Garmin nuvi 260 is a pleasant looking, if not particularly outstanding, gps unit. Initially we had trouble distinguishing it from the more expensive nuvi 760 that we were testing at the same time. 5-inch touchscreen — there’s also a au$100 more expensive. 3-inch screen — that drives all of the unit’s functions bar power, which is controlled by a dimpled slider switch on the top left corner of the device.
Out the back there’s a moderately sized speaker which has a good volume range — from mouse quiet to denis the sadistic nut loud — but tends to crackle a little when the volume is cranked up. Although not without its quirks, the garmin’s interface is a generally snap to use. Once the device has been booted up, and you’ve whizzed past the safety warning replete with american legalise, you’re presented with the main menu featuring two large icons “where to?” and “view map”, as well as two smaller icons for the configuration and volume screens.
Entering destinations is hampered by the fact that there’s no option to change from the abc on-screen keyboard to the qwerty system we’re more familiar with. If you’ve dived deep into the menu system, it can take quite a few clicks to get back out to the map display — annoying, and potentially dangerous, if you have the need to fiddle with settings at the traffic lights. Our other gripe centres around the map display that by default will omit some streets and details.
Tags: Garmin nuvi 260
