Garmin StreetPilot i3

zogman · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:30 pm Post subject:

just got my i3..but cant decide where to put it..on the windscreen or use the 'sticky pad' to put it on the dash...where's yours been put?

blackrat62 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 08, 2005 Posts: 47

Had mine a week now - I like the camera warning even if it does get a bit intrusive with all that 'bonging' when the camera is on the opposite carriageway.

I have had three 'lock ups', and today two 'switch offs'.

I have also found that 2300mAh batteries only last 3 hours before the i3 reports a low battery (note: power switch off was on the brand new alkaline ones).

That said - I am happy with it, it is small and easy to use AND very good value.

Just hope that Garmin sort out the locking up etc (which they seem to be working on) as the temptation is to do it on the move.

overide · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 12, 2005 Posts: 8

Can everyone who is having problems with this unit, especially lockups to register your problem at http://www.garmin.com/contactUs/techSupport.jsp

Hopefully, Garmin will then realise how big a problem it is.

Thanks

RichardCr · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 06, 2005 Posts: 27

overide · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 12, 2005 Posts: 8

Thanks for the update.

swampmonster · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 11, 2005 Posts: 10

swampmonster · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 11, 2005 Posts: 10

blackrat62 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 08, 2005 Posts: 47

I just downloaded the files as discussed on this forum - it did the rest for me automatically.

garyrk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 13, 2005 Posts: 11

Have had a unit since last week and been in discussion with Maplin, Garmin UK & Garmin US over maps & hangups.

Hangups happen far too often requiring disconnection of external power and batteries. Managed to get hard reset key sequence from Garmin. Works, keeps downloaded POI but seems to delete other user prefences.

Basically great unit compared to opposition. Have loaded loads of POI (such as speed camera's, Congestion Charge, local motor deals and our business sites) by following instructions on this site and using link to Garmin's POI loader and POIEDIT. Bitmaps work and seem fine.

Have installed external arieal as I have a solar reflecting windscreen. waiting to see if improves reliability

Have obtained compatiable addtional power cable (Blackberry 6510/7100) via mailorder

Also obtained 256mb transflash and SD reader and intend to play around with card to backup etc.

Recieved interesting response from Garmin UK - Maplins product packing was put together to keep cost down by not including other map or CD. Said I would have to wait for the release of other transflash cards to get other EU countries.

Posed a similar question to Garmin US and got a better response to hanging and map availability/compatibility - please see:

upthegardenpath · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 13, 2005 Posts: 12

Reading with great interest at the moment (have just ordered mine from maplins.)

Has anyone managed to back up the transflash card onto a clean one and get it to work? Surely if they will be selling the European cards at 70quid +VAT they will be copy protected to prevent illegal copies?

swampmonster · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 11, 2005 Posts: 10

I posted a question at Garmin support re the problem I was having with voice commands and the hanging problem. Customer Support at Garmin Support seems a really good guy and responds quickly. The master reset on it's own didn't solve the problem and I wrote again and he suggested doing the master reset again but when it asks you for a language choose
a non english option. Then once that has been installed you will need to
then change the voice back to English. It might be worth noting that I waited whilst the language files loaded and didn't press the wheel as instructed, after about five minutes it went the next option on it's own. This worked brilliantly and I now have a unit that seems to work. Today is the first day without hanging as well!! Smile

He also said "The software update will be released by the end of the week.

FriendlyBloke · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 14, 2005 Posts: 57

Yipee, finally found people who seem to know more than the experts!
I too have been having lock-up/freezing problems with my i3 and have been told to do a system reset also by Garmin (hasn't worked so far). Also been advised to purchase an antenna which I am awaiting from ebay.
Haven't had a chance to read all these posts yet, but does anyone have any straight forward instructions for downloading extra data, like speed cameras etc?
If anyone has any questions about my experiences so far please let me know. I will try and contribute to this forum as much as possible just as others have done.

Will be watching with interest!

BERT_UK · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 15, 2005 Posts: 45

Does anyone know can you purchase the US maps for use on the European i3? I'm guessing you can......

Many thanks for any adivce.

zogman · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 5:09 pm Post subject:

bert_uk..i think you can load any mapping software onto a spare transflash card and then put into the i3...

garyrk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Sep 13, 2005 Posts: 11

BERT_UK,

see my post a short while, I also asked - the answer was the same as buying City Select for Europe - just need to shell out money for CD & Transflash cards.

Friendly_bloke

I have managed to get the speed camera database working ok, along with a few other POI files and set up my own work related sites. Let me have a email contact and I'll help if I can

Works great (when it doesn't hang and give spurious spoken distances that do not match the correct visual distances!!!!)

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