Rating: 
Summary: Suprisingly Powerful!
Review: I just bought the deluxe package from Amazon, and it arrived very quickly. Installation is a snap. I do recommend the external antenna. However, the Deluxe package includes the USB data card programmer and the 128 MB card. You'll need to get six AA batteries; they're not included in the package. You may want to get rechargeables. The Garmin unit does support their use.Downloading the regional maps took only a few minutes and the software does guide you how much memory your selections will take up on the card. The unlocking process is very simple. I had the data card programmed in under 5 minutes. I also upgrade the firmware at the same time, which took under a minute. Programming in one route seemed to cause the system to "lock up". I reset it by removing a battery. The system came right back up and no problems since. I then used the StreetPilot to program in a couple of locations that I usually go to. It correctly routed me. The speaker isn't inside the GPS; it's on the powercable that connects to your car's cigarette lighter. Still, the voice is distinct and understandable. ... Estimates to intersections weren't as accurate, and in areas where you may have several turns within a 100 feet, the StreetPilot may not correct anticipate them. The display is really clear. The split panel shows you the route on your left and what your next turns are on the right. The voice clearly and distinctly prompts you when and where to turn. If you're not a natural navigator or maybe don't have the world's best sense of direction - this is a dream come true. Still, I went "off route" to see what it would do. To my pleasure, it correctly signaled it was off route and promptly calculated a new route. What's better is that like the [other] system, Garmin thoughtfully includes the ability to find stores - by their name, and then sorts them in the display list by distance from your current location. This is just a delight! Same is true for hotels, restaurants, theaters - all the places that you'd like to go - if only you could find your way there! The bean bag mount is very good and really visible on the dashboard. I've also put this on the passenger seat, but I recommend the dash. It's safer to keep your eyes on the road! Remember to always take the Streetpilot with you; never leave it in the car. The disadvantage of this system is there are several pieces: the mobile antenna, the power cable as well as the unit to haul along. They don't weigh much, and your car will be much less of a temptation of there's no hint of electronics strewn about. I had wanted to get a built-in system for my car, but now that I have the flexibility of the Streetpilot for use at home or when I travel on business, I'm much happier with this choice. My company requires me to rent from a company ... , and one that doesn't offer a [gps] feature. I am much happier knowing that I won't get lost again!
Rating:
Summary: Easy to use - great fun
Review: The Garmin Streetpilot is very easy to use but don't let the manual confuse you. Load the CD into your computer, unlock the maps and then select the parts of the maps you want to use. Download these onto the memory chip and put it into the Garmin. You don't have to load a complete zone but can select portions to use. Now you are ready to navigate around the indepth maps. The Garmin comes with a very good base map, but the information you add gives you the detailed maps. After you play around with it for a while, read the manual. Use it in an area you are familiar with before you venture into unfamiliar areas. We set the waypoints and plan our route in the Garmin. We use the computer to preview areas and load the maps. Garmin has a wonderful technical support telephone line and they can walk you through any problems you encounter. The screen darkens for night use and the audio gives you plenty of advance notice for turns, etc. It is amazing how much information is packed into such a tiny unit. The beanbag mount is fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: Garmin Streetpilot is a lifesaveer!
Review: I drive for a part of my job and was skeptical about how this would work for me. After using the StreetPilot on the first day I was 100% convinced. No more maps and MapQuest for me; I just plug in the address and go! This is a phenomenal product and has more than paid for itself in the 3 weeks I have been using it. Plus, Amazon's price is $200 less than Best Buy. Highest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Better than anticipated
Review: I owned a smaller Garmin unit for several years, but I recently bought the SPIII Deluxe package for use in my cars, 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.. The "find" feature will help you get easily to any address or point of interest. I'm sure there are some places missing, but there are 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.
Rating:
Summary: Additional notes
Review: 1. Superb engineering, a jewel.
2. Window XP users: When loading maps after purchase : if message "USB device malfunctioning" (or similar) appears, call Garmin support. They will talk you through the known issue--it's not complicated but you'll never figure it out yourself.
3. I bought it for my wife, who has some issues with the learning curve. Prepare to spend time with the device and the wife. Both are equally complicated and equally reward a calm, supportive, non-judgemental willingness NOT TO GET ANGRY AT THE WAY DIFFERENT HUMANS PROCESS DATA. Remember, both devices are better looking than you and smarter in many respects.
4. At least at first, prepare to program tomorrow's hard-to-find destination the night before, because "entering an address" is not as easy as it sounds and will cause you to gnaw fingernails the first six times you do it.
5. If you miss breakfast doing this, don't despair. While en route merely press buttons signifying "Nearest Carl's Jr" ( that's a tasty Southern Cal restaurant chain) and the Garmin will take you there. Also useful: nearest gas station."
6. Conclusion: Don't panic. Familiarity will come.
Rating:
Summary: Additional notes
Review: 1. Superb engineering, a jewel.
2. Window XP users: When loading maps after purchase : if message "USB device malfunctioning" (or similar) appears, call Garmin support. They will talk you through the known issue--it's not complicated but you'll never figure it out yourself.
3. I bought it for my wife, who has some issues with the learning curve. Prepare to spend time with the device and the wife. Both are equally complicated and equally reward a calm, supportive, non-judgemental willingness NOT TO GET ANGRY AT THE WAY DIFFERENT HUMANS PROCESS DATA. Remember, both devices are better looking than you and smarter in many respects.
4. At least at first, prepare to program tomorrow's hard-to-find destination the night before, because "entering an address" is not as easy as it sounds and will cause you to gnaw fingernails the first six times you do it.
5. If you miss breakfast doing this, don't despair. While en route merely press buttons signifying "Nearest Carl's Jr" ( that's a tasty Southern Cal restaurant chain) and the Garmin will take you there. Also useful: nearest gas station."
6. Conclusion: Don't panic. Familiarity will come.
Rating: 
Summary: Revision.
Review: I reviewed this unit before, and I gave it 5 stars. However, I just returned from a trip to Boston where I had this unit in its Neverlost itineration in a Hertz car. I have been using only the Mercedes system for a while now, and I didn't realize how much slower the Garmin is in comparison. That's important because in any big city, the ability of the system to adjust to frequent changes caused by turns and detours (esp. in Boston!) is a key factor in its usefulness. It takes a very long time (maybe 3 minutes) to recalculate a route once you've changed directions. I still like it, but I think it's much better suited to suburban or Interstate driving than to urban use. I've appended my original review. I've been using the Mercedes CD-ROM-based navigation system and the Cadillac DVD-based system since I sold my Garmin-equipped Expedition. I can honestly say that, aside from the practical need to have an external antenna mount for the Garmin, it performs as well as either of the 2 factory systems mentioned above. Regardless of which system you get, once you've had a car with navigation, you'll never want to have one without it. (In that way, it reminds me of microwave ovens: once exotic, then uncommon, now just too handy to do without). What really amused me was the fact that the first person who saw my Expedition took it for a 30 minute test drive and handed me a check for the full asking price while still sitting in the truck and playing with the Garmin!
Rating:
Summary: Streetpilot III Is Everything Advertised
Review: The StreetPilot three was extremely easy to setup and so far in it's use is very accurate. It makes driving a lot safer with the talking feature because you don't have to look at the screen as much. Would recommend to anyone who does not want to deal as much with maps.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, but could be faster
Review: First off, this thing is great. I'm constantly amazed by how well it works and gets me to places that I have no idea where are. The screen is easy to read and there are different viewing modes depending on what's best for you. When you make a wrong turn, it recalculates and gets you back on track. I love it and any time I'm going somewhere I'm not familiar with, I can rely on this to get me there. Here's what I don't like about it, since that's a shorter list: First off, It's slow. The menus are slow, the screen refresh is slow and the route calculation is slow. It's not so slow it's useless, it's just a bit irritating. Everything it does is sluggish. When you miss a turn, and aren't sure how to get back, you'd be better off pulling into a gas station and waiting for it to catch up. If you try to get back on your own, usually it will have to re-recalculate, and you could miss crucial parts of the directions waiting. The map drawing is slow. This isn't too big a deal most of the time, because you should be looking at the road, not the map, most of the time. But when you do need to glance over, and it's busy redrawing, it can be annoying. The menus are slow. This is really infuriating. When you want to get on the road, you don't want to sit there and babysit the menu. It acts unresponsive, even though it's usually buffering your inputs. So if you hit the buttons to many times, it will suddenly jump ahead, making you wait twice as long as you try to get back where you were. The other annoying thing is the "points of interest" feature. This should be very useful , but as it turns out (at least in my area) these locations are extremely outdated. For example, it listed a restaurant that had closed 2 years ago, and didn't mention one that's been open for at least 3. This makes me wary of using it when I'm in an unfamiliar area, which is really the only time you would want to use it. The maps *are very* up to date though, which is really why you would want this anyway. None of these problems make this not worth the money, it's a great street navigation system and it has recently come down in price. I recommend finding a carrying case, my cordless drill bag works perfectly. They don't make any carrying cases that let you put the whole thing in it at once without disassembling the beanbag stand and wires (unless you like to spend 5 minutes every time you get in and out of your car setting it up). Also, get a special cleaning cloth (like a lens cleaner) because the screen is very sensitive to fingerprints. What I wish it would do: Read exit numbers. There's no reason it can't do this. If it can say "Exit ramp right in 3 miles" it could say "Take exit ramp 84 right in 3 miles." As it is, you have to glance at the screen to get the exit number. Also, common street names should be spoken too (1st, 2nd, main, etc). Let you know if a street is really small. Sometimes, you'll miss a little side street because you aren't looking for one. I've missed a few turns like this. Not all streets are well lit and well labeled. I also wish it would sync better with the PC. I've lost waypoints that I put in while in the car when I later downloaded new maps because of this. All in all, I highly recommend it because it does what it's supposed to do and does a great job of it. I'm only listing drawbacks so you know what you are in for and aren't disappointed. Hopefully these problems can be corrected in future models and software updates.
Rating: 
Summary: save your money
Review: What a waste. It is unreadable during the day. Support takes too long to get back to you and it is unuser friendly.
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