I was so impressed with it that I bought one for my sisters birthday. She loves it too.

I love this product. It give me streets names and exact times for arrival. Very very nice!!

Well since it was for my wife it had to be easy to use or I'd get complaints. The menus system never leaves you uncertain of where to go next...no getting lost on the screens. Almost bot a TomTom but didn't think the menu was quite as good while trying it in stores. I could be wrong. The audio is plenty loud and usually clear. I only tried one voice. Maybe there are more? Found it does two thing well. Navigates to locations AND if you just display the map without inputing where to go...it provides a fantastic situational awareness of where you are, showing the upcoming streets, side streets etc. While actually navigating, if you miss a turn or opt for a different way, it simply recalculates the remaining trip. Takes about 5 seconds. Never suggested a u turn. At first start up it took maybe 5 minutes to find itself. Every other time it locks on in just seconds. Keyboard is not qwery due to the size. 4.5 inch model has the optional keyboard. That's my only not complaint but a request to Garmin...even if the keyboard had to be smaller to fit the 3.5 in screen. Letters displayed as abcdefg are harder to find than a typewriter type display. If it is plugged into the car and you pull the power or turn off the car it will auto shut off when it detects the power loss. It gives you a choice to allow the shut down or overide and continue ON using battery power. A lot of write ups said the 260 didn't have this feature but mine does. Bought it from Amazon Oct 2008. I paid $200. The best price anywhere Best Buy wanted [...] with a rebate. As everybody says, units that anounce the street names is the only way to go. You might not even look at the unit, just listen. Wife wouldn't take the 5 minutes to learn the unit. After two weeks finaly did. Now loves it.

My Garmin Nüvi 260 was a great investment! Its preloaded maps, voice prompts, and rechargeable and long-life battery are just a few of its characteristics which every driver needs. If you run into traffic or a closed road, its detour option comes in extremely helpful. The Nüvi 260 also gives users the option of various routes. Because time is an issue for many people, users may chose to take the quickest route. However, others may opt to take the route with the shortest distance, which may end up taking a little longer but helps to conserves gas.

Its turn-by-turn voice prompts and street names are so helpful. Many GPS devices simply highlight the directions on the screen. However, with the Nüvi 260 users can keep their eyes on the road as it verbally relays directions. This is not only a convenience for the driver, but is also beneficial in preventing vehicle accidents.

The Garmin Nüvi 260 includes a rechargeable, long-life battery. It comes with a power cable that plugs into the smoke thing.

Also on the list of pros, is the device's ability to save locations as favorites. When the driver travels somewhere often, but maybe not often enough to remember exactly how to get there each time option keeps the user from reentering the location each time. Its ability to save a home location is also helpful. Wherever you are, just touch on home and it will get you there without having to enter the address or find it in your list of favorites.

Although I have not had the need to use it, this Garmin also has a SD card slot. This allows users to upload pictures for viewing or a slide show.

These are just some of my favorite characteristics offered by the Garmin Nüvi 260. I have never had any complaints with the device and recommend it to anyone looking for a GPS device.

We just finished a 5 day driving trip (using side roads and the scenic/long route) from L.A. to S.F. and back using the Garmin, and it was great. My wife also uses it for work. Overall, great unit, very easy to use, nice features, I'll never use a paper map again. Good audio clarity, nice flexibility when you upgrade the firmware online for additional voices, good direction timing. It was really great to be able to find restaurants, gas, landmarks, etc. on the fly, and it also has a pedestrian mode. It also is very flexible if you ignore the instructions about suggesting some pretty good alternate driving instructions on the fly. Lots of nice stats available too, and it's very easy to use, both my wife and I can use it with ease now.

Cons: Weak signal, sometimes it takes a few minutes when you start it up to locate the satellites, and won't work at all inside my apartment, while a cheaper competitor will. Also, some of the directions try too much to optimize, and will take you off of what is in fact the fastest route, like a small stretch of a city street between a bend in the highway, taking you off, then on again, when clearly you should have just been kept on the freeway. Once again, a cheaper competitor's unit seems to work better on this (whichever one Costco sells regularly). If they can fix this, the unit would be perfect, but meanwhile, you end up having to second-guess the instructions a lot and know where it is you want to go and how.