I'm currently shopping for a new nav system and after experiencing YuccaPatrol's Street Pilot III on the eastward leg of my big springtime roadtrip, I really like the Garmins. I want something that is portable, and not permanently attached to the dash.

Interested in any comments or feedback about the 2610 and/or the Quest.

Thanks! :smile:

Clover

 

I've had a 2610 for nearly a year now, and we love it.

Took a while for my wife to learn to adjust to it, but overall its come in handy more times than not. The firmware is updated fairly regularly so the bugs that were first in it are gone, its WAAS capable and its very very quick to re-calculate if you miss a turn etc.

The maps are excellent, if you've used garmin products before then you know how it is.

The only complaint I've had is, it had some issues with early editions of the Delphi Roady's (XM) and that has been fixed with the latest models of Roady and other XM radios. It would flake out and lose its mind for a few mins, until you relocate the radio.

Other then that, its trouble free, quick and user friendly..not much better that I've seen.

 

Got my sweety a Quest for Christmas for several reasons. It is small, very readable and easy to use. It complements the interior of her very unMini ride and the price was most reasonable at $475 + shipping from gpsdiscount. It is dead on accurate as should be expected and the added info to the right of the map is nice. Drawbacks are that the speaker is at the end of the 12V power cord which is not removable from the windscreen cradle, and memory is limited to 115mgb. Neither of these is present any serious issues since the battery has a 20 hour active life and comes with a 120V recharger. 115MGB will allow you to store all the maps needed for an area from San Francisco over to Vegas and to TJ. Tons of other cool features all ading up to .
We gave the little bugger a test yesterday on a drive to the depths of LA making deliberate wrong turns, turning it off and going in a contrary direction - you get the idea. It responded very quickly to recaculate a route and continued the route when turned back on.

 

Hey Clover,

Have you checked Navman iCN510? Its similar price range with Quest, and you can add larger memory if needed :smile:

 

This is off topic but have you considered a pda with bluetooth with a gps receiver? I just bought an Axim X30 with a belkin bluetooth and 1 gig of sd flash. Works really nice and I can read e-mail and play mp3 as well. You can even do wireless internet cruising if you are near an open access point.

 

:smile: Okay...first of all...that Quest is TEEEEENY! I have "mature" eyes and am concerned that I won't be able to read the little screen, tee hee! I know it has voice prompts, but I like to see where I am on a map.

:smile: Also, I will be using this nav system all across the U.S. during my cross-country-and-back spring roadtrip #3 (which includes going to the Dragon meet in May).

I'm still leaning toward the 2610, but that Quest is cute! As for the Bluetooth stuff, meanboy, isn't that pretty pricy? I don't know if I want to do email and internet stuff whilst motoring....I want to enjoy the view! LOL!

Is the Quest capable of holding all the maps I need for travelling across the lower 48?

Clover

 

Well, Clo, I was able to buy everything, including 1 gig of SD(fits the entire U.S.A maps in it) and bluetooth for about $550.00. It talks to you...tells you where to turn..the ETA, the speed you are going and you can take it out of your car and carry it around with you. It has points of interest for the different cities. The GPS bluetooth receiver(and it comes with maps) is about the size of a lighter and the Dell is already has bluetooth and wifi built into it. And then when you are done driving around...you can hook it up via USB to your laptop and download your mail and mp3s. You can use the windows media player and play mp3 while you walking or driving. If you have a spreadsheet or word doc you you want to work on you can do that too. The only thing is that the battery life is not as long as a dedicated gps unit. But that's why they make car charging kits.:smile:

P.S. and you can impress your friends by having the lastest in technlogy by having a pda that has a 624mhz processor.

 

I think this is a great system ! I have had mine for over a month now and I love it! Go to www.tomtom.com or go to www.cnet.com and do a search for the tomtom. The Tom tom can be had for under $600 and is the most user friendly model out there ! I was using mine 15 minutes after I opened the box . Oh....I should also tell you there is only one button to use..the power button. The screen is a touch screen!:smile:

 

The Quest can hold all the maps for a trip to North Carolina and has plenty of room for more maps if you keep area details at a lower setting - do you really need to know where a butcher is in Dallas? What I described above is an area that is quite map heavy and detail heavy, having somewhere near 15% of the national population in that area, and uses about 106 of the 115 MGB of memory. Very easy to dump and add maps as may be necessary, and to save sets of maps. It functions exceptionally well when using it as a pedestrian - from car to foot to car to bike etc. without ever turning it off.
Again this is for my sweety's car and she plans to take it with her whenever we travel, even if in my OEM nav equiped Mini. I always travel with my laptop and she can always change the mapping.
PS - The Quest is easy to see and read with matured eyes when placed at the farthest point on the windshield from the driver's side.

 

Thanks for the link to TomTom! Neat-looking system! I'll have to get to Fry's or one of the other electronic stores to actually see the various systems side-by-side and see how user-friendly they are for me. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and am considering them all!


Clover

 

MINIclo,

If I were to buy a new automotive only GPS, I would buy the 2610 and a 1 or 2 Gigabyte compact flash card to hold your maps. With that setup, you should be able to load every map you could possibly need for your next cross country road trip!

The Quest unit is nice, but I think you will enjoy the larger screen of the 2610. In my opinion, the more expensive models similar to the 2610 don't really offer enough additional features to justify the extra $$$$.

Right now, Garmin has a $100 rebate and I saw that www.gpsnow.com has the 2610 for a little over $700 although it is briefly backordered.

Any other questions, just ask. . .

 

Ooh, thanks, sweetie! I saw a few 2610 listings in the $730+ range, with that $100 rebate, too. How much is the 2 gig compact flash card? Do I load the maps off my laptop, or what? (Totally clueless in the cool electronics world!)

Clover

 

A 2GB card is approximately $200. A 1GB is approximately $100. You really don't NEED one that big, but it would make it easy for you if you did not have to mess with loading maps frequently.

For reference, we were able to navigate from LA to Birmingham on a 128MB card that is 1/8 the size of the 1GB. I did have to be careful and selective with the maps I loaded, but it was possible.

Yes, you load the maps from your laptop, so with the mapping software on your computer you can easily and quickly load up the maps you need on the road.

When the time comes, I can even show you how to load the map CD's to your computer so that you don't have to carry the CD's around.

Whatever you do, GET THE DARN THING ASAP! You will love it! *






* my first use of the "thumbs up" icon

 

Okey-dokey! I wish you could fly here again and train me enroute to the East this Spring, HINT HINT!

Clover

 

Well, with my busy school schedule, it might not be possible for me to provide the cross-country GPS training again this year, but you never know. If we used the GPS to MINI-mize our mileage and kept at a Cannonball Run pace over a long weekend, it just might be possible. No promises at this point though !

 

HURRAY! You KNOW I'm totally up for the Cannonball Run pace! (Bring the radar detector, tee hee!)

Clover

 

I just bought the Garmin 2610 online from getfeetwet.com! With the $100 Garmin rebate and the $20 getfeetwet rebate, free shipping, and no tax, it came to $615! And that includes an instructional video and a Garmin Carrying Case!

Here's the link:
http://www.getfeetwet.com/detail.asp...D=010-00273-03

It's the best deal I could find online. So excited!

Clover

 

Congrats! Bummer you didn't go the pda route because when you aren't using it as a gps you could look at:



Sorry, picture isn't too good. Much better on the screen.

 

meanboy, I haven't gotten into the PDA scene...I am lucky to be able to get online, period! LOL! Love the piccie on yours!


Clover

 

Who turned you on to such a great deal Clo?

 

You certainly helped, but I found getfeetwet.com myself, sweetie!

Clover

 

Thanks!
Enjoy your garmin. That would have been my choice too if I didn't need all the other stuff.

 

What a hair-out...

You weren't even looking untill I turned you on to the low prices I found for you and told you the rebates were only good until Jan 1st.

 

That is not accurate, dear. The rebates are good until Jan. 15th, BTW. The sale prices at SOME of the sites are good only through Dec. 31st. :smile:

I thanked you...um, you want to me to bow down? Do ya? OKAY!



Clover

 

OMG! The Garmin arrived today, less than 24 hours after I placed my order! Woo hooooo! I will be studying it via the included instructional video and reading every word of the literature! Yeah...I'm one of THOSE!


Clover