Any Garmin 2610 Owners In Sf Bay Area?

[+GoonyGooGoo]

I'm wondering if anyone here in this forum is in the Bay Area and has a Garmin StreetPilot 2610 that they'd be willing to show me in action. I'm a 31-year old dude, a pretty cool one at that, and I like gadgets but I'm afraid to plunk down the $800+ for this one without seeing it in use first.

 

REI doesn't have it, and the morons at Fry's etc. barely even know what the thing is. The best anyone could do was Office Max, who had one that was in some sort of "demo" mode that told me I was in Shanghai China. (Really.)

 

So what I'm asking is this: if you have one, would you mind giving me a 15-minute spin around town with your 2610 and show it to me? Tell me what you like, what you don't like, etc. I'll come meet you anywhere in the Bay Area, and for your trouble, I'll give you a $20. Bonus points if you have experience with an IQue and can tell me about the differences...

 

You can send me a message through geocaching.com, I'm "Sleepy LaBeef" on here...

 

Thanks!

 

-mig

[+Marky]

Are you buying the Street Pilot just for turn based navigation, or were you thinking of geocaching with this monster as well?

 

--Marky

[+GoonyGooGoo]

Just for navigation around town. (I have a handheld that I use for geocaching).

 

It seems like every single day, I'm in my car, headed *somewhere*, and I think: "gee, even though I know my way around the Bay Area pretty well, I'd love to have a 2610 here that would get me across town quickly," etc.

 

It really is something that could be used every single day... which does help justify the cost. But again, I'd like to see one in action first!

 

Does it have any major advantages over an IQue that is set up similarly? etc.

 

-mig aka Sleepy

[+GoonyGooGoo]

Well, I've posted in a few places (e.g. outside this board as well), with no response at all. I'm now seriously considering getting a 2620, but still have the same reservations. There are more and more opinions out there, but I still would like to see this thing in action. (For instance, I have a weirdly-shaped dashboard and am not sure the little mount will work.) So I'll ask again-- anyone out there have one of these?!?

 

-mig

Edited April 21, 2004 by Sleepy LaBeef

[+catspaw]

Mig

 

I bought one for my mother that I can show you. We are located in San Jose, near Milpitas - will email you with the details

 

We did invest in the 2 Gig card (aprx $400) so we could just upload the whole US of A.

 

Rachael

[+catspaw]

Hey, that 2620 looks pretty neat. Basically Garmin is offering a package deal for those who do not want to manage their Navigation GPS with a PC.

[+GoonyGooGoo]

Catspaw was nice enough to demo her 2610 to me this weekend and all I can say is, WOW, it is exactly what I was expecting, and more! I'm sold. And I will continue to save my pennies.

 

I'm actually leaning toward the 2620 because of the feature where you can tell it to ignore certain road segments. For example, if I'm stuck in traffic on a freeway, then I can have it exclude that part of the road, and route me differently.

 

Interestingly enough, I had trouble finding my way to where Catspaw lived. If I had had a 2620, i wouldn't have had that problem.

 

Thanks again, Catspaw, and for everyone else, the 2610 (and 2620) is something else!!!!

 

-mig

[Vlad]

2610 avoids road sections also...

[Lawst]

2610 avoids road sections also...

Does the Ique?

[+GoonyGooGoo]

Vlad,

 

I replied on another thread about this too-- are you sure that the 2610 avoids road sections? According to info on Garmin's website, it doesn't.

 

Clarification: I remember that the 2610 DOES offer a "detour" function-- if you hit a traffic snag, for instance, you can tell it how far out of your way you are willing to go (i.e. detour)-- like 1 mile, 2 miles, 10 miles-- and it will find you an alternate route.

 

It's similar to, but not quite the same as, telling it to avoid certain stretches of road...

 

mig