Customer Reviews

Garmin StreetPilot 2610 3.3-Inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I bought the Garmin 2610 (US version) as an upgrade to my Garmin GPS V. Although I was extremely pleased with the GPS V, there were a number of things that needed improvement - the size of the memory, the monochrome screen, the speed of the processor (both in calculating routes and in refreshing the map display). All of these plus more have been fixed in the 2610.

The Garmin GPS 2610 is designed as an in car navigation system. It is not suitable for other uses such as hiking as it requires either a mains (110V) or 12VDC cigarette lighter power source. The unit accepts map data from the included CDROM based software - access to a PC is essential. THe US version comes with 128Mb memory. I expanded this immediately to 256Mb but 128Mb is still pretty good. I found 256 was enough for most of the NE US in a recent road trip (VA, PA, MD, NY, VT, NH, NJ, ME). Uploading from the computer is reasonable fast (30-45 minutes). It is much faster if a dedicated USB 2.0 reader/writer is usd rather than the connection to the GPS unit directly.

The unit is easy to use - my wife finds it considerably easier than the GPS V to enter addresses and find local points of interest such as restaurants and gas stations. Route calculation is very fast - normally a matter of seconds and screen redraw is also virtually instantaneous when zooming or panning. Unlike the old GPS V, I have yet to see a
lock up or time where the unit doesn't give turn notice quickly enough. The spoken directions are very clear to my pleasant surprise as I thought they were going to be somewhat of a novelty. The quality of the routes are generally good - there is the odd time when I would choose a different route based off my personal experience but in general, I find the unit's routes are as good as what I could come up with when I'm in strange territory.

The screen is very clear in all weather and level of light (including with sunglasses). The 'bean bag' friction mount is also very good in the cars I have tried (hondas and fords) and holds the unit steady without any glue or other adhesive.

A couple of smaller enhancements make the experience much more enjoyable than the GPS V. Automatic zoom in/out where the unit will change the map scale based off how close you are to the next turn is wonderful. The touch screen is much better than the buttons (although we sometimes find a PDA pointer makes it even easier to use).

My only slight irritations are that the tabs indicating various information on the map screen (speed, distance to turn, time to destintation etc) aren't completely intuitive to modify and not as many options are available as on the GPS V (altitude is the key one as I am strangely interested in how high I am when driving through mountains). The information is all there on other screens of the unit but just isn't available on the tabs. The map software included with the unit seems to have many more rural roads than the software included in the GPS V although we noticed that it didn't have all the points of interest in it (we found more gas stations than the software knew about for instance).

All in all, an excellent unit that offers clear navigation in a well made and easy to use product. Remember to download the latest software updates from Garmin as they are well worth the effort to fix the odd software glitch or give you a new enhancement (even if you didn't know about them/want them beforehand!)

The following link gives an excellent review on the product: .......

All in all, a great product giving very clear instructions and good quality routes.

I have tried the StreetPilot III and recently the StreetPilot 2610 and the 2610 shines. Here are a few reasons why I like the 2610 off the top of my head...
* Routing is much faster than the III. (When I drift off route, the rerouting is nearly instantaneous.)
* Finding places is much easier (ability to type in the name using the touchscreen or the remote is a delight - no more scrolling through the letters).
* The remote control is a real nice addition
* On-screen display is better (you can see the map through the directions - nice)
* The screen automatically adjusts for ambient light
* The 2610 is smaller than the III, and the antenna is inside the unit (you can add an external antenna easily).
* Works off car 12V and 120V at home; takes Compact Flash so it's cheap to get more storage.
* Contains several languages already, so you can get your directions in German, for instance, if you want; or in US English or British English, for variety.

It was a tough choice between the Garmin Streetpilot 2610 and the Magellan Roadmate 500 but two factors pushed me towards the Garmin: (... has more functionality (2) There seems to be a quality control issue with the Roadmate.

The Garmin Streetpilot is truly a marvel. I no longer worry about getting lost and it has definitely made me more adventurous. The screen size is sufficient for easy viewing and the audio commands are loud enough to be heard over the radio if you got music playing. Ever get stuck in a traffic jam? No problem, do a re-route and go around it. Ever have problems looking for a coffee shop or new places to eat? No problem, pull up a listing of restaurants near your location and head straight there.

The Garmin also comes with some very useful accessories. The remote is a nice option if you are eating and don't want to muddy up the touch screen. The beanbag mount is nice for setting the Garmin on your dash if you don't want to use the permanent mount included. The Mapsource software that comes with the Garmin allows you to enter waypoints which I don't think is an available feature on the Magellan.

Now even though I gave this product 5 stars there are some negatives:
(1) Window XP users - There is a setting in the registry that may need to be set in order for the Mapsource software installation to occur. It was extremely annoying that the fix was not mentioned on the Garmin website and I almost returned the gps because of my frustrations with it. If you do get a 1311 error do one of two things:
a. Make sure the following registry key is set as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon -
AllocateCDRoms = 0 (reboot after and try again)
b. Set the transfer mode for your cd-rom to PIO instead of DMA

2. No carrying case is included. It would be nice to have a case considering how much the gps costs.

The Garrmin 2610 is quite decent. A few things can be improved such as remembering recent find/filter results; skipping via points under user guidance, having more points of interest, etc. Overall quite good and GENERALLY accurate.

This unit blows away the Magellan Roadmate 500/700. I have tried them both.

The Magellan has higher resolution LCD and can create routes that have "most use of freeways" and "least use of freeways" in addition to the "fastest time" and "shortest distance" which are the two modes for Garmin 2610.

Ther 2610 has better 1) Construction 2) Accuracy and 3) User Interface and 4) Features (Magellan Roadmate 500 does not even have 10% of the features of Garmin 2610).

First of all the 2610/20 construction is much more solid than Roadmate 500/700. The power connecter for Roadmate is a round jack that can fall off easily. the Garmin has a sliding rugged power connecter that cannot fall-off. What good is a unit if its construction is flimsy and not likey to hold up over time?

The Roadmate will tell me "to take left/right" sometimes a few feet after the road splits. The 2610 never does that. Its algorithm gives voice guidance about 500ft in advance. So you never realize when its too late that you are on the wrong lane for split/ramp/exit.

The user interface of Garmin 2610 just blows away the Roadmate. The roadmate has the "Speak Again" switch hidden at the back of the top of the unit, which is hard to press to while driving. The 2610 has it prominently at the front. With Garmin you can customize display as well what kind of info you wnat displayed (e.g time to next turn dist to next turn). You can change the size and foreground/background colors of text to make it easy to read while driving. The 2610 lets you find points of interest "near here" like the Roadmate but also "near desitnation" and "near route". The 2610 has 5 million points of interest vs 2 million for Roadmate 500.

Finally the 2610 comes with bean bag dashboard mount (you have to buy it separately for roadmate).

I upgraded to the 2610 from the Garmin GPS V. Although the GPS V was an excellent product, it had a few shortcomings. Specifically a small monochrome display, slow processor, and small 19MB internal map storage. All of those problems have been greatly improved upon with the 2610. To be fair, the GPS V has more in common with portable GPS's and the 2610 is a complete navigation system. I was very happy with the large color screen, a substantially fast processor, audio, and as big a storage area as you want via a Sandisk memory card (up to 2GB). By the way, the entire map collection for the 2610 fits on 1.45GB. This is all of the detailed maps for North America, Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of Canada. I thought I wouldn't care for the audio but it actually was very helpful, I didn't have to take my eyes off the road and look to see why the GPS "beeped", I just listened. I also liked the remote control, I can move thru the menus more quickly even though the screen is now touch sensitive. This is a major improvement from scrolling through letter menus as in the GPS V. The other area that I was pleased with was the mounting system. I use the permanent base and it is rock solid. I tried the "beanbag" base a few times and it is as good as can be expected for a base that isn't attached to the dash. I am concerned that the heavy unit will go flying in the event of an accident, it is big enough to do damage. I am also a big fan of Garmin. The company that made this product continually improves on the software and firmware and posts updates to their website. Every update Garmin posts adds more functionality and usability. Overall, I am very impressed with the 2610, I can't think of anything I'd change but I'm sure Garmin will manage to do so.

*** UPDATE ****
After numerous cross country roadtrips and inner city trips I have the following observations. I am very happy I went ahead and added the 2GB data card to he 2610, it allows me to load everything in the Garmin database into the 2610. The depth of the database is amazing, no matter what city I go to, it has every business or address I ever asked for, AMAZING. The routing of the 2610 seems a lot better that the GPS V I replaced. The newest firmware updates (Ver 3.40) add even more functionality. This device is now my second favorite electronic gadget of all times . Only second to my TIVO :D

I've been using the eTrex Legend for a couple of years as an auto navigation unit, and while it's an excellent little gadget, it lacks some of the features needed in a car, namely voice prompts and route recalculation. Figuring it was time to move up to something more capable, I bought a 2610, and have been using it for a little over a week.

My initial impression is that this is one terrific unit. The maps and voice directions are complete and crystal-clear, even to this somewhat-direction-impaired user. Is that freeway entrance on the left or the right? Not to worry: it'll show you and tell you. I've deliberately deviated from routes, and have been impressed with the high speed of the route recalculation.

I got the 2610 because, compared to the Magellan Roadmate 500, it seemed to have features that appeal to my inner nerd, such as detailed trip statistics. But I was a bit concerned that the 2610 might not be quite as easy to use as the 500, which has a reputation as a "just get me there without a lot of bother" machine. My concerns were unwarranted: setting up a route is as simple as entering a destination, via touchscreen or wireless remote, and telling the 2610 to go there. You can do more, if you want, such as adding waypoints, but it's not required.

For the sake of completeness, one gripe. I wish that the unit had come with a more recent version of software. I was able to quickly download and install the latest version, but Garmin's "if this doesn't work, you may disable your unit and have to pay us to fix it" warnings are, to say the least, a little offputting. If you're counting on in-the-field software updates to keep users current, the update process should be simple ande robust enough to accommodate even inexperienced computer users. For what it's worth, the latest version (3.4, as of this writing) improves screen readability and supports WAAS, so the upgrade was worth the time.

In my opinion Garmin is the leader in the GPS navigation field. Their products are the best, plus their customer support is great. I have had the Garmin 2610 for more than 2 years. I am always amazed how it "Finds those birds in the sky" and gets me to where I want to go without having to follow maps or printed directions. When I bought the 2610, it was the smallest and best. Over 2 years later it is still a great unit, but for many people it will prove to be more than they need. In the past year, Garmin has been on a tear introducing new products. As with most technology, as a product becomes mainstreamed, the size gets smaller, more features become standard, and the price comes down. The GPS automobile units have followed this scenario.

For the discriminating tech person, this is the unit for you. You can save up to 500 waypoints, see a diagram of the satellites it receives, and even know sunrise and sunset times. This unit is loaded. Does one really need all this? I don't, but that was what was available when I bought it. Truthfully, all I want it to do is safely direct me to where I want to go. It should do so invisibly. Isn't that the mark of really good technology? We shouldn't have to push this and that button to figure it out. It should be as simple as possible. Once you set it, it does just that. It just has more bells and whistles than most GPS units today. Most people will never use those features.

The 2610 does not have an internal battery. You either plug it in at home to set it up, or you plug it into the power socket of your vehicle. It comes with both cords. Before I leave on a trip, I usually input what I need from my home/hotel, or wherever. The unit remembers what you just found, so when you get it into the car, you just find the location from your recent finds, push "Go To", and in a few seconds it calculates your route and you are on your way. Like most auto GPS units, the maps have points of interest you can access, such as food, fuel, hotels, shopping, etc. Wherever you are, it will direct you to something close by, or far away if you desire.

The unit comes with a "Sandbag" dash mount, which actually works quite well. You place the sandbag mount on the dash, then clip the 2610 unit to it. It is fine for moving the unit from car to car. For a more secure mount, the unit comes with a mounting disk which is adhered permanently to the dash. The unit just slides in and out of it. A windshield suction mount is not available. The unit is just too heavy for this type of mount. There is no way to just lay the unit on the dash, or anywhere else. It must be mounted to something. Remember, the unit needs to have an unobstructed view of the sky to "See" the satellites. Some folks put it in a dash cubbyhole, or a cup holder. If you do that, you will need to purchase a separate antenna that sits on the dash. (Very small size, around $20).

While your vehicle is moving, you should never use the touch screen...or any of the buttons for that matter . You are asking for trouble. Input all your addresses you are looking for before you start your trip, or have a passenger do it for you when driving. If a police officer sees you fiddling with the unit while you are moving, you can be cited for distracted driving. Besides the ticket, it is very unsafe to even try it. It is not like a radio. Inputting info demands your attention.

Let me list some pros (in no particular order):
Push find 2 times and it will direct you home from wherever you are (of course you initially must set your home address). That is a great feature. The voice prompts are clear and early enough before a turn that I don't get in trouble by having to get over to this or that lane at the last minute. The voice prompts do not announce the names of the streets or highway, but it announces things such as "in .2 miles turn right, or keep right, or exit left in 500 ft." Prior to the turn, the screen will count down the distance precisely. It is so precise, it counts down to 0 feet. At times there is a street that I think I should turn onto listening to the voice prompts, but the screen shows me I have to go another few feet. It is always right. The voice works in conjunction with the screen prompts. When you need to perform an action, the screen automatically zooms to a more detailed map, and a direction arrow (with the name of the street...etc) shown to you. A quick glance at the screen is all you need to put you in the right direction. However, it is the voice that does most of the guidance. The screen is only to make sure of the name of the street, highway, etc. Ever try to find an address at night...on an unlit road? This unit will lead you right to the person's driveway.

When the unit is not navigating, the screen moves along... a live shot of where you are, along with whatever you want the screen to display, such as cross streets coming up, addresses, driving direction, speed, etc.

Negative things about the 2610:
- It is heavy...and much bulkier than most units on the market today. You do not have the ability to get a 3D view, only a 2D view (however, the 2D view works fine for me).
- No internal battery. You need to plug it into something.
- The power plug has the speaker incorporated into it, and it is near where it plugs into the car power receptacle. In some cars this can get in the way. In addition, the length of the power cord is too short for some cars.
- The unit comes with a 128MB CompactFlash card. You will need to spend a few dollars more and get a 1GB or 2 GB card to load more maps. Not a concern if you only want to load a few states.
- Acquisition of satellites can take up to several minutes when first starting out from "Cold". Do you drive during this time...hoping you are going in the right direction, or do you sit in one place with your motor running waiting for the birds to be found?
- Like all mapping programs, even the current versions are out of date, especially concerning points of interest.
- You must have a DVD drive on your computer, since Garmin now puts their maps on a DVD. Many computers only have a CD drive. I wanted to buy the updated map software but couldn't, since my computer does not have a DVD drive.

In conclusion, the 2610 is a wonderful piece of technology, but it is one of the older models from Garmin. I would say that the best market for this unit is for those who are somewhat technologically inclined and demand higher end features in a GPS unit. It is not for those who want the unit to just get them from point A to point B. Garmin currently makes GPS units with less features, yet much easier to use and significantly less costly than the 2610. It all depends what you want.

The Garmin 2610 is one great product. I just got mine. After and hour or two of getting myself familiar with it, I took it out for a spin around town. It performed better than my wildest expectations. I create local routes to known points and longer routes to out-of-state locations. I even varied my route computations between "Fastest" and "Shortest," and I approved of all the routes generated. Driving the routes was as easy as sitting behind the wheel. I spent no time watching for landmarks in unfamiliar areas. I just followed the directions given by the StreetPilot. It even generated a proper route from Chantilly, Virginia to an obscure little hamlet in upstate Michigan. That really surprised me.

If you're trying to decide between the 2610 and the 2620, I would suggest the 2610. They are identical devices in every way except that the 2610 uses a readily available CompactFlash Card that you must load with the included maps, while the 2620 uses a preloaded 2Gbyte hard drive.

The Compactflash card is better for several reasons.
1. There are fewer moving parts making it less likely that the system will experience a hardware failure due to temperature extremes or from being bounced around on rough road surfaces. Let's face it. If you have been around computers for any length of time, you know how hard disk drives can suddenly fail. With flashcard technology, that is a thing of the past.

2. If a FlashCard should fail, it is easily replaced without having to send the unit in for repair. And you can be back up and running in about an hour.

3. Multiple map sources and destinations can be maintained on swappable Flashcards and changed out at will. You can even buy a 2Gbyte flashcard and store all of the map information available for Canada, North America, and Mexico on the one card and never have to swap it out.

The unit is delivered with a 128Mbyte flashcard. I was able to load all of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey onto that card, along with a portion of eastern Pennsylvania and the northern most portions of North Carolina. That's a significant part of the mid-Atlantic area. It serves my most common driving needs.

The points of interest are easily found. I don't know how many may be missing as a result of obsolete data, but I can see many places to gas-up or eat that I was unaware of. I even located churches, post offices, and banks along my routes. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The chances are that your unit will be delivered with a less than current (but close) set of maps. And the firmware might be a little out of date. Fortunately, you can go to Garmin's web site and download the most current software and maps.

I know that I will undoubtedly come across something that I will believe could have been implemented a little bit better in my opinion, but nothing is perfect. And I doubt that whatever I eventually find fault with will diminish my enthusiasm for the Garmin 2610. Buy it. I know you'll love it.

This is NOT very technical review, but I want to tell you about the features that I like most...starting with the fact that you don't have to be technical to be able to use the Street Pilot!

I am one of those people who leaves a store in the mall and accidentally starts walking in the direction I just came from...I have absolutely no sense of direction. I truly hope that not many people are as sad as me when it comes to orientation, but if you are even close, this is the best purchase you could make.

The first thing I do when I get in my car is turn on the Street Pilot. If I want to go to a friend's house, I enter in the address. Even if I think I know the way, that doesn't mean I am using the fastest route- and the Street Pilot will make sure that I do. With the price of gas these days, I am really paying attention to this.

If I need to find a certain store, I enter in the store name and it will take me there. If I am in my car and I want to call ahead to a restaurant (for example), I don't need to call information (which is $$$) because when the Street Pilot pulls up the address, it also has the phone number. It is also great to just be able to see all of the closest establishments to wherever you are- I actually found out that there is a grocery store that is much closer to me than the one I had been going to, and I found a park that I never knew about!

While it is taking me to my destination, there have been times when I still make a wrong turn. I expect it to say "You idiot!" because it gives you about three warnings before you are supposed to turn somewhere. It doesn't though- it very nicely says "Off-Route" and then it quickly re-calculates and gets you back on track.

There have been a few times when we have found ourselves in horrible traffic (in Southern California- can you imagine?) and we have used the "detour" function. Two quick buttons, and we are using side streets that we didn't even know existed.

It is very nice not to drive down a street looking at the addresses. You probably don't even realize how distracting that is until you don't have to do it anymore...you will never again have to look to see which side of the street the odd numbers are, whether the numbers are going up or down, or how far you will have to go before you reach the address you want. I also never use MapQuest anymore- no more printing out directions and reading them while you are driving! I think one of the great things about the Street Pilot is that it allows you to concentrate on your driving, which is so much safer.

It is really great to be able to know when you will arrive somewhere. When I call someone to tell them I am on my way, I can say things like, "I will be there at 10:14." I usually get laughs, but I also usually pull up at 10:14! It really is pretty amazingly accurate. I recently took a 380-mile drive, and if I take out the time when I stopped for lunch, the prediction it gave me when I left was only off by only 6 minutes!

I also really like how it tells you the distance to your next turn. I know if I have time to get over into the carpool lane, or if my exit will be coming up so quickly that it isn't worth the effort.

When we are on car trips, we can quickly find where the next fast food restaurant or gas station will be. I have found that not every establishment is on there (maybe this is because my map is outdated- I have to confess that there is a link to an updated map from Garmin in my inbox), but it hasn't been much of a frustration. I have yet to see a listing on the Street Pilot that doesn't actually exist, so I'd much rather have it this way than the other way around.

One feature that would be nice in a future model would be the ability to enter in multiple addresses and have the Street Pilot map the best/ most efficient route from A to B to C. As it is, you have to program that yourself. This isn't too big of a deal, but there have been a few occasions when this would have been helpful (like the time we were looking at some real estate). Another minor improvement would be the ability to search for something that is on your current route. For example, if I am traveling from home to the grocery store and I want to stop at a McDonalds on the way, it would be great if I knew which McDonalds would result in the shortest detour form my route. (If it does actually do this and I just don't know about it, please let me know!)

It is accurate when it comes to finding the location about 98% of the time. There have been a few instances where it will tell me that I have arrived at my destination but I actually have to enter the parking lot from a different direction. Again, not too big of a deal- it got you there, so if you have to do a little thinking on your own at the end, it's okay.

A few comments about things the other reviewers have mentioned: The beanbag rest is great- I never even used the actual mount. It stays put unless you really slam on your brakes, which might cause it to slide back a little. Even though I'm a little paranoid about having it stolen, I usually leave it in my car when I go places. I just lift it off of the dash (along with the beanbag) and put it in my center console. It doesn't even have to be unplugged, and it takes about 2 seconds. Also- it doesn't bother me that it doesn't have battery power. In the 6 months that I have had it, I can't think of a time that I needed to use it somewhere that I couldn't plug it in.

All in all, I can't emphasize enough what a lifesaver this has been for me. It is worth every penny not to go through the stress and panic of being lost.

The Garmin 2610 is by far superior to comparable models by means of price and function. Some people left reviews complaining about features that the 2610 doesn't even have, i.e. batteries don't last (Garmin 2610 is exclusively powered from auto 12v) or about it not having features that is does, i.e WAAS (2610 is WAAS enabled). I use this unit on a regular bases traveling in a tour bus. It has not failed me yet, and I have driven 10's of thousands of miles with it. I can find ANY address quickly, most businesses, and it even provides telephone numbers, helpful when I need to call ahead to a restaraunt to let them know 57 people are coming soon. If you are looking for a functional automobile based GPS, this is it. The only downside is it does NOT have an alternative power supply, i.e. batteries. The CF memomory (128mb included) is adequate for a state or two. However a 1gb or 2gb card will allow 50% or 100% of all US detail maps and POI's, respectively. Well worth the extra money. The information it gives you enroute is far supperior to Magellan, as it provides speed, distance to turn, ETA, time to turn, current road traveling, next turn info. Also, you can adjust what information is displayed. To sum it up...I'm definately buying another 2610 for my second bus.