Garmin Nuvi 855 - 4.4 in. Car GPS Receiver

I have been using Garmin for a few years and recently got an email from Amazon that they were offering the Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS for only $99. I had been thinking about updating my other GPS maps but for this price it made sense to just get a new one.

I have been using my new Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS for about a month and there are things I like about it and things I don't like. It does have some really neat functions that my other garmin did not have. I am not sure which of them improves the experience but will attempt to give you a good overview.

My first garmin nuvi was the Garmin Nuvi 200 I got this two years ago and loved it but it did not speak the street names and I found it a bit of a distraction to have to look at the unit to read the street name so I upgraded to the Garmin Nuvi 260 . I have enjoyed using them so moving up the ladder was an exciting proposition.

What is in the box
The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS preloaded with US and Canada maps
Remote for voice activation with battery
Vehicle suction cup mount
Vehicle Power cable
Lithium ion Battery
USB cable
Dashboard Disc
Quick Start Manual

Ease of Use
The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS is a little more complex than some of the others but the basic features are pretty intuitive and it is rather easy to figure out. I suggest using it as a passenger for a few times so you can play with it while driving. The instructions were very basic and many things were not covered in the instructions.

Battery and Charging
The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS comes with a removable battery which I think is a great improvement from the others that I had. If your battery goes dead you can buy a new one instead of replacing the entire unit! This model comes with a car charger. I am not super impressed with the charger because what you have to do is put the GPS in the holder that will stick on the window, and then the power cord goes from the cigarette lighter opening in your car and plugs into the GPS holder instead of directly into the GPS. When my husband is driving I like to hold the GPS in my hand and having to hold it in the holder is really awkward.

Another thing I do not like about the car charger is that it makes the unit extremely hot, making me wonder if this is really that great for the unit. It does charge very fast so I just do not leave it plugged in. Once it is charged I unplug the charger.

The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS does have a mini USB and I have tried plugging my other cord directly into it and it does work. I am not sure if this is recommended so use another power cord at your own risk. It charges slower with the USB and does not get as hot.

The battery life could be better, I think the additional features are a drain on the battery. You can conserve battery by lowering the light if possible. You can also set it so that the backlight dims after a certain amount of time. To turn it back on just touch the screen or the button to turn on the voice activator

Major Features
Speaks Street Names
Voice Activated Navigation
Lane Assist with Junction View
High Resolution 4.3" wide touch screen display
Nearly 6 million points of interest
Displays posted speed limits along with current speed
On board games
Picture Viewer
Music Player
Calculator
Currency Converter
Several Languages and Voices
Alarm Clock
Unit can be set to be heard through FM radio

How it works
The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS turns on and off just like the other garmin units I have had. There is a slide lever at the top that turns it on, or you can slide it over to a locked on position. When it first turns on it will go through a basic set up. You should be outside for it to connect to the satellite more easily. I have found that this unit connects to the satellite a lot faster than my previous units. Once you are set up and have a connection you can leave it on to show you a map of upcoming streets speed limits etc, or set it to guide you to a destination.

What you see when you turn it on
Turn on and let the Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS connect. The starting screen looks just like my others which is nice so not too much of a learning curve out of the box. On the screen it will show you battery bars and if you are charging there will be a lightening bolt symbol on top of the bars. Also the time is displayed along with 1-5 bars for how strong the connection is.

From the main screen you have four choices.
1. Where to: When you click this you can input an address, go home, pick from your favorite saved maps, points of interest, recently found, intersection, extras, Cities, Routes, Browse Map, Coordinates

2. View Map: When you click on this it will show you where you are and as you drive will show you what is ahead. You can zoom in and zoom out or page forward on your directions.

3. Volume: You can adjust the volume by clicking this, as well as set up the unit to play through your car radio and adjust a mixer which adjusts the tone.

4. Tools: When you click Tools your choices are Settings, Where am I, Routes, Help, Music Player, Audible Player, Picture Viewer, games, Calculator, currency converter, language guide, unit converter, world clock, alarm clock and My Data.

Basic Navigation through the screens is very easy and there is always a back button to press to get you back to start.

Available Points of Interest
spell name(if you are not sure of the category type the name)
Food
Fuel
Transportation
Lodging
Shopping
Bank
Parking
Entertainment
Recreation
Attractions
Hospitals
Community
Auto Services

Mounting and Storing your Garmin
To attach your Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS to the windshield it comes with a removable mounting device. This is extremely easy to use. You just place it on the window where you want it and lower a lever to secure it to your window. If you do not want it on your window it comes with a stick on disk that you can apply to your dash or anywhere else you might want to attach the garmin on to a bumpy surface. This little sticky thing would be permanently affixed. I just use it on my window and find it works fine. The Garmin snaps easily into the mounting device. I like that I can take the mounting device off the window to move to another car. I also do not store my mounting device on the window because I have heard that cars with these mounting devices are frequently broken into because people will assume your garmin is in the glove box. I keep the mounting device hidden when not in use and the garmin slips into my purse without taking up much room.

Basic Navigation and Voice
When you turn on your Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS and set it to take you somewhere it will show you turn by turn directions as you go. The unit will announce a turn as you are approaching an intersection and again when you are right there. Garmin will tell you when to turn, and speak the street name which I find quite helpful. You barely have to look at the unit once you have it set, except to see how closer your next turn is.

If you happen to miss a turn it will state "recalculating" and correct your directions. I find this to be most helpful because sometimes you may miss a turn or not want to turn where it tells you to so I find it is helpful to have a general idea of where I am going and if I prefer a different route it will just keep correcting so I can not get too far off track.

The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS has several male and female voices to choose from. Not all of them speak the street names so make sure if you like that feature that you choose one that has it. It is clearly marked in the settings which ones speak the street names.

Volume and connecting to FM radio
One of the things I think they could have done better with the Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS is the volume. At 100% volume you can hear it just fine so long as you do not have a radio or CD playing at louder than a low volume. The other units I had were much louder. I have not had a big problem with this as I do not tend to blare music but I can see how this could be an issue.

If you want to have the unit play through your car stereo, you can set the FM dial to a station that has nothing on it and then connect the garmin unit to that same station. It will then play the instructions over your car speakers. This would afford you the chance to make it louder. Only problem is that you can not play music with this so besides it being fun to try to see how it works I am not sure I will use this feature.

Using the Remote for Voice Activated Commands
This is another feature that is fun to try but quite frankly I am not sure I would use it. First of all, to use it with the Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS you have to use a separate small piece of equipment that contains a receiver which connects to the GPS unit. This little receiver is designed to attach to your steering wheel or anywhere else that it is convenient and easy to reach. There are two buttons on the receiver. One large one to start a connection which will eventually time out if not being used, or if you want to manually turn the connection off there is a smaller button you can press.

Lane Assist
One of the features that intrigued me with the Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS was the lane assist feature. Sometimes with my other Garmin units, I felt like they were lacking on larger multi lane expressways. The lane assist is not available or necessary in every instance but I live near a large city and found it to be rather complete. When you are driving on the expressway and you come to a place where you have to move from one expressway to another the unit will flash a screen that shows the lanes and which way that you are to go. It is not incorporated into the map but just appears for a few seconds. You can press the button to see it again or say "back" if you are using the voice prompter. I think it is a great feature but wish it was part of the map system and not something that flashed up. I also wish that the voice would describe the situation as well as the picture because lets face it, when you are in 4 lanes of traffic moving to another expressway you really should not be taking your eyes off the road. So again in theory this is a neat feature but not as practical as it needs to be. I am guessing in the next few years they will Incorporated this into the maps and that will be great.

Games
The Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS unit has 11 games. I honestly think this is kinda a cool feature to have when you sitting and waiting to pick someone up or if you are a passenger. The screen is nice and big and the touch screen works well for the games. The games it includes are: Solitaire, Sudoku, Space Shooter, Temo, Rock Slide, Interceptor, Boxing, Bubbles, Video Poker, Crumble, and Brick Breaker

Check out my other Garmin Reviews
Garmin Nuvi 200
Garmin Nuvi 260

Thank you for reading my review
If you have any other questions about the Garmin Nuvi 855 GPS or any of the other GPS units that I have please feel free to leave them in the comments section and I will be happy to answer them as soon as possible

:-)

Becky