jimbo said:
Does that apply for the speed camera maps/overlay?
If you are talking about the 'overlays' that some folks have put out that display speed camera locations on top of the Garmin cartography that you have in the GPSR, then, yes, it will slow the creation of the display down. I'm not at all familiar with these overlays, because they seem to be unique to the UK. When I was in the UK this summer, I was testing the new 2720 with the Garmin 'Custom POI' feature, which is the new feature on the 2720 that allows you to upload a lat/long database with associated speeds, and then get proximity warnings when you approach these areas.
That new feature does not slow down screen drawing at all, because the custom POI's are handled pretty much like the existing POI's. However, the overlay maps that display speed cameras, etc. on the map - so you see the icons on the map, on top of the Navteq map - will slow the screen refresh rate down. By how much, I don't know.
John Armstrong said:
I have a times found that the 2610 couldn't keep up with the verbal prompts when there is a short distance between the last "turn" and the next one.
Ah - that's understandable. The voice can only talk at one speed in the 2610. In the 2720, there is an option to speed up the speech rate, although I have not fooled around with it. Personally, I never listen to the voice when I am on a moto, and only listen to it in the car when I have to listen to it for testing purposes.
I think that the 26xx series gives the user the ability to turn the voice off, but turn an 'attention tone' on. The attention tone will generate a bong whenever a 'next turn' screen pops up, or whenever something appears on the screen that you might want to look at (warning message, etc.). Even with the voice turned off, you can get a voice prompt at any time by pressing the SPEAK key on the GPSR. You might want to experiment a bit - try turning the voice off, and seeing if the bong of the attention tone is sufficient to advise you when you should take a glance at the screen to see the guidance that is displayed there. You might find that you are actually a heck of a lot happier without the voice - that has been my experience since day one.
SilverFish said:
Cheers for all of that Mike, I will certainly try your suggestions. You are right - I do display as much detail as I can find and though I had thought about the possibility that it was a screen redraw problem, I discounted it because it only becomes a problem at complex junctions. I will give it a go tonight and let you know how I get on.
Another thing we need to keep in mind is that there are many, many different ways that we can customize the visual presentation, and sometimes, we customize our way right into reduced performance. For example, the 'default' main map page provides a text display of the next leg change at all times. If we customize the map display, we can easily get rid of this everpresent text message - which then forces us to rely on the voice or the next turn pop-ups for directional guidance.
When I am beta-testing new software builds, I always download my routes, tracks, and waypoints, then reset the GPSR to its original factory default settings before I upload the new software. There are a heck of a lot of benefits to doing this:
1) I get to see what the software engineers have provided in the new build. If I just loaded the new build into the GPSR without erasing the non-vol memory (meaning, without resetting to defaults first), I would only see changes that happened to affect my custom configuration.
2) It brings me back to a 'reference performance' point. This allows me to see if the new software build runs faster or better than the previous one (usually it does). If I left my customized settings in the GPSR, I wouldn't be able to compare performance based on a known reference point.
3) It cleans out little problems that may have accumumated over time, not unlike how little problems accumulate over time with the operating system and non-vol memory of personal computers.
If you consider yourself an 'experienced user' of Garmin GPSRs, then give this a try. First save all your waypoints, routes and tracks by uploading them to your PC using MapSource, then blow out your non-vol by doing a factory reset, and then reload your waypoints and routes. Don't be too quick to change settings (other than measurement units, time zone, and other localization stuff) for the next few days. You might get a few really pleasant surprises - your GPSR will work much faster than before, and you will probably discover a whole bunch of new features that you haven't noticed before, because your customized settings obscured them.
Michael
money, the word is you will be able to buy a 2610 shortly for around £400..................... dont delay , let Steptoe pay 
