Garmin nüvi 260W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

This is the first GPS that I purchased. The product is fine and suits my expectations. The only problem: A dead pixel in the middle of the screen which is no big deal, but undesired for a new product. If their is any chance of repairing it or changing for another one, I would appreciate your comments.

Met with my every expectation. Initially tried it out with areas I was familiar with and afterwards with locations that were foreign to me. Responded well to locations I was unfamiliar with while away on vacation with the family. Would recommend to all, especially with the voice over and Street names.

Excellent product with only a few minor issues:

PLUS: wide screen; good database of local shopping, airports, stores; automatic day/night background switch; no external antenna needed;

MINUS: Routes chosen may not be the absolute fastest (can't save preferred routes); text-to-speech feature often mispronounces street names; liability
statement at turn-on is a "turn-off"

First I tried a Navagon 7100. It couldn't find it' way out of a paper bag. Had me going South when I needed to go North! It had alot of "bellss and whistles", but who cares if it can't navigate. The 260W is a nice basic unit without alot of frills. It does its job, it gets you from point A to point B correctly.

I have a friend that have one like the one I bought. I knew it worked very well.The delivery was made less than 36 hours after a bought it - And it is amazingly easy to use. I have just moved to another state and I am driving very well around. I highly recomment it!!

I recently purchased a Garmin 260W. Although I was frustrated by earlier Garmin purchases, I still considered the device to be useful enough to buy another. I own a Garmin Edge 305, a Garmin E-Trex Vista Cx, and the Garmin City Navigator North America Map Data. Here is the frustrating part. It seems that no matter what product you buy; it needs to be registered on-line at the Garmin Web Site. Not only that, but also you will also discover that the internal software is not up to date, or that the maps are not up to date and then you must go to the 'Updates & Downloads' page on the Garmin site in order to refresh whatever you have just bought. This is where your problems will begin. When I bought my first Garmin device, the download procedure actually disabled the Garmin software on my computer as well as the device itself, making both unusable until the following Monday when the help desk opened. Of course, the person at the other end of the help desk was able to get everything going again, but it did take almost an hour. When I purchased the second device, the same issues occurred. It seems that Garmin is so paranoid about having someone steal their maps that they purposely introduce files onto your computer that prohibit any modification or change to any of their products, making the ones that were previously installed unusable without calling the help desks.

I originally thought that if I stayed with Garmin devices that I would be able to exchange data between the devices, that if I purchased City Navigator I could use it to update the maps in my Edge or E-trex. That is true, but instead of using a common folder for each device, Garmin creates a new folder for each one. This means that if you want to use the City Navigator map data for each device, it will have to be copied into each device's folder. That's about 2 gigabytes of data. In my case, one folder for the Edge, one folder for the E-trex, and one folder for the City Maps. 2 gigabytes times 3 equal 6 gigabytes of my hard drive used up and not available for something else. When I got a message that my hard drive was nearing capacity, I first un-installed all of the Garmin devices in order to free up some space. After I cleaned up the rest of the system, I decided to re-install the E-trex. Guess what? I am locked out from doing that. Evidently there is some little gremlin security file in there to protect Garmin's precious software data. Looks like I'll be on the phone with India again. By the way, if Garmin support is outsourced to India, why is it then limited to the hours of 8 AM to 7 PM, Monday through Friday?

OK, now back to the story of the Garmin 260W. I brought it home and hooked it to the computer so that I could register it. Guess what? I was told that the maps on the unit that I had just purchased were the 2008 version and that a 2009 version was available either by download or by ordering a DVD. I elected to order the DVD. Although both of my computers are running Windows XP, neither will open the DVD that Garmin sent. So I guess that I will have to call the help desk again in order to get this thing running. Of course, I bought the device knowing that I had problems with earlier purchases, but like an idiot, I went ahead. How frustrating!

I would not recommend that anyone purchase any Garmin devices. Maybe the others are just as frustrating, but I have never run across such difficulty with any other computer-based equipment.

We shopped other sites for a last minute birthday gift and found what we thought was a great price. We paid a bit extra for faster shipping, but it all seemed on the up and up. Then came the phone call from the "bargain" company explaining that there would be additional costs for the product and pitching additional accessories. Suddenly the "great deal" wasn't such a great deal. And, now time was running out. If you think you've found a good price from a seller you haven't dealt with before, I'd suggest you call and talk to a human to verify that everything is as it seems. Or, trust a company like this one!

I spent a lot of time researching different Portable Navigation Systems. This is worth it for the money! With a wide screen, it is very easy to see the map. You never have to look at the screen since the voice speaks to you. It's a great item!

The 260W and the 650 are the best deals out there for a Garmin I'd say. For the same price both give you a widescreen, TTS, and North American Maps. The 650 has slightly better battery life and the capability of hooking up the antenna for real time updates. That being said I really like this unit. It's sleek and works like a charm.

The nuvi 260w is a great GPS. The screen is bright and mapping is intuitive, while the larger 4.3" screen offers much better usability (in my opinion), then the more conventional 3.5" screen GPSs. The points of interest are excellent: they are sorted by types of food, types of retailer, transportation (airports, train stations), etc, and this setup on the Garmin navi's is more intuitive, i feel, than other brands.

As with any GPS, occasionally you will run into situations where the navigator re-routes you in an unconventional way. 98% of the time, though, directions are clear, concise, and voice prompts with street name pronunciations are easy to understand. I would definitely recommend it to family and friends.

The Garmin nuvi is easy to load with information to specific addresses. It can supply a lot of information about places of interest when you get to your destination, and we have used it to choose places to eat along the way. It is pleasant to know how far to Rest Areas, etc. when we are on the road.

I travel alone many times as well, and it is a comfort to have on trips to unknown destinations. The graphics are pleasant to view, especially at night. Overall I think it is a good buy.

Just as described. I have no need for features such as internet connection, cell phone connection, etc and just wanted a wide screen and voice on my GPS. So far it has been a life-saver. Easy to use, connects quickly and I love it.

Awesome product. It might be nice if she spoke a little louder. Sometimes it also seems like she gets upset if you decide not to listen to her but great product for the price. Widescreen is a nice touch.

I love it .its simple to use and very compact ..




















I love it..its compact and really VERY easy to use..I couldn't believe how quickly the seller shipped it and it arrived two days before it was due..seller also did a great job packaging the unit..I'm very pleased with this whole transaction..Thank you very much









se;\

Disclaimer: This is my first GPS, but I chose it after a lot of research.

For my taste this unit is at the "sweet spot" of the Garmin product line. It has all the features I really need, including a high-sensitivity SiRF chipset, WAAS three-meter accuracy, and spoken road names, without the cost burden of extra features such as verbal commands, blue tooth speakerphone, or MP3 player.

Among other things, the battery [if you charge it for 24 hours you really can get nearly five hours out of it] is an anti-theft feature. I do not mount the 260W to the window or dash; thieves look for tell-tale rubber ring marks. During short trips the 260W sits on a small beanbag in the well beneath the cigarette lighter, running on battery. When I park I pop it into the console CD cubby with one hand. No power cord to mess with. Even a badbuy watching me park would not see what I was doing.

My only complaint, and it is serious, is that there is no instruction manual. I was floundering until I found http://www.gpsmagazine.com/print/000260.php. It is a review of the earlier 250W but so far as I can tell the only difference is that the 260W adds text-to-speech street names.

The Garmin GPS 260W is an easy to use GPS unit containing a nice basic set of features. The text-to-speach feature is excellent and is a high value addition when navigating unfamiliar areas while contending with high traffic volumes. The route planning is excellent but I do wish I could specify a specific road to avoid when planning takes place so the planning feature could account for highway construction, etc. As currently designed you have to wait for real time updates when you deviate from the planned path during travel. This sometimes results in sub-optimal route plans.

Great intuitive interface. Works as it should. I could go point to point on complaints people have, but many problems come from user mistakes. Make sure a GPS unit can see the sky when you turn it on. This unit finds itself within a minute or less unless you have traveled with it a great distance. It can take a few minutes then, but that is normal. Garmin has short sighted map update policies and that could be a reason to buy another brand, but the unit itself is a pleasure to use and the interface is so intuitive, you will be up and running right away.

As two retirees, this was our first experience with a GPS unit. Used it recently on a multiple-stop holiday from our home in Virginia to North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and again in North Carolina. Only one glitch in rural Georgia when we were directed to make a turn that was a dead end road, whereas we were far from our destination. Totally, a very good product that we expect will get lots of use during our future travels.

Out of all the GPS systems out there that I have researched this I thought would be the best. It has a wide screen and gives you accurate driving info without the bells and whistles that would make the system cost alot more. If your looking for a great GPS for a great price this is it. I am very happy with it.

The amount of time for the device to connect to a satellite can sometimes take up to 2-3mins. Not very efficient when you need to be on the go right away. Other than that, the product is very nice.

We have been very happy with our Garmin Nuvi 260W that we purchased recently. This is the first GPS system that we have purchased. I've only used one with a car rental a couple of years ago. With that one you could not program or put in any address if the car was moving. With the Nuvi, we get streets and turns announced by name which was very important to me. Can't put up with the "turn in .3 miles" prompts. So far we have located new places and businesses and doctor's offices just around our own area. It has already saved time AND gas by keeping us from getting lost. Maps are easy to see with the wider screen too. When we can travel (if gas prices get better) it will be very helpful. I would recommend this one to everyone. Mary Ann

This item works well as I expected. I'm still learning how it works on everything. So at this time I am very happy with it so far.
Thanks Dee

I used the 260W to get me from central Maryland to Nags Head NC. The unit directed me through major cities instead of around them (Washington DC, Norfolk, Richmond), but as soon as I used the beltway around that city, the unit would recalculate and find my way.

The unit was very helpful to find stores in the area of my destination. For example, if I wanted a restaurant, I could easily find it in the menu system, and then select directions (Take Me There!).

The unit has a battery, and I charged it before leaving on the trip. I had to plug in the car charger along the way, and left the unit on this connection for the rest of the trip to the destination. I used battery for the weekly short jaunts to ice cream, or golf, and by the end of the week, the battery was dead. When the battery dies, all previous points (including home) were lost. It's not difficult to type the information back in, but it would have been nice if the unit would retain information when the battery gets low. In other words, have the unit power off at the battery threshold necessary to be able to retain the information.

I recommend Garmin GPS products from experience with competitor models. My brother has a Garmin 600 series, which is very nice. I selected this 260W model over the 600 series because of the difference in cost, and that I don't need a GPS unit to play music or store photos. I need a GPS unit to get me from point A to point B, and tell me what's around an unfamiliar town. For that purpose, this unit is perfect.

found the garmin 260w to be all i expected it to be evens finds locations in remote areas were i didn't think it would work!can't say enough about this product other than it worked much better than expected

After studying the reviews for several weeks, I made my purchase and am extremely happy with the results along with the Garmin dash mount.

This unit takes a very, very long time to find the satellites. On a recent trip to California, I sat in the rental car for 15-20 minutes while the unit searched for satellites. I must say that it worked perfectly once it was in touch with the satellites, announcing every street name and turn. If I missed a turn it recalculated my route very quickly, I never got lost. It was a minimum of 10 minutes every time I turned it on for satellite communication.

I've had my 260W on a long trip now. Nice display, enough detail, and good local directions. I found long routes a little frustrating since the chosen route wouldn't always be the one I would choose because of known congestion. Only stores one waypoint ("Via") for a destination. Not able to download routes, trips or waypoints. I wasn't ready to invest in more features without trying out the technology. It does whet my appetite for a more capable GPS. Excellent for basic navigation.

Bought it, plugged it in and took off on a 2400 mile round trip. Absolutely no problems. I found it very intuitive as I didn't even bother to read the manual. I'm sure it does more than I used it for, but as a navigator it was terrific. Glad I paid a little extra to get the voice guidance model - nice to be reminded when turns are coming up. Only complaint is that the price dropped 2 weeks after I bought, but I guess that's the way it goes with electronics. Highly recommend.

Bought this prior to 10 day driving vacation, and it was worth it. Amazing technology and it did get us out of a couple binds where we would have been lost otherwise. Used and enjoyed the "points of interest" feature much more than thought, in selecting restaurants, fuel and lodging. Glad I got the 4.3" screen with all the features of the 260W, and don't need all the other features of more expensive units.

Also, the suction mount that comes with it works great and I didnt' find distracting. For me, glad I did NOT get the bean bag mount.

Reason for the 4-star is the directions that came with the unit are very vague as to all the features. Had to learn by trial and errror, and even by accident. Also, doesn't always take you most efficent route, but it does get you there. It is just a computer after all. Frustrating when the route you want to go does not concur with its route, and it trys for MILES to get you to take U-turn. Probably way to remedy, but haven't figured out yet. All things considered, would get again.

This was an upgrade for me from the C330. This unit finds satellites much faster when first turned on. Garmin will be the first to tell you all the things that are great about this unit, here are a couple things I would like to see improved
1- Voice street names only pronounced in one voice "Jill"
2- I get really annoyed with the redundancy of the voice command, i.e "Turn right in 200 ft" ....... "Now turn right" ..... And the infamous "Recalculating!"
3- I really believe someone programmed sarcasm in the voice when she says "Recalculating!"
4- Would like to see food/gas/etc icons on the screen as you travel. Touching them would bring up description like Magellan, Garmin should consider adding.
5- I don't like the UNIX style of navigating menu screens. If you want to get back to the main screen, you must enter a series of "back" commands rather that moving to the main screen in one option. To get to food POIs you must touch screen 4 times to get there and 4 times to get back to the map if you don't select anything....this is a pain while driving.
6- When keying an address the machine should default the city/state you are located; instead you must input this data every time you enter a new address.
7- 2009 load maps are really poor in NC (Winston-Salem to Raleigh)
8- Custom POI with warning messages do not always work correctly. Sometimes they are late and sometime not at all. However, they never seem to work unless the POI is on your direct route. It would be nice to be notified if your custom POI was on the up coming exit. (I recommend POI Factory.com)
9- I really like the interface with google map where I can send a series of address directly to my devise before I take the trip.

Hope this helps you in your decision.

I had used the product owned by another individual. For the price it had everything I wanted. It's compact,yet the screensize is ample and the content is easily viewable. I enjoy the "fun" features as well. I even bought one for my parents. Timely shipping.

The 260W is so easy to use, it took about 5 minutes to learn how to do everything with it. Screen brightness and volume are perfect. Only problem was some of the points of interest had the wrong addresses.

it worked right out of box. no problems so far. Garmin is leader in the GPS industry. after a researching and testing other competitors, Garmin was the most intuititive and easiest to use. this is the best product if you don't want to spend more than $300 for 4.3" and text to speech. I got for $254 total.

This was my first GPS which I bought for my wife. It is very easy to use and program. You really do not need the wide screen as you seldom look at the screen as the voice directions are clear and precise. The biggest negative is the start up. As others have noted, it does take several minutes to find a satalite. It takes at least 3 minutes to find a satilite and more often over 5 minutes. Even turning it off and back on does not speed up the start time. I was in San Francisco and it took 10 minutes to find a satilite. Once it finds the satilite, it works great. It should have a warning label stating to turn on unit before starting vehicle and to go back and get a cup of coffee. I would return the item but I bought it for my wife. I will buy a different GPS.

Garmin nuvi has been terrific. The only complain is the written directions are on a separate screen from the map. It would be nice to have the next turn avalable on the main screen.

We just purchased our Garmin and have used it numerous times already to
our delight. It is doing the job we needed and then some, we love it and
look for other trips to go on, just to use it again. Thanks

We have the Garmin Nuvi 260W. It is great to travel with since you have the security that if you make a wrong turn it figures out how to get you to your destination. It has made our travel worry free!

I've had it for about a month now and it's taken me all over MA and NY. It has all the right features. The one thing I don't like is the keyboard, but it's worth the extra two seconds it takes to type something in. It's worth paying a few dollars more for the text to speech and it's thinner than the tomtom OneXL which is in the same price range. (The OneXL doesn't do text to speech either.)

The voice is plenty loud, the map is easy to read, and I think it's nice that the power connector is on the back, it looks better than having one on the side.

A+++ Garmin did a good job with this.

I am really enjoying this unit. I'm still discovering features, as I've only had it about a month, but so far it's great. It's simple to use and fairly intuitive. It really doesn't require reading an instruction manual for most functions, and usually when I think "I wish it did so-and-so" or start looking for a feature I want, I find it. The widescreen design is great. It's a nice thin unit and everything is touch-screen. The only "button" is the on/off.) It also switches automatically from daylight screen to night view, though you can turn that off if you don't like it.

A couple of times it has been slower than I expected to locate satellites and lock in a signal, but it generally works great. Also, sometimes it tells me "keep left" or "keep right" when it seems unnecessary, even with the current maps, but the screen is clear enough. Accuracy varies with traveling speed, as sometimes it sees me arriving at an intersection after I have already passed it by a couple hundred feet. It's never a problem, and screen labeling makes it easy to navigate.

It even has biking/car/walking settings and can be used with coordinates. Great if you like to Geocache.

Great unit, great features, and getting better the more I use it. I could describe so many excellent features but will conclude by saying that I recommend this product. Thanks to my wife for buying it!!! I love you.

Excellent product! Have used it around town and also on recent out of town business trips. Love the wider screen and that it says the street names. I will be giving it as a Christmas gift!

I purchased a Garmin Nuvi 260W, my first attempt at using GPS. I am amazed at the accuracy of the unit and the inclusion of many small streets enroute to a destination.

I also purchased a dash mount for the unit and once again pleased with the stability of the mount. It stays in place.

Finally, both items were priced below other sellers.

Thank you, Amazon.

RJB

We are extremely satisfied with this GPS. Easy to use and makes driving to new locations less stressful and confusing. Easy to transfer if used in various cars. A GPS is definitely a worthwhile investment.

I am not experienced with GPS systemns, and am not high tech savvy, so I really like this unit. It is very, very easy to use, and the wider screen and the voice technology is very convenient, worth spending the extra money we believe.

Beware of the wrong item being shipped. I ordered the Garmin 260W and both time the box said 260W but the product inside is actually the 200W. It will not say the steet names which is the whole reason I upgraded to the 260 from the 200. If you decide to buy make sure they ship the right item. This will be my second return, hopefully they will ship the right thing next time.

I like almost every thing about the 260W with the exception of how long it takes to find the satellites after start up. This is the first GPS unit I've owned, so maybe they all take a long time to find the satellites, but it just seems to take quite a while. Everything else is 5 stars!

1st GPS ever used and it was quick and easy to learn. Sometimes the voice commands announce an exit a little late, but only when it's an exit right after a turn. The screen is viewable from the driver's seat and easily readable. I did not mount the GPS on the window or dashboard, I just set it on the center console and it works fine. One time when I was in West Virginia, the Garmin could not find the satellites for a few minutes, but it was raining heavily at the time. Overall very satisfied with this product and have yet to encounter a problem.

Incredible product at a great price.I could not be happier. I do not however thing Garmin need to make quite that many models. And I can not get my unit registered on their website. I have a Skycaddie for my golf game and I find their website much easier to use

An impressive little unit at a great price. I've got an eighty-mile-or-so round trip that I make every week. Back before I owned a GPS unit, I used Google Maps to plan a route. My first GPS, a Magellan, confirmed it. Got the Garmin, programmed the destination, and got entirely different directions that ADDED about four miles to the trip. What gives?

Then I realized that the new route took me off the turnpike and saved me about $4 in tolls. $4 or 4 minutes? Good going, Garmin.

Unit works well right out of the box. The included documentation is nearly non-existent. Fortunately, there are several blogs that are quite good at explaining the various features of the unit. The unit will sometimes direct you off main drags through residential side streets.

Have never used a navigation device before, but this device is very good! While it may not select the exact route you wish to start out with, it will definitely get you to where you want to go. If you do not follow their original directions, the device quickly recalculates and sets you back on course to your destination. This particular model states all the street names and is well worth the extra few dollars above its lower models. I recommend this device highly!