Just got a Garmin 2720, odd mapping though

[Bumpkin]

Just won a Garmin 2720 on eBay to replace my Quest, £157 seems like a good buy to me It includes the GTM 10 TMC traffic receiver as well although this is of questionable use on the bike though I can see me trying it out in the cage.

It appears to be a US version with US Mapping although a copy of City Nav NT v9 with unlock code is included. The seller states that the preinstalled US mapping is on the unit along with Europe. Now, having read up on this I'm assuming (pls. jump in and correct if I've got the wrong end of the stick) that the primary mapping is still the US with the remaining space available occupied by part of Europe uploaded via Mapsource. The space available will vary depending on the version of the preloaded US mapping (didn't find that out) but should, apparently, be in the region of 700-750MB. Whilst the whole of City Nav Europe NT v9 won't fit into that space a fair chunk will.

I had ordered the City Nav 2008 update for my Quest as that's on v8 mapping as I have a policy of updating every two years. With this in mind I'll probably not bother to update the 2720 until 2009, the 700MB will be more that sufficient for my needs until then. Will be spending the update money on a cradle and power cable kit for the 2720. Selling the Quest should, in all, make this a fairly cheap upgrade.

Is there any disadvantage of running the European mapping from the spare memory space in terms of speed/functionality (I can't image there would be?). I'd be using it like my Quest and changing the mapping as required (in truth I should get the UK, France and Spain on and it'll stay that way). I know that there won't be a base map but I've only seen that on the Quest out of curiosity so no problem there.

Thinking ahead to when I do update in 2009; Can I access the internal memory directly and backup the US mapping to my PC so I can reload it at a later date as I'm pretty certain that running the NT update (as opposed to using it ad hoc uploading from Mapsource) will overwrite the US mapping.

Any pointers/advice for a new 2720 user appreciated

The seller seems very genuine so fingers crossed (kiss of death... )

 

[st13phil]

The seller states that the preinstalled US mapping is on the unit along with Europe. Now, having read up on this I'm assuming (pls. jump in and correct if I've got the wrong end of the stick) that the primary mapping is still the US with the remaining space available occupied by part of Europe uploaded via Mapsource. The space available will vary depending on the version of the preloaded US mapping (didn't find that out) but should, apparently, be in the region of 700-750MB. Whilst the whole of City Nav Europe NT v9 won't fit into that space a fair chunk will.

That sounds about right to me.

Is there any disadvantage of running the European mapping from the spare memory space in terms of speed/functionality (I can't image there would be?).

Not that I know of. The only other restriction that may come into play is if you have a very large custom POI database on the device too then that will eat some of the supplemental memory available for mapping, but I wouldn't have thought it'd be a problem. All you need to do is make sure you have the appropriate mapping enabled on the unit.

Thinking ahead to when I do update in 2009; Can I access the internal memory directly and backup the US mapping to my PC so I can reload it at a later date as I'm pretty certain that running the NT update (as opposed to using it ad hoc uploading from Mapsource) will overwrite the US mapping.

AFAIK there is no "normal" way to access the regular NT mapping on the unit. I think there's a bit of shareware out there somewhere that may allow it, but from a standard functionality point of view then the answer is no.

Other than that, all I'd advise is that you make sure the unit software is up to date. Still a good unit, the SP2720

 

[Bumpkin]

That sounds about right to me.Not that I know of. The only other restriction that may come into play is if you have a very large custom POI database on the device too then that will eat some of the supplemental memory available for mapping, but I wouldn't have thought it'd be a problem.

Thanks for the response.

Yes, has assumed that would be the case, I can't see my POI collection expanding to the point where it'll significantly impact on the available space. After all I'm used to only having 243MB for my Quest and that uses non NT mapping that allegedly isn't as compressed. Even if my POIs occupied 20MB (that would be colossal) I would still have loads of room.

AFAIK there is no "normal" way to access the regular NT mapping on the unit. I think there's a bit of shareware out there somewhere that may allow it, but from a standard functionality point of view then the answer is no.

There's GPS Send Map map but I believe that's it's only one way (send) and also I would risk turning the thing into an expensive paperweight. Ideally I'd like to be able to access it as an external drive but I think that might be too much to expect.

Other than that, all I'd advise is that you make sure the unit software is up to date.

Plan to check and do that as soon as it arrives.

 

[st13phil]

There's GPS Send Map map but I believe that's it's only one way (send)

That's the program I was thinking of. Looking at the info on their webpage I think you're right that it's send to GPSR only.

Ideally I'd like to be able to access it as an external drive but I think that might be too much to expect.

Methinks you're right

 

[ebbo]

Can this 2720 be put in 'mass storage mode' to gain direct access to the internal memory?

 

[Bumpkin]

Can this 2720 be put in 'mass storage mode' to gain direct access to the internal memory?

Interesting... 'Mass storage mode'... I'll do a search on that but had assumed that you could only do that on the Zumo and 2820 (MP3 player models), thank you.

 

[ebbo]

Interesting... 'Mass storage mode'... I'll do a search on that but had assumed that you could only do that on the Zumo and 2820 (MP3 player models), thank you.

The wording is something like that, my 60CSx can do this, makes the GPS appear like an external drive, it can be very usefull, but the USB transfer speed is pretty slow, good luck

 

[st13phil]

Can this 2720 be put in 'mass storage mode' to gain direct access to the internal memory?

On the StreetPilot 2xxx range, that functionality was unique to the 2820 I'm afraid

 

[Bumpkin]

The seller seems very genuine so fingers crossed (kiss of death... )

Well, it arrived yesterday morning very well packaged. A few problems with the seller not being able to provide the correct unlock code but he was as helpful as he could be. Last night I tried to add the device to my myGarmin account and it worked but showed only unlock codes for non NT versions of City Nav. v7, v8 and v9. This morning I called Garmin tech support who quickly provided the required unlock for NT v9. For the umpteenth time I'll say that Garmin GPSRs are the ones to buy because of the support provided.

I'm now very happy The kit is complete and in absolutely pristine condition, if I had the box and bags I could pass it off as new. The traffic receiver will go into the car when I get the time and the separate Garmin aerial will get taken on our hols in case the hire car has an athermic windscreen. There's also a Brodit mount for which I'll need to buy a part for to make it fit our car. Just need to get the bike cradle and then I'm sorted.