We owned a Garmin Nuvi 760 for years and were very happy with the unit. Solid features and solid construction. Had no plans to upgrade till the unit was stolen from a rental car. I considered other manufacturers but kept coming back to Garmin. Reviewed their products, relative features, and written opinions, did my feature and cost comparisons and settled on the 2460LMT. Why?
1. I wanted the larger 5" screen. When you are driving your attention should be on the road. Larger features are easier to read and understand. Even the difference between a 4.3" and 5" unit is important and helps when you are driving in an unfamiliar city.
2. The voice command feature allows you to operate the unit hands free. The voice recognition performance of the unit is excellent and the menu structure is thoughtfully formulated. This is a great feature.
3. The routing/navigation feature-sets are the most current available since this is a new unit release. The auto zoom on the map is a nice addition. The lane assist feature that Garmin implemented is also very helpful when you are in heavy traffic in an unfamiliar city.
4. The construction of the unit seems solid. Having dropped my 760 onto the pavement on occassion I was very concerned with the vulnerability of the glass screens on the 3760 and 3790 units - an issue reported by some users. If you are going to own a GPS (or cell phone) you are going to drop it, so having a durable unit is important.
5. The Garmin touch screen has good sensitivity, good brightness and contrast, and limited glare (a bigger problem for capacitance type glass screens like the 3760 and 3790)
6. This unit has bluetooth for hands free calling - as did my 760. This is a nice feature that allows you to keep your hands on the wheel and attention on road - where they belong.
7. I chose the LMT variety because I travel often for work, and all over the country. The lifetime maps and traffic are a great deal compared to buying a unit and then paying for map updates and a travel subscription. Map updates do matter. If you are buying a GPS, buy one with the lifetime maps and save yourself some money.
8. My old unit had MSN direct for online traffic, weather and gas pricing and I had purchased the lifetime access. MSN Direct is ceasing operations on Jan 2012 and only two current production Garmin units have a comparable feature using a different service provider - called NuLink. If you buy the NuLink unit, after the first year you have to pay an annual subscription fee to continue your online access. I didnt want that hassle and so picked the LMT for the lifetime traffic. As noted elsewhere, this comes with pop-up adds that appear when the vehicle is stopped. These are small banner ads that appear at the top 20% or so of the screen. They are far less intrusive than I feared when I read the alarmist horror stories written in some reviews. I spent last weekend visiting/driving in Chicago and my travel was not impeeded by these adds. The traffic alerts are clearly presented and understandable - but note that they are limited to major Metro areas. So you should look at the coverage area map link from the Garmin web site to ensure your city is covered if this is important to you.
So to summarize, this is a well built and very functional unit that matched my needs and performs better than I'd hoped. Certainly 5 stars.
And my final thought. Be sure to register your GPS with your manufacturer and use the locking feature if available (e.g. Garmin-lock). This will prevent a thief from ever being able to use your unit if it is stolen. Garmin nüvi 2460LT 5-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic
I have owned many Garmin products from the old Street Pilots to this 2460LMT. I comes in a nice sturdy body and t won't fall apart if you drop it. The customizable Main Menu is great. Up to 15 icons if you wish. I put the Voice Command there as I think it is one of the greatest strengths of this unit. Only in certain circumstances do you have to type except for particular addresses.
One of the tings I really like is the lack of the word "re-calculating" if you decide to go a different route. That used to drive me nuts. Now the unit looks and quickly moves to change the route. If you dislike the route you are taking, just press the "Detour" icon and it will re-route the entire trip. However, it may take you a way, you would not want to go, just out-of-the-way roads.
Voice Command works perfectly and is very helpful very quickly.. Best feature.
I will keep this unit and highly recommend it.
I loved my old Garmin Streetpilot 2720. It is old though and I wanted to upgrade to traffic and a battery. After about 2 years, and several GPS units later, including Garmin, TomTom and Megellan brands, all the units I tried drove me crazy with all having some of the features I wanted but none having all.
The Nuvi 2460LMT has pretty much ALL the features of the old Streetpilot plus more really cool stuff, like voice activation. Now I don't even have to touch it to make it work! OK you will spend $300.00 but you will be happy I think. I spent $250 and was very disappointed with all the GPS units at that price point from 3 different manufacturers. I think the extra few bucks gives you such a big upgrade, you get so much more value at $300 than you get at $250.
Be aware, if you look online at the Garmin manual, it covers the 22xx, 23xx and 24xx series. I initially ordered the 2360LMT and was very disappointed, and returned it instantly. The features that I needed and wanted are NOT in the 22xx and 23xx series yet the manual does not tell you specifically which are in and which are not in each series. Nether does the Garmin website provide enough detail.
What I like:
Voice operation works wonderfully.
Loud clear voice, Garmin excels here.
Wonderful screen, auto zooms with speed, the faster you go the more ahead it shows.
Touch screen is excellent.
Very fast in everything it does.
Customizable main menu screen.
Advanced Avoidance feature - lets you avoid a specific road or location on a route.
Loads of useful features.
Lifetime maps and traffic.
Cons
Lots on menus that can see you searching for a feature you want to change but once you get it set up you will be ok.
Traffic is free but uses ads to pay for the service. The ads are a little bigger than I would like to have seen but are done in such a way that they are not overly intrusive. They are not there when you are moving or using the menus, and well I'm not paying for the traffic service so I'm happy!
My recommendation is this - if you're a GPS junky, sales rep, professional driver, or like to speak to your GPS, spend the extra on the 2460LMT, it's a great upgrade over the units a few bucks less.
I just ordered a second unit. My wife insisted on the upgrade after playing with my 2460LMT when we went out to dinner tonight. - 2610 - Bluetooth - Gps - Garmin'
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