Since the 2720 has been out for of couple of years now, they are easily found at great prices. This is the second Garmin automotive GPS I have owned, and I am continually impressed with Garmin's product quality, service, and easily installed product updates. I did quite a bit of comparison shopping prior to purchasing the 2720, but my mind was made up when I decided that a GPS was a GPS, not an mp3 player, cell phone, or slideshow device. All the big manufacturers, Garmin included, are packing way too much technology into the newer versions. The 2720 is a full featured GPS. It has all the bells and whistles required, and not too much extra "marketing fluff".

The only thing that I wish this had was battery operation, even if only for a short time. I'd love to be able to plug this into my computer without having to find an A/C outlet for power. Then again, it was made for the car, and with all the preloaded maps, it gives you 99% of what anyone could ask for in a GPS.

I recommend this device to anyone looking for a quality device from a reputable manufacturer. Garmin is the leader of the pack when it comes to the automotive market. No one comes close!

I've had this unit for close to a year now, and I absolutely love it.

First and foremost, the audio instructions are superior to most other units. Instead of saying "in .8 miles, turn right", it says "in .8 miles, turn right on Maple Street". When you get near Maple street, it doesn't just say "Turn right now", it says "Turn right on Maple Street". This is extremely helpful for a number of reasons: 1. it gives you assurance that the street sign you see in the real world is indeed the street which the unit wants you to turn on. 2. When there are more than one road all near each other, you know what road they mean.

Secondly, unlike many other units, the display on this unit is always very visible in the daytime, and from any reasonable angle. Bad daytime visibility has caused owners of other units to return them, it's that important.

Finally, the unit is so simple. It sits on on your dash and doesn't slide around, due to its nicely weighted flattened-bean-bag-like pedestal. Plug it into the cigarette lighter, turn it on, and you're in business. You'll never have to crack a manual to use this thing.

Bottom line, when a device is well designed, you notice it over and over again, in many little ways. This is one such device. The folks at Garmin obviously care about human interface and are experts at it. I would recommend this unit with confidence to anyone considering such a device. Yes, it's a bit more expensive, but the quality you get for the extra money is worth it. To the engineers at Garmin: My compliments on some very excellent engineering!.

The Garmin StreetPilot 2720 is the best GPS currently on Amazon for two reasons. First, this GPS is only a year old, and costs half as much as it originally did! Second, you will not sacrifice features by paying less for this GPS. It costs what a mid-level unit costs, but it is quite an advanced system.

The screen is approximately four inches by three inches and automatically adjusts its brightness depending on how bright your surroundings are.

It has all the features one would expect in any GPS: routes are programmable, but can be rerouted automatically while driving, you can set the route to avoid major roads and highways, and you can add your own points of interest to supplement the thousands pre-programmed in the GPS.

There are many other features, but one worth mentioning is the text-to-speech functionality. The GPS reads the names of roads and points of interest and tells you to drive to them, rather than merely telling you to drive and turn in certain directions. This feature makes the GPS more of a co-pilot, and less of a nuisance because you no longer need to take your eyes off the road to read the names of roads and locations.

The only negative aspects of this GPS are that the speaker is built into the power adapter rather than into the unit. Also, the GPS doesn't have voice recognition, so you can't tell it to take you to certain locations.

I have no sense of direction and really needed a GPS. I settled on this one and can tell you from experience that this is the unit to get if you want great features and reliablility, but do not want to spend $800.00+.

I am currently trying out the Garmin 2720 and the Magellan 6000, both top end units, to see which one I am going to keep. Tough choice ! Both are terrific for routing, have all the advanced features, like text to speech and traffic info option, but neither one is perfect.

Here are the pros and cons of the Garmin 2720, as compared to the Magellan Roadmate 6000:

Pros:

1. The maps of the 2720 are much more readable. On the 6000, it is hard to see which street label belongs to which line. The 6000 is also practically useless to use as a map (just scrolling and zooming around), since it is way too slow and jumpy. The 2720 is perfect in these respects. Scrolling is very smooth. When a destination is entered, the corresponding map is shown, and can be zoomed in. Very cool. I had first tested the 6000, and once I tried the 2720 I could not believe how good it was (or how bad the 6000 was). The map quality is a difference like day and night. With the 6000, I had trouble to understand the map even for the areas I am familiar with, like the block around our home or office.

2. Dash mount. I prefer the beanbag mount of the 2720, since it is easy to move from one car to another, or to stow away. Plus, the windshield mount is not legal in CA. For the 6000, no beanbag option is offered yet. With the beanbag mount, the unit does usually sit a little farther away from the driver (at least in my car), but this is no problem with the 2720, since it has a convenient remote control.

Cons:

1. No battery ! Very annoying that you can program your route on the 2720 only after starting the car. This problem is compounded by the long startup time of the 2720 (around 10 sec vs. 1 second for the 6000), and the fact that the 2720 does not start to navigate until it has a satellite lock. So when I start the car, enter my destination and start driving, there will be no directions. The 2720 then has trouble to get the inital satellite lock while driving, so I have to pull over and wait until it has the lock and gives directions. The 6000 starts navigating from the last known position. Also, I can take the 6000 home and program it from my sofa, then take it with me to the car and start driving.

2. Interactive POI: most POI (like restaurants) are not displayed on the 2720 map. You need to search for them via menu, and then get a list. On the 6000, you see the icons for restaurants, gas station etc. displayed right on the map, and you can click on an icon to get details or to have the 6000 plot the route to them.

3. POI search. On the 2720, you can only search for POI around your current location, or any other specific location that you need to enter first. If you don't know the approximate location, you are out of luck. With the 6000, you can enter a restaurant name and bring up matches for the whole state. I used it to find a restaurant in a city 300 miles away, and it only took a few seconds. On the 2720, it was very difficult to find it at all.

4. Destination search. If you enter a city or street that does not exist (due to typo), the 2720 will bring up a prompt "Not found". The 6000 is much smarter and does not even let you enter something invalid. If you enter the first city letter, for example, then it presents only those letters for your choice of the 2nd letter that correspond to actual cities in the database, others are grayed out. Very convenient.

5. Destination entry order. With the 6000, you enter the street first. You can omit prefixes like N or S. It will then show you the available range of numbers. This is very convenient if you just want to drive to a certain street (i.e. you know that a certain restaurant is on that street), but don't know the number. Enter the street first on the 6000, then pick some number in the middle of the available range and go. It will also figure out the street prefix based on the number. With the 2720, you need to enter the number first, and then later you get a prompt to correct it if it was invalid.

6. Locate button. The 6000 has one. Press it, and it shows you city and nearby street and other details, and you can also save it. The 2720 has no such feature.

7. Route options. Both have "shortest time" or "shortest distance" options, but only the 6000 also has options "prefer freeways" and "avoid freeways".

8. Screen size. The 6000 screen is a bit larger.

I have not made a decision yet. Even though there are only two areas where the 2720 has the advantage over the 6000, these two points weigh heavily. Especially the map readability, since this is one of the main reasons to have a GPS. As I said, tough choice.

UPDATE AS OF 08/21/06:

I returned the Magellan 6000. Due to the poor map display, it was of little use, no matter what features it offered.

The 2720, even with the shortcommings listed above, is much more usable and even enjoyable in daily use. I have also updated it's firmware with the latest version from the Garmin website (was very easy to do), and now at least item 3 (POI search) is pretty much fixed. It still takes quite long to find a POI that is far away (2 minutes vs. 10 seconds on the 6000, for a POI 300 miles away). But at least you can find it at all, plus it gives an indication of the increasing search radius while it is searching. Since such a search scenario is pretty infrequent, I can live with the delay. The fact that Garmin improved the firmware also makes me hopefull that some of the other shortcommings can be fixed over time (except for the missing battery of course).

As for the missing battery, we compared the 2720 against the Garmin nuvi 360, which has a very similar feature set and operation, but includes a battery. The nuvi 360 has some advantages, it's ideal for carrying around and has a few extras like MP3 player. Still, our verdict was to stick with the 2720. This was mosty my wife's decision who by now has fallen in love with the 2720. It was due to the follwing advantages the 2720 has over the nuvi:

- 2720 has a larger and brighter display

- 2720 sits very secure on it's beanbag mount and can be moved easily to another vehicle. It feels and is more robust.

- 2720 includes the City Navigator on DVD, where you can plan your route ahead of time and make changes, then download it to the 2720. This is invaluable for larger trips. Even if you don't make any changes, it is very helpful to preview the route on the larger computer screen, zoom into sections etc. We tried it for one route and found it to be terrific. (Only inconvenience again is that you need to connect the unit to an AC adaptor in addition to the computer as it has no battery)

- The audio is a bit better, due to the larger speaker

So bottom line, we decided on this GPS, the Garmin Street Pilot 2720. I'll keep it a 3 stars for it's missing battery and other smaller shortcommings, but after our research it's still the best unit out there.

UPDATE AS OF 08/28/06:

We have now completed our first longer trip with the 2720, and it worked out great. So we are confident that we made the right decision. Routing was efficient, it picked the perfect routes and guided us flawlessly. The best part however, as compared to other devices, is the terrific quality of the map display. It looks that the 2720 is smart enough to always show the right angle and zoom, depending where you are (on highway, approaching a ramp, in rural area, in city streets etc), to give you the most information. Also, the map is very easy and quick to grasp, even in an unfamiliar area, which is important while driving. Just to give an example: While on the highway, traffic was slowing, and we could see a jam ahead. There was also an exit just comming up. Wondering if I should take it, I glanced at the 2720 and saw that it displayed the exit, highlighted a parallel street a few blocks away, and even showed at a bird's eye view how that street would merge back onto our highway a few miles away. So I just took the exit, and the 2720 recalculated the route immediately and guided me on the parallel road and then back onto the highway later. Voila, the jam was gone. I did not have to press any button or interact with the 2720 in any way while doing the detour. I guess when using the traffic info feature, the 2720 would even do such recommendation proactively, but I have not tried this yet. It works just fine the way it is.

To round this review up, during daily use we have found that we do not miss the few firmware shortcommings that much (and Garmin is improving on them). The battery we do miss a bit, but less than we originally thought. You will have to decide for yourself, of course. We found that once the novelty of the GPS wears off, we no longer carry the unit home that much to play with it (for which we'd miss the battery). And while driving, we just enjoy the precise directions and the terrific map.

I generally write tough reviews. So 4 stars coming from me is actually alot. To keep it short, anything below the 2720 is not enough. Anything above the 2720 maybe an overkill.

Pros

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1.) Extremely tough, I have dropped this thing on hardwood floor and cement at least 5+ times from desk level.

2.) The factory touchscreen has outstanding sensitivity for dragging with your fingers.

3.) The remote is a real plus for cars that have a deep dashboard. Excellent button placements.

4.) If power is lost, on reset it comes up on the exact same screen you were in before.

5.) It has not overheated once yet. And I have left this thing to bake in the sun with my car windows rolled up.

Cons

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1.) The sandbag station will slide off if you car dashboard is too tilted.

2.) If you're driving fast, and slam on the break. The sandbag station will not hold and the GPS will fly right off.

3.) The unit is too thick.

4.) The power cable can come lose with a light kick etc.

5.) No batteries allowed. If the person in the passenger seat kick the power cable by accident, your unit have no standby power. It just goes off.

6.) Poor reception in major high rise building areas. But to be fair you can say this about most GPS.

7.) To go from GPS mode to indoor non-GPS mode, it requires you to change the option in the menu manually. Or you can a long time until it lost satellite contact.

8.) Route recalc message covers the entire screen. Let's hope you don't have to recalc for too long or you'll be without a map.

9.) The power adapter is way too big for most small car cigarette lighter. You may need to purchase a separate 3-way splitter.

10.)Considering I have the end-of-2005 updates, too many of the stores and restaurants etc are far too outdated. This seems to be the same for just about every state I have crossed.

They wanted $4,000 when I bought my Lexus LS430 four years ago and I said, 'thanks, but no thanks.' Since then more and more of my friends have bought portable units or cars with GPS included and they all liked them.

After some serious mis-directions from Google and Mapquest maps during a trip to New England, my wife said, "Maybe it's time for us to get a GPS!" I talked with an old college roommate to told me what to look for. Then after a couple of hours searching discussions and comments on the Internet, I settled on the StreetPilot 2720. Price shopping locally here in the Bay area and on the Web brought me to Amazon where I saved $200 from where I started.

Now I've had the unit for almost a month and have constantly used it and put it through the paces. It's flawless. Great design. So easy to use, etc. Specifics are mentioned in reviews above so I won't detail them except to tell you that three friends I showed the unit to during a drive said it was better than the unit in their brand new cars: Audi, Mercedes and Land Rover.

Don't hesitate to buy this one! I couldn't be happier.

Got it yesterday. Easy to use, just plug it into the cigarette lighter and turn it on. No problems. Need to enter street names that are numbers as numbers, "4" St. not "Fourth", etc. Manual included. A lot of erroneous negatibe info in some of these reviews. Unlikely the power cord will slip ff, nicely inset into unit. Love the voice directions. Should have come with a case for the money. Can't wait to go on a trip this week-end. Spent last evening entering family addresses, etc.

Update 3 weeks later: still no problems, updated software using the Garmin Webupdater without incident. Used customer support via email to see if the map software on included CD was already loaded on the unit; it was. Took 3-4 days for a reply. No problem with response time. Remote control only marginally useful but does allow you to zoom in on maps.

I just returned from a 2600-mile trip from North Carolina to Northern Maine and back, using my new 2720. I was generally very pleased. The database does have a few glitches. For example, coming into New York City from the north it had me crossing the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey en route to Columbia University in Manhattan, and before I realized what was happening I missed the last exit before the bridge, so I had to loop back and pay the $6 bridge toll to get back to Manhattan.

On the other hand it saved my potatoes a few times around Boston and in New Jersey.

Like all GPS systems, it falls down in areas where there are new roads, new exits and other new developments.

But overall I'm quite pleased with this product.

--Lan Sluder

Since my 2720 met with a slight mishap, I'm getting another. It's almost impossible to drive without it now.

Other reviews have talked about all the reasons this unit is wonderful. I agree with all. I do have one wish item, though. When I'm travelling, I use only a few "find" menu items frequently: Fast Food, Rest Stops, Gas and Hotels. It is annoying beyond belief to go through the menu items over and over. I wish there was something like "favorite items". This would be a huge convenience, and allow everyone to build their own. Or maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, and the new model will be better in this regard.

Just got the 2720 a month ago. We recently completed a trip from MA to FL with stops in D.C. and NC to visit our sons. The DC location in particular is very tricky even with "written" directions. Not now! The 2720 talked us in beautifully. And even when I didn,t trust it, it was forgiving and "recalculated" us back on track. We will never go anywhere now without it. Also, the portability gives me great peace of mind to be able to transfer it to my wife's car when she is traveling. The features are plentiful and easy to understand. The touch response is the best i've seen for touch screen with a nice audio feedback of the touch. If you have waited or have been undecided, wait no more...this is the one to buy!