After 2 days of research, I settled on the Garmin Nuvi 265WT (from amazon or newegg, approx the same price. I paid $218ish).
The higher number garmins seem to have slightly more/better features, but the 265WT has a few great features that the "better" garmins either lacked or offered only for an additional fee.
1. Widescreen. Better than square.
2. Decent price.
3. Free traffic with built-in receiver, at the cost of occasional "unobtrusive" text-only advertisements.
4. Bluetooth capable so you can use its mic/speaker as a hands-free cellphone speakerphone.
My brand new car did not have the option of a nav system (except for fairly expensive onstar which I don't like anyhow) and I got the 2009 model instead of the mid-year 2009.5 update, so I didn't get bluetooth either. So the combination of a decent nav device, bluetooth, free traffic, etc. made up my mind for me.
Consumer reports liked it too, rating it very high in overall "value", given it's price and feature mix. Some people HATE the garmin map updating scheme (you get to update the thing within a year of purchase, must pay for further map updates, and the map updates are proprietary and not as up to date as some other systems) but I figure "good enough" will be good enough and if I'm going someplace not in the gps map database I can always use google maps or something before leaving my house, and print terminal-area directions to find my exact destination anyhow.
So that's what I just bought... I'll find out if I like it when it shows up
