Customer Reviews
Garmin 2730 is GPS (Great Product 4 Sure)!
I'm really delighted with the product. Before purchasing, I did as much research as I could regarding the various manufacturers and their product offerings:
Pros:
1. I love it!
2. It works well and if you veer off the calculated course, due to your personal knowledge of the area, it recalculates very quickly and ultimately gets you to where you want to be.
3. I'm learning the name of streets that I never knew before due to the text-to-speech feature!!
4. When traveling alone, one doesn't have to fumble with a map while trying to find streets, etc., and divert attention from driving safely.
Cons:
When I first got it, I had a terrible time trying to acquire satellites. At some point, the unit told me that it could not find any satellites and asked if had I traveled thousands of miles. I thought, no, I've been sitting here all the while and responded accordingly. Again, the same problem. Then, after a while, when it asked me again, I answered yes, and then the unit was off and running within a minute or so with satellite acquisiton. It's a minor point, but it wasn't anything addressed in the user manual.
1. The wire for the external, auxilliary antenna has a mind of its own. It doesn't always stay put in the jack. Having said that, the user manual doesn't show where the antenna jack is. I think it's the same plug for the headset, but I'll never use a headset, and, satellite acquisition seems to be quicker and plentiful when using this jack, so I'll continue to use it.
2. The auxilliary antenna can be mounted via a windshield bracket (with suction cups) OR magnet. "OR" because, you have to do one or the other. The antenna attaches to either via two, miniscule screws that you have to screw in. So, since the bracket is plastic and not with some metal, you have to screw the antenna either to the bracket or the magnet and use accordingly. If you should change your mind, be sure to bring a very small philips head screw driver, nimble fingers and good eyesight. I almost lost one of the screws when first opening the package since I didn't expect the mounting to be of this nature and the screws were in the same bag with the magnet and not separately wrapped. Tear into the plastic too vigorously and the screws may go flying!
3. POIs are touted in the literature, etc., but not readily available for the US. AND, you can't create one on the fly. AND, the documentation doesn't address how to create a file to upload with POI's. And even if you could, it appears you need co-ordinates instead of an address in order to create a POI. So, things like school zones, etc., can't be easily put in on the fly so that you're made aware of these areas the next time you pass through.
4. The unit can play over your FM radio, XM satellite stations, with a subscription. But, the unit has no internal speaker or battery, so you can ONLY play it in the car and not away from the car, unless, you plug in the AC adapter, and place it near a receiver in your home?? I tried the FM receiver in the car for the text-to-speech travel instructions and the sound was weak.
5. The confirmation clicks when programming it are only heard when used in the car, since the speaker is contained in the cigarette lighter power adaptor.
6. The GXM antenna for the XM radio/traffic information has a relatively short wire and it needs a clear line of sight to the sky. So, if you're riding with a passenger, and put the antenna on the roof (antenna has magnetic bottom) through the passenger window, it's going to be right in the passenger's face. There's an extension available, but it's confounding why they wouldn't give you an extra 2-3 feet on the wire for starters. The extension gives another 8-9 feet at about $40 or so.
7. The trip computer provides helpful information. It calculates total trip time, moving time, stopped time, and a couple of speed calculations. The trip computer starts as soon as the trip is calculated by the unit. So, if you create a trip, and then don't leave right away, the total time, stopped time and speeds are going to be off by the amount of time sitting (maybe for reasons of still packing the car or a tardy family member) before getting under way. It would be nice if the unit gave the option when to start the trip computer, i.e., immediately upon calculating a route, OR, when the unit first detects car movement! Using the latter would yield more accurate end-of-trip info.
8. Garmin released an update (ver.4.54) for the software. However, it's a beta version. Their caveat is that it should work but there's always a chance that it doesn't since it's beta and not been released officially yet to the field. (Their disclaimer verbatim: Although this software is believed to be reliable, it has not yet been released for production and should be used at your own risk.) Honestly, I don't want anything that's still in beta and be a tester for software that might freeze the unit, and require more of my time to correct it or have to send it to Garmin (for a fee) to fix it.
9. The XM Traffic feature - according to XM, the coverage is by county and not by roadway. So, if you're on a major roadway such as a turnpike that traverses a large part of the state and cuts through many counties, does that mean that traffic or accidents in those uncovered counties goes unreported to the streetpilot and you find yourself without a traffic alert?? I've opened a subscription, can't answer my question, and will see whether I keep the XMTraffic subscription.
10. I think the User Manual can be a little more informative than it is. There are messages or symbols that appear on the unit that do not have any mention and therefore no explanation in the manual. Yes, the unit works right out of the box, BUT, we all know that there's more to learn in using something like this and the documentation should be more helpful in accomplishing that. And, like others, I downloaded the user's manual way before I decided to buy the unit.So, I was familiar with some of its functions before I even received it, but still needed the manual to find the info and step through some of the additional features.
In conclusion: I've only had the unit for a short time. I'm sure I'll become more familiar with it as time goes by. If I had to do it all over again, I would definitely still choose this unit. I DO like it and find it very helpful. The 'cons' presented above are according to my tastes and preferences. They may not be issues for others.
Pricey, high quality, routing software OK.
This is my first GPS unit. Having used and loved the Magellan units in Hertz rental cars, I watched and waited for prices to go down below the $1k mark. These are my first impressions after using it on 1 trip:
The 2730 worked right out of the box -- I just plugged the power cable into the cig lighter, removed the 2730's snap-on screen protector, slid the unit into the weighted base, placed it on the dashboard and powered it up. In spite of the car being parked in the shadow of a 10-story high-rise, the unit quickly locked onto multiple satellites and gave an accurate location textual and graphical readout.
The included manual could be better organized and have more detailed explanations, but the 2730's front panel button controls are fairly intuitive for basic tasks. Menu navigation is easy. (Note, I did download and skim the manual from Amazon before purchasing the unit. I suggest you do the same.) Haven't used the included remote control yet, and at first glance there may not be much need for it.
The screen is a bit small (for my middle-aged eyes), but once you learn its layout, a quick glance at appropriate spots on the screen gives you useful reference data: next turn instruction (text), distance to next waypoint(number), speed, ETA, etc. I imagine that deeper within the menus the display and choice of data can be modified.
With my wife driving, I entered our travel destination in Tribeca -- lower Manhattan / NYC (40+ miles away). Using the touchscreen was easy and intuitive. The unit's routing calculation was fairly quick. However, we checked the traffic report (on the old fashioned AM radio news station!) and found that the 2730's selected route would take us down the FDR drive which had some congestion. Moreover, the FDR is on the East side, whereas our destination is closer to the West side. The 2730 couldn't be faulted for the congestion, but the East side routing seemed strange. We started off by followed the unit's initial routing instructions (to stay on I-95 south), but soon veered off onto familiar local parkways which we knew would take us over towards the West side of NYC. As soon as we got off-course, the Garmin quickly recalculated, and anticipated the route we intended (which turned out to be a tad longer -- perhaps why it was not chosen in the first place).
The speaker volume (with clearly-spoken instructions) was not very loud for our car's noisy interior, but that is adjustable. Driving down the West Side Highway, the 2730 did not give us sufficient SPOKEN warning to prepare for an upcoming left turn -- however, the left turn instruction was clearly laid out in text on the screen. I got the impression at that particular point that our physical location was a few 100 feet ahead of the GPS coordinates (perhaps due to limited GPS recepiont from our location in NYCity).
I am sure there is much more to discover about the 2730 (I haven't tried Points Of Interest or the XM Satellite radio options). After the first trip, I would say I like the unit, find it to be very high-quality, and sold in a convenient bundle with all of the accessories needed (at least those that are apparent now). Some critiques are that the 2730:
1) screen is small
2) is very expensive
3) apparently has no way to input locations without a specific address (i.e. cannot mark, name and save a current location -- like a camping spot -- in memory)
4) instruction manual has extremely limited information.
Bottom line is if you can spend $1k, it's a very good GPS bundle.
ADDENDUM from Trips 2 and 3 (commuting to and from work):
The routing software chose the fastest, most direct route, using a combination of highway and back roads -- impressive and efficient. The map accuracy is very good, except for a few quirks like calling a company campus entrance road an "alley."
Mounting on the dashboard is good for a heads-up navigation display. The beanbag-style weighted portable base is suitably heavy, BUT the unit can go flying off the dashboard during a sharp turn.
Turning on the WAAS function (for more accurate location reading) significantly slows down initial satellite capture.
Great unit with very little to complain about
This is quite an upgrade from my Streetpilot III. Wonderful screen , intuitive interface, nice backlit remote with a nifty thumbstick, preloaded maps (it actually says the street names), XM radio, MP3/AudioBook player.
My only complaints are:
1) the FM transmitter is pretty weak (I use the audio-out with cassette adapter)
2) Memory is built-in and not expandable. It does have ~750mb of usable space, but it would still be nice if I could use my own memory sticks (CompactFlash, SD, etc...)
So of my measly 2 complaints, only 1 has no workaround. There are tons of little touches/improvements that I don't have the time or energy to go into right now.
It's a 5-star product, no doubt about it.
