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GPS Review Back to Articles & Reviews
The Garmin Quest tm is a compact portable GPS that can be used in a car or boat, or as a hand-held unit. The Quest TM has 115 Megabytes of memory, an internal flip-up antenna and a lithium ion battery. To use the Garmin Quest tm, we installed the software on our computer. Once that was done, we were able to select the maps we wanted to load. The software comes with many tools to help plan a trip. When we had a novice use the software, they did not find it intuitive at all and required assistance to use it. Operating the Quest is via a large direction button surrounded by other function buttons. Compared to newer models, the user interface is workable but clunky. The screen display is on the small side at 2.2" wide and 1.5" high, but provides a bright birds eye view. Current speed, estimated arrival time and mile to the next turn can also be displayed. On three occasions, the system either took us the long way to a destination or we had to rely on a map to get us back on track. A nice feature is the ability to press one button to have the unit guide you home. When hiking, the starting point can be set as home. A good pre-requisite to this would be to set your real home as a "Favorite". Up to 10,000 waypoints can be setup in the Quest, but is of limited use due to the memory restriction. For regional trips, the internal memory works fine. If we were to take a long trip, this would not be our first choice, but if you require a GPS system which is BlueChart R capable and like the portability, then the Quest might fit the bill. Retail pricing is $499.00 with a street price of under $300.00. Garmin also makes a Quest 2 tm which has all the maps built-in. The price for the Quest 2 TM is about $550.00 on the street.
The Garmin Quest TM receives 5 sights out of a possible 10. |
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