City Select Update on 2nd hand Quest?

[Kropotkin]

I am looking at buying a second hand Quest off of EBay, but a lot of the units on there only have Mapsource City Select V6.

Can I still get a version of City Select V7, somehow? If so, how do I go about getting it?

Cheers for any info you may have.

 

[adamski49]

Find out if it's been registered with Garmin - if it hasn't (and many haven't due to the owner's lack of technical know-how) just register it when you get it and then ask Garmin for the free upgrade to v7.

This will of course involve a certain amount of trust with the seller.

I was lucky enough with a V that I bought a couple of years back.

HTH

Adam

 

[(RIP) Yosi]

Carefull when buying S/H Garmin. The codes are for specific devices+ controiled by the s/n. If you try to load the software on your pc and unlock the software may not unlock th Quest. I know, learnt that the bitter way.
I have a V.7 Upgrade CD, yours FOC. It doesn't unlock unless you buy a "coupon" from garmin, of course.
\you csn download the lates version from www.garmin.com \i think th latest is v. 6.7
Good luck...Yosi

 

[Kropotkin]

Thanks for the offer, Yosi, but somebody has already overbid me for the item I was looking at. The seller said that you can retrieve the code from the unit itself, which sounded about right.

It seems the trick is to ask the seller the right questions. Seem to be quite a few Quests on EBay with City Select V6.

 

[PanEuropean]

Seem to be quite a few Quests on EBay with City Select V6.

Depending on where you plan to use the GPSR, if you can get a GPSR with CitySelect 6 or CityNavigator 6, then hold off on buying a cartography upgrade until late next year, when version 8 will probably be released, you might just make out OK on the deal.

In the late 1990's and the first couple of years of this decade, there were really strong reasons to justify buying every cartography upgrade as soon as it was released. This was because not all parts of every city or country had been mapped in vector format, and whenever you bought an upgrade, you could count on finding significant additions to the coverage, everywhere.

Since about version 5 or 6, though, coverage of some countries - most notably the German speaking countries - has reached 100% levels. This means that the only difference you will see between version 6 and version 7 is more accurate POI information, and road map updates that have been made as a result of construction that has taken place in the last 2 years or so.

If you live in an area that already has 100% coverage in version 6, and if you don't plan to ride into an area that has benefited from huge additional coverage being added in version 7 (for example, south of the Alps or Pyrenees, or the Czech Republic), then it could be argued that getting a Quest with version 6 mapping and then just holding on until version 8 comes out before buying an upgrade might give you the best of all worlds - a fairly speedy, up to date piece of hardware, with 'reasonably' up to date cartography.

It's a tough call to make, because you need to know the extent of the cartographic coverage of your areas of interest in version 6. However, if it is any guideline to you, I accidentally loaded CN version 6 cartography (instead of version 7) for Switzerland into my new SP 2720 last month, and didn't notice I was using the old cartography until I went by a roundabout that I knew I had seen on my GPSR before, but didn't see that day. It turned out I had been driving for 3 weeks with the old cartography loaded and I didn't even notice it. Granted, Switzerland is one of the best countries in the world so far as having 100% road coverage completed back at version 5 and 6 - but, still, it makes food for thought.

Michael

 

[Kropotkin]

If you live in an area that already has 100% coverage in version 6, and if you don't plan to ride into an area that has benefited from huge additional coverage being added in version 7 (for example, south of the Alps or Pyrenees, or the Czech Republic), then it could be argued that getting a Quest with version 6 mapping and then just holding on until version 8 comes out before buying an upgrade might give you the best of all worlds - a fairly speedy, up to date piece of hardware, with 'reasonably' up to date cartography.

Well, I live in an area with virtually 100% coverage (Holland), but my holidays are nearly always taken in Spain, which is where I would need mapping the most. As Spain has fairly average coverage, it sounds like V7 could be a worthwhile update ...

Oh, and I'm now looking at a 276 with city select. Don't know which version though. Quests go for nearly new price on EBay ...

 

[PanEuropean]

Ah, OK, it sounds like you are fairly well informed about things. Sure, you could use version 6 in Netherlands and probably not encounter any problems, but if you plan to go to Spain, there is a HUGE difference between version 6 (very spotty and not always accurate coverage) and version 7 (much, much better, but still not perfect). I spent a couple of weeks riding in Spain with version 7 in May this year, and I really noticed the cartography improvement from 2 years ago, when I had version 6.

So far as we moto riders are concerned, there is no advantage to having CityNavigator over CitySelect. There are differences between the two, and CityNavigator has more road attribute info in it, but what you see visually (the map on the screen) is identical on both products.

So far as the 276 vs. something else is concerned - well, that's a whole other matter. It is very much a personal preference issue. Some folks love the screen display and the tremendous scope given to the user to customize the user interface on the 276 and 296. Others don't. The 276 is primarily a marine unit. The only big disadvantage to the 276, looking at it objectively, is that it uses the proprietary Garmin memory chips, which are expensive. On the other hand, the quality of the screen display on the 276 is amazing. The processor speed is pretty much the same on the 2x6 series and the 26xx series - they are of the same generation, both having been released around about 2003. The 2x6's use CitySelect, and the 26xx's use CityNavigator, but as mentioned before, that means nothing to us as moto riders.

I have both a 296 and a 2650 - I've ridden 10's of thousands of kilometers with both of them. Personally, I prefer the 26xx for moto navigation, but that is entirely a personal preference, not based on any functional advantage of one over another (excepting that I can store more maps on the 2650). But, functionally, the 276 can do everything that the 26xx can do.

Michael

 

[Kropotkin]

Thanks for the reply, Michael. I'm not too concerned about the limited memory, as I've seen how much mapping I can get into 256 MB, and that's more than enough to take me where I need to go and back.

For me, the disadvantage of the 26XX models is the fact that they require power all the time. This is no good for planning routes in a tent in the evenings, which is what I tend to do. The Quest is a very useful size, but the 276 has a great screen. Plus, I've just won an EBay auction for a 276 + 256MB automotive kit (City Select V7) for 500 euros, which is great bargain, I reckon. Quests seem to fetch nearly that at many auctions. Now I just have to hope that the seller is an reliable and honourable person. I'm sure he will be.

 

[PanEuropean]

... I've just won an EBay auction for a 276 + 256MB automotive kit (City Select V7) for 500 euros, which is great bargain, I reckon.

That is a good catch - congratulations. I will probably be passing through Holland in about a week - send me an email (moore99 at rogers dot com) and let me know where you are, perhaps we can get together for a coffee, and if you need any help installing it on your moto, I would be happy to help you do it.

Michael