Garmin 278C

[overlander]

It looks like this has been discontinued with no direct replacement. I could be wrong but i have searched Garmins site and cannot find it. It is still for sale i guess it must be old stock. Does anyone know if there is an equivalent model.

 

[graham2400]

278c availablity

My 2610 died last year and I got a Zumo 550 to replace it. A mistake, thinking newer should be better. After not warming to it all year, and then getting totally fed up with autozoom on my last holiday (it helped me to go wrong many times in Rome) I decided I had to get rid (its on Ebay now) and get a proper replacement.

I researched and settled on the 278c and what a fantastic bike oriented GPS it is ! It is really superb, all of Europe loaded, nice detailed screen, very feature rich/customisable to exactly how you want it, and a familiar looking interface for ex-streetpilot series users. Satellite reception isn't quite as good as the Zumo but its still better than my old 2610 and I can live with it. As the original poster states, the 276/278 seems to be on the point of becoming obsolete now, but there are still a number of marine equipment suppliers who still have a little stock. I got mine here:-


http://www.marine-super-store.com/posit/shop/index.php?selectedpartno=99161132

I am really dissapointed with Garmin in that they seem to be phasing out some fantastic products and replacing them with flashy looking but dumbed down inferior (in many respects) replacements.

Regards

Graham

 

[HMR]

Me and my friends bought the 12 (!) last 278:s they had at Marine Super Store. Probably the last in whole Europe?

For offroad and adventure there is no new model on the market that can do the job but there is a substitute for the 278. The 276C (from 2004...) is nearly as good as the 278. From USA you can buy the 276C including map and extra 512 MB memory for around $750.

The disadvantages with the 276C are in principle only two:

- It can't handle POI:s (speed cameras) while the 278 can.

- Map memory is limited to 512 MB while the 278 has 1800 MB + 512 MB available for maps.

I wrote earlier this year a comparison of Z660 and the 278 that was published in Sweden. See http://resmark.se/gps/rec_zumo660.pdf . Bottom line was that the Z660 can't replace the 278 for the following reasons:

- It is not possible to switch off automatic zoom.
- It recalculates all routes upon import.
- It does not show map scale.
- It does not show minor roads when zoomed out.
- It can't show tracks beside a route on the screen.

All theese shortcomings of the Z660 could easily be fixed by Garmin with a rather simple software upgrade. But they don't want to do that for some reason I don't know.

 

[gpsonaPan]

How's your French.?? Mine's a little rusty but looks like offer finishes or starts on 09/11/09

http://www.bctech.fr/gps/gpsmap278c.html

HTH

Pat

 

[Schtum]

Listed on the Garmin website as GPSMap 278....

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=416

 

[Redboots]

It looks like this has been discontinued with no direct replacement.

Does the 378 or 478 not replace it?

John

 

[HMR]

How's your French.?? Mine's a little rusty but looks like offer finishes or starts on 09/11/09

http://www.bctech.fr/gps/gpsmap278c.html

HTH

Pat

The link above say:
Garmin GPSMAP 278C
EPUISE

Produits équivalents :
GPS GARMIN GPSMAP 276C: 549.00 €
GPS GARMIN MAP 620 : 749.00 €

Epuise means EXHAUSTED.

 

[HMR]

Does the 378 or 478 not replace it?
John

Do NOT buy the 378. It's firmware is not suitable for MC usage.

The 478 should be OK. The preloaded US map can probably be replaced with the Europe map.

 

[Redboots]

Another unit that might be worth a look is the GPSMAP 620 / 640.

Biggest failing seems to be the tracklog... 10,000 points in 20 logs in marine mode.
10,000 points and no logs in automotive mode

John