| Roy Hann 2007-03-14, 10:33 am |
| My StreetPilot 2620 has gotta go. I like its features very much and I make
regular and pretty thorough use of its entire European mapping and the
database of hotels. Unfortunately it also suffers from a number of glitches
and bugs that have not been relieved by any software upgrades. As I've
posted here before, it frequently falls silent; it has been caught mixing up
left and right, and its positional accuracy even with a Gilsson high-gain
antenna and a strong signal from seven or eight satellites is often out by a
street. These problems may or may not be related to CPU speed or a failing
disk or some other intermittent hardware problem but I am sick of trying to
deal with tech support. Tech support has proven as unusable as the product.
The routing software also has a number of pretty unforgivable defects even
when it does work. (For instance just yesterday I had to drive past my exit
because of a major accident, so I drove on intending to approach my
destination from the other side. Instead of giving me the new best route to
my destination after I went off-route, it directed me 10 miles *past* my
destination so it could rejoin the original route, meaning that I then had
to double back 10 miles. Genius.) I just want out.
So if you had to replace a 2620, what would you choose, and why? Needless
to say this is wide open but anyone suggesting another Garmin product is
going to have to really sell it to me.
Here are my non-negotiables:
* must operate off external power; battery-only power is not acceptable
* must have all of Europe (to street level) available internally
* must have a database of hotels
* must accept an external antenna (my heated windshield blocks signal)
Roy
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