Garmin 2720: How Much Internal Memory?

[questrider]

I'm ready to pull the trigger on getting the 2720 and I just have a few questions.

 

In all of the literature for the Garmin 2720, it states "The StreetPilot 2720 comes preprogrammed with City Navigator™ North America NT maps—containing detailed road maps throughout the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. This map database features nearly six million POIs —including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, and attractions." So unlike the 2610, which needed a 2GB expansion card, the 2720 has "Map Storage: Pre-programmed internal memory" while also having "750 MB available for other optional MapSource products".

 

I'm not sure I understand what all of that means. How much internal memory is there in the 2720? 2GB, just like the expansion card capacity on the 2610 for all of those detailed maps? And what is this "750 MB available for other optional MapSource products"? What would you use that for with optional MapSource products?

 

I must say I liked the 276c for the bigger screen and battery option for use off the bike hiking or bicycling, however, I don't like the 512MB expansion card limit or that it doesn't have a touchscreen.

 

Oh, decisions, decisions!

[Jerry Johnston]

Don't take this to the bank but I'd guess 2gb because it takes 1.5gb to hold City Nav. Ver7 and they say you have over 400mb left. It's so easy to load your own memory chips and have a few backup chips maybe with trips you've taken I would prefer that over a fixed amount. Besides the fact that the 2720 is more sensitive to vibration.

[John Bentall]

Besides the fact that the 2720 is more sensitive to vibration.

The 2720 should not be more sensitive to vibration, because, unlike the 2620 which ran a "sensitive" micro hard drive, this model has its 2Gb on solid state card.

[velomoto]

Oh, decisions, decisions!

 

Magnuson,

 

I just got the 2720 and so far am really impressed with the unit. Love the touch screen for in the car - not tested on a bike.

 

My "ideal" unit would've been a morph of the 276 and 2720: all internal memory so I don't need to buy anything else, off-road and battery power features of the 276, touchscreen...

 

My understanding is that the extra 750MB of memory is where trip info and personal favorites get stored. I planned my recent trip to Chicago on my PC and then downloaded it into the unit (location and name of hotel, rental car, and other points of interest "POI's"). I expect this data went into part of that 750MB portion of memory.

 

Another use for the "extra" memory would be to store other maps. For example, the North America unit comes pre-loaded with complete maps of the US and Canada. Units delivered to Europe will have the European maps pre-loaded. Should one want to use the unit in another area - say take an America unit to Europe, then one would need to purchase and load the appropriate map(s) into the available space.

 

Future updates to the pre-loaded maps will only get larger, so I would expect that the available user space would shrink.

 

Regarding the vibration comment - I think Jerry was thinking of the 2620 which has a micro-drive instead of flash. The 2720 uses flash and should be no more sensitive to vibration than the 2610 and 276.

 

IMHO, I don't think one can go wrong with either 2720 and 276. The one thing I've read is that the route finding algorythm is different in the two units and thus one may get different routes. I've noticed if I tell the Garmin unit to do shortest "time" instead of "distance" I do get different routes, which also may vary from what one gets with Google Maps or Mapquest. So many toys, so little time...

 

Hope this helps,

Greg

[questrider]

Thanks for the responses, everybody. So I guess the answer is that no one really knows for sure how much memory is in the 2720? Is it an industry secret or something?

 

And do I not understand this stuff correctly? Does the 276c come with all the maps preloaded on a solid-state card like the 2720 and the 512MB card is used to store the routes, or does the 276c have no memory except for the 512MB card and you can only store map sections of the US, not the complete map? And does the 2720 have the ability to load a flash card for future memory expansion?

[smiller]

And do I not understand this stuff correctly? Does the 276c come with all the maps preloaded on a solid-state card like the 2720 and the 512MB card is used to store the routes, or does the 276c have no memory except for the 512MB card and you can only store map sections of the US, not the complete map? And does the 2720 have the ability to load a flash card for future memory expansion?

The 276/376 have an internal basemap at a highway level but no detailed maps. Detailed and auto-routing maps need to go on an external memory card. These are proprietary so they have to come from Garmin and the largest is 512mb, which is large enough to hold a sizable chunk of the country so enough for most trips without reloading but you can't load the entire US. The 2720 contains the entire US & Canada with 750 mb left over for additional maps (such as Topo), or MP3 music files, or whatever. I don't think you can expand beyond this, though.

[MattS]

So I guess the answer is that no one really knows for sure how much memory is in the 2720?

750MB of approximate free memory for maps on the 2720. What do I win? (Edit: Send the winnings to Central Texas.)

 

As far as the general questions ... routes/tracks/waypoints DO NOT live on memory cards, which are the exclusive domain of maps (and MP3 files on the 2730). Each unit has a limit on routes (like 20-50), waypoints (500-3000) and tracks (various) that cannot be altered.

 

The 276C/376C not only does not come with maps pre-loaded, they do not come with maps AT ALL ... must be purchased separately (starting at around $110 and up, not including the Garmin proprietary memory card to store them).

 

Depending on what mapping software you are using, it may or may not fit in that particular GPS: the North American autorouting packages run 1.6GB on the desktop and about 1.5GB installed ... if it's a preloaded unit then the additional memory (750MB on the 2720) can be used for other map packages, for example City Navigator Europe or Topo.

 

Finally, in lieu of a flash card on the 2720 is that block of 750MB free memory. The built-in database is updated ($75) once a year via a DVD. You cannot delete this database and access that additional memory.

[velomoto]

So I guess the answer is that no one really knows for sure how much memory is in the 2720?

 

Finally, in lieu of a flash card on the 2720 is that block of 750MB free memory. The built-in database is updated ($75) once a year via a DVD. You cannot delete this database and access that additional memory.

 

The 2720 does NOT accept additional flash memory - you get what you get!

 

The 2720 uses new "NT" maps - no idea how this differs from the "other" (normal?) maps, but I could speculate all day... Bottom line on the 2720:

1. Maps come pre-loaded and can NOT be uninstalled (read: one can not change an American unit into a Euro unit).

2. There is approx 750MB to load additional maps and info.

 

The 276 on the other hand requires the purchase of a flash chip and maps. There are "auto" and "motorcycle" packages available from various sources but when I shopped around I could not find a 276 package which would include the 512MB card, thus the price for the 276 came out significantly higher. YMMV.

 

Greg

[MattS]

The 2720 uses new "NT" maps - no idea how this differs from the "other" (normal?) maps, but I could speculate all day...

I couldn't.

 

Word is that the NT versions are compatible with the traffic interface, versions sans NT are not.

[Bill_Walker]

The 2720 uses new "NT" maps - no idea how this differs from the "other" (normal?) maps, but I could speculate all day...

I couldn't.

 

Word is that the NT versions are compatible with the traffic interface, versions sans NT are not.

 

NT stands for New Technology (hmm, haven't I heard that somewhere before?). Since available memory for storing maps is coming in bigger pieces, there's less need to be able to put only the exact parts of the map you need for a particular trip into memory. Garmin took advantage of this to make it easier to be sure you've loaded all the maps you need (but they may take up more space). Their prior maps were broken into hundreds of very small, individually-selectable and loadable chunks. This gave very fine control over how much space they took up, but when selecting which chunks to load, it was very easy to miss some tiny ones. The NT maps are broken into fewer, larger chunks. None of this will mean a darn thing to you unless you're using Mapsource to load maps into your GPS.

 

Now to the speculation: it may be that the NT "chunks" correspond to regions for which traffic info is (or is to be) provided.

[Jerry Johnston]

Regarding the vibration comment - I think Jerry was thinking of the 2620 which has a micro-drive instead of flash. The 2720 uses flash and should be no more sensitive to vibration than the 2610 and 276.

I stand corrected - you're right I WAS thinking of the 2620