The big deal is that I don't know when I'll be handed a ticket and told to
be in
a city nowhere near my 'base area'.

You'd only need to leave a little space on a 256MB card, then
load that city before departing. Yes that's another step, but
it's trivially easy.

BTW after flying to a distant city, how do you power the 2610
in a rental car? Cigarette lighter?


So I use a loaded 2610, but miss many of the customizations and larger
track
memory available on other units.


Another option might be the new Quest 2. It has the 10,000 point
user configurable track log, plus the entire US is preloaded -- no need
to download detailed maps from a CD as they're built in.

The Quest 2 is also physically smaller than the 2610, plus
battery powered, so it's easy to carry and use in a rental car.