices to replace my less than 1 year old Mio C320 (avoid these like the plague) that had its battery die about 4 months after purchase. Went back and forth along the entire line of Garmin devices, and finally settled on this one for the blue tooth and traffic, neither of which I’ll probably hardly ever use, but nice to have when I want them.

I am not a GPS guru as this was my first nav unit. I just sold my other car which had dash navigation in which you could only type in the street # and address while in park which was very user unfriendly, especially for a passenger to operate it. My new car does not have a navigation system. The voice command of the 855 Nuvi is awesome and the street names and graphics are far superior compared to what was in the Cadillac. I chose not to do the windshield mount since I am getting that Nav units are popular smash and grab items. I mounted mine with a single 1/2 width strip of velcro which rests at the bottom of the vertical center dash display. It is very easy to see and remove if I want to store it in the center console. I only use with battery power since I did not want leads going to the cig lighter. Furthermore, I attached the voice command prompt buttom on the shift lever as opposed to the steering wheel which was the recommended location. The only drawback compared the other indash nav unit is that the voice command to turn left or right only gives you about a 50′ warning which in my opinion should be sooner. Overall, I am extremely happy with the unit.

The Garmin nüvi 855 is one of Garmin’s excellent voice command navigators. Updating the nuvi 850, the 855 adds junction view, lane assist and a speed limit indicator. It is also compatible with the third generation of MSN Direct services (an optional add-on), including doppler radar and flight status.