Great portable unit
Written: Mar 22 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fantastic directions, voice guided, crisp display, and loads of options.
Cons: No batteries, sometimes avoids interstates, but no other flaws that I can find.
The Bottom Line: Perhaps the best portable GPS unit ever created. Read the complete review for more details on why I rate this so highly.
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| dean2900's Full Review: Garmin StreetPilot 2610 Car GPS Receiver |
I assume that if you are reading this review you know what the product can do so I am going to highlight the main points of why I rate this 5 out of 5.
1) Fantastic voice directions. This tells you in plain english (or other language) simple and smart directions. Turn right in 1.5 miles and then immediately turn left.
2) Auto-Route -- If you had an older GPS, you may realize that some of them had to be programmed with routes from your PC. This one does a fantastic job of auto routing and the touch screen display makes it easy.
3) CompactFlash -- This may not sound like a big deal but proprietary memory cards by Garmin cost 4 times as much as CompactFlash. You can buy a 256MB CompactFlah for 45 dollars which will hold 10 + states. The 1GB would hold over half the country. This is a cost effective way of storing data.
4) Fantastic Re-Routing. Lets say you turned off the voice prompts and were too busy talking on your cell phone and somehow manage to miss your turn. This device simply announces "Off Route" and then recalcualtes the next best route. The detour feature is also nice. I ran into heavy congestion due to a wreck the other day on the interstate. I hit detour of up to 15 miles and it took me back roads and back on the interstate past the congestion. It added 8 minutes to my trip but considering I might have been stuck in traffic for an hour, it ended up saving me a lot of time.
5) Unexpected Features -- One of the things that surprised me most is not only does the unit show the next road or highway exit but it also shows you the exact addres you are at. You will see 5400 elm street..5300 elm street, etc. This is also handy if you dont have your destination programmed in and want to know which direction the addresses are going.
6) Great Display -- Display is very Crisp and sharp and looks like a computer screen. It also automatically switches colors at night for a more low profile unit.
7) Details, Details, Details -- My favorite part of this is the detail in the directions in both voice and visual. As I have said about the voice telling you turn left and then immediate right, the visual is fantastic for complicated intersections. It actually shows you with arrows where to turn and what lane to be in. It will show you two consecutive turns with animated arrows.
8)Great mount -- This unit comes with three mounting options. The first is a anti-friction bean bag which works well in most cars but not great in sports cars with drivers who tend to go around curves at high speeds. The standard mount that has an adhesive which mounts to your dash is nice. The best part is that they give you two options: 1) an adhesive that is designed to be removed and one that is designed to be permanent. You can decide which you want. I have used the mount that is designed to be removed and have yet to have an issue with it.
Cons:
There are two cons I have found:
1) No batteries -- This means you have to hook it up to the included AC adaptor if you want to program routes, waypoints, etc. away from the car.
2) Sometimes it will choose state roads over major intersections even when you choose fastest routes. You have to use common sense. If you see a major highway next to the state road, get on the major highway and let it re-route you automatically.
Bottom Line:
I upgraded from one of the older Emap units to this and it is like going from a Pinto to a Ferrari. This is a replacement for standard maps and you will not get lost unless we go to war and the satellites are not broadcasting. For people like myself who are bad with directions and maps, this may be the best product of it's kind ever created.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dean2900
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Reviews written: 1
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