Garmin Quest 2 - 2.7 in. Car GPS Receiver
Out of stock |
Similar in GPS Devices
- Form Factor: Handheld
- Map capabilities: Internal, Download maps
- Receiver Type: 12 Channels
- Enhanced accuracy: WAAS enabled
- Screen Size: 2.7 in.
- GPS Type: Automobile
- Overview
-
Reviews
-
Compare Prices
User ReviewRead All Reviews »
An amazingly small vehicular navigator
Pros
Small size, huge tracklog, waterproof, 20 hour battery operation
Cons
Tiny display, flimsy antenna, PC mapping not included
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
If you travel a lot or need the unit as a portable AND a mobile unit and is waterproof, then this is a good choice.
I love gadgets and I have specific affinity for high-tech equipment. For some reason I've been playing with many different GPS units lately (in spite of a recent head-on collision between one of my motorcycles and a car traveling in the other direction). It helps that one of my riding buddies is a Garmin distributor so I can borrow units to play with.
Even though Garmin has started shipping their even smaller Nuvi, the Quest 2 remains an interesting choice for people who need to carry their navigators between cities.
Portable, which means that it can be used when away from other supporting resources, rather than 'transportable' which means that it can be moved between cars and boats that must power the unit, this is truly a tiny unit.
When the original Quest was released it represented a challenge, because with only 115 megs of total memory, you couldn't load all that much area - so a multi-state trip required that you carry a computer since unlike Garmin's previous units, this device doesn't accept memory cards that could be preloaded and swapped out as necessary. The 276c, 290 & 376c still use those cards, because of their marine and aircraft heritage.
Enter the Quest-2.
Quest 2 is the same basic device as the original; the same physical dimensions; the same rechargeable battery that will operate the unit for up to 20 hours; the same (I hate it) miniscule display; the same rather spindly fold-out antenna, with one major difference;
Equipped with enough non-volatile memory to hold the entire pre-programmed road maps for all of North America (which seems to be the emerging norm for Garmin) it also has 140 megs of available space for any additional maps you may require, such as marine, topographic maps or maps for places beyond the coverage in the unit as supplied.
(Unlike the older 2620 it doesn't have a hard drive and you don't have to worry about what happens if you discharge the battery, unlike my old Treo 600).
Note that there is a drawback to Garmin's latest 'all maps onboard' concepts. You no longer receive a copy of the maps on CD (now DVD) so unless you pay extra, you will not be able to plan routes on your PC and send them to the navigator – that's a serious lack in my opinion.
I won't go into the purpose or operational background niceties of the GPS system - and I wrote a very detailed review of the older Streetpilot-III a couple of years ago which describes the underlying operation of the GPS network itself - feel free to read that review and I'll save Epinions from having to store the information yet another time. I've also written reviews of other Garmin navigators.
I LOVE GPS navigation. I ride motorcycles for pleasure and I love to explore. While paper maps are nice, they require that you know where you are before you can start to figure out how to get to where you want to go.
I tend to ride on any roads that 'interest' me and when I start to get low on fuel I can ask the device where the nearest gas station is. It will tell me where food is to be found and some models (376c) can even display the local weather so you can avoid rain showers!! Try to get THAT from a paper map in a Rand-McNally Road Atlas!!
So suffice it to say that navigators are used to let you know where you are and how to get where you are going. In general they ALL do a good job, even if the routes they provide aren't always the very best - you do get where you set out to go.
About the best illustration I can give is the story of when a co-worker was coming to my home. He asked how to get there and after trying to give him directions (blank stare in return) and suggesting he follow me (what if we get separated?) I simply unplugged my unit, pressed the find key twice and answered 'yes' to the routing prompt, handed him my unit and told him to put it on his dash and to do what it told him to. He got to my home before I did!
The Quest uses a 2 dimensional (top view) map display mode. Garmin's latest automotive units, like the C series, 2720, 2730 and such support a 3D display mode that is somewhat more intuitive. Also, the Quest will announce the distance and turn information while the latest series from Garmin will announce street names. The Quest-2 uses the same joystick-style entry mode that the 276c/376c/Streetpilot and such use which is a bit tedious, but is very easy to work with. The 2720/2730 and C series use a more intuitive text entry mode because they have touchscreens.
One area where the Quest-2 shines is that is has a 10,000 point tracklog, which is 5 times that of the rest of Garmin's automotive line-up. The unit will store as much as 1500 miles of history.
Think Hansel-and-Gretel: The log is a series of breadcrumbs that the unit uses to 'remember' where you've been and when. With this information you can ask the unit to provide a reverse track, so you can find your way back using the same route you used to get where you wound up.
I personally place a lot of emphasis on the tracklog. I once managed to get out of a speeding ticket because of the tracklog data. It proved to the judge that I wasn't going as fast as the officer claimed.
The display is very bright, but very tiny. Also the antenna is a bit spindly. I use a 276c on my motorcycle because it has a HUGE (larger than any of the others) extremely high resolution display. I find that the Quest display is just too small.
But the small size has benefits too. If you are looking for an all purpose navigator that can be used as a handheld, has everything required for continental navigation but also supports topographic maps and is waterproof (an absolute requirement for handheld, marine or motorcycle operation - the C series, I series and Nuvi are NOT waterproof) then this device should be on your short-list.
The 276c/376c navigators are my current units of choice (I'm also evaluating a 2730 as I write this), but if I had to travel a lot (and if my eyes were a bit better at focusing on small, almost unreadable text) the Quest-2 would be the navigator best suited to my needs.
Even though Garmin has started shipping their even smaller Nuvi, the Quest 2 remains an interesting choice for people who need to carry their navigators between cities.
Portable, which means that it can be used when away from other supporting resources, rather than 'transportable' which means that it can be moved between cars and boats that must power the unit, this is truly a tiny unit.
When the original Quest was released it represented a challenge, because with only 115 megs of total memory, you couldn't load all that much area - so a multi-state trip required that you carry a computer since unlike Garmin's previous units, this device doesn't accept memory cards that could be preloaded and swapped out as necessary. The 276c, 290 & 376c still use those cards, because of their marine and aircraft heritage.
Enter the Quest-2.
Quest 2 is the same basic device as the original; the same physical dimensions; the same rechargeable battery that will operate the unit for up to 20 hours; the same (I hate it) miniscule display; the same rather spindly fold-out antenna, with one major difference;
Equipped with enough non-volatile memory to hold the entire pre-programmed road maps for all of North America (which seems to be the emerging norm for Garmin) it also has 140 megs of available space for any additional maps you may require, such as marine, topographic maps or maps for places beyond the coverage in the unit as supplied.
(Unlike the older 2620 it doesn't have a hard drive and you don't have to worry about what happens if you discharge the battery, unlike my old Treo 600).
Note that there is a drawback to Garmin's latest 'all maps onboard' concepts. You no longer receive a copy of the maps on CD (now DVD) so unless you pay extra, you will not be able to plan routes on your PC and send them to the navigator – that's a serious lack in my opinion.
I won't go into the purpose or operational background niceties of the GPS system - and I wrote a very detailed review of the older Streetpilot-III a couple of years ago which describes the underlying operation of the GPS network itself - feel free to read that review and I'll save Epinions from having to store the information yet another time. I've also written reviews of other Garmin navigators.
I LOVE GPS navigation. I ride motorcycles for pleasure and I love to explore. While paper maps are nice, they require that you know where you are before you can start to figure out how to get to where you want to go.
I tend to ride on any roads that 'interest' me and when I start to get low on fuel I can ask the device where the nearest gas station is. It will tell me where food is to be found and some models (376c) can even display the local weather so you can avoid rain showers!! Try to get THAT from a paper map in a Rand-McNally Road Atlas!!
So suffice it to say that navigators are used to let you know where you are and how to get where you are going. In general they ALL do a good job, even if the routes they provide aren't always the very best - you do get where you set out to go.
About the best illustration I can give is the story of when a co-worker was coming to my home. He asked how to get there and after trying to give him directions (blank stare in return) and suggesting he follow me (what if we get separated?) I simply unplugged my unit, pressed the find key twice and answered 'yes' to the routing prompt, handed him my unit and told him to put it on his dash and to do what it told him to. He got to my home before I did!
The Quest uses a 2 dimensional (top view) map display mode. Garmin's latest automotive units, like the C series, 2720, 2730 and such support a 3D display mode that is somewhat more intuitive. Also, the Quest will announce the distance and turn information while the latest series from Garmin will announce street names. The Quest-2 uses the same joystick-style entry mode that the 276c/376c/Streetpilot and such use which is a bit tedious, but is very easy to work with. The 2720/2730 and C series use a more intuitive text entry mode because they have touchscreens.
One area where the Quest-2 shines is that is has a 10,000 point tracklog, which is 5 times that of the rest of Garmin's automotive line-up. The unit will store as much as 1500 miles of history.
Think Hansel-and-Gretel: The log is a series of breadcrumbs that the unit uses to 'remember' where you've been and when. With this information you can ask the unit to provide a reverse track, so you can find your way back using the same route you used to get where you wound up.
I personally place a lot of emphasis on the tracklog. I once managed to get out of a speeding ticket because of the tracklog data. It proved to the judge that I wasn't going as fast as the officer claimed.
The display is very bright, but very tiny. Also the antenna is a bit spindly. I use a 276c on my motorcycle because it has a HUGE (larger than any of the others) extremely high resolution display. I find that the Quest display is just too small.
But the small size has benefits too. If you are looking for an all purpose navigator that can be used as a handheld, has everything required for continental navigation but also supports topographic maps and is waterproof (an absolute requirement for handheld, marine or motorcycle operation - the C series, I series and Nuvi are NOT waterproof) then this device should be on your short-list.
The 276c/376c navigators are my current units of choice (I'm also evaluating a 2730 as I write this), but if I had to travel a lot (and if my eyes were a bit better at focusing on small, almost unreadable text) the Quest-2 would be the navigator best suited to my needs.
