Garmin nüvi 260W 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator

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.

Everything positive said about this unit I agree with except that it finds satellites quickly. I have waited over 15 minutes for this unit to find a satellite and if you're in a hurry that's a problem.

I can't recommend this unit for that important reason. If you follow the troubleshooting advice on the unit, it tells you to stand still outside away from trees & buildings. Well this happens to be true, because I have had to pull over on the side of the road hold the unit out of the window and wait for a signal, which is FRUSTRATING LIKE CRAZY!

I'm looking for another unit, maybe a MIO...

Overall I love the Garmin Nuvi 260W. I love that it speaks the upcoming turns to you rather than having to look down to read them. It is cool that you can see approximately when you will get to your destination based on current speed. It lets you automatically know if you will be late, or early, to your destination, barring any traffic problems. I do not like that instead of using local highway numbers it uses the local street name instead. That has thrown me a couple time when I am looking for state highway 55 and it call it Courthouse Blvd, etc. I would definitely recommend this product. It is very easy to use and outside of that small technical issue it has saved me a number of times when traveling to Boston and the surrounding area an not knowing where I am going or making a wrong turn. It gets me back to where I need to go quick.

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!

Very nice navigator. I haven't been on any long trips yet, but works great around my area. I will be going to Canada soon and will be interesting to see how it works up there. Amazon seems to do a good job of getting the product to the customer as fast as possible. Their review of the product was very helpful in my decision to buy the Garmin 260W.