August 13th 2005 and we set off from Southampton to spend 2 weeks in France on the Bandit. This will be the first time I have had a chance to use the Garmin Quest to it's fullest extent. Sarah and I are on our Bandit and tagging along for the first week are our friend, Jerry, on his ZZR1100 and my brother, Jon, on his new Triumph Speed Triple, also equiped with a Garmin Quest and RAM mount.
The route takes us from Le Havre to Chartres for the first night's stopover at the Village Hotel then day 2 takes us to our place in Burgundy for a week in the caravan chilling. We then intend to move on to the Dordogne for the second week travelling over a part of France we haven't seen before - The Massif Central.
Before we left I picked up a couple of acoustic tube ear pieces for myself and Jon so we could hear the spoken route instructions. I chose the acoustic tube type because it fits easily into the crash helmet and acts as an ear defender as well. It also turned out to be very easy to hear even at high speed and with an ear plug in the other ear it made for a peaceful journey. (I couldn't hear Sarah either!!)
I must say I have been extremely impressed with the performance of the Quest. I had put off getting one for some time because I thought it couldn't possibly come up to my expectations with the relatively small screen, but I was wrong. The screen is both clear and bright and I was able to read it with no problems at all even in the strong French sunlight. This is also made easier because it will automatically zoom in to show you your next turn in detail as you approach the turn then zoom back out after having made the turn. It will also zoom in to the next turn a few times before you reach it just to let you know in advance what you are looking for.
I thought the spoken directions would be distracting and intrusive in the quiet calm of my helmet but they are clear and concise coming just when you need and expect them.
Take a wrong turn and the Quest recalculates the route to get you back on track in the shortest possible distance.
Another useful feature is the auto route home feature. If you are out for a ride/drive and get lost then just push and hold the find button and the Quest will take you home.
The quest also comes with software for your computer called Mapsource which is equally easy to use and well thought out. I planned our entire holiday route on the computer choosing stopovers and via points then, with the click of one button, downloaded it to the Quest via the supplied USB cable. When we were on holiday, if we found a nice hotel or any other point of interest I would put this into the Quest with it's details, then, when we got back to the UK I plugged the unit into the computer via the USB and, again, with one click, I uploaded our entire route and all points of interest etc - brilliant!
All in all I find the Quest difficult to fault. I have most of France and Southern England in detail on the Quest which uses most of it's 256mb of memory. Would I like more memory, well yes, you can never have enough in my opinion but then the American's have to make do with half that amount for some reason. On a couple of occasions I found that some of the detailed map information was missing but switching the unit off then on again and all was as it was supposed to be. It would also be nice if there was a database of speed camera sites to upload to it so you get a verbal warning from the Quest but that may be coming with the Quest2.
I use the holder supplied as an accessory by Garmin which comes complete with bare wire power connections and audio out via 3.5mm mono jack socket. This is held firmly by a RAM mount. The Quest also comes with an in-car holder with suction mount and external speaker attached to a cigarette lighter plug for charging but again I use a RAM mount. I am also making a control box which will mute my stereo and play the voice directions through the speakers of the stereo just like the handsfree car phone kit does, but it will also give the phone priority over the Quest's instructions. I will let you know how this turns out soon.
Verdict: A fantastic piece of kit that I wouldn't do without now. 17/20
P.S. Customer support at Garmin Europe in Romsey, Hampshire is excellent. |
