Well, I’ve updated the software (firmware?) on the 2730 using Garmin’s Webupdater and it works very well. There had been a number of software updates since my unit was manufactured and it was very easy to bring my unit up to date. I also updated two voice files, American and British english TTS (text-to-speech).
I’ve noticed some additional differences between this unit and the 2610, so I’ll continue my comparison now.
- The screen resolution is significantly better. The 2610’s resolution was 305 x 160 pixels with 256 colors; the 2730’s resolution is 454 x 240 pixels with 64,000 colors. Even though some of the text is smaller, the higher resolution makes it easier to read.
- Also, since the screen resolution is higher, the actual number of pixels used to display the map is higher than on the 2610. To me, this mitigates the fact that the tabs were transparent on the 2610, and have a black background on the 2730.
- The buttons on the right side of the unit are backlit on the 2730, not so on the 2610. It does make it easier to operate the unit in dim lighting conditions.
I loaded the new maps onto my laptop, and the v8 NT maps happily coexist in Mapsource alongside the v7 and v8 maps I had for the 2610. I will probably delete the v7 and v8 maps, once I’ve made sure I can use my saved routes and tracks with the new maps.