Garmin StreetPilot 2610 Portable Automotive Navigation System

Easy Access To A Wealth Of Information

With the Garmin StreetPilot2610's touchscreen and remote control, your access to in-car navigation information has never been so easy. The turn-by-turn routing and voice prompts make it perfect for business or vacation, getting you where you're going accurately and safely. This StreetPilot was specifically designed to replace--at a lower cost--the combination GPS unit/laptop computer/mapping software systems that many people use to maneuver around the country today. Built-in Americas Autoroute software stores an incredible array of data, including: state and country boundaries, lakes, rivers, streams, airports, cities, towns, coastlines, state and interstate highways, local thoroughfares and secondary roads within metro areas, and interstate highway exit information for services such as food, lodging, gas, and other automotive services. Also downloadable to the unit from the included Garmin PC-based MapSource City Navigator CD-ROM is street-level detail for addresses, lists of the nearest hotels and restaurants, ATMs, and more. CompactFlash Cards are required to store downloaded information and the StreetPilot2610 comes complete with a 128MB CF card.

Crosstown Or Cross-Country, Couldn't Be Simpler

Operating the StreetPilot2610 couldn't be more straightforward. When the unit is turned on, a Garmin introductory screen displays, followed by a screen with memory card data, and then a screen warning not to enter information while driving. After a short timeout, you go directly to the map page. There's no need to press any buttons to get to the navigation screens, although you can press "OK" a couple of times to speed the process. Major functions are controlled by four buttons: Page/mark, Menu/route, Find/recent, and Speak/volume. The routing system is direct and simple to use. You enter an address, an intersection, select a restaurant, hotel, or other point of interest using either the touchscreen or remote control and select "Route." The unit automatically locates your destination and generates a turn-by-turn route from where ever you are, giving you both audio and visual directions. With City Navigator, you'll have the most detailed highway and street-level maps currently available for the USA; and the StreetPilot2610 allows you to route using both detail maps and the built-in base map. This means you can automatically route from and address in Miami to an address in Seattle with only the Miami and Seattle City Navigator map sections downloaded into the unit. The basemap provides information for all highway routing between metro areas without the need to download data for intermediate, non-destination, metro areas.

What's Going To Be Displayed?

Here's a sample of what the StreetPilot2610 can show you as you go down the road. The map on the left half of the screen shows your progress and a thick pink line shows your projected route. Text information is displayed on the right: speed, time and distance to go to next turn, and written directions or other information as required. You can press the "Speak" button at any time to get the latest directions in audio form. Text information size can be varied from about one-third of the screen to just the upper right corner. As you approach each turn, a colored arrow appears on the left side of the screen showing the turn direction and distance to go. A half-screen pop-up also displays for a moment with information specific to that turn. You can select a moving map to trace your course over the ground. Saved waypoints are displayed on the moving map as they come into range of the map scale selected. The map screen will pan and zoom, and provides scales from 120 feet (about one-half inch on the screen) to around 800 miles (screen width). Sliding your finger on the touchscreen will pan the screen in the direction you choose. If you're on a route, automatic voice instructions continue during panning. To put the display back into normal tracking mode, just press the upper left corner of the touchscreen. You can orient the display either to north up or current track up; and there's an impressive array of customizable features including: autozoom, map detail control, tracklog on or off, street label size, railroads on or off, and display or don't display map highlights such as restaurants, hotels, shopping centers, gas stations, or other points of interest. When you're not following a route, a driving status line on the map screen will tell you what street you're on and your direction of travel. Side street names are also displayed as you approach them, particularly helpful in an unfamilar area or at night.

Sunshine's Not A Problem, Off Road Is

You don't have to hope for cloudly weather so you'll be able to see the display on the StreetPilot2610; it's designed for use in full sunshine and the display has both brightness and contrast controls. If the unit is placed in the middle of the dashboard and forward, the viewing angle is usually such that both the driver and passenger can see the display. You can select route preferences like avoiding U-turns, toll roads, highways, and unpaved roads. There's a detour feature that will reroute you around road work or other obstructions. You select from several detour distance values and the unit will automatically take the best available alternate route for the selected detour distance. You can identify waypoints with a ten-character name and any of 45 symbols (like a gas pump, or boat, or house) and the unit will "jump" to any named waypoint you select. And for those of you who were wondering, the touchscreen works just fine when you have gloves on . . . in the rain . . . on a motorcycle. But there is one thing the StreetPilot2610 isn't good at, and that's driving off road. The device is a road navigation unit by definition; it's also unsuitable for hiking and marine use. For off-road navigation, you'll want one of Garmin's many full-fledged GPS units. Happily, however, the unit is altitude-rated to 60,000 feet (twice as high as Mount Everest) and speed-rated to 999 knots (faster than Mach 1.6). The backlit display is design-rated for 100,000 hours (more than 11 years of continuous use). You shouldn't be wearing out this unit any time soon.

All This Without Batteries

Unlike previous StreetPilots, the 2610 is designed without internal batteries; and because it uses flash memory internally, there's no memory backup battery either. (The separate remote control does use a battery.) It works only when plugged into a 12/24 VDC external power source via the included cable. The unit turns on and off automatically with power application, but there's also a manual power switch. And speaking of the power cable, that's where the speaker is located, near the plug for the vehicle's power point (nee cigarette lighter). The audio output shares the connector with the power input. There's no provision for external audio output, but the power cable speaker delivers the feminine-voiced audio clearly with enough volume for the noisiest vehicle. Get the Garmin StreetPilot 2610 and never stop to ask for directions again--ever!

Included With Purchase

Alphanumeric remote control, 12/24 VDC power cable with external speaker, PC/USB interface cable, AC power adapter, integrated dash mount, portable beanbag (friction) mount, Americas Autoroute basemap, MapSource City Navigator North America with full coverage and full unlock, 128MB CompactFlash memory card.