| Author | Message | ||
     Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2658 Registered: 02-2002 |
The first two GPSs I have owned served their purpose well, but where lacking in some areas. Having sold them I recently acquired the New Garmin 2620. http://www.garmin.com/products/sp2620/# http://www.gpsnow.com/gmsp2620.htm#2620 The biggest benefit of the 2620 is the internal hard drive. The Pre-programmed hard drive storage has the entire Unites States and Southern Canada already loaded with MapSource City Navigator v5. This means no updating of memory cards required. Before, every trip I took required me to upload the data for that area and I was limited by a 128MB card. That is no longer an issue. For those of you who like to upload topo maps: The Garmin 2620 has 512 MB of free hard drive space available for download of other maps. I called Garmin's product support department to inquire about this. With the 512MB of space you can upload Topo Maps of an area that you want to go off-road in. For example; I live in NC and want to visit Moab. I would pull out my Topo CD of that part of the US, find Moab and upload it to the 2620. On the drive out, I would utilize the City Navigator v5 to include the find option for gas stations, resturants, and hotels. Once I get into Utah, I would then select Map Source through the on-screen menu and select the uploaded Topo Maps. This is a great function because on my previous GPSs, I would lose any routing or city data once I uploaded the Topo Data. Other cool items the 2620 has: Auto-routing (with auto re-route calculation) Touch screen commands Voice (this thing talks to you) Alphanumeric Remote Control (great way to type in locations) | ||
| Aaron Richardet (Draaronr) Senior Member Username: Draaronr Post Number: 552 Registered: 09-2002 |
Sweet it has a remote! | ||
| Joey (Joey4420) Senior Member Username: Joey4420 Post Number: 719 Registered: 04-2003 |
I should have waited. I got the 2610, although I don't think I will ever need the whole USA in the thing at one time. I know after using mine for a few months now I wouldn't know what to do without it. I can always buy a 2gig CF card for the price savings though...got mine on ebay for $600. | ||
| Craig Kobayashi (Koby) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Koby Post Number: 1221 Registered: 02-2002 |
That thing looks pretty sweet. Any thoughts on where you're gonna mount it? | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2660 Registered: 02-2002 |
Craig, I plan on mounting it on my dash the same way I had the old color street pilot set-up. I just used the basic Garmin pad that adheres to the dash. I am keeping it simple so I can interchange from the Rover to the 4Runner and vv. I haven't found a Hard Wire kit yet for this unit, but I am sure Garmin will be making that happen soon. The connections for the 2620 are different than the other models..... I did something cool tonight with the unit. That is uploading topo maps. In one map file I put together all the maps for Uwharrie and GWNF here on the East Coast (over 20 maps total). Dude, the 2620 sucked all that data down in roughly 2 minutes. And I have plenty of room to grow. This thing is unbelievable. | ||
| Craig Kobayashi (Koby) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Koby Post Number: 1222 Registered: 02-2002 |
Damn. You're giving me GPS envy... Something I haven't experienced in a while. | ||
| David Kronenfeld (Kronie) New Member Username: Kronie Post Number: 28 Registered: 09-2003 |
Same here Craig, one of those sure would be awesome to have... | ||
| S.C.Young (Youngsc) Member Username: Youngsc Post Number: 56 Registered: 10-2003 |
Now the new touch screen model is out- the older StreetPilots are selling for really good deals. The last StreetPilots before the 2610 do autorouting, support topo maps etc and have dumped in price. For a great deal on a unit with a large display, check out boat stores for used or discontinued chartplotters. Some of them have huge displays, but they typically don't autoroute. I picked up a Garmin 182C using West Marine's price match policy and it rocks. | ||
| Jack Leitch (Liveattheedge) Senior Member Username: Liveattheedge Post Number: 298 Registered: 12-2003 |
joey, whats better about the 2920 from the 2610. I mean it means another 300 bucks? Cheers Jack | ||
| Jack Leitch (Liveattheedge) Senior Member Username: Liveattheedge Post Number: 299 Registered: 12-2003 |
2620* sorry Jack | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2661 Registered: 02-2002 |
SC, Your quote:
Do they wipe out city detail when you upload topo data? My Color SP did. For example, if I had Raliegh, NC data uploaded; then I uploaded Uwharrie topo data; the city detail of Raliegh would be wiped out. I would still have basic city data, but not detail city data. Make sense? During my research, I almost went with a chartplotter. But I didn't want to have to always be loadng stuff onto a mem card. The new Garmin 276c is an amazing new 256 color chartplotter and it has auto-routing. But guess what? You are still spending a lot of time connected to a PC. I'll probably play around with it this weekend. I am estimating that I could load all the ORV destiantion topo maps for east of the mighty Miss in about....hmmmm....20 minutes. For those of you who like the bigger chartplotters, check this beast out: http://www.gpsnow.com/gmmap276c.htm I was going back and forth for about a month between the 176c, 276c, and the 2600 series. The 276c IMO is a truly bad ass chartplotter because of the color and the auto-routing feature. I love tech  | ||
| Joey (Joey4420) Senior Member Username: Joey4420 Post Number: 722 Registered: 04-2003 |
Jack, the 2610 only holds basic routing for the USA, then you have to have CF cards for details and any Topo's that you may want to use (I haven't tried that yet. But the way Paul talks and from what I read online after reading his post, having complete detail of the USA and having 512k of extra space for Topo's, this is a very nice feature. For me to have that much space, I would have to buy a 2gig CF card (which are not cheap) or have a lot of CF cards with different data on each (much more feasible), but I am not complaining, just saying that if would have been nice to know when I starting shopping for one that something like this was coming out. (Thanks to Chris in Cincy, I got hooked on GPS') Since I am a computer geek as my wife puts it, I very much enjoy technology. | ||
| Felix Gumbiner (Felixthecat) Member Username: Felixthecat Post Number: 96 Registered: 02-2004 |
Pretty cool, but 1500 bucks? Ouch. | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2664 Registered: 02-2002 |
LOL. No Felix. I did some searching and the average price was $969-$1099. www.gpsnow.com is where I purchased my unit. Most GPS vendors list a MSRP, but include a clause like: Click on "Add to Cart" below to see our Much Lower unadvertised price. When you do that on GPS NOW the price drops $300. See where I am going with that....? When I was considering the 276c, I added up a 128MB card, mounts, and other goodies and the price was very comparable to what I paid for the 2620. Paul | ||
| S.C.Young (Youngsc) Member Username: Youngsc Post Number: 57 Registered: 10-2003 |
The 276c looks niiiice. Small form factor and autorouting, looks great. On my 182C I can run topo maps and still use the built-in base map. I can't run the city detail and the topo for the same area at the same time, although many of my topo maps have a lot of the same roads as the city software. I usually carry a memory cartridge loaded with topos for the areas I'll be exploring, then drop a different cartidge in it for the on-road portion of the trip so I can search out Taco Bells etc. The USB programmer was $30 on eBay and can load up the GPS memory quickly. The 182c won't route, but can still address search and do the point of interest searches and point to the destination. I have an in-dash NAV system that autoroutes, but doesn't do maps. I had a Clarion in-dash with routing and color maps, but it died a horrible death. | ||
| Paul D. Morgan (V22guy) Dweb Lounge Member Username: V22guy Post Number: 2667 Registered: 02-2002 |
That doesn't sound good at all. | ||
| S.C.Young (Youngsc) Member Username: Youngsc Post Number: 58 Registered: 10-2003 |
It drowned... It had an external "brain" that I unfortunately mounted under the seat. Dumbass move on my part. When window shopping GPS equip- GPScity.com is a great source, their customer service is amazing- which is the hardest thing in the world to find these days. |
