Garmin Nuvi 260 Black Friday Sales!
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Garmin Nuvi 260 Black Friday Sales!.
Product: Garmin Nuvi 260 Amazon Price: Too low to display Availability: In Stock |
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The Nuvi 260 is a Nuvi 250 with the addition of text-to-speech (speaks valid names) . Other than the text-to-speech (TTS) feature, the units are identical in appearance and operation.
Why did I win this?
1) Many GPS models have features not needed for navigating (such as an MP3 player or Bluetooth) . The 260 only has what I really mediate is vital in a portable GPS. It's sleek (fits comfortably in your pocket), easily transportable, has preloaded maps with a immense database, and a rapidly processor which calculates and recalculates routes in seconds. Eliminating unnecessary features reduces the cost, plus makes it easier to exercise.
2) The touchscreen interface in the Nuvi 260 is so intuitive, many people can skip the short instruction book altogether. Ten minutes of impartial "playing around with the unit" after taking it out of the box is all you will need to be navigating. That's the label of a gargantuan fabricate.
3) Unlike the flip-up antenna found in Garmin's 300 series, the 200 series has an internal antenna...a great plus. (One less thing to atomize.) In addition, the cloak in the 200 series units is significantly brighter and sharper than Garmin's older 300 series.
4) Speaking street names is a substantial asset. Units that don't have TTS only say "In 500 feet exit moral". That forces you to peer at the shroud to study what street/exit/etc you need to navigate to. A unit with TTS says " In 500 feet assume exit 52, on apt, to Route 80 West". You withhold your eyes on the road with this feature. So besides the convenience, TTS is a safety feature that is worth the extra dollars.
What do I disapprove about the Nuvi 260?
1) I am not a fan of the windshield suction mount. In many reviews people have said that the mount is not gracious in the long term. It randomly falls off (this happened to me a few times) . On a hot day the suction cup can soften and is reluctant to advance off at all, or it leaves a telltale ring on the windshield. That's not qualified. (As an aside, there has been a important increase in the thefts of portable GPS devices from cars...even when the devices were not in stupid idea. Police have stated that thieves assumed there was a GPS unit hidden in the car if a residual ring from the suction cup was seen on the windshield.) Build yourself from the inevitable and prefer the beanbag poke mount.
2) The information in the database and maps can be a few years primitive. This dilemma is seen in ALL brands of GPS units, not fair Garmin. There are millions of points of interest and roads to preserve track of. It changes by the day. By the time the final product makes it to market, some of it is already outdated. But, for over 99% of the time, it is suitable and it finds what I looking for. Until the manufacturers figure out a method to update their databases and maps in accurate time, this is what we have.
Once you judge about what the really necessary features are in a portable GPS unit, you will realize that the Garmin Nuvi 260 is a wise choice.
I would say there is no perfect GPS unit in the market, but this definitely is one of the best.
If you were a nuvi owner like me, a previous owner of a nuvi 350 GPS, you will know that nuvi is very easy to operate. You do not need any thick manual to eye how to exhaust the unit, honest find it out the box, turn it on, and play it around, then you are ready to go. This is a nuvi, so, yes, it is easy to spend. As a trade off, some advanced routing functions are not included in this unit, for example, you can not add many via points to one route.
Basically, Nuvi 260 is a Nuvi 250 with Text to Speech, so even you can not salvage many reviews for Nuvi 260, actually you can honest search those for Nuvi 200 or 250. Nuvi 260 is also a nuvi 350 after some weight loss which means some functions such as MP3 player will miss in this unit. The box comes with the unit contains less accessories than the one for 350 too. You will not have USB cable,leather case, and AC charger. However, in other hand, the 260 has more improvement. What I like most is the shroud brightness which is really astonishing compared to the nuvi350. It is highly readable even directly under the sun light. The notion angle of this shroud is also grand wider than that of the 350. Both the driver and the front seat passenger can read the cover easily if you position the unit in the middle. While my experience with 350 is that you need adjust the unit to a fair angle so that the reflection from the cloak will not bother the driver from reading the shroud. Another sweet fraction is the internal antenna which makes the unit more sleek than the 350.
The mount is mild easy to assemble, easy to adjust, compact. Unfortunately Garmin changed the mount slightly from the beget of 350.For the nuvi 350 the power cord connects to the mount and then the mount feeds power to the Nuvi, but in the 260, the power cord connects directly to the scheme. So in order to disassemble your 260, you need disconnect both the power cable and the mount which is not as convenient as the case for 350.
My unit has a Bravo sensor instead of the SIRF III sensor in 350. Both are boasted as the high sensitivity sensor. After testing it for several trips and in my home. I found that the Bravo has better signal receipt ability than the SIRF III. I can easily procure fleshy bars signal before my computer desk with Bravo, but with 350, I can only receive signal come to the window. Somehow I feel that the SIRF III has better accuracy although the inequity is subtle. Like I said, no GPS is perfect, so neither does the sensor.
Overall, I like the 260 very powerful. Garmin has the best navigation engine and algorithm in the industry, so you do not need doubt its navigation performance at all. Furthermore, this is the cheapest Garmin nuvi with text to speech. If you like Text to speech and do not need other worship functions like bluetooth, mp3 etc, this one is definitely the best choice for you. Otherwise, if you do not care the text to speech function, you may reflect nuvi 250 or nuvi 200(no Canada contrivance) which are cheaper.
Updated(Dec. 8,2007)
For those who do not like the window mount, I strongly suggest you check out this friction mount:
http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Portable-Friction-StreetPilot-010-10908-00/dp/B000LRMS66
I purchased it with my nuvi 260 and it works broad!
Never belief I'd acquire I GPS unit but what the heck, the prices are dropping and I'm a gadget geek.
So I catch this unit, hook it up, and all is favorable!
The deny is a bit robotic but that's what I expected and I suspect other GPS units are the same. Positive words/letters (street names) are not clearly annunciated given the limit of the robot train but it's great enough. If a clear street name is not spoken clearly and you're not obvious what it unbiased spoke all you need to do is purchase a fleet eye at the green bar at the top of the conceal and it's all spelled out for you...not a quandary at all.
I savor this thing!
