GARMIN GPSmap 276C GPS Receiver

If you purchase a Garmin product, especially this one, you are firmly in the clutches of a Company that gives you what they want you to have, not what you might want. Everything Garmin makes is proprietary so that nothing else will work on a Garmin. You will be unable to transfer data to Garmin media, you will be insulted by a website either written by or for aliens and should you call the customer service or cartography lines assuming you wish to wait and wait, you will get to talk to people so uninformed about Garmin products your wait was wasted. The dingus works ok with Garmin chips, but the chips are inadequate or incomplete.
If you should have a Mac, Garmin leaves you totally unsupported so that if you choose a Garmin you need to buy a PC, a downloader, and Garmin chips to go with Garmin's vastly overpriced CDs. In short, if you prefer unsupported products that are designed to force you to buy from a company indifferent to their customers, Garmin should be at the top of your list with their GPSMAP 276c.

First, I purchased my 276c in September of 04 which means I've been using about 3 months. It was purchased to replace my Garmin GPSIII that I had used for around 6 years. The GPSIII still works great but has no detail maps available and no turn by turn directions, but for basic Lat/Long it still works perfect.
I compared the 276C to the Garmin Quest, Magellan RoadMate 700, and the Garmin Street Pilot Series.
I wanted it to be portable. Meaning I could use it in the car, boat, or walking/hiking. Basically I wanted to be able to use it just about anywhere, just like I used my GPSIII. This quickly narrowed my search down to the 276C and the quest. The others mentioned above are strictly automotive GPS units. Besides size, I couldn't find anything the quest had over the 276C. The 276C certainly is bigger but I liked the additional Screen Real-estate.

The 276C purchased with the automotive adapter does everything I want and it does it well. However, I have 3 complaints that keep it from getting a perfect score in my book.
These are not really in any particular order of importance.

#1 Proprietary Memory Stick that Only go up to 256MB
This Memory Stick holds all of the map data that helps you find addresses and specific sites. The one that comes with the automotive kit is only 128MB. You can't just go get another one of these anywhere because it is a proprietary design. The 128MB one I have had enough storage to download all the map data between Austin, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada. We drove to Vegas from Austin in November and the 276C worked great. I wish it wasn't a proprietary design or I wish they at least offered a larger model that would hold the entire US.

#2 Cheap, Cheap, Cheap Car adapter. I read this on another review site before I bought mine. And they were right. The threading that holds the fuse in place is plastic. Pulling the unit out of the car power plug puts stress on the threads. Mine broke last week but was quickly replaced by an authorized Garmin dealer. This is another item you can't just buy anywhere because the car adapter has the built in speaker. I don't expect the new adapter to last long either. I move mine between cars several times a week.

#3 File this one under being very picky.
If the address of your destination is on a one way street the 276C will try to route you around the block so that you can come back down the one way street. This is fine except when the location is really on the corner of a one way street with an entrance on the side street. The unit will literally route you right past the side entrance to the next street that will allow you to go up a few blocks so that you can come right back down to the location on the one way street. I don't know if the automotive only GPS units would handle this situation any better.

That's it.
We drove over 3000 miles on our trip in November and used the 276C extensively the whole way.
Regards,
Alan


You can get the automotive kit (detailed map CD, memory card, mount, and cig lighter plug/speaker) and turn this into a turn-by-turn road GPS. The cost of the 276c + the auto kit is MORE than the 2610, so for a lot of folks the 2610 would be a better buy. Both have faster processors for quicker route calculations, both have base maps containing all the major roads, cities, and highways.

Pros and cons of the 276c VS the 2610:

1) The display on the 276c is larger and much nicer looking than that of the Garmin 2610 - in MOST lighting conditions. The 276c is a LOT easier to read with the sun behind you than the 2610, and looks nicer at night. Going toward the sun the reflective LCD loses out to the 2610.

2) The 276c includes a lithium ion battery - the 2610 has to have 12v to operate since it has no batteries or battery compartment. The 276c can last for HOURS on a charged battery. Combined with a lighter weight this makes the 276 more versatile an can be used on a hike or for geocaching.

3) The 2610 costs less with the current $100 rebate and includes every thing you need to get on the road

4) The 2610 takes standard (and cheap) compact flash memory cards. The entire map set (USA,some Canada and Mexico) takes around 1.4gb so a 2gb could hold it all. Most folks could just get a 1gb CF card and get most of the US on it and be fine. The 276c takes the Garmin memory cards, the max is 256mb and is $125 and up. Even a 128mb card is $80 or more. A 128 card can take maybe 2-3 states. The base maps are in the GPS so you still navigate the "big roads" without re-loading maps, but the 2610 means load it once and forget it.

5) The 2610 has a touch screen and remote control. If you are going to use the GPS in a car the remote can be handy - let a passenger operate the GPS while you drive. The touch screen means greasy finger smears on the screen if you are not careful. For use on a motorcycle the real buttons of the 276c are much preferred and the remote would be useless. The touch screen does make spelling a city name or point of interest a lot easier.

6) The 276c has more options for the way the data is displayed on the screen. You can have it show voltage, battery time remaining, heading, altitude - just about anything on the screen. The 2610 has some flexibility but the number and position of the fields is limited.

7) No detail maps with the 276c. As I mentioned you have to buy the detailed maps plus a memory card to get street level detail. This GPS takes the same maps as the GPS V - and Garmin lets you unlock 2 GPS units with the same map CD set. So if you already have a GPS V (I do) then you can just unlock the maps for your new 276c for free - just get a memory card. The number of POIs and amount of detail is said to be the same between the maps for the 276c and the 2610, but the 2610 is said to have more route/calculation options so the resulting route MIGHT be a little better on the 2610.

8) The 276c has extra features - the whole marine set of stuff plus takes optional external sensors. The 276c also shows sun/moon rise/set times for any location as well as tide and fishing info.

Both will do turn by turn with voice prompts (optional speaker needed for 276c) and let you find the closest Burger King or gas station. The 276c is more expensive but more flexible since it can be used outside of the car, on a boat, and more easily on a motorcycle. Some others to look at are the Tom Tom Go (has a battery, but has other flaws and is not designed to be used on a motorcycle) and the RoadMate series. Cobra has a new GPS out now as well - like the 2620 it has all the maps pre-loaded so no PC is needed.


I am very pleased. I use the unit on a motorcycle and it has met my expectations so far. Easy to use menus. Easy to see screen. Very satisfied. Only complaint is maps are too expensive. $ 75 for a CD ?

So far, we don't have this completely up-and-running. It hasn't been particularly intuitive as far as set-up goes. (At least for us, and we're usually pretty good with technology.) It looks as though it will be good. Maybe after we actually take it out for a "spin", we'll have better insight.

A multi-functional GPS wonder, But... be sure and have a hefty stack of money if you want all the maps, bells and whistles that make this unit so remarkable. Lets start with the main reason I purchased the 276c, for my boat. The Blue Chart marine maps combined with the flexability of the unit makes even complex marine navigation a snap. The large screen allows me to see my position on the water at a glance. Even in areas that are wrought with hazards and multiple channel markers the screen shows everything I need to know to safely navigate at any sunlight angle. When I moved it to my car, I enjoyed the same features that made it great on the water. The turn by turn routing (with voice) and the big screen worked flawlessly. Using it for land nav was also enjoyable except for the size of the unit making it a bit cumbersome. Regarding other peoples complaints about Garmins tight hold on its pricey mapping products, Well they are in business to make money, they have great map products, and you usually get what you pay for. Overall I am very pleased with this product, with the only real downside being the high cost of obtaining all the additional "proprietary" goodies you need to flesh the system out for multiple usage. Again you get what you pay for and for the price I would say that this is one of the finer GPS units on the market.

Its the perfect GPS! the size, the weight, the performance... all in one package!

I'm a Amazon River Pilot and I use GPS only for marine navigation. The GPSMAP 276C is a good equipment but in my opinion has too many features that most people do not use. Before I had a 176C that was much more easy and quick to use for marine navigation: it was made for that. The only advantage I see in the 276 is it's better screen resolution. I only got the 276C because my 176C had a problem in the screen and I could not get a new one as it had been descontinued. Also Garmin charts are very bad for the Brazilian coast: I do not understand why they use charts from so many countries that do not have good information about the Brazilian coast ( russian charts for exemple ).

I am happy with this chartplotter but right now I wouldn't recommend it. For one thing Garmin nickels and dimes you to death if you want to actually use this. The memory is very expensive and proprietary. You need to buy additional memory to download any charts into this device. And the charts are VERY expensive and come with all kinds of obnoxious copy protection. Also worth mentioning is that the screen is hard to read in broad daylight. But the deciding factor is that Garmin is just now rolling out their next generation units that will replace this one. I would wait the few weeks it will take to get one of the new ones which will use standard SD memory and provide bigger, brighter screens, etc.

Yep 5. GPS2, 3, 3+, 5 and now a 276. It would seem I am a good customer. I ride ATVs all over the back country of the west. Each GPS I have owned has been an improvement over the last. I wouldn't leave home without one. The 276C is great. I love the large color screen and being able to load almost all of the Topo maps I will ever need in it. I have found that the marine contrast/color setting works best in the bright sun. It could be brighter but I works OK. The contrast/color of the bread crumb trail is excellent, it really stands out well. I like being able to scale back the geo-clutter with 1 button. Overall I am very happy with my new GPS. I'm sure it and I will have many great rides. Thanks Garmin. I'll be back.

This GPS unit is a true asset for marine use. The refresh speed of the mapping page is very fast and the button use is intuitive. Only gripe is the 12v charger lead purchased separatley broke after less than one week.

This GPS covered my expectations and much much more.
It has two modes of operation (Car or Boat) and with
the optional memory module, can load maps and
POIs for a maximum experience

Without having seen one of these 'in person', I was surprised at how small the screen is. Also surprised that even though the device defaults to 'marine mode' (which is what we purchased it for), we had to spend another $150 on a data chip to see anything remotely 'marine'.

This should have a better description - not the fault of Amazon, though. I looked at various places to purchase and none were clear on these items.