Customer Reviews
Quest & Quo Vadis
Prior to purchasing the Garmin Quest, I used the Garmin V Deluxe extensively for over two years. Although it is not fair to compare the former to the latter, I will say that the Quest is significantly superior to the V in virtually all aspects.
Short Answer:
Unless you intend to go hiking, the Quest is well worth the extra money.
Long Answer:
Pros: The Quest has a high resolution display that is easy to read both during day and night conditions. The auto change from day mode to night mode is a very handy feature! The large storage capacity ensures you will rarely, if ever, go off-map (unlike the Garmin V). The initial acquisition time is good. The route calculation and re-calculation time is very good. The user interface is very friendly and easy to navigate. The battery life is very good. The Route Display does a good job of indicating your upcoming turns. Washington, DC is a great testing ground. Streets merge, run parallel and diverge...All within 50 yards. Quest handles this challenge fairly well. The USB connection works very well, and loads the map data very fast.
Cons: Like most GPS units, there is a slight lag in the position reporting, and by extension, route guidance. This accuracy lag is a function of signal strength. Signal strength is affected by the number of satellites available, obstructions (i.e. buildings) and antenna placement. On occasion, the Quest's turn guidance came too late. Fortunately, the route re-calculation helps you get back on track.
Unlike the Garmin V, when you set the Quest to display all the data (heading, etc...), you end up with a lot less map view than I would like or expect. When I disabled this, I got a lot better map view. But when I use it to navigate, I miss having the key information displayed on the main map.
I think Garmin can address this with by tweaking the display scheme. Unless you are significantly far-sighted, in which case you would be hard pressed to read the dashboard display, I think Garmin can tighten things up. This is, in a way, a good news/bad news story for Garmin. This is a minor detail, but the high quality of the Garmin's unit has led me to the point where I must get picky.
The Way Things Ought To Be versus The Way Things Really Are:
There are two ways to get the most out of a feature rich piece of technology like the Garmin Quest. Find someone to show you the cool features, or read the manual. I've found the manuals have gotten better, and if you invest the time at the front end, before your really need to depend on the device, you'll be far more satisfied.
GPS navigation units are only as good as the mapping data and the strength of the signal. Like other reviewers, I find it annoying that the mapping software doesn't have current information about stores and restaurants that have come and gone. I actually find it humorous when Quest tries to send me down a one-way street - the wrong way. Fortunately, it's only happened a couple of times, and I already knew the area.
Speaking of knowing the area, I've confirmed that if you know the area, you can navigate a better route. If you're going somewhere unfamiliar, you might not get there as fast, but you'll come fairly close. I suppose I take it as a measure of pride that technology has not yet supplanted the human brain and local area knowledge.
But let's be reasonable...You can always find a work-around. Even if GPS doesn't display the actual store, you can find it. If I know the general location of a store, I pick a location in the immediate vicinity. That typically does the trick.
Now you know...
Hardware great-software mediocre.
I recently purchesed the Garmin Quest and after using it for a month I have mixed feelings about it. First the hardware is excellent It has a great design, easy to see screen and performs well. The biggest drawback is the Mapsource software that is included with it. First of all you get the older version 6 rather than the newer version 7. I had to download a patch to bring it up to version 6.9.1 I won't being paying the big price to update to version 7 unless I'm assured of a major database update.
It will do the usual mapping quirks like wanting to drag you through the middle of large cities rather than going around on beltways. It can be very useful to have street names pop up before you get to them. The road system seems to be fairly accurate in my neighborhood except for the exit numbers on Interstate 70. Now I understand that if you somehow managed to get a perfect map of the country today then by tomorrow it would be out of date. And yes Pennsylvania was probably the last state to replace sequential exit numbers with mileage numbers but this was done a couple years ago but the included maps still use the old sequential numbering system on I70. A relative lives in a housing plan in Troy, VA that has been around for many years but none of the streets appear on the map. But to be fair MapQuest or MapsOnUs are not aware of it either. A nice feature is that when you use the computer version to map out a route you can automatically select the maps along this route to load into the Garmin.
The biggest fault in the mapping is in finding commercial places. Montgomery Wards has been out of business for quite a while yet MapSouce still displays their store locations. You'd think that the many updates to version 6 that have occurred at least one of them would have addressed this and other errors. The shear number of inconsistencies within 20 miles of my home, from a including a post office that hasn't been in operation in years to not including a Sunoco station that has been in business for 30 years, leads me to believe that I can't put much trust in the places given by MapSource. If someone is supposed to be updating the database they should be canned because they are fairly incompetent.
The usefulness of the "find places" is limited in that there is no filtering. For example if I am seeking lodging I can only find one at a time and only get to the map by closing off the "Find Nearest Places" menu. I then see only the motel I asked for along with auto parts dealers and other unrelated places. Why not filter things so I only see motels on the map? Did anybody in charge not see how useful this would be?
In conclusion since I'm sort of a techno-geek I do enjoy having a GPS device. But I'm not throwing away my paper maps or AAA tour books when we take our trip across the country this summer.
Practical and Affordablebut yet very Portable GPS
Practical and Affordable
I purchased this unit after lengthy research.
I took it with me while driving across 6 states and loaded the maps of my route spanning 5 states.
This unit showed me all that am required for someone unknown to the area. I could trust it with all my heart after my trip across the country driving through Indiana, Ohio, NJ, and New York.
I was able to easily switch it to my friend' car and then carry it with me in side my house.
You could buy this unit if:
1> you do not mind loading maps of area as and when you need it.
2> Like to have portability compared to full scale features.
