Garmin GPSMAP276C personal navigator

[Gav Peter]

Does anyone have any experience of these things?

Looks to have a lot of 'bells & whistles'

 

[Andrew Prince]

No personal experience but they seem to be the GPS of choice amongst the overlanding crowd in SA.
They're no longer made and the replacements are apparently less good for the task.

Have a look on LCCSA for lots of commentary and advice on the 276

Cheers,

 

[Gav Peter]

I'll have a look Andy, cheers.

RS seem to have them on back order for mid-August... Shhh

 

[ignat]

RS?

 

[Crispin]

RS components. Also known as Heaven
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/

 

[Gav Peter]

I said shhh...

 

[Crispin]

[s:7zenyhfm]RS components[/s:7zenyhfm]. Also known as Heaven
[s:7zenyhfm]http://uk.rs-online.com/web/[/s:7zenyhfm]

 

[Gav Peter]

 

[24Seven]

The 276 and 278 are both discontinued models, so the chances of finding anywhere selling new ones will be slim.

 

[Graham]

The updated one of these is the Garmin 1690t

I just bought a brand new one, however our plans for Morocco are changed.
Her, can not get visa, except in Beijing.

So if you want it Gavin, you have first option.
It is new in box. I think 150.00 is good ?
I paid 185.00 for it.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... source=ppc

It will answer your blue tooth phone, and all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff.

I will put it in the classified.

Graham

 

[Gav Peter]

Thanks for the offer Graham. Pop it on the classifieds & if its still there when I've exhausted this line of enquiry I'll give you a bell.

Cheers

 

[Gilmour Dickson]

The 276c is probably the BEST GPS ever produced for in car overland use. Now here I am talking about navigation where the Europe street level type maps are about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. The more modern Zumo/Nuvi type units are fine for most uses in UK/EU etc but extremely limited in many ways. They are in effect dumbed down and simplified for joe public sadly. The 276 in effect is a scaled up recreational handheld, with a similar user interface. I won't go into lots of detail here, but suffice to say that IF you can get one (ebay or other second hand source) you will not regret it. Sorry to say the NUVI 1690 is not a replacement... the 276c just has way too many features useful for off road/hiking/boating or even flying. The actual so called replacement is the 640 as it is designed as a hybrid automotive/marine unit like the 276 was. Unfortunately it takes the dumbed down nuvi type approach to the automotive side (it is in fact two distinctly separate operating systems in one unit). Sure I can switch to marine mode for off the map type navigation, but then I cannot load say T4A into the marine part...... Oh and even the marine side is a bit limited in that you can no longer plug in a fish finder. In short all this touch screen idiot proof malarky is a serious step backwards for many of us. I guess that Garmin want us to by a different GPS for each type of activity we do - oh and also the maps for each unit too! If you can't get a 276c and you are going somewhere a bit of the beaten track then my recommendation would be a GPS 60 csx and live with the small screen. Far more functionality than any nuvi/zumo type thing and you can take it hiking. Then by the cheapest "satnav" you can get for Euro use. Just my 2p. BTW the 60 series are built far better than the etrex as well as a slightly larger screen.

 

[Bat21]

I used to use a Garmin 176c for Morocco, it is the same as the 276c but doesn't route which isnt a problem in Morocco. The 176 got trashed in our smash last year, there isn't a mark on it but, I guess the excessive shock/G force during our 'bump' and cartwheels destroyed the screen as it only shows horizontal lines now

I now have a JLT8404 tablet PC running Windows XP, Garmin Mapsource & Garmin NRoute mounted in a vehicle doc. This is linked up to a Garmin GPS Map60C which is similar to the GPS 60CSX. The beauty of this is I have a nice big screen to see a wider 'picture' of the treeain around the piste's.

Both are mounted to the passenger crab rail with Ram mounts.

I haven't tested it in anger yet but will be doing so later this year.

 

[Paul]

Can i use this as an external antenna for my laptop then?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GARMIN-GPS60-Hiki ... 6920081304

 

[Crispin]

*probably*

My etrex functions as a GPS that the PC can see and other software can use.

Not sure on this one but AFAIK, all Garmin do.

 

[BlackBetty]

Hi there,

I have one and I got it whilst I was out in Saudi. It is a fantastic piece of equipment and is extremely comprehensive. yes it is discontinued and I am now looking to see where I can get UK/European maps for it. If you are able to get one and it has the relevant maps I would highly recommend it.