Get free updates:

Garmin nuvi 260W Text-to-Speech Not Working

by mike on January 18, 2010 · 2 comments

We have a Garmin nuvi 260W, and we love it. The wide screen and text-to-speech functionality make navigation a snap. We were thus very disappointed when our GPS suddenly stop reading of the street names.

This isn’t to say that it stopped giving verbal directions entirely. Rather, it reverted to saying things like “Turn right in 500 feet” instead of “Turn right on Main Street.” It’s a subtle difference, but it makes a difference.

While I still haven’t figured out why the text-to-speech stopped working, I’m pleased to report that I’ve figured out how to turn it back on.

How to fix the text-to-speech problem

From the Main Menu:

  • Select “Tools” (the wrench icon)
  • Select “Settings” (another wrench icon)
  • Select “Language” (looks like a pair of lips)
  • Select “Voice
  • Choose any language that ends in TTS (for text-to-speech)

In our case, the language had somehow defaulted to “American English,” which results in standard directions being given (without street names). I switched it back to “American English-Samantha (TTS)” and everything started working again.

Note that you can change it to a male voice — “American English-Jack (TTS)” — if you prefer.

Get free updates via e-mail!

(You will receive only new articles, and can unsubscribe at anytime.)
Alternatively, you can suscribe via RSS or follow us on Twitter.


Related articles...

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jeff February 1, 2010 at 7:59 am

thanks for the info, somehow mine had gone to british english, turned on british english serena tts and all is well, cheers

2 Bobby April 29, 2010 at 10:08 pm

Thanks for this, it was a big help for me. I was knocking my brains out tryingto figure it out since I added Garmin’s new voices to my Nuvi 255W. I’ll miss Squirrel but TTS of road names is more important to me. B-)

Leave a Comment

Previous post: How to Enable Caps Lock on Your iPhone

Next post: Make OpenOffice or StarOffice Save to Microsoft Excel, Word, or PowerPoint Compatible Files by Default