New Garmin i3

Elddis · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 28, 2006 Posts: 3

Hi there,

I picked up a Garmin i3 on Friday from Comet for a very reasonable £99. So far it been great. I am well pleased with it!

However, I have a couple of questions that I hope people can help me with.

I gather from what it says on the box that it only comes with UK/Ireland mapping. And yet I am able to select Berlin as a destination and it calculates a route. Does that mean it has full European mapping preloaded?

Also, it already has very comprehensive data on shops, banks, restaurants etc prelaoaded. Is this normal? I thought it would be something I would have to download myself.

Grateful for any advice.
Cheers.

swanson2 · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:28 am Post subject:

Hi Elddis,

The preloded UK/Ireland mapping on the i3 are in sufficient detail to allow accurate navigation, whilst the rest of the European mapping is very basic and not really suitable for serious navigation overseas.

You can purchase additional memory cards for use abroad.

Although the i3 contains fairly comprehensive data on shops, banks, restaurants etc., you can download a far more comprehensive data base yourself for free!

Try visiting http://www.MaFt.co.uk/garmin/

Regards,

Robert Swanson

:D
_________________
I have enjoyed the past, but my main interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there!

Anita · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:24 pm Post subject: Re: New Garmin i3

Elddis · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 28, 2006 Posts: 3

Robert,

Thanks for your help. Can I ask how much more detailed is the "MaFt" stuff compared with whats preloaded. Is it completely safe to download? Is there a reset button if all goes belly up?

Also, is there a facility to log on to the Garmin site to update the mapping, or is this unavailable/unnecessary?

Anita, Berlin is definitely there. Also had some cities in "ISR", which I assume is Israel!

I was under the impression that the new i3s had built in memory. Mine has a detatchable card, so I assume it is slightly older stock. IS one better than the other?

Thanks for all your help. Cheers.

swanson2 · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:01 pm Post subject:

Hi Elddis,

The "MaFt" stuff is far more comprehensive than the POI's that are pre-loaded by Garmin on the i3, and it is upgraded fairly regularly so is quite up to date.

I believe that it is completely safe to download data from the"MaFt" site and I have never had a problem, having used it axtensively for the last few months - it is also spoken highly of elsewhere on this excellent PGPSW site.

It is likely that you will not want to install all the POI's you download from the "MaFt" site, as there are so many, which is no problem, as you can just select and install the ones you want.

I don't think that there is a facility to log on to the Garmin site to update the mapping, but you can purchase additional memory cards as new/updated maps become available, but I don't think that this option would be very cost effective as the maps already installed are not that old, and updated memory cards will probably cost nearly as much as you paid for the i3 in the first place!

The newer i3's do have built in memory as well as a memory card slot but there is little to choose between them - I believe that your model with the detachable memory card can actually hold more information than the i3's with the built in memory.

The main thing is that both early and later model can both hold the complete PGPSW speed camera database together with at least another 12,000 POI's, which are in addition to those already installed on your i3.

I think that the most cost effective way of using your i3 is if you are a subscribing member to this site, the dedicated subscriber forum, together with the regularly updated speed camera locations that are included as a free bonus, will both keep your i3 bang up to date at, in my opinion, an extremely reasonable price.

Hope this helps Elddis - any more questions please ask, and either myself, or one of our more knowledgeable members will try and assist you.

Regards,

Robert Swanson

:D
_________________
I have enjoyed the past, but my main interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there!

Elddis · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 28, 2006 Posts: 3

Robert,

Thanks for your very helpful reply. I will download the MaFt POIs and see how it goes.

Cheers.

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