There is a lot of information out there on buying a GPS unit. I went through it all, learning about the bells and whistles, which one people liked better, blah-blah-blah. I ended up with readers burnout and decided to go back to basics: "...which unit would get me to where I'm going OR make sure I know where I am". That was my base criteria. The Garmin nuvi 260W fits the bill perfectly. My reasons for buying this one were it does all the basic stuff I need/want (where am I?) and it adds a wider screen, I can unclip it for portable use, and even though I don't/likely won't use it, it comes with a card reader suporting a few of those bells and whistles people seem to think are important. I also bought that Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount (highly recommended to all!!) so I could easily remove the GPS for use in another car OR just hide the unit when I'm not in the car (thieves are looking).

Overall I am extremely pleased with my purchase. If I were to buy a second one, knowing what I know now, I would buy another 260W and stay away from those higher priced units. This one is perfect for me and almost everybody I know. Hope this helps :)

After lot of research for various products I finally got the garmin nuvi 260W. Its just amazing & has made my life more easier. I think this was worth an investment.

I had a TOM TOM and returned it, too many different unnecissary options. Garmin is much easier to use. I bought 2 of them.

Throw away the map and tell the wife to watch the
scenery! If you get lost with one of these stay home! Easy to use and does not distract you from driving.

This thing is great, while it's not perfect it works amazingly well, has a great database of hotels, gas, restuarants, shopping, tourist sites of interest, hospitals, police stations etc. even providing phone numbers, it also had features not listed in garmins own description as apparently they added the same software upgrades as higher models, for instance it has the selectible keyboard type (ABC or QWERTY) and the "where am I" features which are not listed in it's description, on the odd day (only once in a month of use) it may take several minutes to aquire satellites as some have complained, but seems to find them faster if one can wait a minute or two (standing still) until it locks on instead of while moving which seems to take longer, once locked I have never lost connection, I use it daily and have to find the addresses of clients, the routes are pretty good but in the local streets dont always offer the best option, I sometimes use "fastest route" setting to get close then switch to "shortest route" in the side streets if the route offered is not the best, the detour function is great and has already saved my butt from an huge accident caused traffic jam in an area where I didn't know the streets at all, buy all means buy a mini usb cord (wal mart 7 bucks if you dont buy the garmin branded one) and get the free software upgrade from garmins web site, this cord will also charge the battery in the house, don't believe the naysayers, I am picky and like to buy good quality toys, this is a solid unit and you can buy with confidence, makes driving fun!