Garmin StreetPilot i3 Review!
Okay, here's the moment you've all been waiting for - The Garmin StreetPilot i3 review! (insert 2001: A Space Odyssey tympanis here: bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum!)
Before I get into that:
I just arrived home and did not expect the i3 to be here. GPSExplorer said there was a signature required on delivery. Box was left at my house anyway - WHICH IS GOOD because I didn't have to drive to to pick it up for a failed delivery attempt.
Okay, here's the review, ahem...
The i3 came in a little box. It's just over two pounds shipped. This box was in a bigger box surrounded by a massive amount of packing material (that's a good thing, not a bad thing).
Garmin i3 in the hand. Is it small? Yes. Too small? That's for you to decide. I personally think it could be just a tiny bit bigger.
All the stuff that comes with the i3 (quite a bit actually) shown on top of pizza box.
Seen in photo: Maps DVD, manual, i3 itself, car charger, USB cable, Quick guide, mounting bracket, mounting plate.
I have to say something before showing the next volley of photos here:
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS GIVEN TO THE LETTER. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT get ahead of yourself. Take your TIME and it will load up and work FLAWLESSLY.
Okay, that being said:
Per instructions, I loaded in two AA batteries. You get a nastygram on first startup:
Now this is interesting for several reasons. It appears that you absolutely MUST HAVE a computer with a DVD drive and USB capability in order to get this thing to work. You absolutely CANNOT get anywhere until you load the map data from a computer FIRST. I pressed the buttons to see if I could get off this screen - I couldn't. This is not a flaw with the unit - that's the way it's designed.
Now comes the cool part - picking what you want loaded into the unit. It is nothing short of awesome. You choose exactly what states you want. A bar on the right side shows how much space for data is left if you want to add more. I put in all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania and a few other areas to squeeze as much data I could on to the 128MB TransFlash card (which comes standard).
Loading the unit did take a while - about five minutes.
I turned the unit on and ta-daaaa.. a map showed up almost instantly. There was no fuss, no muss. This thing is stupidly easy to use (yet again another good thing).
Before continuing: I did not need to calibrate the unit for direction (North, South, East, West) like you have to do with the Rino 130. It does this itself.
On to the next part - mounting the unit.
You have a few options here. You can opt to suction mount this thing on the windshield or directly to the dash (or other flat surface) using the plate. Here's a picture of the plate. And yes the red circle DOES come off revealing sticky stuff to mount it. I mounted it on the dashboard of my pickup. It does stick and sticks well.
A few more notes on the bracket:
The ball part of the mounting bracket snaps right into the i3. You do have to press it a bit, but it does snap in. I was also able to "unsnap" it "re-snap" it back without a problem. No, you don't have to keep doing this to mount and unmount. You should use the small lip and lever release to "un-suck" it from whereever it's mounted. I removed it just to see if it could be done and reattached for the same reason - and I could.
The suction mount really does have a good amount of suction to it - it's not cheesy!
The mounting bracket is sturdy. It's been purposely designed to be stiff so it stays put. It can be tilted to your preference. Once you position it, it stays there. Nice job.
This is a pic of the unit mounted on the dash of my truck with the car charger plugged into the side. Car charger is not required. This thing is said to run for six hours on two AA batteries. I was able to use the car charger with the batteries in it and the i3 didn't complain about that at all.
Now on to the important stuff. I'll do this in question/answer style:
Q: Does it get a signal easily?
A: Yes. It grabs a signal better than the Rino 130 did - and I live "in the sticks" of Northeastern Connecticut. Signal wasn't a problem.
Q: Is it readable?
A: Yes. It may be small but you can read it.
Q: Is it readable in sunlight?
A: I drove it around and purposely drove on a road so the sun was directly hitting it. I could read everything easily.
Q: Is there brightness control?
A: Yes (thank God).
Q: How does the voice sound?
A: Shockingly, the voice (as in "Turn left in 300 feet" when it gives you directions) is a nice and very human-sounding female voice. It is crisp and clear. Volume can be adjusted. The top volume does distort a little bit. When the windows are down when driving on the highway it's hard to hear it - but what can you expect from something this small.
Q: Is it accurate?
A: Very accurate. The zoom levels are astonishing. It knows every road anywhere you travel.
Q: Does the "recalculate" work if you miss a turn?
A: Absolutely. Works almost instantly the moment you miss a turn and will recalculate to get you back on course fast.
Q: Is it easy to find stuff?
A: Very easy. You can map by entering an address or simply picking what you want like "lodging" or "fuel".
Q: What's better? 3D or 2D?
A: I prefer 3D, but for those who like the traditional GPS displays, the 2D is really nice, too. I'd say mix and match and pick what you like best.
Q: How's the menu system?
A: Well designed. Can be used from novice to expert. I learned it in less than two minutes without reading the manual.
Q: What's your favorite feature (so far)?
A: The "Go Home" feature. You put in your address and set it as home. From whereever you are, you tell it you want to "Go home" and it tells you exactly how to get there - and says when you'll most likely arrive.
I'll be writing more on the i3 later after I use it a little bit more. My initial reaction: FRICKIN' AWESOME. The price is good. The unit is solid. It's EASY. Good job, Garmin!
Garmin StreetPilot i3 update
GPSExplorer called me today (as they said they would, very nice of them), and I should have my Garmin StreetPilot i3 on Monday. YES! It took a while but I'll finally be getting it. I was informed it will be shipped out of New York.
I've noticed several people have come to my web site looking for a review of the i3. If you happen to be one of those people, Garmin just started shipping them (remember, it's a brand new model just released). Reviewers and normal folk like myself will get our hot little hands on them very shortly. I will be writing my review for it as soon as I get mine.
Garmin i3 update
I preordered a Garmin StreetPilot i3 from GPSExplorer back in late July. It's now August 10th and I still haven't received the unit yet. I have called GPSExplorer several times asking when I should expect to receive my new i3. Last Friday, one of their service reps told me I'd get it "...probably by next week." On Monday, another one of their service reps told me "...about a week and a half from now."
The only factoid that's remained constant each time I called GPSExplorer is that they were waiting on Garmin, and that's why I didn't have my i3 yet, so I decided to e-mail Garmin directly being that this was a supplier-to-vendor issue, and this is what I wrote:
Hello. This is a question concerning the estimated ship time for the Garmin StreePilot i3's to vendors. I have recently preordered a Garmin StreetPilot i3 from GPSExplorer.com for $400.00, which they said on their own web site would be available in August. On every inquiry I make to them concerning when I will get my i3, they keep stating that Garmin (you guys) haven't shipped out the i3's for one reason or another. All I want to know is whether Garmin has started shipments of the i3's to vendors or not (particularly to GPSExplorer.com), and if not, when?
That was Tuesday. I got an e-mail from Garmin today:
Thank you for contacting GARMIN International. We have not started shipping the newly announced Street Pilot i3 to our dealers at this time. We do plan to start shipping the Street Pilot's sometime in August. We do not have a specific shipping announcement date at this time. The only information that I can give to you as well is that we will start shipping sometime this month. Please watch our website we will make a public announcement when the product begins shipping to dealers.
While I appreciate the fact that Garmin did actually respond to tell me what's up, I'm sort of bummed out that I don't have a more definitive answer. Does this mean the i3 will be sent out this week? Next week? End of the month?
I see the bright side of this - I did get an answer from the manufacturer themselves, and they were timely with their answer. It might have not been the best answer in the world, but at least I got a response.
Garmin StreetPilot i3
In the midst of all the home shopping that is going on for the upcoming move up North, I had a thought:
I am not going to have any idea where I'm going when I get there.
This is true. I've lived in the tri-state region of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island all my life. I don't know anywhere else very well. As a matter of fact I don't really know the western half of Connecticut that well either, but that's another story. In short, while it's true I know of the major routes like I-95 in the north, the rest is completely foreign to me.
The solution is to get a mobile GPS unit. I have been toying with the idea of getting one for the last year, but haven't because of one reason: Cost. GPS units are very, very expensive. You can easily spend thousands of dollars on one.
Garmin just introduced to the market two baseball-sized automotive windshield mounted (via suction cup) GPS units, the StreetPilot i2 and StreetPilot i3. The only difference between the two is that the i2 is monochrome (black/white with grays) and the i3 is 32,000 colors. Both are backlit and can be read in sunlight (very important). Both will talk to you to tell you things like upcoming turns and whatnot. Both will display maps in 3-D or 2-D. But most importantly, the price is less than half of their bigger units. You can get the i2 for $300.00 and the i3 for $400.00. I decided to splurge and got the i3. I should be receiving the unit sometime in August. I'll be able to write a detailed review of it then.
Here's what convinced me to buy the i3:
1) It's made by Garmin.
There are other manufacturers of mobile GPS units like Lowrance and Magellan, but I've noticed that units made by Garmin last longer and can take abuse. My pop owns a Rino 120 and its as tough as nails. They can definitely take a beating. I also like the fact that Garmin recognized that there are those of us out there that want small, simple (but informative) mobile GPS units.
2) Cost.
Definitely a large factor. Through my research, I could find no other dash or windsheld mountable GPS-only (meaning not PDA) units in the price range that Garmin is offering.
3) Easily transportable.
If I want to move the unit from one vehicle to another, I can do so, with ease - to any vehicle.
4) Data can be easily loaded to the unit, and comes with data.
The i3 comes with a "MapSource City Select North America NT v7 DVD" with the unit - you don't have to buy it separately. Very nice. Data can be loaded via a TransFlash card with USB. This means I can pop the DVD into my laptop and send the data with no fuss, no muss.
5) Comes with a car charger.
I like this because I don't have to buy one separately.
6) Runs on 2 AA batteries.
If the car charger fails or if I lose it, this thing is said to run for around six hours on 2 AA's.
Possible bad things about the i3 (this is strictly guessing because I don't physically have it yet):
1) No touch screen.
You have to use a wheel/click thing. The interface is completely menu driven. This may prove to be difficult setting a POI (Point-Of-Interest).
2) Too small?
The display area is 176x220 pixels. That's pretty damn small. I don't know how readable this unit actually is. We'll find out soon enough.
3) Brightness control?
The description mentions nothing about whether you can set the brightness of the display or not; something I find important, especially for night driving.
4) Volume control?
The description also mentions nothing about a volume control for the talking portion of the unit. I would hope there is one, either by dial, knob, menu-on-screen or whatever.
Stay tuned for my next entry on this one...
