igglue's Full Review: Garmin nüvi 260 Car GPS Receiver
Garmin has established themselves as a top notch automobile GPS maker. Their solid hardware construction, and friendly software interface has solidified by their position.
Nuvi 200 is the entry point for their latest edition of Garmin Nuvi family. Garmin Nuvi 3xx series is very well known and 200 has some refreshing changes.
Let's start with basic things about Nuvi 200.
Comes with:
- GPS device
- Non-swivel mount
- Car Adapter that plugs directly into the GPS
- Plastic plate to mount to the car (for people who can not mount the GPS to the Window due to state laws)
- SD card slot
- SURF chip
Some hardware details that matters:
- No more 'antenna flip' (we'll talk more about that later
- No headphones (we'll talk about that later too)
- No power adapater to the mount
- No street name prompting (There are typical turn left in 1 mile and similar prompts)
- No bluetooth (no big loss)
- Unable to attach traffic receiver
Software
- only 48 states (no Canadian Maps)
- No bluetooth (phone dialing).
So let's talk about what this unit does and how it compares to others.
Let's talk little bit about what made Nuvi 3xx series famous.
There are few things that Nuvi did very well. The car mount was exceptional. With Nuvi 370, it was really easy to snap the GPS in and out of the mount, and power was attached to the mount. So you could 'snap' the GPS off and walk away without taking the power cord off. In addition, with 370 series you could flip the antenna back into the unit and use it as a travel guide, or mp3 player. Most people may never understand the beauty of this unit, but Nuvi 3xx series was a wonderful travel tool. I bought 370, and utilized it as my travel companion in Italy. You can simply download travel guides and when you approach the location, it will prompt and you can use it as a tour guide. (Which I did in many locations). I am not sure if lack of audibook would kill this feature, but various attachments and so forth that came with Nuvi 3xx certainly made it more 'mobile' (included AC adapter and built-in MP3 player).
200 is no where like it's older 3xx series. The suction mount is stripped down, it does not include a cover, no AC adapter, lack of MP3 player, audiobook, and inability to turn GPS off kills 200 as a travel companion.
WIth that said, Nuvi 200 has some nice enhancements.
- Updated graphics/color scheme is refreshing
- The interface has been simplified and more efficient.
- Same search capability
Some things, which are nice to have are gone.
- No compass
- No way to get GPS status
- No mp3 can be bad, depending on way you used it
- Lack of bluetooth is disappointing. No more 'search, call, drive' operation with 200.
That said, the interface updates and solid capabilities of the GPS is great. It's ability to acquire satellites quickly, and find routes is no different from 3xx series.
One BIG improvement from 3xx series.
- The 200 one one improvement and it has a fast 'warm start'. With 3xx series, if you power it down, restarting the GPS takes the same time as starting it. But with 200, restarting the instance is very quick.
Overall, this is a solid entry unit for someone who wants to get into an automobile GPS. That said, it's not worth saving $100 to get this unit. If you can get the 250 for $100 more, I would recommend 250. Given that I purchased this unit for $100, it was a deal that I could not pass, and I use it on regular basis now.
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