nightfall's Full Review: Garmin StreetPilot??? 2620 Car GPS Receiver
The Garmin StreetPilot 2620 is very close to being a perfect car navigation systems providing accurate accessible navigation data.
Background
If you are a bored reader you'll know that I've been interested in car navigation systems for quite some time. My last purchase was the Magellan RoadMate 700 which I ultimately found unsatisfactory and returned. For those shoppers who are trying to decide between the RoadMate and the StreetPilot - read no further; the StreetPilot is the better product.
Pros
I returned the RoadMate for quite a few reasons - the primary factors being price point vs. feature set, the standard mounting bracket, the tendency of the unit to take a significant amount of time to acquire signal on startup, and a fairly klunky approach to nearby points of interest.
The StreetPilot has solved all these problems except for arguably the issue of price.
The mount for the StreetPilot is a "4-petal" beanbag which is placed on the car dash. The unit is then affixed and locked into a plastic dock. This design creates a stable platform regardless of the road quality being driven on.
The unit has a built in antenna which quickly acquires satellite signal and calculates route data within seconds. Compared to the minutes which the Magellan needed for orientation, this is a welcome improvement.
Accessing the points of interest database is easily the best aspect of the unit (beyond of course accurate navigation). With the street pilot 2620 you can search for nearby accomodations, entertainment or service related businesses based on proximity to your location, proximity to the actual route you are following, or by the name of the business itself.
Using both a touch screen color interface as well as a remote control (batteries not included), the ability to drill through the units myriad functions and screens is child's play.
Cons
Still having had all my complaints regarding the Magellan answered has only served to draw my attention to minor flaws unique to the 2620.
The most important problem with the 2620 is that it does not maintain the zoom focus as you are driving. On cross country drives the system will constantly zoom out beyond the level you find to be most appropriate for visualization. The user winds up constantly "adjusting" the map zoom in a fight with the system.
I also have an objection concerning the petal-sandbag dock. I believe a better approach would have been to run the power supply (from the cigaretta lighter) into the dock rather than to the unit itself. When parking the car and putting away the unit (to avoid theft), the unit must be both undocked and unplugged. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance nevertheless.
Bootup of the unit requires you to acknowledge both the MapData type and the fact that you are using a StreetPilot 2620 before you are shown the map screen by pressing "ok" twice. I'm sure this is for product liability reasons, but I would prefer an option to disable the message.
While the unit supports the ability to add "waypoints" to a route i.e. go by way of this road, there is no ability to add waypoints "on the fly" through the points of interest database. For example. If being routed home using the unit and you realize you wish to stop off for gas at the nearest gas station, the unit is perfectly capable of finding and routing you to a location where you can fill your car. However once you are on your way it has "forgotten" that you wished to go home - the sidetrip chosen through the point of interest database has overwritten your original destination making necessary choosing a new route either by choosing the destination from the recent finds list, or typing it all in anew. In the case of home, this problem is somewhat mitigiated since there is alway a "route home" button available from the route menu.
The navigation maps while displaying in color (and automatically adjusting itself based on whether its day time or night) is not as sharply detailed as the Magellan. The magellan maps are sharper, clearer, and more refined with city streets easily recognized at a glance whereas the Street Pilot maps often seem cluttered. Perhaps this is because the StreePilot has a smaller screen relative to the magellan, or perhaps it is the map that is flawed.
Voice directions in the Magellan are also more useful "Turn left on Main" whereas in the StreetPilot you get "Turn left in 500 ft".
At an average retail price of $1300 (June/04), the StreetPilot is not quite the perfect navigation system - but it has significant advantages over the Magellan 500 and 700 due to the point of interest database. Magellan has the better maps, screen and voice directions but the StreetPilot has better functionality due to the point-of-interest database.
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