The Garmin Nuvi 260W is a great little GPS:

The text to speech is clear, the screen is more than bright enough, the maps are large on the 4.3 inch screen. Route calculation is fast.

I regularly use it on battery power which is long, 4 or 5 hours, even more if you turn down the screen brightness.

However, it seemed at first that satellite acquisition was very slow, sometimes as long as 12 minutes.

I think I found a way around that.

If I turned the GPS off at home, it located satellites within 30 seconds of being turned on again at the same location; if turned off before arriving home, which I was in the habit of doing, it took about 12 minutes to acquire the present location.

It seems it did not know where to look for the satellites, and took a lot of time finding them. A software fault probably, but workable.

After I discovered this, I left the unit on up to my destination and the problem was solved.

Something nobody seems to have mentioned; when a store or restaurant is located by this unit, it gives the address AND the phone number of the intended location, and I can call ahead and make sure they are open and have what I want. This has saved so much time.

Also, touching the car icon on the map gives you a workable "Where am I?" which can be saved to favorites.

The 260W does not have all the features of a higher end Garmin GPS, like routing, blue tooth, traffic, etc, but Garmin has deliberately omitted these from the (slightly) lower end products.

The documentation is very limited, but reading a downloaded pdf for the Garmin 350 helps with the 260W.

Garmin seems to believe that no one wants to read a manual.

All in all, a very good GPS, very easy to use. Garmin may have proved that no manual is needed.

UPDATE:

When I wrote the above, I was not aware that a "hotfix" was built into the following Garmin Nuvi units to speed up satellite location:

205,205w,255,255w,265T,265WT,275T,500,550,750,760,770,780,755t,765t,775t,785t,850,880.5000

This is a built in hotfix and cannot be applied to your 260W unit by software means. This hotfix predicts the location of satellites so the GPS can tune in to them and boot up in as little as 3.5 seconds.

Unfortunately, the only way to speed up the 260W is the method written above.

Also, unfortunately, the newer 255W does not have the good text to speech quality of the 260W.

If you haven't bought a GPS yet, check out the coming reviews for the Garmin 265WT in October 2008.

I bought this GPS unit on the recommendation of Consumer Reports (June, 2008) and these Amazon.com entries. I'm in full agreement with the majority of owners that the Garmin nuvi 260w is a reliable five star-rated product and for those few who find technical problems or glitches (I too have found a couple) I'd give it a 4.9 rating if it existed. Like any piece of electronics there is the possibility major defects do indeed occur. If this is the case I'm certain the manufacturer and/or retailer will replace the unit. On the matter of price per unit I bought mine at Costco $249.99 which includes the Garmin Vehicle Power Cable that I suspect is lacking from other retailers. Amazon.com beats the competition like Best Buy by as much as 50% when it comes to accessories like the Garmin AC Power Cable or Portable Friction Dashboard Mount (free shipping and no taxes!), both of which I regard as necessities, not accessories!

Four stars, only because I bought one, didn't have occasion to use it a lot (other than looking up physical addresses for places I knew, just to see how it works) so not much use, and after about 3 weeks it stopped giving text-to-voice directions, meaning saying the street names. It started acting like one that didn't have text/voice. "In .2 miles, turn left." (No street name.)

I contacted Amazon via return screens, got the return paperwork and labels, sent it back for a product exchange, and Amazon had my new one on the way before I even hit the UPS place. Great service from them.

So I now have the replacement, and so far, so good. I'm a little hinky that it, too, will un-learn its text/voice capability, but only time will tell.

ROUTES: It's missed a couple of better routes, but then equally, it's found me some better ones than what I've been using. Secondly, if you purposely override its chosen route by making what it considers a wrong turn, it recalculates VERY quickly. It found a great shortcut I'd have missed also.

SCREEN CLARITY: This is my first, but I've seen my future son-in-law's older model. The wide screen is definitely a good thing. You can see more of what's around you. Yesterday I came to a "Y" where it was a toss-up which was the "continue on" road, and a quick glance at the screen was all it took (just a second of eyes off the road) to see the highlighted route.

BATTERY LIFE: I got very little from just the spotty car charging periods (no long trip to give it a good charge). However, I also ordered the DC charger, and while I haven't tested out a full charge's worth of time length, I have a feeling it'll be a lot better.

WINDOW MOUNT: Excellent design. I read that the black rubber suction cup (which really holds well, by the way) leaves a telltale black mark, so I tried it with its protective plastic still on it. It worked, so as long as that stays on it, I'll keep it there.

DOCUMENTATION: As far as I'm concerned, it sucks. It does explain some stuff, no question. However, it doesn't tell you the following, for instance:

a. "Screen Lock": From the way it's explained (like one sentence), you get the impression that this simply stops the screen from responding if you touch it by mistake... in other words, that if you put it on "screen lock," it would keep giving you directions. Not so! "Screen Lock" also means the voice directions stop, and after about 30 seconds, the screen goes dark. You can touch it again, and it'll refresh, but everything seems to sleep with it on "Screen Lock." So I don't know WHAT the purpose of it is. The manual doesn't explain what it does beyond "stops it from responding to unintended touches." (???)

b. Battery charge time: No documentation with the DC charger, and the manual doesn't tell you beans. I can't find anything on the Garmin that tells me when it's charged either. I have no clue how long one should leave this thing plugged in for a full charge. And I no longer believe "don't worry, it doesn't have memory." They ALL have memory.

c. Documentation also doesn't tell you whether it's charging while you have it plugged into the car charger AND simultaneously working, or whether it's charging if you have it plugged in, but turned off. Nothing in there about its rules for battery charging.

Those are important things to know. Zip documentation on them. There are other areas where the documentation isn't great, but those are a couple of biggies.

FINDING SATELITE: This is likely to vary depending on where you are, but I leave my car parked under trees, and fire up the Garmin when I get into the car to give it time to find satellite. It finds signal very nicely, even under trees. Once it finds signal, the only time I've had it lose signal is in the house.

All other functions that I've tried have been outstanding. Again, documentation could be better on finding "Points of Interest" somewhere other than where you are, but it's intuitive enough that with the little info they do give you, you can figure it out, even if not a technocrat.

If I don't have a repeat of the glitch the first one developed, then I can absolutely rave about the usefulness of this unit. It's programmed not only to give you plenty of warning for an upcoming turn, but its timing of telling you right then and there AT the turn is perfect and consistent.

Documentation is the main reason for the 4 stars. Getting a faulty unit (my first one) can happen with any equipment. If that same thing happens again, then my rating would go to 1 star, because that's unacceptable. But if not, then 4 stars... for sure!

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

I'd been comparison shopping Tom Toms, Garmin, Magellan and several other less familiar brands. I happened to see the Garmin 260W demonstrated at a local Best Buy and immediately liked it's capabilities. The 4.3" screen is plenty big and the visibility even in harsh sunlight is terrific. What sold me was the verbal street callouts. Best Buy wanted $349.00. I found it on Amazon for around $260 with free shipping. Done deal. I really wanted a unit that had the portability, but didn't go crazy with overpriced features I'll never use. It does take a minute or two for the unit to pull up your location, but once it gets going, the directions are superb. Operation is a cinch (my wife caught on in about 90 seconds). I'm happy with my purchase and look forward to depending on it for trips, unfamiliar parts of town ,etc.

There are so many 5 star ratings and articles on nuvi that I decided just to focus on a few things that I found were annoying to me...

Item 3 also has shaken my confidence in its ability to avoid unpaved roads...

1) Nuvi always shows the the time when you would reach the destination. If you are crossing the time zone, this could be annoying. Better would be if it only shows the "Miles to reach the destination" or "Time to reach the destination". There is no way you can get nuvi to show that. This feature is in Magellan, and very convenient and time zone proof.

2) The navigation method has choice of shortest time or shortest distance... Both of which are unpredictable if you are on the best route. Example, while driving from Mountain View, CA to Reno NV, while on I-680 it tried to take me to I-5/I-80 Via Stockton, rather than straight thru I-680/I-80,and saving around 30 miles. I had "shortest time" set.

3) Near Elko, NV, I took a diversion to Lamoille and mountains near by. I had set to avoid any unpaved road. while going up all went well, nice road to the top of the mountain. But while returning it took me thru a distance of about 40 miles on unpaved road to get me back on I-80, rather than quickly trying to retrace the paved road (NV-227, that it originally took to go in) back to I-80,about 15 miles.

Now sure I could have turned around and gone back to right road like I did in (2) above, but I was always thinking that soon it will connect to paved road, which only happened, after about 40 miles.

I followed this on several sites for about 6 months. I finally bought it on Amazon for about $266, the lowest it seemed to go even though it's been on the market for a while. I did get a credit during a price drop, and shipping was free, so I am satisfied as far as cost.

Amazon has a feature comparison grid for its Garmin nuviis which I found very helpful and referred to it often during my 6 month process. What I decided I needed after mentally toying with the numerous options was a 4.3 screen and text-to-speech. I am totally satisfied with both. I cannot imagine looking at a smaller screen, nor trying to find a place for a larger screen. Voice directions are excellent. However, there is a hint of disparagement in the voice when it says, "Recalculating, recalculating" if I choose a route I am familiar with.

I have the most current maps of the US. However, I could not receive understandable directions near Greensboro, NC airport (it kept trying to send me in circles) nor in my own long established residential neighborhood. (It sent me 12 miles out of my way to get home; trying it my way a second time it continued to shout "recalculating" until I was almost in my driveway.) Chicago airport and suburbs, and Charlotte, NC - great directions.

There were no directions for using this. Now that I have purchased an AC adaptor so I can recharge at home, I will play with the menu choices. Maybe the lousy directions were because of a choice I made.

My nuvi came only with a car charger. I had to buy an AC adaptor, usb connector and carrying case.

The screen is very bright and viewable. I do not use a holder because it takes up too much space and from what I've read could be a thief magnet. I keep the nuvi plugged into the car charger and sit it on the seat next to me. There is no need to look at the screen while driving because the voice directions are so good and give so much warning for turns, etc. Sometimes the voice says "turn left/right" etc without a street name. On a multi-lane highway or road that splits off what that means is "Stay in the left lanes" or "bear right", etc. Just pay attention for a little while for different types of roadways. It all makes sense and is a consistent usage of terms.

It can take several minutes to catch the satellites, no matter where I am. (It has never dropped the satellites once acquired.) Maybe that is because this is an older model? Other than that, I can see why this model has been around so long and the price is so darned stable.

Purchased the 260w through Amazon for a great price. Arrived very quickly. The 260w is nearly perfect. I have not noticed the unit being slow at receiving a signal. It is very quick and responsive even inside my home. Perfect directions. Went GeoCaching this evening and found all locations easily.

This device works extremely well. My only complaint is street name recognition. Many streets/roads/highways are known by several names. For instance, I was looking for an address on Stage Road in Bartlett, TN. Stage Road is also Route 64. I tried finding the specific location I wanted as Stage Road, Highway 64, Route 64, Rte 64 all to no avail. Later I went online to see if Mapquest could come up with the location. It did - as US Highway 64. I then entered US Highway 64 into the Nuvi 260W and the address was recognized. The same thing happened with an address in NY state. I searched for an address on Route 414 to no avail using several variations of Route 64. Mapquest referred to the location as State Route 414. The Nuvi 260W recognized this. The lesson I learned is, when possible confirm location names with Mapquest.

I received the Garmin Nuvi 260W as a gift. I have subsequently read comments about many different GPS units and have concluded that:

-a hand held GPS is a complement to, not a substitute for a good road map and some common sense. All GPS units have positives and negatives; none are absolutely perfect. These are not toys, but they are not self sufficient navigational tools either. Given enough time, every owner of every unit will have a story about how he couldn't find a particular point of interest, or was directed down a dead end street or across a 4-lane divided highway!

-considering screen sharpness, ease of use and other features, the Garmin 260W is one of the best in its price class.

-Garmin also has the best customer service of any of the companies.

The purpose of this review is NOT to repeat what others have written but to discuss workarounds for the various limitations of this unit.

COMPUTER ACCESS: To download firmware, software upgrades and maps, access to garmin.com is a virtual necessity. Since a computer cable is unfortunately not included with the unit, the user will need to buy a USB 2.0 A / mini B cable. It can be found on Amazon.

At garmin.com, download the web updater and whatever updates it prompts and also, remember to download the updated TTS (Text to Speech) voices. We find that "British" English is sometimes easier to understand than the American counterpart and suggest that it be downloaded as well.

The USB cable will also charge the Garmin's battery but the unit does not operate when plugged into the computer. The optional AC converter is only required if the user wants to operate the unit on 110 volts.

SATELLITE ACQUISITION: Failure to reliably acquire satellite is the biggest single weakness of the Garmin 260W and the reason for the 3* rating. The user never knows in advance whether, after the 30 second boot up, it will take 15 seconds or 15 minutes to find a satellite.

Customer service suggests that the preferable satellite acquisition position is the top edge (NOT the face or back) pointed straight up to the open sky with the unit held still (which means you should not be driving).

When the unit is powered up out of the box and acquires a satellite for the first time, leave the power ON for an hour to download almanac data.

If the unit is moved to a new location with the power off, powering up the unit is similar to an initial power-on, and it can easily take 15 minutes to locate new satellites.

If all else fails, do a hard reset (see the instructions for "clearing user data"). Note that all user data (favorites) is in the gpx file in the gpx folder so save it to your computer and restore it after the reset. Again, leave the unit on for an hour after satellites are acquired.

POINTS OF INTEREST: Some of the data is not current. If a particular restaurant, etc., cannot be found, enter it by its street address and then change the name.

MODIFYING A ROUTE: This unit is less flexible than some. If a favorite place is selected and the GPS simulator mode activated, the proposed route will be highlighted. "Sliding" the screen with an appropriate magnification will allow the route to be compared with a computer or road map alternative. To force Garmin to select a particular road or direction, add a VIA point (gas station, motel, whatever). Because Garmin only allows one via point per route, several such points may be needed and the driver may have to skip stop between them.

ADD: June 26th. The Garmin 260W will NOT display routes downloaded from Mapquest. That feature is reserved for more expensive units.

ADD: June 26th. Failure to arrive at a specific house number may relate to mistakes on the part of developers, subdivision planners or mappers rather than the GPS. If necessary, give an address TWO favorite places - one labeled (per gps)that has the desired address; and one labeled (actual) determined by touching the car icon when standing in the driveway.

ADD: Aug. 4. Polarized sunglass lens fix: If you have the brightness set low (to conserve the battery when walking or biking, for example), polarized sun glasses may make it difficult to read the display which is also polarized. But, if you turn the display VERTICAL, the polarized settings will align and the display will immediately brighten up.

BATTERY LIFE: We've run two hours on battery without losing a green bar. Battery life can be extended by reducing the brightness level to the lowest acceptable.

In summary, the Garmin Nuvi 260W will do pretty much everything it is supposed to do EXCEPT acquire satellites quickly every time. If the company fixes this problem with a new firmware upgrade, the 260W deserves 4 stars. If the unit were also to allow multiple via points and route selections, then it would, in our opinion, earn 5 stars.