Garmin nuvi 260

Today, Garmin announced the new Nuvi 260: a text-to-speech device that is expected to hit the shelves at a very low cost. The device fills the gap in the 200 Nuvi series and is essentially the next step in the fight against persistent competitors, offering a very high-quality product for an affordable amount. The main competitor of the new product, most likely, will be the Nuvi 350, which is still a very popular navigator, despite its humble age, and on the net its price is about $ 365.

For Nuvi 260, the manufacturer’s recommended retail price is $ 499, which, of course, cannot be compared with the price (with many discounts) for the Nuvi 350. Although at first it might seem that the prices of the Nuvi 260 and Nuvi 350 would be relatively the same, especially considering that online prices for the Nuvi 250 (North American maps and without the text-to-speech feature) range below $ 300.

The novelty will please with the presence of maps of North America, 6 million POIs and everything necessary to easily fix the navigator on the windshield of the car.

Some excerpts from the official press release:

Like the rest of the 200 Series models, the nuvi 260 offers all the comforts of premium embedded systems at an attractive price. Unlike the other 200 devices, the novelty is able to pronounce the names of the streets you are driving through (for example, “Turn right onto the Designed Drive” instead of the usual “Turn right after 100 meters”). This feature helps the driver better focus on the road and not be distracted by looking at maps.
The Nuvi 260 includes an integrated GPS antenna, making it look very compact and very easy to install in a car. Special “hot” buttons on the welcome screen allow the driver to quickly find a specific street or building, or even determine a goal by a specific category. If you skip the desired turn, the navigator will automatically reorganize the route so that it returns to the planned path, while pronouncing the names of all the nearest streets. Maps of the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico are preinstalled in nuvi 260, as well as about 6 million POIs.

In addition to navigation charms, the novelty also has image viewing functions, a calculator, a currency and unit converter, as well as world time. For greater safety, the device has a patented Garmin Lock function, which will not allow you to use the navigator without entering a 4-digit pin code or without being in a “key” place.
The only button on the device is on / off, all the rest is given to a 3.5-inch touchscreen: nothing more. Of course, the slot for SD-cards is not forgotten.

The nuvi 260 is expected to arrive in August 2007 at a suggested price of $ 499.99. The kit includes a mount, a car charger and a user manual.

Garmin