GPS purchase

chrisn · #1 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005

A pal of mine is lucky enough to be inline for a GPS gift from his family and I've been asked to recommend the best purchase.

I've had my SP3 for a while and certainly rate Garmin and so my question is the 2610 now the model to go for, and who's offering the best deal ? The best I can find is HERE which looks pretty good.

I'm aware of the Quest which looks a little small, and also the new TomTom bike unit which doesn't allow you to plan routes on PC and download, which to me is a "must have" feature.

Any advice is welcome. Cheers.

Tassie_Tiger · #2 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005

Hi Chris,

I've had a Garmin Quest for 7 months. I had an initial problem getting the correct power/amplifier cable for the Touratech cradle, but I have found it to be a great GPS. The screen size wasn't a problem for me on the bike. The audio directions are excellent.

I believe that Garmin has recently doubled the amount of memory in the Quest which should be good for Europe. I have no problems with mine, but Tasmania doesn't have many roads! As it is I get most of Australia covered in the Quest, and I usually do my route planning on the PC.

When I'm not touring on the bike the quest is used in my car.

I would certainly recommend it.

One tip - cover the screen with one of those clear screen overlays for an HP iPAQ. I damaged the anti-reflection coating on mine trying to wipe rain off the screen. The overlay overcomes that problem.

robbie · #3 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005

Chris

the 2610 or the newer 2710 uses city nav the same as the spIII so if you recomend one of theses you could get your spIII unlocked for his software and get a 'free' upgrade.

the quest uses city select

not that you would think of yourself in these matters :-D

whats the budget?

Sofalofa · #4 (**permalink**) 11-01-2005

Chris, whatever you get I can recommend these people...

I got a Garmin Quest from them a couple of weeks ago (under £300 inc VAT)
HERE

Got it next day and over a few days I had a few queries. Every time I e-mailed I got a personal response within a couple of hours, so the service seems good...

blacktiger · #5 (**permalink**) 11-04-2005

I think with GPS, you set your budget and you buy the best you can within that budget.
I've had an SP3 for 3 years now and it does the job very well. The down sides of it :- slow route calculation and Garmin data cards have been addressed with the newer models such as the 2610 and now the 2710.
I'd recommend the 2710. The "family" might not thank you because, being new, it's going to cost but it'll be up to date for quite a while.

dgilmore · #6 (**permalink**) 11-05-2005

I'm not a big fan of the 2610, for two reasons. It does not have an internal battery, so if you take it off and go into your hotel room, you have to take the ac adapter with you. The second reason is that the screen washes out so badly when the sun hits it that you can't read it. Come to think of it, #3 is that I'm not too fond of the touch screens. The GPS that I like best is the Garmin 276c - internal battery along with direct wiring, large lcd screen that just gets brighter in the sunlight, and buttons that are spaced well enough apart that gloves are not a problem. It also has a better choice of fields (altitude, speed, dist to next turn, dist to destination, etc.) than any of the other Garmin products. Also, it's very fast figuring routes. For my money, it's a hands down winner.
Dave

chrisn · #7 (**permalink**) 11-07-2005

Thanks for all the feedback. Those who mentioned budget hit the nail on the head!

When I suggested "anything up to £600", the task was swiftly re-assigned to an older family member. And so at the party I waited with with anticipation for my pal to unwrap his gift......

One yank at the gold paper revealed a box labelled Navman. I turned away and headed off for another drink. Am I a GPS snob ? And more importantly will he have to keep the box for when it rains ?

pineygroveshop · #8 (**permalink**) 11-07-2005

I've got my Tiger's eye on the Lowrance 500. This is a new (bit of kit?) thing for Lowrance. The features include a large color display with true touch screen. I've read that a ram mount is included and the US price is @$700.
Cheers,
Stephen

#9 (**permalink**) 11-08-2005

Chrisn, Consider the Garmin 276C, its the smallest of the marine chartploters and has a screen the same resolution as the Quest but is 3 times the size, it also does a lot more, it has the fastest processor of all Garmins in common with all the chartploters and is absolutlely waterproof.
The unit does not come with any software as it can use Bluechart, Mapsource and topographical data, you choose the application, the automotive kit comes with V7 mapsource and 256 Mb chip and lots of other bits.
In the US this has been replaced with the 376C which has the ability to recieve weather data and display it over the top of the maps, unfortunately it only works in the US.

robbie · #10 (**permalink**) 11-08-2005

Quote:

On 2005-11-07 18:31, pineygroveshop wrote:
I've got my Tiger's eye on the Lowrance 500. Stephen

have a word with Sasquatch on here or triumph-tiger .com

he may be able to help you out