GPS - About the pre-loaded CN8 map on Garmin 2720

Author

About the pre-loaded CN8 map on Garmin 2720

Taru

2006-09-29, 10:33 pm

Hi,

I am thinking to get a Garmin 2720 to replace my broken StreetPilot
III. I read the description, it says that 2720 comes with pre-loaded
CN8 map and a DVD version of CN8. So, I got two questions here:

1. Can I still freely unlock and use this CN8 on a secondary device
such as 60CSx?

2. In case, CN9 or CN10 comes out, can I upgrade the "pre-loaded" map
on 2720?

Another question is that, do you think it's worthwhile to get 2730
which has XM Traffic capability? Does it really work well?

Thanks.

fdfd

2006-09-30, 10:33 pm

"Taru" <amiswu@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1159582379.657432.260830@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am thinking to get a Garmin 2720 to replace my broken StreetPilot
> III. I read the description, it says that 2720 comes with pre-loaded
> CN8 map and a DVD version of CN8. So, I got two questions here:
>
> 1. Can I still freely unlock and use this CN8 on a secondary device
> such as 60CSx?
>
> 2. In case, CN9 or CN10 comes out, can I upgrade the "pre-loaded" map
> on 2720?
>
>
> Another question is that, do you think it's worthwhile to get 2730
> which has XM Traffic capability? Does it really work well?
>
> Thanks.
>

I don't believe that you can unlock the preloaded maps to a second device.
When I got the V8 upgrade for my 2730 they specifically stated that this was
not possible.

The XM Navtraffic works pretty well if you accept the fact that it has
limited coverage. You can check the coverage here:
http://www.xmradio.com/xmnavtraffic/market_coverage.jsp

One issue with it is that it takes the 2730 about 50 seconds or so to "boot
up", and then about 2-3 minutes to get the traffic information. So when you
hit the road you won't get the information right away and it may route you
into a traffic jam.

The 2730 will autoroute based on the traffic information, and there are some
limited options to tune how it does that (i.e. ignore traffic flow alerts,
etc.). However you really cannot fine tune it. When I have the traffic
alerts autorouting turned on it will often want to route me onto secondary
roads because of the flow alerts. Often this is not a good idea because the
traffic flow problems only exist for a short stretch of the primary road and
the secondary roads are slower due to traffic lights.

The Navtraffic feature is an extra $4 per month.

What I really like about the XM Radio is, well, the XM radio! So I think
that I would not recommend the XM radio for just the Navtraffic, however if
you want a great in-car GPS and XM radio then I think the 2730 would be a
good choice.

BTW if you go with that you will almost certainly need a way to get audio
into your car's audio system. I used a Sony cassette adapter. The FM
transmitter is pretty much unusable in an urban environment. I don't think
this is Garmins fault however, I checked the FCC specs on those FM
transmitters and they are extremely limited in power. If I did the math
right it comes out to about 15 nanowatts.

Another issue about the 2730 is that you end up with at least 3 cables:
power, XM "hockey puck", and the audio. Add another one if you need an
external antenna and you get a real rats nest of cables. I used some velcro
strips to attempt to manage the mess and that helps some.

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