GPS Devices Life

Helpful, but not Flawless - Garmin StreetPilot® 2620 Car GPS Receiver Overall, I'm happy with my purchase of the Garmin StreetPilot 2620, but the unit isn't as flawless as Garmin would...

Garmin StreetPilot® 2620 Car GPS Receiver Product 010-00357-03 Key FeaturesDesignationAutomobileForm FactorFixedMap capabil...

I purchased the 2620 to replace a stolen 2610 that I had come to rely on during long distance drives and business travel. My 2610 had the latest maps and software loaded from the Garmin website, and a 4 gig memory card that had all of the North America maps pre-loaded.

The first difference between the 2610 and the 2620 is that the maps are pre-loaded into the GPS, and all of the North American maps are available on the 2620 without having to buy a larger memory card as required with the 2610. The downside is that the 2620 stores the maps on a small hard drive. Given the temperature differentials and movement that can be expected from sitting on the dashboard of a car, I can safely assume that a 4 gig memory card is less likely to fail then a hard drive.

The other noticeable difference between the 2610 and the 2620 is the length of the power cord. The cord on the 2620 is noticeably shorter. One of the vehicles I drive is an older Toyota 4Runner with the 12 volt plug near the floor. The cord is almost fully stretched when the GPS is on the dash. Another vehicle is a 2000 VW Jetta. With the 2610 I could maneuver the power cord so that I would not catch it with my hand while shifting the transmission. The 2620 requires that I contort the speaker to move the cable out of the way.

The 2610 was relatively stable as far as plotting routes and giving directions. The 2620 has done some strange things, such as telling me I was off route when there was no way for me to change the direction of movement, such as driving down a highway between exits. We recently had the direction of travel as indicated by the vehicle icon change direction 180 degrees after making a plotted turn at an intersection.

The most recent map set also seems to have a lot of missing pieces. Restaurants and businesses which have been in business for several years are not in the database, roads that have been completed for several years end inexplicably in the GPS’s maps, and it seems that addresses are more difficult to find in the 2620 then the 2610. Recently we were looking for a specific address and could not find it when we tried to load it as destination in the GPS. Instead we plotted a route to the town. Once we got near the town, we tried the address again and this time the GPS found the street.

The process of getting driving directions is straightforward, but results have to be checked before execution. Choosing the “fastest time” option might route off of main highways and onto secondary roads, while the “shortest distance” option might not actually be the shortest distance. The metrics used to determine routes can be changed in the options menu to get a more accurate route but with a longer processing time. When getting directions using a generic search, such as for gas stations, the list of services will be populated from closest to actual position or route to furthest away. The distance used in this calculation is straight line, not route distance, so a gas station that you think is the closest might actually be the third or fourth closest once the route is calculated.

GPS signal strength is the only other serious out of the box issue that I have seen with the system. In my driveway, which is between my two story colonial and a three story Victorian, I am able, at best to get two satellites, and often I loose satellite reception, which the unit is more then happy to exclaim to you. Once I pull out of my driveway and into the street, I will get more then enough satellites to get less then fifteen feet of error. The same thing happened at the most improbable areas, such as on the highway in the middle of rural southwestern Missouri, where there was nothing to physically block a GPS signal. If your travel plans include driving in a downtown metropolitan area with streets lined with exceptionally tall buildings, expect to constantly loose satellite reception, and at the most inopportune times. Several times in Boston, New York, and Chicago, I would loose satellite reception just before a series of turns. Because the 2620 does not have dead reckoning capability, the navigation system becomes an expensive dashboard ornament until it can get enough satellites to re-orient itself. There is an external antenna available through Garmin, but I have not had a chance to see how much of a difference the increased gain and reduced attenuation will make in an urban environment.

For the most part, the GPS will be a good investment for people who are expected to get off of an airplane in an unfamiliar city and be expected to find the hotel, restaurants, and client’s offices with limited input, or for people who will drive long distances, but I would recommend spending less for the 2610 and buying a 2 to 4 gig memory card for about the same price as a 2620 in order to avoid the possible hard drive issues. For anyone who will not venture far beyond their homes, the expense is not worth having a new techno toy for the car.

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Used it a week now, and it’s going great! - Garmin StreetPilot® 2620 Car GPS Receiver