Rating: 
Summary: Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe Portable GPS w/auto-routing
Review: I purchased my SP III unit in the fall of 2002, and in the winter of 2003, used it for a cross country road trip from West Michigan to Central Florida. This review is intended to highlight the cons I experienced with the unit.This trip was split into 2 legs, the first from West Michigan to Knoxville, TN, and the second from Knoxville, TN, to Central Florida. Each leg is approx. 650 miles. The first thing I noticed, after leaving West Michigan, was that the unit continually wanted to take me off the interstates and put me on secondary highways, to get me to my Knoxville hotel. Now, I ask you, if you have the unit programmed to compute "fastest route", which I did, and you don't have "avoid highways" turned on, which I didn't, then how can secondary highways and streets filled with stop lights, speed limits, and small, quaint towns be FASTER than staying on a 70 mph interstate.........that I couldn't understand. I have since gone thru all the screens on the unit, searching for a field that says "use highways/interstates only", but to no avail.......I also don't think the unit see's a difference between interstates and divided highways........if it did, then maybe turning on that "avoid highways" option might have worked to my advantage......in any case, it took the first several hours of the trip for the SP III to adapt to my line of thinking, and finally leave my on the interstate to route to my destination....... The second thing I noticed is that, at times, while on an interstate, my pointer would be the only thing on the screen, and there would be no roads beneath it, giving me the impression I was off-roading in a cornfield somewhere.....and these interstates are not new roads......they've been there forever.......this could go on for an hour or more at a time, not just a few minutes, and then finally the interstate would magically appear at the edge of the screen, and slowly work it's way towards the center, taking residence underneath the pointer, marking my location.......I have the external, weatherproof antenna (GA-28, or something like that) which is toted as being accurate to within 20 feet or so.......WHAT'S UP WITH THAT????? I felt like I was in a UFO with a blind-folded pilot at the controls.... The third thing I noticed is that if your route is a long one, as mine were, recaluation time can take several minutes.......if you get off route, the unit immediately tells you so, and says it's "recalculating", so you keep driving, waiting for the new directions........when the unit is ready to deliver your new directions, if it determines that the new directions are also, now, obsolete, because of your last few minutes of travel since the 1st declaration of "recalulating", then it goes right into a second recalulation, and announces it a second time.........long story short......from the 1st declaration of "off route/recalulating" to the final, delivered directions to get you back on track, could take upwards of 5 to 8 minutes, all the while cruising along at 70 mph.......and the funny thing is, I never was off-route........I was right in the middle of the interstate, and there weren't even any exits nearby to exit off onto, and all of the sudden it thought I was off-route........I'm assuming maybe this happened because of a loss of pinpoint from a satelite, dropping from a 3 to a 2 dimensional location, or something of the like..... Ten weeks later, prior to my return trip from Florida to Michigan, I pre-planned a 2 legged route, with Knoxville once again being the stop/start point for each leg respectively. I did this on the software, from the PC, and downloaded it to the SP III unit, specifying every road and every exact turn, junction, or exit I would take. This process took probably 2 to 3 hours to do.....As expected, the GPS unit performed flawlessly, and followed the route to a "T"......now, I know what you're thinking....your thinking "if I have to pre-plan my driving route for several hours, and download it in order to get the most obvious, efficient, cross country route, then why would I have this GPS unit in the first place.......all I need is a map!!"......... THAT'S EXACTLY HOW I FEEL AT THIS POINT.... Passengers are mezmerized by my SP III, and find it very entertaining, but I find it to be a somewhat pricey conversation piece, with many shortcomings.....after reading so many raving reviews prior to my purchase, I was surprised and disappointed with it's cross country performance....... ... Final Conclusion: The SP III performs well for short trips in your local area, when you need to find that all elusive address, but when you try doing the same thing, on a larger, cross country scale, the unit has trouble adapting, due to the sheer volume of territory and length of the journey.......
Rating: 
Summary: This Street Pilot III GPS Is Awesome!!
Review: I am so excited about this product I just had to tell the world about it. If driving in unfamiliar areas makes you a bit nervous, as it does, or I should say "did" me, or if your sense of direction is not one of your strongest attributes, this is the product for you. After using this item for only 10 minutes, my wife and I were hooked. We can't imagine driving anywhere unfamiliar without it. It is simply amazing how the Street Pilot III can tell you where you are, and how to get to where you want to go, all with so much ease, and so much accuracy. And, if its built-in voice tells you to turn a certain way and you don't listen, it will let you know that you have gone off the route it had planned for you, and will recalculate a new one, all in less than a minute. WOW!! If you are in the market for a GPS that has all the features of the more expensive $2,000 to $3,000 units, at about 1/3 the price, you will not be disappointed with the Garmin Street Pilot III GPS. I've only had mine for about one week now and I'd be lost without it. Words cannot express how amazing this device is, and with all the many features it has, at such an affordable price, I think you will be as impressed with, and glad you made the purchase of, this product as I am. Enjoy!!
Rating:
Summary: Compared to GPS III+
Review: I think this model is great. I had a GPS III+ and this model beats it by a long way. It programs simular to the III+ with slight differences. The only thing I don't like is that I can't reverse a route on the Street Pilot III. It has to be done on the software and then sent to the Pilot. The auto routing is fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: 50/50
Review: Price paid: USD 1500 (UK)
pros:
Nize size, easy to fit and bring from one car to another. Installation/setup of the equipment was easy. cons.
Setup: Finding an address is a very tricky process when you have to write the address/street number etc. Takes too long time to locate most addresses !
Driving: Sometimes the system needs minutes to locate satellites beofre navigation can commence. (my location is SE UK)
Accuracy of the system is not always top, i.e. in London, the system will make mistakes as the blocks/streets sometimes are very tiny and close together.
Several times the system made hige deviations in London, not recognizing bridges and streets that would save a lot of time and make the route direct.
In the city, (due to the buildings I suppose )the system will continuously loose satellites, but it usually reconnects within a few seconds.
More annoying is that if you make a mistake, the systems will start recalculating. This can take anything from a few seconds, to (more normally) a few minutes before it starts working again.
Conclusion.
At 1500 USD (European prices) this system did not meet my expectations. It is to clumsy to operate and works too slowly while navigating, and it does quite a few times send you on a substantial "detour", even though it will get you to your destination in the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Something Mac users NEED to know...
Review: I did a little research into 'navigation systems' before looking over this particular one, so that way I wouldn't be so impressed. Didn't work - this is a SWEEEEEEET little set-up. You can transfer it from on car to another, and even bring it on trips with you for use in rental cars, too. No re-tooling of your dashboard, or other permanant modification of you vehicle is needed. I'd really like to own one in the worst way (because I can't read a real map to save my life), however...
I did run into a snag that really put the brakes on this purchase. Although all the major routs in the U.S. and Canada are in the unit already, you still need to load up the 'memory card' (which IS included along with an interface cable) with the areas you want fine detail for - that's how it can route you to a specific movie theater, restaurant, or house. That's where the map CD comes into play. All that detail IS given to you on the CD, but has to be read from your home computer, and then transferred to the memory card - I have absolutly NO problem with that, except that the CD interface is for Windows systems only! No Mac support at all. I even called Garmin direclty. If you have a Macintosh computer, make sure you at least have access to a friends PC before you get this. Otherwise you'll be a little frustrated. After you get it set up the first time, you'll have no trouble at all. I persoanlly don't have a PC, so I had to hold off. Hopefully Garmin will start supporting Mac soon enough, and I can try for a later generation of this.
Rating:
Summary: This one rocks !
Review: Really cool product ! Don't think, you need GPS system only if you're in a new place or travelling to a new place. Even in your own backyard (and the places surrounding them), a GPS can take you through new routes and help in exploration ! After buying the product, I had some problems in my machine running Windows XP to recognize the programmable card reader, but they were solved after a couple of reboots. Other than this, the product was very easy to set up and use. Iam using the bean bag mount in my vehicle and keep them on the dash. With this setup, the satellite acquisition times are minimal and the product works great ! Even the rerouting times are also very minimal and not like what others have described in the review. So, when you buy this product, first try it before deciding on whether you need the external antenna mount. Also, remember to hide or atleast remove it from the dash when you're leaving your vehicle. The 128Mb data card in the deluxe package is big enough to hold the whole of New Jersey, New York city and Long Island and parts of eastern Pennysylvania. However, having an additional data card might be helpful since you can just swap them when travelling away from home regions. The color display is crystal clear with adjustable brightness/contrast and the voice prompt is loud enough if you keep the volume at the max level. However, when handling the unit, watch out for the LCD screen as it can get dirty very easily.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent value and a Lifestyle changing product.
Review: UPDATE:
Note that all the suggestions that I have mentioned in my previous review seem to be already addressed in the future release of StreetPilot 2610 late summer Fall (last week of august) 2003. watch out for this one. ... PREVIOUS COMMENTS: I have bought the Street PilotIII along with the external antenna accessory (which I haven't used so far) about three weeks ago. Since then I have used it for a 8 day long camping trip in remote parts of Pennsylvania (Alegheny National forest. wow what a beautiful place to camp and kayak/canoe) besides using it regulary in town. I have given this ***** inspite of some minor suggestion future releases can incorportate. After seeing the reviews of some people complaining how the processor is so slow for re-calculating routes when you are off route, I was worried while making the decision to 'plunge'. But after using it I think some of the reviews may have been grossly exaggerated. (note that I have experienced OEM DVD based systems in Acura)
On a trip from Columbus OH to Warren, PA (approx 300 miles), I observed a recalulation of the entire route in about 20~30 seconds (not 2-3minutes) For shorter routes it was, as u might expect, much faster.
Even though I won't go as far as to dispute the worst case scenarios mentioned in other earlier reviews, I would go atleast far enough to suggest that they do not belong in the day-to-day scenarios. My observation: The factory fitted DVD based systems cost [a fortune]and this one cost [much less]. The price difference buys you the following features in Factory Fitted features:
* Slightly Bigger Display
* DVD based system, instead of programming the 128 MB data card in Street Pilot III
* Touch screen based display (easier user input compared to using the rocker key pad to input street names etc)
* Arguably, a faster Microprocessor. However I can't overemphasize the value proposition of products with capabilities such as this. Just imagine a scenario where we needed to buy a supply enroute to our camping trip and we were able to find a [] store near an entirely new place and added a via-point and seamless be redirected to the store and then eventually to the camping spot. On our way back we were able to dynamically find a great chinese restaurant (and also gas stations) change out directions instantaneously to that via-point and resume from that point on wards. Imagine all of this achieved without even stopping for a second.
No wonder we nick named our StreetPilot III "The ORACLE".
One more thing on external antenna. Though I have bought the external antenna [], I haven't used it so far. It has briefly lost (happened a 5-6 times so far) the satellite reception for a brief couple of seconds. For people who are on a tight budget and doesn't mind a few interruptions could relegate the decision to buy the external antenna. Otherwise it could a worth while and useful accessory. (Note we haven't had a chance to use this in high rise downtowns yet where we may expect more interference with satellite reception.)
For vast majority of people who haven't had a chance to go for a factory fitted option in their car, I certainly recommend this product. Great assets/features/capabilities of this product:
* Portable.
* Reasonably priced.
* Excellent ROI
* Lifestyle changing features (may not be just unique to StreetPilot III).
* Compact but very crisp display.
* Excellent Synthetic audio (pleasant and crisp women's :-) voice)
* Improves safety by indicating in advance "not yet to be seen" T junctions etc.
* Incredible time saver (may not be just unique to StreetPilot III) Minor Suggestions for future releases:
* Auto power on when the car is switched on(relevant for car models that cut off battery to carlighter when car ignition is swithced off)
* The system could incorporate a internal battery charger for charging the interal AA batteries while plugged in the car.
* It could use a high powered processor.
* It could incorporate a touch screen for easier input (I would expect the price to go higher)
* include a higher memory card (mine included 128 MB, which was more than sufficient for our trip) * more rapid availability of more up-to-date maps. Hope this review adds value to already excellent reviews for this product.
Bon Voyage!
Rating:
Summary: This instrument expands your horizon!
Review: I am very positivly impressed by this navigation system. It is pretty easy to figure out and yet it has a wealth of functionality. The communication between the instrument and the computer software works flawlessly and is fast. Transferring routes from PC to the navigator is very efficient. I liked that it came with all the needed equipment (cables, CD, a variety of mounting options, manuals etc.). It can be used with rechargeable batteries, which helps a lot. The screen is surprisingly well organized and I had no problem reading it during driving.
I tried it on a difficult route through mountain terrain. It passed the test with remarkable ease.
The main point is that it expands your action radius/horizon.
This system empowers all those who have a hard time finding new places in the forest of addresses. Enjoy your Garmin Nav. System.
Rating:
Summary: StreetPilot III excellent w/o metroguide v4 or v5
Review: I purchased the Streetpilot for my Mother (70+) who often is afraid of going anywhere w/o getting lost (not good with directions). She is using with a small amount of instruction. I highly recommend creating the 'routes' as oppose to using the on the fly method relying on the info stored in device. When creating routes on the PC then downloading to device I find it is more accurate and the routes themselves are based on the street level detail found on your PC not always available on the device. I considered buying the metro guide until I realized that by using the route function on the PC and downloading to device it works absolutely perfectly. The City Navigator CD that comes with StreetPilot III deluxe loaded on PC and device together is more than enough. The way point method with auto route wasnt as good as creating them myself.
Once I understood that weee... it is wonderful and I wont worry about mother getting lost and panicking. Town car, Garmin, cell phone, and AAA she is on the road!
Rating:
Summary: Not so fast and furious
Review: While recently traveling with the unit in Italy and Germany, I was very frustrated by a huge delay when recalculating the route after wrong exit. Not only the machine became somewhat confused where to go next, but it was not showing the right direction anyway. Sometimes I was puzzled by going in the right direction and Garmin decided to recalculate the route like I just made a wrong turn. Also, having the speaker not on the unit but on the power cord makes it impossible to have the voice guide while on batteries. Sometimes the unit would miscalculates top speed, displaying almost supersonic speeds that are a bit hard to achieve on Italian roads. Overall, good idea, needs more work and definitely faster processor.
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