Garmin StreetPilot i3

Bolty · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 27

Well guys, after a lot of umming and arring, I've decided to go with this unit.

Couldn't deceide whether this or a PDA/TomTom option.

Hope I've made the right choice!

I've reserved it at Argos, and if it's any help, it's only £169!! Plus you get £10 back for spending more than £100! Therefore £159.00 is that the cheapest?

Bargain.

Have downloaded POI etc. Hoping I get the v8 software as I've seen elsewhere on this forum.

If not, I'll get it updated.

Richwafta · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 7

Hi all, another Newbie joining your ranks.
I saw the post about Argos dropping the price to £169 and couldn't resist. It came with firmware 2.4 installed and Mapsource says "City Navigator Europe NT+ V8"
Is this the map upgrade everyone is waiting for?
Will be giving it a try today!!

Rich

Bolty · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 27

Mine was v7!

Gotta check on the firmware.

Am pleased though. She took me on routes I didn't know existed (although I think there should be a setting called 'Avoid roads where tractors have been and are now basically a dirt track'!!!)

idiot · Regular Visitor Joined: Aug 22, 2005 Posts: 72

Currently using TomTom Go 300 alongside the i3 ,apart from the price the only difference is the full keyboard. Both perform really well and on my particular routes chose the same roads and had arrival times only a minute or so apart. Postcode instructions on the i3 tell you which side of the road your destination is on, something that TomTom for its price should include but will probably come with a firmware or chargeable map upgrade.

The i3 makes TomTom seem overpriced - maybe the bubble has burst. :

kevinbev · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 04, 2005 Posts: 22

Just done an update using the webupdater and the software version is now v2.70

MELennium · Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 8:43 pm Post subject:

These are the changes made to the new firmware from October 31st

Change History

Changes made from version 2.60 to 2.70:

Added 'city' selection step for address and intersection searches.
Corrected error in extended postal code searches that would cause the same result to be returned for different searches and prevented the result from being added to the 'recent finds' list.
'Driving away from route' is now detected more quickly.
Disabled the 'detour' option on the main menu when satellites are lost.
Updated text translations for Swedish, Polish, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech, and German.
Fixed a problem where a user's scroll position was lost after long searches.
Language changes are now prevented when the user inserts a data card for a different region.

gottai3 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 9

So does that mean that v2.7 is the fix for the problem of entering house numbers as zero, which has been talked about on this forum?

Richwafta · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 7

[quote="funny_guy"] My major complaint is lack of “distance to arrival” information on the screen (in London, ETA is quite useless). Is there any way around this, or do you think it is likely that Garmin will include this feature in one of future firmware realises?

I agree with funny_guy, it would be helpful to have distance to arrival as an option. Lets hope Garmin add it in a future update.
Having used the i3 for a few days now, I think it is brilliant for the money. The screen proved very easy to read despite the size and the voice instructions very clear and easy to follow, once you get used to the terminology. I discovered that "keep right" (which threw me the first trip)means straight on. It seems to choose routes that I would go for anyway, although once sent me around the houses to get to my destination.
All things considered, it gets a big thumbs up from me!

ps73uk · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 15, 2005 Posts: 116

JeffG · Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject:

JeffG · Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:59 pm Post subject:

SNAP! 8O

Also, did you notice that Webupdater says that the download could take "serveral mintues"?

Jeff

Wyutani · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 01, 2005 Posts: 1

Just got the I3 from Dixons for £169.99 which as you all know is such good value for a great sat nav gadget. My initial apprehension re:screen size proved to be unfounded, it is very clear and after using it for a few days now its overall sat nav performance has been excellent. Takes a few seconds to find signal in the open then it is rock solid, not lost lock once during my travels.

I have installed software v 2.7 and wondered if anyone could advise me. In the system menu > gps mode there is the option of WAAS, and now EGNOS too. Should enabling this make the unit more precise in determining its position?

http://www.environmental-studies.de/Precision_Farming/EGNOS_WAAS__E/body_egnos_waas__e.html

kartracer · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:34 pm Post subject:

zogman · Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:52 pm Post subject:

i agree with kartracer...without waas/egnos you get an accuracy of about 30foot which is more than ok for mobile use..
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erniesone1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 02, 2005 Posts: 6

I have been using the Garmin 60C for a couple of years. It has lots of ‘bells and whistles’ but for in-car use the i3 is excellent, in particular the wheel zoom.

One aspect I miss on the i3 is lack of Car Park data on maps. Does anyone know if all the extra data ( POI’s) on City Select would be available if this mapping is loaded onto a separate Transflash and used in place of the existing card?

I assume I would however lose the voice commands by using City Select software from my 60C.

My set-up will be of no interest to anyone – but I will give it anyway. I have one of those funny windscreens and had my aerial on the dash right next to the drivers door. Signal usually OK but after reading earlier reports (that glass is not treated behind drivers mirror) I placed aerial on the back of the mirror (with Velcro). Aerial wire is very easy to hide around edge of the windscreen. Better signal but aerial can fall off. So I built a little platform on the mirror base (with fibreglass) so the aerial sits right next to the glass and I get 5 columns nearly all the time.

I had my 60C holder bolted onto a central, dash, air-vent (Peugeot 406). Removing the vent cover the i3 just about sits in. A hole drilled in rear side of the plastic vent housing (watch what is behind) allows aerial and power leads to fit from under the dash. I placed cling-film in the gap (in case I wish to remove later), shot in some foam filler; wrapped the i3 and leads in cling-film and placed in space. Allow to dry, cut off excess filler, top off with plastic padding; sandpaper and paint. i3 is now totally secure for pressing buttons, is not obvious from the street, can be removed and replaced easily.

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