0ur opinion:

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Navigate both North America and Europe without loading more maps with the affordable nüvi 270. This entry-level Personal Travel Assistant makes traveling so simple. For even more mapping options, nüvi 250 and nüvi 200 offer less map coverage at a lower price. Like all nüvi 200-series members, the 270 features an easy-to-use colorful touchscreen and ultra-slim design--perfect for everyday navigation.

The nüvi 270 comes preloaded with maps for North America and Europe, and features an easy-to-use touchscreen and ultra-slim design.

Configurable vehicle icons let you select car-shaped graphics.

nüvi 270 accepts custom points of interest (P0ls). View larger.

Smart, Powerful Design
The nüvi 270 is built with a high-sensitivity WAAS-enabled GPS receiver for extreme accuracy, as well as an SD card slot for storing your media and additional navigation tools, and a USB interface for loading data. All this is wrapped up in a package that measures 3.8 x 2.8 x .8 inches (W x H x D) and weighs just 5.2 ounces. The nüvi 270's 3.5-inch (diagonal) display is touchscreen-enabled, making it a cinch to control the device with your fingertips. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to five hours of battery life depending on use.

Navigate with Ease
nüvi 270 comes ready to go right out of the box with preloaded City Navigator NT street maps, including a hefty points of interest (P0ls) database with hotels, restaurants, fuel, ATMs and more. Simply touch the color screen to enter a destination, and nüvi takes you there with 2D or 3D maps and turn-by-turn voice directions. ln addition, nüvi 270 accepts custom points of interest (P0ls), such as school zones and safety cameras and lets you set proximity alerts to warn you of upcoming P0ls.

Go Beyond Navigation
Navigation is just the beginning. nüvi 270 features many travel tools including JPEG picture viewer, world travel clock with time zones, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator and more. lt also comes with Garmin Lock, an anti-theft feature, and configurable vehicle icons that let you select car-shaped graphics to show your location on the map. 0ptional plug-in SD cards for our line of Garmin Travel Guides and Garmin SaversGuide provide detailed data for attractions and information on nearby merchants offering discounts, so you can customize nüvi for your travel needs.

Note: Like most USB Mass Storage Devices, the nüvi is not compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Me.


What's in the Box
nüvi 270, preloaded City Navigator NT for North America and Europe (full coverage), vehicle suction cup mount, vehicle power cable, dashboard disk, and set up and go guide.









Piece Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

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Buyer's feedback: - * constantly lost ...
I purchased this GPS for my son ,who is in South West Germany
hopefully it will help him navigate and not get too lost.I have a NUVI
too ,I think having a GPS saves gas ...this model did'nt come with a home charger so I sent him mine that I got with my unit, his cigarette lighter doesn't work so he needs this accessory...remember being lost in a foriegn country can be a little challenging asking for directions and such.
So if in doubt don't leave home without one

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Buyer's feedback: - Nice GPS. Simple enough for the first time user.
I recently acquired a Nuvi-270 and have spent a few days playing with it.
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Pros:
1) Simple to use. All basic functions are simple enough for a novice user.

2) The updated maps are extremely accurate.

3) Some fun customizations available.
A -- Garmin offers literally dozens of "cars" to download that allow you to change your vehicle icon to something more personalized (Planes, Trucks, Motorcycles, even a Tank). They even have seasonal offerings like Santa sleighs, Friendly Halloween Monsters.

B -- Garmin had now added a Halloween voice to change from the default speaking directions to something more seasonal. Hopefully they will add more in the future.

[...]

4) Simple to add personalize locations (Work, home, even Geo-caches can be uploaded to the device!)

5) Included mount holds GPS Secure as you drive

6) Voice instructions are loud enough to be heard over car stereo and the volume can be turned up, down or muted altogether.

7) Crisp clear display even in sunny weather.

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Cons:
1) Automated voice occasionally repeats turn commands during instructions.
Example: "Drive 100 feet, then turn right, turn right"
I heard you the first time ;o)

2) Manual is all but nonexistent. Even the pdf version of the Owners Manual available at Garmin's page is incomplete.
Manual available [...]

3) Some settings are buried a little deep in sub, sub, sub-menus.
Not a deal breaker, just a bit tedious at times.

4) Slot for SD Card can NOT be used to store additional vehicle icons or pictures. Its only use appears to be for adding maps.

5) Does not include the USB to mini-USB cable for connecting to your PC.

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Buyer's feedback: - * At Home and Abroad ...
Since I got this unit almost a year ago, it has gotten me through a move to another country as well as through many a distant travels. Not only does it get me around town, it has addresses and information for pizza places, shopping centers, etc so that even if I don't know where I want to go, it can tell me where to go and how to get there.

I've used the TomTom model that has the US and European maps and always come back to the Garmin, mostly because the Garmin is smaller and fits more easily in my purse and pockets.

Small town or big city, the directions always are spoken in time and I've never had Garmin "lose" me and think I was on the next street as some GPS systems do. Very dependable. Highly recommended.

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Buyer's feedback: - Good product
I purchased this unit for a trip to Ireland. I had originally tried to purchase an SD card with the maps of Ireland on it for an older unit but that didn't work well. So, this was $199 and bought it. Well worth the money. Particularly, when trying to drive on the left side of the road. It was nice to be able to look at the screen and see that you take the "fourth exit on the roundabout" rather than trying to see a sign or wait for the "turn now" prompt.

The bad-you still need to check a map for Ireland. Here's why: Ireland has insanely high speed limits on their roads, so you will be diverted off a highway to a side road because it's a much shorter distance. This might make sense if there is a rational speed limit on the road, however, when the speed limit is 80 kph but should be 30 kph, it takes much longer.

A specific example was where my wife and I were traveling from Dublin to Glendalough, the GPS had us turn off a highway (By Ireland standards) onto a road which had an 80 kph speed limit. A person would be insane to drive that speed on this road. It was bordered on both sides by rock walls and was about the width of one interstate lane in the US but was for two way traffic. This route shaved about 7 miles off the lenght of the trip (it was 7 miles vs. 14 miles for the other route) but my wife wanted to kill me because it was tight, twisty and took you into the middle of nowhere and then we linked up with the original road.

Another qualm I had with this unit was the fact that commercial locations were not represented very well. For example, we wanted to find the nearest grocery store, but the closest one was listed as 50 miles away. Even when I had the name of the retail establishment, it was hit or miss whether the unit had it in the database. However, if you had an address, it was fine.

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Buyer's feedback: - * Good, but some improvements needed ...
I took the NUVI 270 on a trip to Spain, specifically selecting it for the European maps. Most of the time was spent sightseeing by foot. I never had a problem with the battery running out on me during tours of several hours (I would turn it off once I found where I was going). The unit performed well, without any malfunctions that I was aware of.

However, there are some ergonomic and software issues that Garmin should address:

1. The unit does, in fact, fit in a shirt pocket, and there is a switch position you throw to prevent accidentally triggering the touch screen while it's stowed away. However, being flat, it is difficult to pull the unit out and manipulate it while walking. It should have something that makes it easier to grab out of the pocket, a small bump on one side, for example. So an ergonomic point.

2. If one uses the unit in pedestrian mode in Europe, one will be walking down little narrow streets which block the GPS signals to various degrees. Not a fault of the NUVI, to be sure. However, they could work to permit the unit to zoom in as one approaches each turn while in Pedestrian mode, since you are looking for street signs to find your way around as an additional aid to the information NUVI is providing. Often, even at high zoom levels, streets were not labeled on your route. Also, streets that were labeled had large type that might be suitable for a car, but not for walking, where you are reading the thing like a book. It was possible to use the unit on narrow streets, but it took some getting used to, as the unit often would give incorrect direction information, because of GPS signals being blocked. I suggest a Garmin engineer be sent into the field and walk those narrow streets to see what improvements they can come up with. Tough duty, I know, but someone has to do it.

3. Finally, the maps. It was surprising that the huge main bus terminal in Seville, which has been around for years, was not indicated on the supposedly current map. Also, across the river in the Triana area, several recently built highways were not on the map. Garmin needs to speak to its European cartographer and get the maps updated. Most of the time, however, the older streets were correctly marked. Especially helpful were pathways in large urban parks, which helped one find one's way out!

All in all, I can recommend it to users. But Garmin needs to work on the physical shape of the thing a little so it is easier to handler while walking, work on the software routines for Pedestrian mode in small European streets, and update their maps.

Steve