Since these two units are nearly similar in price, which one is the better choice? Durability in a motorcycle setting, ease of use, and supportive software/hardware accessories??? Any on the forum with knowledge and experience (a dangerous combination on any subject) please contribute to this post. Thanks in advance.
Well, I don't know much about the Magellan unit but the 2620 is not recommended for use on a motorcycle 'cause of the 2gig microdiscdrive. I'd suggest the 276c for use on the bike as the display works better in direct sunlight and the internals are a bit more durable.
FORGET the Magellan! It's not waterproof.. so using it on a bike is useless.. Garmin tech support recommend the 2610 over the 2620 for use on a bike, since the former takes a compact flash card, and does not use a microdrive (hard drive). These days you can buy a 2 gig CF card which is the same size as the microdrive. MCN reviewed both units and while the Magellan was also highly rated, it cannot be used on the bike if there's a chance of rain.. so to me, that's completely useless..
The 2610 works fine on a bike and uses cheap CF cards. All of North America fits on a 2G card with room to spare. The 276 works great on a bike also, and has a better display - but it's not a touch screen. It's memory is limited to proprietary Garmin memory cards which are smaller.
I'm going to try the Lowrance 500C. This unit seems to have it all and is priced right if you shop around.
GPSdiscount.com has factory refurbished 2610's for $535 fully warrantied, good as new. Does anyone know if this is a reasonable price? A new 2610 on the same site is $645.
I bought my 2610 from Wal-Mart.com for $639.00. I went with Wal-Mart because you can't beat their return policy. Before you buy the 2gb card, play with the unit a little and figure out how much memory you need. The unit comes with all the Interstates & major highways already on it. What you use the cf card for is to load all the fine details. If I leave off a few of the major cities, I can load everything east of the Mississippi on a 512 card. Same thing for out west, leave off L.A., S.F.,Houston, & a couple of other major cities & you can get everything west of the Miss. on the 512 card including Alaska & Canada. If you are traveling from Michigan to Key West, having all the gas stations in California loaded in the unit is a waste of time.Because It's so easy to load maps into the 2610 you can fine tune your routes each time you take a trip. If you are the 1 out of 100,000 riders that have the time to spend 6 months touring the country, then you will need the 2gb card.....