Category: GPS

Well, I’ve updated the software (firmware?) on the 2730 using Garmin’s Webupdater and it works very well. There had been a number of software updates since my unit was manufactured and it was very easy to bring my unit up to date. I also updated two voice files, American and British english TTS (text-to-speech).

I’ve noticed some additional differences between this unit and the 2610, so I’ll continue my comparison now.

• The screen resolution is significantly better. The 2610’s resolution was 305 x 160 pixels with 256 colors; the 2730’s resolution is 454 x 240 pixels with 64,000 colors. Even though some of the text is smaller, the higher resolution makes it easier to read.
• Also, since the screen resolution is higher, the actual number of pixels used to display the map is higher than on the 2610. To me, this mitigates the fact that the tabs were transparent on the 2610, and have a black background on the 2730.
• The buttons on the right side of the unit are backlit on the 2730, not so on the 2610. It does make it easier to operate the unit in dim lighting conditions.

I loaded the new maps onto my laptop, and the v8 NT maps happily coexist in Mapsource alongside the v7 and v8 maps I had for the 2610. I will probably delete the v7 and v8 maps, once I’ve made sure I can use my saved routes and tracks with the new maps.

My new Garmin 2730 gps arrived this morning, and I’ve been comparing it with the Garmin 2610 I just sold. It isn’t the latest and greatest from Garmin, but since the technology is changing fairly rapidly it becomes very expensive to play the “I want the latest and greatest game”. I’m quite comfortable to have last year’s model for less than half of last year’s price. My initial impressions are:

• The interface seems more polished, and it’s a nice touch that the “stop” button to forgo following a route is on the menu page, not another level down.
• When navigating on a route, and a turn is approaching, the voice now speaks the name of the road, street, highway, or interstate you are to turn onto. The 2610 just said “right turn”, the 2730 says “right turn onto Main Street”. Not huge, really, but perhaps helpful if there are closely-spaced and poorly-signed crossroads in your route.
• I am disappointed that the “tabs” containing information such as speed, altitude, time to turn, distance to turn, etc. are not transparent, but have a black background. On the 2610 the tabs had a transparent background and you could “see” the map behind the tab. This change has the net effect of making the map section of the screen smaller. On the 2610, you could “hide” a tab by touching the right side of the screen and just like a manila folder, there would be a tab graphic that, when touched, would unhide the tab and make it visible again. Touching the tab now takes you to either the “dashboard” or the turn information, depending on which tab you touch.
• This unit comes with the GXM30 XM receiver/antenna and once activated through XM the gps will control the XM receiver in the “puck”. I intend to use the gps on my Goldwing and also in my truck, so I have put together a mounting system that will easily go from one to the other.

Once I’ve used it a bit more and saved some waypoints I will undoubtedly have additional comments, so stay tuned.

I bought a Garmin 2610 gps system on eBay, and received it yesterday. After installing the mapping software on my laptop, and a bit of futzing around to get it unlocked, I loaded maps into the gps and took a short drive to see how it works. Actually, I’m impressed. I will undoubtedly learn to use the features of this unit over time, there are a lot of options to set. Basic operation is fairly intuitive, but learning the other features will make it even more useful.

By all accounts, this is one of the best units for use on a motorcycle as it uses compactflash (CF) cards to hold the map files, rather than an internal hard drive. Hard drives are not as forgiving to motorcycle vibration.

Mounting it will take some thought to get it right. I will probably just buy an AC adapter and cut the cord off to hardwire it into the bike’s electrical system. You can buy a power cord but it’s more than twice the AC adapter’s price and the power cord includes an audio connection that I won’t use on the bike anyway. Also, if it were to be stolen or damaged, my insurance only covers it if it is hardwired. Cigarette lighter plugs and sockets don’t count. Think about that before you wire up a socket for your gps power.