Garmin nüvi 260 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

Just talked to their customer service, they DON'T give free map upgrade to any previous purchase even within 1 day old. They just guarantee new maps when purchased. Without a map upgrade in a fast road changing area, it should be good to go to junkyard in a year.

This is a decent entry level product. I like the text to speech feature and was a buying point for me. It is quick to find the satellites and is relatively accurate. It sometimes encourages you to wander off the main highway which is annoying, but other than that is a good purchase.

We bought the Garmin on a trip to northern Michigan and were pleased with the accurate directions even in the middle of literally nowhere. Easy to set up and use with extra simple initial calibration. The lack of voice selections was a little sad, but the stock voices are easy to understand. The extra car download selections on Garmin's website are an added bonus of fun.

After doing an extensive review and analysis of the GPS units with the features and price range we desired, we selected Garmin because of its easy to read display and the Garmin reputation. We wanted North American coverage with spoken street names and selected the 260 over the 260W because the additional width took up more space and did not substantially enhance the information displayed while costing about 30% more. The 260 proved to be easy to use right out of the box requiring only charging of the battery. We ordered the unit from Amazon because of good past shopping experience (but not with Amazon's partners) and the lowest price which was $233 with free shipping available. The Garmin nuvi 260 is an excellent product and has met all our expectations. We recommend it to anyone wanting a basic GPS (no phone, bluetooth or MP3) that is easy to use and available at a reasonable price.

After reading the reviews of Garmins costing over twice as much as the Nuvi 260 and seeing that many people still weren't completely happy with their choice, I came to the conclusion that the technology had not completely arrived yet, so I would buy a GPS with the minimum bells and whistles and wait for the technology to really catch up to the expectations most people had before sinking a ton of money into another GPS a few years from now. The Nuvi 260 met the minimum requirements and is an interim solution. As such it works just fine, and I think the limitations of the software would be the same with just about any GPS, no matter the cost.

Say for instance you want to find a TJ Maxx store nearby. The 260 will find it for you, but it may or may not be on the way to where you're going otherwise. (I could drive another ten miles and be happy with the next store nearer my route, if you get my meaning.) I doubt any GPS could do that, though, so it's nice just to have one that tries as hard as it can.

Bottom line, you still have to prepare for your trip, have a general idea where you're going, find addresses to plug into the unit, and be ready to make some decisions if you don't like where the unit is directing you. GPS's can only do so much at this moment in time. It's already helped me find a Subway that was tucked into a strip mall well off the freeway in Maryland, and done other miraculous things. But it didn't tell me about the street closure in Manhattan, and it didn't match the recommended way to get to the Toledo Museum of Art from I-75.

In other words, they're not perfect. Yet.

So just buy a mid-range unit that has the minimum features you feel you need and live with it for the next few years.