Garmin nuvi 260W

The Garmin nuvi 260W is a portable GPS navigator, slim form factor designed with a 4.3-inch widescreen touch screen WQVGA anti-glare colour TFT display with white backlight, 480-by-272-pixels high resolution, voice prompts of street names and location, plus high-sensitivity 12 channels GPS receiver for fast satellite lock. This GPS gadget is fitted with 2D maps and 2D views, 3D maps and 3D views, and 6 million Points of Interests (POIs) with 500 way points (favourites or locations database such as streets, stores, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, fuel stations and ATMs).  It features an easy to use interface for user to handle, photo navigation, Auto re-route (fast off-route and detour recalculation), Provides alternate directions if there is a deviation, Choice of route setup (faster time, shorter distance, off road), speed-limit indications, Custom POIs (ability to add additional points of interest such as school zones and safety cameras), and ability to set proximity alerts for upcoming POIs. Besides that, it also support PC connectivity with its USB mass storage device, comes with 96 MB of flash memory, support Secure Digital (SD) media card slot for additional storage, menu language that features English and French languages, plus also a built-in speaker.

Descriptions
The Garmin nuvi 260W offers a 4.3-inch touchscreen display with 2D/3D mapping perspective, high-sensitivity 12-channel receiver which allows user to quickly locate a particular location and precisely maintains its GPS location even in heavy cover and deep canyons. The receiver has positioning accuracy of between 3m to 15m, depending on the availability of the satellite signal strength indicator. Once the indication point is pressed, user will be able to receive detailed information and a map with active satellite positions and its precision at the exact time. It also features an emergency locator, the “Where Am I?” function which enable you to always know your exact location by simply tap on the screen for getting the precise latitude and longitude coordinates, the nearest address or intersection, closest hospital, police stations and petrol stations. Its Multi-destination routing function allows you to plan your trip with multiple stops in the order for you to optimize the journey with the most efficient route which will also be a cost saving factor in terms of time and money. Some of the navigation features that can help users during their journey include information of current speed, least use of freeways, which road to use to avoid toll, route recalculation, shortest distance routing, quickest time routing, and speed limit indicator (displays speed limit for most major roads). It also allows users to search for specific destination according to State, Suburb, Street or, Point of Interest (POI), plus it allows customize POIs to be added to the GPS, such as school zones and safety cameras enabling you to set proximity alerts of the specified upcoming POIs. In addition, the system also provides Text-to-Speech feature which enables users to hear a voice announcing the street names along the journey enabling you to know when to make the next turn and stay focus on your driving.

Other features include pre-loaded with MapSource City Navigator NT maps for North America (covering the covering the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico which is provided by NAVTEQ, the provider for premium-quality digital map data), high-sensitivity internal antenna and its pocket sized is also convenient for on foot navigation, Garmin Lock anti-theft feature (with a specific 4-digit PIN security), plus the system is compatible with optional content plug-ins through its SD media card slot such as the  Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide which provide detailed data information on nearby merchants, its locations and also discounts offered.  Besides that, it is also equipped with JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, a calculator and also enables you to enjoy listening to the audio, including voice prompts and MP3s through the vehicle’s sound system. It also supports configurable vehicle icons (compatible and downloadable with the free Garmin garage) where you can customize your car-shaped icons using a variety of colours for adding your own personal touch to the vehicle’s position on the map.  In addition, transferring of addresses can also be done directly to the GPS navigator using Google Maps or Mapquest, and also using the USB 2.0 mass storage device. The Garmin nuvi 260W has a dimension of 4.8-inch in width, 0.8-inch in depth, 2.9-inch in height, weighs in at 6.1 ounces and it is powered by a rechargeable internal Lithium-ion battery that has an average battery life up to 5 hours of usage.

The device represent value for money due to its advanced technology for the usage of in-car navigation or hiking (on-foot navigation) systems that offers various kinds of features such as touch screen display, a high-sensitivity 12-channel GPS receiver, plus an innovative text-to-speech announcement for turn-by-turn directions. With all those features incorporated in the GPS navigator, users will definitely be driving or even hiking with full of confidence.