January 3, 2008

CES 2008: Garmin Nuvi 260W

Garmin announced the nuvi 260W, a simple-to-use widescreen personal navigation device (PND) that speaks street names. It's not a big surprise that since Garmin introduced the Nuvi 200/250 line and then the 200W and the 250W line, that the Nuvi 260 would be follow-up by a widescreen version too. (Um, where's the Nuvi 270W with Euro Maps?) What is too bad is that this wasn't in the mix for the Holiday 2007 season, as a lot of people are turning onto the benefits of Text to Speech and would have loved to have had this as a product to consider.

We gave away a Garmin Nuvi 260 as part of our holiday festivities, and I think that the value line with TTS is a great product entry from a trustworthy name like Garmin.

In addition to features offered by other members of the nuvi 200 family, the nuvi 260W automatically calls out street names (saying "turn right on Main Street" instead of "turn right in 200 feet."). This feature lets drivers keep their eyes on the road while navigating through busy traffic and tricky roadways. The nuvi 260W also sports a sunlight-readable 4.3-inch touchscreen display.

"The nuvi 260W gives consumers the most sought-after navigation features, while eliminating many of the premium add-ons," said Dan Bartel, Garmin's vice president of worldwide sales. "The result is a PND that simply gets you from point A to point B -- reliably, efficiently, and with style."

The nuvi 260 series incorporates an internal GPS antenna that makes it thinner and even easier to mount in a car. The intuitive "Where To?" and "View Map" welcome screen allows users to quickly find a specific street address or establishment's name, or search for a destination by category. Turn-by-turn, voice-prompted directions then guide the driver to their destination. If they miss a turn along the route, the nuvi automatically recalculates a route and gets them back on track, pronouncing the names of the streets along the way. The nuvi 260W includes preloaded detailed mapping of the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico -- with over six million points of interest (like hotels, restaurants, ATMs, gas stations, and more).

The pocket-sized nuvi 260W also includes a built-in picture viewer, calculator, currency converter, unit converter and world clock. These new navigators are also compatible with Garmin's line of rich content such as the Garmin Travel Guide(TM) and Garmin Language Guide(TM). For additional security, Garmin has included the Garmin Lock(TM), an innovative patent pending theft prevention system that disables the unit from performing any functions until the user types in a specific 4-digit PIN or takes the unit to a predetermined secure location. Garmin has also added the ability for customers to add custom points of interest (POI's) from third parties such as school zones and safety cameras.

The nuvi 260W includes a vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk, and owner's reference manual.

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Posted by Scott Martin at January 3, 2008 7:28 PM

Comments

any idea what price we might be able to find this for online when its released? i'm interesting in the 260 at its $250 range its going for so was hoping soon i'd be able to find the 260w for the $300 range but that might not be realistic this soon maybe

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Thanks for writing in; I was thinking the exact same thing.

Garmin typically rolls the price out high and then drops fast when competition takes bites out of their ability to sell. With the TomTom ONE XLS out there, I would imagine that they will need to be competitive with that unit to sell. TomTom ONE XL is selling for about $300 now.

The other factor is to look at the differential versus other similar units. So the Nuvi 200 was about $179 recently and the Nuvi 200W about $225, a difference of about $45.

With the Nuvi 260 going for about $250, your estimate of about $300 for the 260W isn't too far off. , although Garmin has been maintaining a price premium to TomTom that may push it up by $20 - $40.

There are a couple of factors though: 1) GPS Prices will ease in the spring as new units hit the shelves pushing the prices of current units down (That's good for us), and 2) Garmin will launch this at the premium price. So, where it will land on day #1, I don't know, but the "going" rate of $250 - $300 should be about right mid-summer.

Hope this helps,
Scott

Posted by: a3p3g at January 5, 2008 4:08 PM

WOULD YOU SAY GARMIN IS THE CADILLAC OF GPS UNITS ? IF YOU COULD BUY THE NUVI 660 AND THE 260W FOR AROUND THE SAME PRICE,HOW WOULD THE ONE YEAR NEWER TECHNOLOGY OF THE 260W INFLUENCE YOUR DECISION AGAINST THE MORE FEATURE LADEN 660,IF ALL YOU REALLY NEED IS A BASIC GPS UNIT ? THE 660 EVEN COMES WITH A CASE.I'M TORN!

Posted by: RICK at April 17, 2008 2:26 AM

Rick,

I think that Garmin is a very good choice for GPS units. Depending on your needs, the Nuvi 260W or the Nuvi 660 may suit you.

Nuvi 260 - has text-to-speech and a newer interface as well as a slimmer design. Some nice interface capabilities that would make me go with the Nuvi 260W over the 660 unless you want the TMC and Bluetooth.

Nuvi 660 - has integrated TMC traffic capabilities (subscription required after 3 mos), and Bluetooth capabilities for handsfree operation of your bluetooth enabled mobile phone.

Posted by: Scott Martin at April 20, 2008 8:29 AM

I just brought the garmin nuvi 260w I love it except for two things The font display is to small I cant read the street names or have trouble reading the arrival time and distance. Is there a way to make that larger??? and the voice speaking the street names is too fast making it hard to understand for me being hard of hearing. I would appreciate any feed back Thanks

Posted by: Paul at December 23, 2008 2:27 PM

Just purchased a 260W. Something funny when street names are announced. For Street it announces "Saint" and for Drive it announces "Doctor". Am I doing something wrong? How can this be corrected?

Posted by: Dennis M at February 21, 2009 10:01 PM