damn I wish this site wouldn't make Firefox crash - just lost a lengthy reply to this thread.
Got my 2610 from GSD inc 1GB CF card, power/audio (not BMW, just wired it directly to the battery, which was really easy), headset, mount, 770 inc vat. Mount took a while to show up but otherwise no issues; friendly dealer; would definitely recommend and go back.
If price is an issue you could save 100 or so by not getting the 1GB card - the unit comes with a 256MB card and these are very cheap nowadays, you can get them from PC World and other places. Compact Flash is a standard card type and is used in many digital cameras. Garmin say only some types work but who knows if that's because they're talking their partners' businesses up or if there really are issues with non-"certified" cards that still meet the CF standard?
Quest: probably a bit too limited. If you can take a PC around with you or a laptop, it's probably OK, but neither of these is an option for most bikers.
The portable nature of the Quest is I think overstated. When walking around, e.g. Central London, it really is very easy to navigate with a £1.50 map - stopping and thinking is a total nonissue, unlike when you're driving, and IMHO even as a total gadget freak GPS for walking round streets is serious overkill and also probably increases your changes of being mugged by several notches. It's probably a good one if you want GPS on a pushbike. But the 19MB limitation is really too limiting for me; it wouldn't be so bad if you could augment it with CF cards, but as you can't, it means you have to have access to a PC.
However if you want GPS on a bicycle the Quest is probably the one. Can't see the 2610 working off a dynamo somehow!
If you can't afford a 2610 then the Quest might be a good "starter" GPS but I had little doubt when looking at the Quest that I'd sooner or later regret not getting a 2610.
"if you're going to stick to riding in the UK or a small area in Europe, the memory size in the Quest should be fine."
I disagree, but I'd have to measure the maps. The 256MB card that came with the unit was initialised to the UK plus north-west Europe (sounds a lot, but actually it was only northern europe within 100 miles or so of Dover, and didn't include Norway/Sweden.) I think the UK mainland is probably around half this data, so unless there's a cut-down version of the data for the Quest I can't see how you're going to get more than a handful of counties into only 19MB. But as I said - I'd have to measure the map data to be sure.
"If you're going to tour any distance on the continent, with the Quest (or especially with older units like StreetPilot III), you have two choices: 1) preplan your route in detail and only load the maps that specifically cover your route"
Precisely. The whole point of satnav (to me) is that you can recover from getting lost and find alternative routes - how can you know in advance what maps you won't need? And if you are good at staying on route, what do you want GPS for?
PDA definitely wouldn't work on a bike. They're not waterproof. I doubt they're vibration-proof. And they crash from time to time - probably not ideal if you're short of time and trying to find your way round central London. Iff you're very short of funds, this might be an option, but then if that's the case take a map.
). It did lead us back to the bikes OK though.
