Garminnüvi 2557LMT 5-Inch Portable Vehicle GPS with Lifetime Maps and Traffic (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

Works as expected

This is the third Garmin purchsed, all are still functioning. Purchsed this one for the wife because I work out of town and she travels to open road frequently. Main reason she has her own is that the unit tells you where are are at, arrival time, etc. If her vehicle is broken down then she can easily report the location to AAA which has contact with law enforcement.Because I have (set up) two other Garmins setup was no problem. I have a 2555 and this is identical except for the traffic function which we do not need. This unit functions as needed and has been acurate in arrival times and destination.Have used the Garmin to find gas stations, grocery stores, etc. without failure. Input of data is easy and flows nicely. I recommend Garmin over the other two based upon the times I have worked with another brand. H**tz Rental Car places another brand in vehicles which has proven very clumsy and time consuming for data entry with not so hot location reliability.Still, before purchasing the last two units, I researched other makes. Here are a few items I noticed and some field experience (several states and extensive metro & rural locations). Many who have left negative comments simply need to read their manual first and set the unit up according to their needs. Example: I failed to set the unit for "avoid unpaved roads" so it was attempting to navigate the route using country roads with a setting of "shortest distance". Once I corrected that then it was highway all the way. Also, many complain that they know of shorter routes and the GPS does not select that route. This seems to be true of all GPS makes which, if you think about it, is understandable. I have been sent to the wrong location several times but my fellow workers with other brand GPS were sent to the same place. I figure this is a flaw in master maps, not the GPS.Final notes: This is a fine unit and does what I want it to do. Within the family we have three Garmins and if I need to purchase another unit will not hesitate to continue with Garmin. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. If you do not set this, or any GPS, up correctly then it will function of default, factory, settings. One person complained that the GPS sent them via toll roads. Well, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and you will notice that "avoid toll roads" is an option. So, when you read other comments take into account whether that individual had the sense to simply read the instructions before attempting to use the unit. If you are new to a GPS, run the unit while driving to known locations, etc. You will gain understanding of how the unit reports to you and a "comfort zone" with your ability to use it. Purchase one with "life time" maps because maps change rather quickly. Also, I have internet thru DSL and it took 16 hours to update maps so be prepared; it is not the GPS, it is your internet connection.

Honestly, I was going to rate 3 stars or less due to the problems I had with the first unit. I went through all the updates and got it working but then when I got it in the car and tried to use it (I'm a salesman and have to find houses for appointments), the brightness would all of a sudden reduce down to 20%. I would manually raise it back up to around 85%, and then about a minute later it would go back to 20%. That's useless in daylight. I couldn't see anything on the screen. I went back home and did another software update, and then tried a factory reset, but it still kept going back to 20%. After looking up some web forums I found that I'm not alone in this. Apparently this is something that's a relatively common problem with this model and several others as well. I set up a return and replacement with Amazon and that has gone smoothly and very fast. The new unit is identical, although it wasn't wrapped in plastic like the first one so I suspect it's really a refurb. I decided that a refurb might be more trustworthy in this case, so I gave it a go. I was so pleased with its performance that I decided to up my original rating plans from 3 to 4 stars. It would be 5 if not for the first one's problems that apparently others have had with it as well.I'm a former loyal TomTom user and decided to try Garmin. The TomTom's maps weren't very detailed and seemed to be getting way behind in keeping up with road changes and new roads, as well as ridiculously outdated POI's. This new Garmin has a much more detailed map that you can choose the amount of detail you view. The POI's are very current and more plentiful. Satellites are locked onto quickly. Easy and fast updates. Overall, this Garmin gets the job done very well. I just hope it doesn't develop the 20% brightness issue over time. I bought an extended warranty for it just in case.

Edited to add:I did decide to go back to my 2555 model. When that one dies I'll probably be SOL. :-(=======Bought this to replace my Nuvi 2555. Why do they always take features away for no reason? The 2555 had a great audio icon on the map to let you mute/unmute sound with one button press = one glance at the screen. Now I have to press the menu icon in lower right, then find the sound icon from the list that shows up, then press the sound icon, then press mute, then press the x or wait about 5 seconds for the pop-up screen to close. So much less convenient! And dangerous! Have to take my eyes off the road 4 times instead of 1. What are people thinking?They also took the traffic icon away - no quick-glance green/yellow/red to know what's in my future. And instead of seeing 3 or 4 stats on the bottom of the screen (time to destination, time to via, etc.) you can only see 1 at a time. I am still considering exchanging it for the 2555, which also costs less, but they did bring back one feature I like - knowing which road I'm on. So I'm semi-reluctantly probably keeping it.I've been using different Nuvi models for almost 10 years, but it seems UX designers randomly giveth and taketh away. My oldest model gave one-press access to brightness and control and also showed the road I was on. That one-press went away a long time ago, along with the road info. Now the latter is back, but much is missing.But if you are a new user, I highly recommend this model and this brand. Finding a signal is fast, searching for an address is fast, directions are usually accurate, etc. But if you're thinking of upgrading, be forewarned what you will be giving up.

This is my 3rd Garmin. I had one of the first ones which was very expensive compared to today's pricing. My second one is about 6 years old and, so, I am enjoying this one with the many new features. The fact that it doesn't say 'Recalculating' every time I go off course is a total blessing. It is a smart Garmin! The traffic feature is great in areas where it is available. Finding gas stations, restaurants and accommodations while en route is great and gives me many more options.It is not as intuitive as I would like for programming. I had to call Garmin for assistance. However, that got resolved very quickly.It is getting great usage right now as I am on a road trip through southern US. As I said, it works great!

Good product. I like it.Only issue: some destination's name that I am looking for is different showing on GPS. I had to try all kind of way to match it. But it's not a problem to me.

I have had my Garmin since July 2016 but I have hardly used it, as I had another one at the time, and I bought it for backup as I wasn't worried because I thought it had maps you could load. Well I just started using it, and one day when I turned it on, there were no maps in it. How would a map just disappear. I called someone who I thought was garmin to see about loading a map, and it turned out to be ONE OF THOSE companies, who could do it for a mere $70.00, so I said no thanks. I have had about 2 other GPS, one being a Magellan, that I still have, and is working great, but it has older maps, so that is why I bought the New Garmin. So now I have a useless one that I paid $214.69 for it in total. Needless to say it makes me angry. So a warning to the wise. Be careful. I am trying to see if Amazon can do anything about it, but I find it very hard when you have a complaint to get in touch with Amazon. So maybe for electronics it is better to use Canadian Tire, or someone you can go back and talk to if it goes faulty. I only used it about 5 times, then it sat for awhile and then when I went to use it, it was ok for a few weeks, then one day the map was gone, and apparently the manufacturer does not allow free maps anymore. Buyer beware It was Garmin nuvi 2557LMT 5 inch portable vehicle.

We had a Garmin that was outdated and decided to stick with the name we know. We bought the nuvi 2557LMT in early September,2015 to use on an overseas trip we were going on the next week. We knew we would have to purchase the Italian map to download prior to going on our holiday. The downloaded Italian map did not meet our expectations,telling us to look for certain signs that were not mentioned at the crossroads Also the GPS itself is much more difficult to use than our Garmin Street Pilot was. Customer service was excellent at Garmin but the GPS is almost too complicated for us to feel comfortable with, perhaps with a bit more use it wont feel so difficult.

Very simple to use life time updates and traffic it's such an amazing feature! If you're looking for an easy to use GPS this is an excellent choice!