New replacement for Garmin StreetPilot 2720 ????

I feel your pain, or at least I used to. I eventually found a Nuvi that does what I need, but it wasn't easy.

It's not at all clear which Garmin units can communicate usefully with BC or even MS. "Back in the day" the memory capabilities of the units were so limited that is was essential to have upload/download capability to a computer in order to store the whole mapset on the computer and download what was needed for a given journey to the unit; MS capability was the default and all was well. Nowdays, with most of the units (including all of the Nuvis) capable of storing an entire continent's maps, communicating with a computer isn't necessary and would only be confusing to the brain-dead cohort that appears to be the target audience; anything beyond that would be confusing.

Garmin is missing a big opportunity by not making it clear which units can talk to BC and describing/emphasizing the value of that capability.

It's not at all clear which Garmin units can communicate usefully with BC or even MS.

To my knowledge BC can communicate with all nuvi models. MapSource does not directly support newer models because Garmin is no longer updating it.

That said different models have different capabilities so "communicate usefully with BC" may be in the eye of the beholder.

Now the OP wants a unit that can accept routes from BC. No doubt that means traditional Garmin routes vs the Trip Planning feature of newer models. A few older nuvi models can support routes (e.g. the 1490T which I have) but what you'll find in a store has the Trip Planner. In short if the specifications of a unit says "100 routes" they mean Trip Planner. "10 routes" means traditional Garmin routes. Of course 0 means no (stored) routing capability.

If you can find a good used Nuvi 765 it will do the job. I have the 765T. It does 3D, although I never use it. Both Mapsource and Basecamp can talk to it perfectly well. You can transfer and store routes on it just like your StreetPilot. And it does proper routes, not trips.

Given what Garmin has done to their entire recent lineup of Nuvi models I will likely stick with my 765 until it dies. And then look for another one.

...ken...

I lusted after a 765T for quite a long time but ended up with a 1490T. It doesn't do 3D (not sure if that's even useful) but other than that they're very similar I think.

To my knowledge BC can communicate with all nuvi models. . . That said different models have different capabilities so "communicate usefully with BC" may be in the eye of the beholder.

I'm still in the process of peeling this onion, but when I plugged my son's Nuvi XXXX into my laptop that communicates just fine with my Nuvi 2455, I could do nothing with his. On mine, BC sees the tracks that have been recorded, and I have no problem building a route in BC and placing it in the Nuvi, where it's available under "Apps" & then Trip Planner. His device can't do any of that, as I recall, but I'll look more carefully next time he brings it over, as I've gotten much more used to mine since I messed with his last.

Either way, it still appears to me that one needs to know the secret handshake to figure out which devices do what with BC and/or MS, especially with the automotive models that appear to be aimed at a very different demographic than the other devices.

Well as I said many nuvi's don't support route/trip planning at all. Maybe your son's nuvi XXXX doesn't.

I think the core problem is that Garmin has more nuvi models than the average old guy has hair and they all have different capabilities. One cannot assume that because your 2455 has a feature (e.g. trip planning) that a nuvi XXXX also does. It doesn't matter if XXXX > 2455. Higher models numbers does not necessarily mean more features.

If one wants certain features you really have to do your research. Just looking on Garmin site at specifications won't tell you everything. If you think a certain model looks good you should use Google to read as much about it as possible.

All that said most people do none of that. They see a pretty box in a chain retail store at a good price and buy it only to find out that it has few features and won't do what they want.

Higher models numbers does not necessarily mean more features. . . .If one wants certain features you really have to do your research. Just looking on Garmin site at specifications won't tell you everything. If you think a certain model looks good you should use Google to read as much about it as possible.

Well, who knew?

My point is that Garmin doesn't seem interested in describing the advantages of having their devices communicate with a real computer in their product descriptions. Apparently no one else on the planet thinks this is a worthy thing, so I'll shut up.

All of the Nuvi's "communicate" with Basecamp on a computer. They can all send and receive waypoints, they can all send tracks to the computer. NONE of the Nuvi's can receive tracks from the computer. But when it comes to ROUTES, then it gets hairy, Basecamp will happily send routes to any Nuvi. Some Nuvi's will just ignore them. Others will import them into a route. Newer models will convert the route to a "trip".

I agree that it's confusing and it isn't getting any easier to understand. The model numbers don't help. My 6 year old Nuvi 5000 can use "real" routes but it was discontinued two or three years ago. This thread may provide a few insights (or maybe not...) Which nuvi's support route import from Basecamp/Mapsource?

Thanks for that. I didn't know that Garmin published a list.

Which automotive Garmin devices have the ability to receive routes transferred from a computer?

My point is that Garmin doesn't seem interested in describing the advantages of having their devices communicate with a real computer in their product descriptions.

I think that's true with their automotive units. Garmin seems to think, and they may be correct, that 99% of users put those products on their dash and never connect them to a computer except for map/firmware updates. To put it another way users that pre-plan their trips and create routes are in the minority.

Many may not remember that the early versions of BaseCamp only supported topo maps. It wouldn't even display road maps. The intent was to support "outdoor" units. Since then BC has morphed into a more general solution.