Quest 2 dilemma - to buy or not to buy...

MarkiMark · Feb 4, 2007

Dear all
I have been offered a Quest 2 for £300 and don't know what to do. I have been reading all the posts here about the Quest 2's poor performance and the general consensus seems to be to go for the Quest 1.

My problem is that I really like the idea of having all Europe maps on one unit, and the price is very tempting.

Question: Is the Quest 2 really that bad or should I go for it?

thanks!!
Markus

illustratedman · Feb 4, 2007

Quest

for that money you could get a 2610 with a 2gb card and put all of Europe on it, then you still have change to pay for the ferry.

Twotter · Feb 4, 2007

Personally I think it's a very good deal.

Mind you I should probably qualify that statement by adding...only if you're going to send it back to Garmin and see if they will exchange it for a 2720!

Quest 2 = :spitfire

Dellis · Feb 4, 2007

I was talking to the Garmin folks at the bike show and even they said unless you really need post code search don't bother with a 2 get a Quest 1 (which I already owned and still do) faster re-draw and better overall performance. I personally like the Quest as it fits easily in the pocket when away from the bike and this was my main reason for replacing my Street Pilot 3 with one.

dave

Mark_C · Feb 4, 2007

There's always someone ready to say "get a 2610" whenever the Quest is mentioned but what they always fail to take into account are two things in particular that the Quest has and the 2610 doesn't.

1. Small size. For those people who don't want their handlebars to look like the Post Office Tower and want to be able to stick the GPS in their pocket (any pocket) when they walk away from the bike.

2. Battery. I'd be lost if I couldn't take the unit up to my hotel room to do some route planning in the evening, or sit with it at breakfast answering all the questions that non-GPS users always ask such as "How far is it today?" or can we go via..." or "how many miles did we do yesterday?"

2610 vs. Quest 1 vs. Quest 2 is not a simple argument! It's down to individual requirements and it's not helpful to say one is bad, one is good.

What is helpful in my opinion, is to point out things that you don't realise are important until you've used a GPS for a while - such as track logs and batteries and software features that start to annoy you more than you would have thought possible!

illustratedman · Feb 4, 2007

Mark_C said:
There's always someone ready to say "get a 2610" whenever the Quest is mentioned but what they always fail to take into account are two things in particular that the Quest has and the 2610 doesn't.

1. Small size. For those people who don't want their handlebars to look like the Post Office Tower and want to be able to stick the GPS in their pocket (any pocket) when they walk away from the bike.

2. Battery. I'd be lost if I couldn't take the unit up to my hotel room to do some route planning in the evening, or sit with it at breakfast answering all the questions that non-GPS users always ask such as "How far is it today?" or can we go via..." or "how many miles did we do yesterday?"

2610 vs. Quest 1 vs. Quest 2 is not a simple argument! It's down to individual requirements and it's not helpful to say one is bad, one is good.

What is helpful in my opinion, is to point out things that you don't realise are important until you've used a GPS for a while - such as track logs and batteries and software features that start to annoy you more than you would have thought possible!

With regards to the pocket thing ive never had a problem putting my 2720 (same size as 2610) in the pocket of my bike jacket, it fits fine. I always plan routes in my hotel room using a plug? which surely a quest must be plugged into to recharge the battery if a battery is important to you. Plus the £100 difference makes quite a bit of sense i would of thought...

Twotter · Feb 4, 2007

Mark_C said:
2610 vs. Quest 1 vs. Quest 2 is not a simple argument! It's down to individual requirements and it's not helpful to say one is bad, one is good.

Actually I'd argue that it is a simple argument.

The pros and cons have been discussed at length many times before but for the purposes of Markus questions the answer is a 2610.

Here is why...

1. His budget is £300.

You'll pay that for a Quest 1 nowadays, but obviously you can't fit all of Europe into its unexpandable memory - 243Mb.

2. He wants all of the maps of Europe on his GPS.

A 2610 with a 2Gb card can do that and they are currently priced at well below £300.

3. The Quest 2 is known to have problems with redraw rates and satellite lock - believe me I've had two of them and I know!

So going off the information Markus has given us I'd say a 2610 was exactly what he needs.

Next

ynotbiker · Feb 4, 2007

3 quests

had 2 quests with proplems,last week they sent me a third,was not happy so rang them and they are sending me a brand new 2720 which i will be selling on this forum open to offers,they cost 500 new,maybe the quest 1 may suit you but stay clear of the 2

Mav · Feb 4, 2007

European maps on Quest 1

My understanding with the Quest 1 is that it has the base map for all of Europe installed which provides limited detail and you choose to upload the areas of Europe you are going to travel to. All of UK takes less than half of the memory... If you choose the sectors that cover your intended route - you could easily manage with a Quest for a couple weeks travelling.

Obvioulsy, it would be great if a Quest 2 didn't have the redraw problems... but it does. For many users, the Quest 1 seems like a pretty good balance.

sven · Feb 4, 2007

I find the lack of battery in my 2610 a real PITA. I don't want to carry a mains adapter, I just want to be able to play around with the GPS whilst sat in the bar etc. (like I could with my PDA GPS system).

Personally, if I had a £300 budget, I'd try to stretch it another £100 and but a Zumo 500 Deluxe + a large SD card :thumb2

Dellis · Feb 4, 2007

Mark_C said:
There's always someone ready to say "get a 2610" whenever the Quest is mentioned but what they always fail to take into account are two things in particular that the Quest has and the 2610 doesn't.

1. Small size. For those people who don't want their handlebars to look like the Post Office Tower and want to be able to stick the GPS in their pocket (any pocket) when they walk away from the bike.

2. Battery. I'd be lost if I couldn't take the unit up to my hotel room to do some route planning in the evening, or sit with it at breakfast answering all the questions that non-GPS users always ask such as "How far is it today?" or can we go via..." or "how many miles did we do yesterday?"

2610 vs. Quest 1 vs. Quest 2 is not a simple argument! It's down to individual requirements and it's not helpful to say one is bad, one is good.

What is helpful in my opinion, is to point out things that you don't realise are important until you've used a GPS for a while - such as track logs and batteries and software features that start to annoy you more than you would have thought possible!

Well put Mark

Dellis · Feb 4, 2007

Mav said:
My understanding with the Quest 1 is that it has the base map for all of Europe installed which provides limited detail and you choose to upload the areas of Europe you are going to travel to. All of UK takes less than half of the memory... If you choose the sectors that cover your intended route - you could easily manage with a Quest for a couple weeks travelling.

Obvioulsy, it would be great if a Quest 2 didn't have the redraw problems... but it does. For many users, the Quest 1 seems like a pretty good balance.

And I would expect that most of us know the way to the port of exit or you can use the basemap so you really don't need to load any of the UK.

Dave

Quest 2 dilemma - to buy or not to buy...

MarkiMark

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illustratedman

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Twotter

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Dellis

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illustratedman

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Twotter

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sven

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Dellis

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