Reviews Written by Ron

Great GPS, but make sure it's right for you

Pros: extendable, durable, intuitive

Cons: pricey, out-of-box lacking

First off, I bought the Garmin 276c because it suits my needs. I wanted something I could use in my car, on my boat and on my motorcycle. That's a very big bill to fill, but the 276c pulls it off... almost.

While I feel that there was no better choice, I was a little dissapointed with the software and map capability out of the box. The basemaps are not very usefull, and are missing more roads than they include. Yes, this is extendable, but ONLY WITH AN EXTRA/EXTERNAL DATA CARD. If a buddy gives you his map data, you still need to get a data card to transfer the maps to the unit.

I say that it fits the bill for all three environments because it is Bluechart-capable for the boat, runs City-Select for the Car and motorcycle, and it has an amazing 15-hour battery life.

That long battery life also makes temporary installations in the vehicles easy, by the way. More permanent solutions are also available so that it can be wired in with a plug suited for each vehicle - for example, the motorcycle power cable is simple and easy and runs only power, but the marine cable has extra wires for tapping into other data sources - such as sonar.

The bottom line is this: The unit is amazing in its capabilities, but to actually USE it, you'll need to buy the appropriate accessory kit. And that can make it more expensive than you would want to spend for a single-vehicle environment. ...