Quest 2, Ique 3600, Or ?

[+bluevett4us]

Hi,

 

I'm new to the world of cashing and could use some helpful advice on choosing a GPS that would suit me best.

Ideally I would like to have a good, semiflexible unit for both automotive use and Geocashing. After much research, (and a lot of help from reading this forum) I think I've narrowed down to either the Quest 2 or the iQue 3600.

 

I realize that they are not the most popular choices, however, several seem to be happy with the dual function. My main prioritys for the unit would be, 1: Automotive, 2:Cashing 3:Ease of use

I realize that I can't have everything, but I'd like to get close!

 

Any insight on choosing between these units, or any other that you think would be better, are greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Paul

[+Jamie Z]

I haven't used either unit personally, and I know almost nothing about the iQue, other than it exists. What turned me to the Quest is that it is waterproof. No, it doesn't have the ruggedness of the other handhelds, but it'll take a splash and a rain. I plan to use mine on my motorcycle mainly, but that information may be important to you.

 

Note... I'm not certain, but somewhere along the line I think I established that the iQue is not waterproof in any way. I guess I do know something about it.

 

Jamie

[appletree]

I use my Quest 1 primarily in the car, but also for hiking and geocaching. I find it completely satisfactory for both uses. There are some new features for navigation in newer units, such as voice synthesis for street names, touch screens, overhead views etc., but none of those are really necessary, and the units that have them are unsuitable for use on a trail. Units designed primarily for hand held use all lack the voice prompts when used in the car. I wish I could save individual tracks on the Quest, but other than that, it is a great hand held unit.

[+embra]

Nice in-depth Quest/Quest2 review here.

 

Of interest is that the reviewer notes some differences in the Q1/Q2 packages that make the real price difference between $370 and $480, depending on what things one would want to supplement. The Q2 has some nice improvements over the Q1, but with the Q1 price markdowns I think it represents a great value.

 

I share your impression that there are relatively few Quest users--at least on these boards. However, whoever seems attracted to them enough to buy one seems to be quite happy with them. I don't recall encountering any major gripes from others, and have certainly been pleased with mine.

[+thefiveofus]

Paul - for the automotive units, just be sure you can enter actual GPS coordinates you want to navigate to. If you can't, then you won't be able to use it for geocaching (e.g. like the garmin nuvi, I'm not sure you can actually do that). for the handhelds, the main thing they lack are touch screen and voice prompts, which on the trail don't matter, but they are designed for rugged use and the button interface is very good. and, the car units will get damaged much more easily on the trail. screens may be (not always but maybe) a little bigger on the car units.

 

the car units and handhelds (dedicated, not palm/winos devices) overlap, but are also tailored to what they do (e.g. more driving features on the car units and more hiking features on the handhelds).

 

I think the thing to do is figure out what you *really* want it for .. really mostly car with an occaisional hike, really mostly hiking with the car as a bonus, etc. this will help you decide, b/c just saying 'dual use' won't be specific enough.

 

I selected the 60 csx and use it for both. it's half the price of the nuvi (the other unit I thought about) but as above, lacks voice prompt which can be very helpful in the car. but, i was willing to trade that for half the price and also we love to geocache, and I woudn't take a car unit in the woods (my opinion, of course it can be done and my brother in law uses his winos device when we go together, so it 's just one person't take on life).

 

Hope this helps!!

[+briansnat]

I'd go with the Quest over the Ique. The Ique isn't waterproof and won't be as durable as a Quest. I don't think the battery life can match the Quest's either.

[+sbell111]

I would also go with the Quest.

 

I would not take any pda on-trail that is more expensive than my TE. The trauma when I destroyed it would be too great.

 

Some time ago, I had to replace my GPS V after a scoundrel broke into my Jeep. I was kind of apprehensive about the Quest, but someone who cached with one talked me into it. I'm really glad that I went with the Quest. Although I primarily use it for street navigation, it does serve as backup to my Geko 301 on trail and it has been thrust into primary unit duty on a few occasions when I either forgot the Geko at home or it ran out of juice and I didn't have any tiny AAAs on me.

[+bluevett4us]

Thanks for all the great replies!

 

All the info is great, and makes the choice much easier.

 

Looks like I will be getting a Quest for my first GPS.

 

Thanks again,

 

Paul

[+jotne]

Beware

 

Quest 2 is removed from the European marked.

The processor in this unit is to slow.

[+sbell111]

Beware

 

Quest 2 is removed from the European marked.

The processor in this unit is to slow.

I can't speak to the speed of the Quest 2's processor since I own a plain old Quest. However, I can only assume that the Q2 is as fast as or faster than the Q.

 

The only time when I can imagine the processor speed mattering is when recalculating a route. My Quest does this task fairly quickly, in my opinion. I can only remember one time that it has not recalculated fast enough for me to take the advised new route.

 

My Quest doesn't calculate these reroutes instantaneously, but I don't expect it to. It's fast enough.

[appletree]

I have the Quest original and the processor seems very fast, especially compared to my older Garmin units. One problem unique to the Quest 2, especially Europe, is that so much data is loaded into the memory and for some tasks, like POI look-ups, all of the stored data must be searched every time, even a fast processor can seem slow. Even if fully loaded, a Quest 1 has a small fraction of the data to examine in any given search. If less of the available map storage space is used, searches are extremely fast, but there is no way to load less than the full coverage area into a Quest 2.

[+bluevett4us]

Well, I have the Quest 2 in my hands now. No turning back!

 

Again, thanks for all the input, especially from Embra. All of your posts on the Quest (from this and other threads) have really helped me get up and running Fast!

 

I have noticed that it will pause for a few seconds at times, mostly when searching for an address.

I'll let you know if I think it's an issue after I've had a chance to use it for awhile.

 

Right now we are getting the Washington liquid sunshine, so no play time yet.

 

Paul