Buy Garmin StreetPilot 2720 Portable GPS NavigatorGarmin StreetPilot 2720 Portable GPS Navigator Product Description:
- internal antenna communicates with up to 12 GPS satellites
- Database of preloaded maps and points-of-interest
- Automatic route recalculation if you miss a turn
- Text-to-speech functionality allows the unit to audibly announce the names of upcoming streets and points of interest
- 454 x 240-pixel touchscreen
Product Description
This new portable GPS navigator features a new autograde, sunlight-readable, color TFT display with auto dimming capability; turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts that actually tell you which street (by name) to turn on (Text-To-Speech); traffic alerts and avoidance in select cities using the optional GTM 10 FM TMC traffic receiver. The StreetPilot 2720 is ready to go, right out of the box since there is no need to download maps. Preloaded detailed maps for the entire United States, Canada and Puerto Rico; Motorists can navigate to a specific address or to an industry-leading database of more than 5 million points of interest – including lodging, restaurants, gas stations, and local attractions. The intuitive, menu-driven touchscreen ensures that navigating the unit is as easy as navigating the road.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
261 of 264 people found the following review helpful.
Good navigator, with several flaws
By Tom Curious
I am currently trying out the Garmin 2720 and the Magellan 6000, both top end units, to see which one I am going to keep. Tough choice ! Both are terrific for routing, have all the advanced features, like text to speech and traffic info option, but neither one is perfect.Here are the pros and cons of the Garmin 2720, as compared to the Magellan Roadmate 6000:Pros:1. The maps of the 2720 are much more readable. On the 6000, it is hard to see which street label belongs to which line. The 6000 is also practically useless to use as a map (just scrolling and zooming around), since it is way too slow and jumpy. The 2720 is perfect in these respects. Scrolling is very smooth. When a destination is entered, the corresponding map is shown, and can be zoomed in. Very cool. I had first tested the 6000, and once I tried the 2720 I could not believe how good it was (or how bad the 6000 was). The map quality is a difference like day and night. With the 6000, I had trouble to understand the map even for the areas I am familiar with, like the block around our home or office.2. Dash mount. I prefer the beanbag mount of the 2720, since it is easy to move from one car to another, or to stow away. Plus, the windshield mount is not legal in CA. For the 6000, no beanbag option is offered yet. With the beanbag mount, the unit does usually sit a little farther away from the driver (at least in my car), but this is no problem with the 2720, since it has a convenient remote control.Cons:1. No battery ! Very annoying that you can program your route on the 2720 only after starting the car. This problem is compounded by the long startup time of the 2720 (around 10 sec vs. 1 second for the 6000), and the fact that the 2720 does not start to navigate until it has a satellite lock. So when I start the car, enter my destination and start driving, there will be no directions. The 2720 then has trouble to get the inital satellite lock while driving, so I have to pull over and wait until it has the lock and gives directions. The 6000 starts navigating from the last known position. Also, I can take the 6000 home and program it from my sofa, then take it with me to the car and start driving.2. Interactive POI: most POI (like restaurants) are not displayed on the 2720 map. You need to search for them via menu, and then get a list. On the 6000, you see the icons for restaurants, gas station etc. displayed right on the map, and you can click on an icon to get details or to have the 6000 plot the route to them.3. POI search. On the 2720, you can only search for POI around your current location, or any other specific location that you need to enter first. If you don't know the approximate location, you are out of luck. With the 6000, you can enter a restaurant name and bring up matches for the whole state. I used it to find a restaurant in a city 300 miles away, and it only took a few seconds. On the 2720, it was very difficult to find it at all.4. Destination search. If you enter a city or street that does not exist (due to typo), the 2720 will bring up a prompt "Not found". The 6000 is much smarter and does not even let you enter something invalid. If you enter the first city letter, for example, then it presents only those letters for your choice of the 2nd letter that correspond to actual cities in the database, others are grayed out. Very convenient.5. Destination entry order. With the 6000, you enter the street first. You can omit prefixes like N or S. It will then show you the available range of numbers. This is very convenient if you just want to drive to a certain street (i.e. you know that a certain restaurant is on that street), but don't know the number. Enter the street first on the 6000, then pick some number in the middle of the available range and go. It will also figure out the street prefix based on the number. With the 2720, you need to enter the number first, and then later you get a prompt to correct it if it was invalid.6. Locate button. The 6000 has one. Press it, and it shows you city and nearby street and other details, and you can also save it. The 2720 has no such feature.7. Route options. Both have "shortest time" or "shortest distance" options, but only the 6000 also has options "prefer freeways" and "avoid freeways".8. Screen size. The 6000 screen is a bit larger.I have not made a decision yet. Even though there are only two areas where the 2720 has the advantage over the 6000, these two points weigh heavily. Especially the map readability, since this is one of the main reasons to have a GPS. As I said, tough choice.UPDATE AS OF 08/21/06:I returned the Magellan 6000. Due to the poor map display, it was of little use, no matter what features it offered.The 2720, even with the shortcommings listed above, is much more usable and even enjoyable in daily use. I have also updated it's firmware with the latest version from the Garmin website (was very easy to do), and now at least item 3 (POI search) is pretty much fixed. It still takes quite long to find a POI that is far away (2 minutes vs. 10 seconds on the 6000, for a POI 300 miles away). But at least you can find it at all, plus it gives an indication of the increasing search radius while it is searching. Since such a search scenario is pretty infrequent, I can live with the delay. The fact that Garmin improved the firmware also makes me hopefull that some of the other shortcommings can be fixed over time (except for the missing battery of course).As for the missing battery, we compared the 2720 against the Garmin nuvi 360, which has a very similar feature set and operation, but includes a battery. The nuvi 360 has some advantages, it's ideal for carrying around and has a few extras like MP3 player. Still, our verdict was to stick with the 2720. This was mosty my wife's decision who by now has fallen in love with the 2720. It was due to the follwing advantages the 2720 has over the nuvi:- 2720 has a larger and brighter display- 2720 sits very secure on it's beanbag mount and can be moved easily to another vehicle. It feels and is more robust.- 2720 includes the City Navigator on DVD, where you can plan your route ahead of time and make changes, then download it to the 2720. This is invaluable for larger trips. Even if you don't make any changes, it is very helpful to preview the route on the larger computer screen, zoom into sections etc. We tried it for one route and found it to be terrific. (Only inconvenience again is that you need to connect the unit to an AC adaptor in addition to the computer as it has no battery)- The audio is a bit better, due to the larger speakerSo bottom line, we decided on this GPS, the Garmin Street Pilot 2720. I'll keep it a 3 stars for it's missing battery and other smaller shortcommings, but after our research it's still the best unit out there.UPDATE AS OF 08/28/06:We have now completed our first longer trip with the 2720, and it worked out great. So we are confident that we made the right decision. Routing was efficient, it picked the perfect routes and guided us flawlessly. The best part however, as compared to other devices, is the terrific quality of the map display. It looks that the 2720 is smart enough to always show the right angle and zoom, depending where you are (on highway, approaching a ramp, in rural area, in city streets etc), to give you the most information. Also, the map is very easy and quick to grasp, even in an unfamiliar area, which is important while driving. Just to give an example: While on the highway, traffic was slowing, and we could see a jam ahead. There was also an exit just comming up. Wondering if I should take it, I glanced at the 2720 and saw that it displayed the exit, highlighted a parallel street a few blocks away, and even showed at a bird's eye view how that street would merge back onto our highway a few miles away. So I just took the exit, and the 2720 recalculated the route immediately and guided me on the parallel road and then back onto the highway later. Voila, the jam was gone. I did not have to press any button or interact with the 2720 in any way while doing the detour. I guess when using the traffic info feature, the 2720 would even do such recommendation proactively, but I have not tried this yet. It works just fine the way it is.To round this review up, during daily use we have found that we do not miss the few firmware shortcommings that much (and Garmin is improving on them). The battery we do miss a bit, but less than we originally thought. You will have to decide for yourself, of course. We found that once the novelty of the GPS wears off, we no longer carry the unit home that much to play with it (for which we'd miss the battery). And while driving, we just enjoy the precise directions and the terrific map.
381 of 389 people found the following review helpful.
It's time to buy an in-car navigator
By R. Reece
I have been playing around with GPS for 5 years. Until I got this Garmin 2720, it's all just been a waste of money.The 2720 is a great practical tool. I travel all the time, and finally, I've been liberated from MapQuest, Yahoo Maps and Microsoft Streets & Maps. This is a practical tool that really works.My last purchase was a Belkin Bluetooth GPS receiver to connect too my iPaq. A total waste of money, as were my previous GPS toys.The 2720 is the first GPS product I've bought that really makes sense. It's simple, and easy to use, and it's ready to go right out of the box.The screen is readable in all lighting conditions, and the 3D view is easy to read at a glance. The text-to-speech feature really makes it. You really don't have to look at the screen that often. It speaks the names of the streets and tells you where to turn exactly how to get to your destination.You'll want to enable WAAS right away (It's disabled initially in the default settings) because it keeps the system from spontaneously recalculating your route and taking you on wild goose chases. After enabling WAAS, it has been very accurate.The user interface is very intuitive and easy to use, and you really don't need a manual. I really love the ability to find nearby restaurants and shopping places.The beanbag mount is great for all the cars I rent on business trips... Just slap it on the dashboard, plug it in and go. I was considering a Garmin C340 initially, but for the small difference in price, why buy a crippled low-end, hard-to-read-in-sunlight unit? You'll be sorry you didn't go for the 2720 if you buy a C330 or C340. The 2720 has the same easy-to-use interface as the C3xx with a much more readable screen, and far more features.Honestly, I can't find anything wrong with this unit. Buy one. You'll be glad you did.
85 of 86 people found the following review helpful.AWESOME PRODUCT!!
By Barbara A. Blackburn
What in the world are the people giving one star ratings reviewing?Surely they don't have the same GPS I recieved a few days ago. I'm sure they think their complaints are valid -- I just don't see it.I've been using m[ine for four days and love. RIght out of the box and on my dash in forty minutes. Would have been even quicker but I took time t read the reviews and update the firmware to the latest version as well as the new voice (JILL) from Garmin's site. Perhaps that's what made the difference.No freezes. No unexpected reboots. Been smooth sailing all the way.A few things that weren't documented.The GPS can be tiled forward and backward as well as rotated on it's mount. I was a bit concerned when I first put the unit on my dash because my dash angles back. I was afraid I would be able to get a good angle in sunlight to see the screen. Garmin's mount design is brilliant but I discoverd the tilt feature quite by accident when I grapsed the unit to push down on the self-adhesive gasket.I live near Chicago -- very congested area constantly changing. I was pleasantly surprised the mapset has a lot of recent developments.One thing I thought I would hate is the speaker on the power cable. But it angles back to lie flush with the dash and I LOVE the sound. My old TOM TOM could barely be heard over road noise once I got over 55 mph. The GARMIN speaker is high quality and the female voice isn't drowned out. Very responsive as far as routing and prompting turns. Much faster than my old GPS 60CS in fact.I have a route to a local beach on Lake Michigan which features a series of rapid turns in succession. The 2720 keeps up with amazing speed. And if I miss a turn it seems to detect it much quicker than my 60CS and reroutes almost immediately.I couldn't be more pleased with this purchase. I toyed with the idea of getting the 2730 but XM Radio/XM Traffic just wasn't something I was interested in at this point in time.I highly recommend this device.If you buy it UPDATE the firmware immediately and update the voice. The new firmware features a new interface/map layout than what's shown in the promo pics on Amazon and Garmin. The Turn Arrow icon has been moved of the sidebar and now overlays the map. And the Direction Text is no longer across the top in a greenbar but on the sidebar in a box. Much more pleasing to the eye in my opinon.It's also a much more stable device than it apparently was several months ago. WHich is typical of GPS units. THe bugs get worked out slowly in a series of firmware updates.
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