[rwright]

Will the Garmin card reader that we are using with our StreetPilot III's work with the flash cards for the Garmin 2610? Thanks.

 

[DaleC]

Regretably not. The 2610 uses a CompactFlash memory card (the 128 MB CompactFlash memory card comes normally with the unit), whereas the Street Pilot III uses a 128 MB datacard made by (or for) Garmin. Obviously, the CompactFlash memory card is far better and because it's used universally in more products can be obtained much cheaper and in bigger sizes. I love my SPIII, but sure wish I had the new model. Sure glad I don't have to say that about my '01 1800.......yet.

DaleC

 

[Leonard]

Card reader

On the plus side, since the compact flash is widely used in other devices, the readers are available at Best Buy, CompUSA and similar stores for $40 or less.. My new inkjet printer even has the reader built in.

 

[OrangeCrush]

heck, you can get the reader for a heck of a ot less than 40 bucks! Check out Best Buy/Office Max/Staples?etc ... and you should be able to find a multi-reader (reads from 4 to 7 of the standard cards .. SD, CF. Sont, etc) for less than $20. I had bought one for my CF cards (camera) and now I'm using it more for the SD used by the Garmin iQue.

 

[Jon]

Dale's right - unfortunately.

The good news is you can get a "universal" card reader for your PC for about $30. I bought these when I upgraded a bunch of computers here at work recently, and it will make it much easier for my users to administer their own systems. (I won't have to take the memory cards and download digital images for them, etc)

http://www.compucare.com/asp/viewitem.asp?idproduct=fddmed001
The unit I bought slides into a 3.5" slot, similar to a floppy disk and has slots for CF(I & II - Garmin), SD/MMC, Sony Memory Stick, and SM memory cards and a USB 2.0 port.

There are also external units that plug into a USB port that will do the same thing.

It's compatible with Win 98/98SE/2000 & Mac OS 9+ (with SW drivers). Windows ME & XP support them natively and they show up as a new removable drive in Windows Explorer.

 

[sjarrell]

Here's a compact card reader for $8.99

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... c=101&sp=1

 

[rwright]

Thanks guys. It looks like the purchase of a new reader is not going to be a hindrance to upgrading to the 2610. I am in the same boat as DaleC, I wish that I had the new unit. We use our SP3 all of the time and don't know how we ever did without it but I am getting tired of going back to the computer to load different map sections. It certainly would be nice to have a 2G card to load all of the U.S. and be done with it.

I told my wife that if I ever got her far enough away from home that she couldn't find her way back that I would leave her (hasn't happened in 27 yrs). She always made sure we had maps for each trip before we got a GPS. Now she claims ownership of the GPS. It's no telling where we would end up with her sitting in the backseat using a remote!

Thanks Again
Roy