Garmin Talking StreetPilot III GPS Receiver, Map Compatible | List Price: $999.99
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Brand: Garmin
Binding: Electronics
Features: - GPS receiver with turn-by-turn navigation for major North American cities
- Includes MapSource City Navigator CD-ROM with street-level maps and points of interest; unlock capability for one region in US or Canada
- Automated voice prompts tell you when to turn
- 16-color display with backlight for dim lighting
- Compatible with optional Garmin MapSource software for downloading maps and waypoint data
Pretty good, but has some limits [Posted on 2002-09-21]
I bought my SP3 when I moved to the Washington DC area, and have to say it works great. I am never lost and it can find nearly everything. There are a few streets that have no numbers in Arlington, but otherwise it is pretty good. I have also used the SP when traveling to other areas. The one issue that I have is that it has a hard time keeping a good signal in the city because of all the buildings. DC is not too bad, but I have had bigger problems in places like NYC and Toronto with the tall skyscrapers. If it is plotting a course for you, you might miss a turn because it loses the signal for a few seconds. To make things worse, since there is such a grid in the cities, it often takes a while to recalculate the course, by which point you might be lost again. I find times when I need to pull off and wait for the GPS to catch up. I would highly recommend it if you travel a lot, or are unfamiliar with an area, just be careful if you are using it for large cities.
Impressed...but documentation could be better [Posted on 2002-10-01]
I recently bought the SPIII Deluxe package, and I'm really impressed with its capabilities. The route calculation feature when using the "shortest route" option has shown me new ways to travel between points that I've driven for years. The fastest route option is excellent also. The included software (City Navigator) amazes with its complete listing of restaurants, services, points of interest, etc.. I'm sure there are many places missing, but there ane plenty available. The 128 Mb memory card is large enough to hold several Mapsource files at the same time, so you might have City Navigator, USA Roads and Recreation and Topo all loaded on the card and choose the appropriate one for your needs under different circumstances. The instruction booklet could be better. For example, there are optional settings for car/motorcycle, truck, bus or emergency equipment that will give routing best for these vehicles. There should be some description of what the differences are so a large RV or car towing a trailer could choose the best one. There is also an interesting "detour" feature that will give alternate routes if a detour is needed for various distance ahead - not described in the book. The unit can do so much that Garmin would do well to have a users' forum.
Expensive, but a VERY worthwile investment! [Posted on 2003-05-10]
Please allow me to preface this review with the fact that I have absolutely no sense of direction. For those with excellent sense of direction, this may seem like an extravagant purchase until they come down in cost.
I had to travel to California recently (I only lived there my whole life before 1999), but since I had never driven in California before, I was quite nervous about doing so. The rental car had a GPS very similar to the Street Pilot, and using that gave me a great sense of confidence in driving around.
Shortly after my return I realized how badly we needed a GPS in our car. The Street Pilot was the best option for us because it has all the features of a factory-installed auto GPS, but the added convenience of being portable- now when I head out of town I can take the Street Pilot rather than having to rent a car with a GPS. Not to mention the Street Pilot is about 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost of a factory-installed system.
Some of the other reviewers have complained about how long it takes the Street Pilot to recalculate a route once the vehicle has gone off-route. I have intentionally gone off-route several times just to see how it performs, and I have been very pleased. It does take a few seconds, but from my experience it did not take so long that I got any further off-course than I already was.
A feature that I found to be very helpful in the Street Pilot which was not in the rental car's GPS is a search by company name. If you're looking for a department store, but you can't remember its address, just search by the name, and the Street Pilot will navigate you to the closest one. If you're looking for that great Chinese restaurant a couple of miles away, but you can't remember the name, you can search for Chinese restaurants in your area and find the correct one based on its address. Want to order ahead, or put your name on the seating list? Once the Street Pilot finds the restaurant you're looking for, it displays their phone number on the monitor as well.
About the only two complaints I have about the Street Pilot are very trivial. On the rental car I used, the GPS would automatically lower the volume on the stereo when the GPS needed to announce an instruction. Being an external unit, the Street Pilot does not have this luxury. Since I tend to listen to music, well, at ear-splitting volume while driving, it does take a little getting used to lowering the volume when using the Street Pilot around town, but again, this is a very minor complaint given all of the positive features the Street Pilot has.
My other complaint is that occasionally it does give directions which are not the most direct route. I used this on a trial basis in areas I was familiar with just to see how it performs, and I did find myself thinking on occasion "why is it telling me to go this way, when that way is much more direct?" Especially since I live within a half an hour of Garmin's world headquarters, it would seem to me that they would at least know the most direct routes around here! But even at this, the Street Pilot DOES get you to the correct destination every time, even if it sometimes takes an indirect route.
I noticed that the package includes both a beanbag mount and a permanent dashboard mount for the Street Pilot. Since Street Pilots have a way of being swiped, my suggestion would be to always use the beanbag mount, since a permanent mount could cause thieves to break into the car to find the GPS that is no longer in the car. I drive a new Jetta, and I did not want to get sticky stuff all over my dashboard, so I chose to try out the beanbag. It does not slip, even when making sharp turns. I suppose if I were in a collision this would not be the case, but in normal driving, the beanbag is great.
Of course, as others have advised, do not leave your Street Pilot in the car unattended for any reason. But given the fact that you're going to be spending around $1G for this puppy you probably already knew that.
And one other safety feature that I think is great, but others might be annoyed by it: once you are driving, you cannot change the destination; it goes into a secure mode. To change the address, you need to stop the car. This may be a nuisance to some, but given how badly people drive while talking on cell phones, it's probably best that Garmin tries to curb people from pressing all sorts of buttons on their GPS while zipping down the road at 75 MPH.
StreetPilot III Review [Posted on 2003-12-18]
Pro's: Overall good unit. Great color, well built, very detailed. Con's: I live in a new development and my home street is not on the map. Software updates to the unit must be done with a serial port (included in box). The problem is that my new laptop does not have a connector for the included cable. Had to spend an additional $13 on a USB to 9 pin serial cable and Garmin said its only a 80% success rate that it will transfer the neccessary data. The Mapsource CD's which contain detailed information on cities can only be used one time. In order to use the CD's initially, you have to go to the Garmin website and get an "unlock" code. Therefore, if you purchase a newer computer, you have already used your unlock code and would have to purchase an addition code and these can range from $80-$100.
Since installing the Mapsource data, my comp has crashed 3 times. I do not think it likes Win XP.
Great GPSR for driving anywhere! [Posted on 2004-07-22]
I've had my SPIII for about two years now, during which the pricing has come down some and the package offerings have increased, so this review may not match the exact contents Amazon offers here. My unit came with a 32MB memory cartidge, the serial port connection cord, the USB programmer cord, the 12V power cord for the cigarette lighter, the "sticky" dash mount, and a MapSource CD with codes to unlock one region (the US and Canada consisted of 5-6 regions, IIRC). I have since bought the beanbag dash mount and a 128MB card and purchased the "unlock all regions" option for City Navigator--probably already included items for a new purchase in today's package. Additionally, I downloaded the "British" voice package from Garmin's website to replace the default "American" voice--the British lady's voice seems less harsh and less like a drill sergeant when giving directions!
I love this unit because it makes navigation so easy--isn't that the idea behind a GPSR? With the CityNav map information loaded into the memory card (and with 128MB it fits all of PA, DE, MD, and D.C. and good chunks of WV, OH, NY, and NJ) I am able to get turn-by-turn directions to nearly any street address. If you ask it to route you to a given destination, the unit actually tells you when a turn is coming up, e.g. "In point two miles exit right," or "In 500 feet turn left." If you are driving without a destination selected, the unit will display the cross streets by name as you approach. You can zoom the map in for street detail or zoom out to see more of the countryside. If you have a destination selected, the unit will zoom in automatically as you approach and zoom in even more for a detailed overview of approaching intersections as you near a turn.
If you are in an area for which you do not have the MapSource detail loaded, the unit still has an internal base map that contains cities, highways, interstates, and major bodies of water, so it can still route you from city to city using the major roads. This makes driving long distances cross-country feasible and you can load up the memory card with the areas you expect to spend most of your time in if you don't have enough memory for the entire route.
However, in those areas for which you do have the map detail loaded you can get turn-by-turn directions to an address or even select various destinations (restaurants, attractions, banks, shopping centers, etc.) listed by name and/or distance. The unit also displays address and phone information for those destinations, which is useful to call ahead and make reservations or check for vacancy if you're the spontaneous weekend tourist like I am.
The 16-color display is beautiful--major routes are in red, arterials in thick black, minor streets in thin black, rivers and lakes in blue, parks and golf courses in green, and the background will change at sunset or sunrise to yellow (daylight) or black (night) as appropriate (the black streets will also switch to white at night).
Please note that the map detail, which includes streets and popular destinations, is a feature of the map software, not the unit itself. Garmin seems to issue updated map software on an annual basis, but you must pay for those updates. I'm still using CityNav 4.1, although Garmin's website states that 6.0 is coming out this summer. The new 6.0 software will probably contain more business listings and reflect more recent road construction, but I'm doing fine with 4.1 and don't see a need yet to pay for the upgrade. One reviewer complained about the lack of Starbucks locations with his map, and I expect Garmin will be adding more and more types of businesses like that as time goes by.
Enough babbling--in summary, here are some pros of this unit:
o Cheaper than most in-dash GPS systems
o Portable, so you can share the unit with your "fleet" or take it along in a rental car (and you'd best hide it or take it with you when parking so it doesn't get stolen)
o Voice navigation, so you can anticipate an upcoming turn without having to take your eyes off the road
o Color display--so much better than a gray scale map!
o Accurate and helpful when driving somewhere unfamiliar
o Automatic route recalculation if you miss a turn or have to detour
o Address and phone info for listed businesses/sites so you can call ahead
And the cons I've experienced:
o Voice navigation could be somewhat improved for confusing intersections--do I take a right or sharp right at this five-way?
o Eats batteries--but this unit is too bulky to walk around with, so there is no reason it should ever be used without being plugged into your cigarette lighter.
o Awkward interface--entering street names or address numbers is awkward with the rocker button
o Loses signal in built-up areas with tall buildings--usually when you are downtown and *really* need directions the most, unfortunately! However, this is a problem with all GPS receivers and due more to the nature of the GPS system than the unit itself.
All in all, I love my SPIII. It has all the features I really need. There are units out there that are newer, have more features, and may be easier to use, but they're also more expensive. As long as Garmin keeps releasing updated map software compatible with the SPIII, this unit should serve my needs for many more years.
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