Review Garmin Nuvi 260

Ok, Costco had a coupon for $100 off, and I went for it. I need a steady drip-feed of toys to keep my spirits up! This is the absolute minimum of the dedicated gps units, the next thing is just having it in your phone, but this can be shared in the family, with all the cars, since it never really needs to be mounted.

You need to have an xp machine hanging around, since they are nasty about Linux, which is odd, since these things run on Linux. Nevertheless, they have their DRM maps to protect, and Windows is dedicated to this. When you register, you get to download a huge 2 gb maps update, but you never get to see on the unit whether it actually worked!

This is just a car unit, I use my gpsmap 60cx for the bush, since you can get neat maps from the Swedish boys. Still, this thing works great for it's purpose. It has a nice touch screen, and all the local hotspots. Just put in a destination, and the 'voice' tells you everything. You can choose voices. I just put in in the car coffee holder, and listen. The map is generally useless when driving (interfere's with the cell texting! :). It's very fast on recalculating when you want to go a different route.

Garmin is still trying to sell map updates for more than this unit is worth. I can't see that happening for much longer. By next year I see these units as disposable. Never buy a new car with a gps unit! You'll be killed by the map updates, and the fact that the unit is obsolete in a year or two.

It's route algorithm goes funny in one spot near my house. It can't stand a certain road, which I like to use. As soon as I go on it, it does anything to get off, even going wacky at one spot (probably the peak of uncertainty). I love pushing these things to the limit!

Anyway, I got it for the kids who wouldn't know the name of a road if the sign hit them!