should I buy one

Right I have been thinking about this for a while, what do I do.
I have a garmin nuvi which I have had for a while, just managed to convert my euromaps to mac,
I also have an etrex with gb topo, my question is this do I get a quest for the bike, use the etrex, with navigator loaded on, can I use the euro v9 maps I have already just by loading them on a sd card.
Etrex buttons could be fiddly to use, quests cheap at mo.
or do I spend lots more dosh on new zumo 660 or rider 2

HELP

Dazzle said:

Right I have been thinking about this for a while, what do I do.
I have a garmin nuvi which I have had for a while, just managed to convert my euromaps to mac,
I also have an etrex with gb topo, my question is this do I get a quest for the bike, use the etrex, with navigator loaded on, can I use the euro v9 maps I have already just by loading them on a sd card.
Etrex buttons could be fiddly to use, quests cheap at mo.
or do I spend lots more dosh on new zumo 660 or rider 2

HELP

Click to expand...

Soooo many questions! I'll have a go....

Nuvi no use on bike (not waterproof, wont do routing, no tracklogs - OK, so a few do, but not many)
Quest plus powered cradle etc c £130, will take the latest CN2009 maps, but no SD slot on a quest......so not sure if thats the same question
Zumo 660 not due for anothre two months or so; Rider2 ......dont know anything about them, sorry. The buttons on the Quest are fairly small and could certainly be described as fiddly, especially with a glove on you!

As for advise, well only you know what's best for you. The Quest is a great little device, though slow and dated now in terms of features etc (no MP3, no POI's). Its hard to recommend spending nearly 300 more on a Zumo than a Quest..............perhaps if the Zumo550 drops in price with the 660's release it will be the one for you?

V

Quest will do everything a sat nav. should, maybe except proximity alerts for speed cameras etc. You can load up to 500 custom waypoints (POIs if your like) so you have to be selective (with later models you can just dump thousands on there). The only other limitation is that you only have 243MB of memory to load mapping data onto. This is enough, for example, for the whole of the UK but when touring abroad you have to upload the mapping you need from your PC overwriting that and then revert back to the UK when you get back. With the limitation on available memory your touring range is limited, UK > Barcelona and back would be OK but UK > Barcelona > Rome > UK would be too much. In all a very capable unit with a few limitations and none of the superfluous stuff like MP3, Bluetooth etc. that don't actually add anything to the GPS capabilities of the unit. The buttons might be on the small side but so is the unit itself, easily portable off the bike and with 20 hours of battery life (so Garmin claim) very versatile for walking, boating etc. as well. Beware US models that only have 115MB of memory.

The StreetPilot 2610 is similar in spec. to the Quest apart from being bigger. having Compact Flash storage (you can expand memory to fit all of Europe) and no battery. Bigger touch screen as well.

The StreetPilot 2720 is the same size as the 2610 but runs the latter NT mapping and can do proximity alerts, optional pseudo 3D display and practically limitless custom POIs. The memory is fixed but is sufficient to hold all of Europe. Mapping is pre installed.

The StreetPilot 2820 is very similar to the 2720 but with the addition of Bluetooth and MP3.

Thanks for replies, I suppose my question should have been should I get mapping for my etrex as this has all features, of quest, but not made for a bike, or buy a quest which comes with the maps and although old, designed for a bike.
I think my etrex takes nt maps as it is only a year old, didn't want to waste money on maps to find the unit too fiddly to use, though I know some people use the 60 scx which is a similar type unit.
I don't want mp3, phone , bluetooth as I use the bike to get away from all that stuff.

Bought a quest just getting used to it seems like a great piece of kit for £95