Mya says:

Pros: Small size, good text-to-speech, SD mapcard, ease-of-use, bright display, great suction cup mount, great satellite performance, decent maps (so far), clear and loud speaker

Cons: No prepare route, limited alternative route options, no USB-to-miniUSB cable for computer hookup

I bought this GPS for a planned trip to France, the smaller size (fits better in my pocket) and text-to-speech feature, along with SD mapcard capability were my reasons. I have had the Nuvi 1200 for 3 days and the adjustment from Tomtom think to Nuvi think has been relatively painless.
The suction cup mount (with its lever application) is a definite upgrade from the Tomtom. Also the auto detection for day/night mode is nice. Satellite performance seems even better than the Tomtom, and Tomtom has great reception. The map screen is bright and uncluttered, my wife says it is noticeably sharper. So far the maps seem to be comprehensive, won’t really know until I use the Nuvi more.
The only things I miss (and/or could not find) was the ability to plan a trip when you were not at that location (Tomtom has a “Prepare Route” option that allows you to specify the departure point)and the ability to easily avoid a road when you start out (Tomtom has a “Find Alternative” option which allow 6 options such as “Avoid Roadblock”, “Travel Via”, “Calculate Alternative”, etc.). Nuvi does have a “Detour” option that shows its alternatives to a selected route but they can only be selected, not tweeked by the user.
While it is not a big deal is seems like for the current price ($200) that the Nuvi could include a USB-to-miniUSB cable. After all this is not a $69 no-name GPS. And it is clear that Garmin/Nuvi expects you to hook up to a computer, there is software on the Nuvi so you can register your Nuvi at their website, also this is how you get your one free map update.
My wife and I were also both puzzled by one small Nuvi human factor mistake. We were trying to enter a numerical address (i.e 20th St) and after entering “20th” the Nuvi presented a two item list:

20th (Ave NE, Ave NW, Ave SE, Ave SW
20th Ave Ln NW

We were stumped for a while, where is 20th Street!! It turns out that you need to select “20th (Ave NE, Ave NW, Ave SE, Ave SW”. After you do, you will be presented with all the “20th” options, including 20th Street.
Note that specifying “20th St” resulted on a “No matches found”: error message!

Anonymous says:

Nuvi is a great GPS. I had used a Magellan before and it was better than the Nuvi. I bought the Nuvi because it is the only GPS that I could find that also had the capability to map in Europe. If I didn’t need that feature, I would have went with a Magellan. Also, a side note .. you have to buy a USB cord to connect your GPS and register it from your computer. It’s silly that Garmin does not include that as an automatic accessory. One more ouch to your purchase.

The screen is clear and the maps are easy to follow. However, Nuvi doesn’t do well in big cities. For some reason, Nuvi announces turns at streets that don’t exist. Or when you make the suggested turn, it recalculates because somehow or another you went the wrong way. This is a problem I had navigating Detroit. But, I know the city well enough to get around the false directions given by the GPS.

The points of interest work well in America, but in Europe that’s another story. See info below.

Onto Europe — I bought the Citi X-ploer maps for my GPS. The one for Paris was $14.99 and the one for the French Rivieria is $9.99. You can download specific maps to explore the city as a pedestrian or in an auto. Also, works the subway and bus system. These maps helped immensely in Paris and made navigating easy as a pedestrian. However, I couldn’t figure out how to get the voice to work in pedestrian mode. Still have to figure out that one. Garmin says it works, but I couldn’t figure it out. Also, a note on configuring your device. Here we are in Paris and we can’t access France maps. There is some reset thing that you have to do to get the maps of a different region. Be sure to bring those instructions on resetting for a new country or it won’t automatically sense where you are.

A note on pronunciation. When driving, the GPS says the street name and it is pronounced so weird (in English) that you can’t recognize the name of the street by the spelling on the sign. You just have to follow the map.

Now, in Monaco, it was a totally different story. The GPS was useless. A feature the GPS needs is a compass. You can then determine if you are facing north or south. The whole idea of navigating a city with sharp turns, steep hills and unfamiliar names is beyond the capabilities of the Nuvi 1200. It didn’t matter if we were in auto or pedestrian mode. We had to use an old fashioned map.

Names of landmarks in Europe are not necessarily searchable by American terms or by the names on the map you get from the tourist office. As a silly aside, we ended up at the “Grand Arch” instead of the Arch De Triump. Who knew? We felt so silly in the middle of a corporate center with its grand arch. And, you have to lock in your position when you get in the subway as it loses its signal. But, fortunately, the steps are still on the screen so you can refer back to the directions you need to navigate.