Garmin 2610 And Mapping Software

[GARMIN_USER]

Hi! I recently bought a Garmin 2610 and it's been great so far. But yesterday, i had it look for a Costco warehouse near i was located and it led me to another address that was about 2 miles away from the actual warehouse!

I understand that some shops, restaurants, and other places of interest are usually not up to date on mapping software, but this Costco warehouse has been in the same address for 10+ years. Kind of weird that the Garmin would lead me to a different place.

 

Anyways, i was wondering if anyone who owns a Garmin 2610 has tried any of the other mapping software such as Microsoft's Streets and Trips 2004 or Delorme's Street Atlas 2004. Was it easy to upload to the 2610, and was the tracking of your vehicle correct?

 

Also, anyone use the external antenna? Does it help?

 

Thanks!!

[Neo_Geo]

You can only upload Garmin MapSource maps into your 2610.

 

GPSGeek.com sells great external antennas at a very reasonable price. I bought one for my eMap, and it works fabulously!

Edited February 8, 2004 by Neo_Geo

[Alphawolf]

Kind of weird that the Garmin would lead me to a different place.

It happens...Keep in mind that there is not one single "map" in the world's history that doesn't have mistakes on it...This goes for digital or paper versions both. We tend to hold digital versions to some false higher standards than we should. The 2610 (and it's software) is an amazing tool. This technology would have been considered absolutely magical science fiction just 10 years ago. I have come to expect (rightly so) that there will be mistakes during my use of the system, and I am still amazed at the overall accuracy of the software. I sell these things and am amazed at how often people complain that any given address or P.O.I. isn't on the database, or is not on there in the correct position. The want to know why Garmin doesn't offer "free updates" to their database on a monthly basis! I just shake my head in wonderment and have to bite my lip and think to myself "poor uninformed fool...He doesn't have a clue about what goes into keeping a database like this updated". Then I ask him how often he thinks old fashioned paper road maps were updated and would he rather go back to using them?