Garmin nuvi 260

I had the Nuvi 260 model for about 1.5 years, maybe 2, really happy with it, and accurate maps even in some of the backwater parts of MN, but last month I was using it to get down to Chicago O'Hare airport,… no problem, I collected my passenger, then tried to switch the unit on for the return trip - dead. Even though the charging light had been on from the cigarette lighter the whole journey down and was still on now, the unit was completely dead. It's never worked again. This is completely unacceptable in a GPS/satnav device since you could be out in the middle of nowhere and then be completely lost. Fortunately I could make my way back once I'd got on I94 due to reasonable signs, but if I was back in MN in the backroads - I'd have been completely stuffed. With no moving parts, and no accidents happening to it this should NEVER happen with solid-state electronics. I bought a Magellan Roadmate 1440 when I got back, and will never buy anything from Garmin again. Avoid.

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This Garmin Nuvi is very easy to use, quite intuitive. When I took it out of the package, I was driving with it within 10 minutes. The street naming feature is extremely helpful, especially as many… streets are not marked. It helps you know exactly where to turn. I had one issue in downtown Chicago where I lost the signal (due to the tall buildings, but as I drove on a few blocks, the signal returned. I would highly recommend this unit.

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I've had the Garmin Nuvi 260 for about ten days now. I've used it locally in the Chicago area going to places I really didn't need it but brought it along so I could take alternate routes than what it was… telling me. It recalculated the changes fine. Programing the 260 is another thing. Very hard. Typing in a city - it will automatically enter a different city in another state. If you hit the back button your taken back to the first screen only to have to start all over again. It be nice if you could type in a whole address on one line, but it asks for a address, then the street name. Some street names will pop up automatically, such as, First Place - but you may want First Street instead. The 15 page instruction book tells you nothing about how to navigate around the menu's, nor how to program anything. They expect cutomer to automatically know this stuff upon purchase...There is no fine detail explained. Just basic stuff. "Search" is a joke, it takes for ever for it to search for a name. I typed in Disney World and the hour glass icon rotated and drained for 20 minutes searching for Disney World -It couldn't find Diney World! C'Mon, The most heavily visited place in the USA........ Finally I shut it off. I got tired of waiting. No matter how clean a surface is the suction cup mount falls down in less than 4 minutes. It took a long time to register the unit. There was some problems with passwords and usernames, plus I had to sign up for some other kind of BS Browser. Nothing is easy.. Well, I lucked out in that my Motorola cellphone charger will charge the GPS and the Canon camera's USB cable was able to download the updates for the GPS. I did end up buying the Garmin AC charger a few days later. Both cord are 5 volts so there is no harm using the cellphone charger. I wish the plug in for the charger was on the side of the unit or in the front. Its on the back. It would make routing the cord around the car a bit easier. The 3.5" screen is pretty easy to see while driving. I prefer the square screen over the 4.3" rectangle screen on the 260w. You can zoom in and out on the driving screen so it will show more or less street names as the come up while driving. Why does Garmin position the Speaker so the sound comes out the back of the unit?? It be much better if the sound came out the front. It's hard to hear if the radio is up and the windows are down. I had no trouble receiving signals with the GPS fastened under the big overhang on my dash. It worked fine on the center console too. There is a depression in front of my Heater / AC control panel, and I can prop the GPS up in front of it and the angle for viewing it is just fine.. The angle is such that it won't tip on a hard take off either.....Sound gets muffled when I set the GPS in front of the Heater /AC control. If no destinations have been programmed in and your driving along, the screen shows what ever route your taking.

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