StreetPilot i3 cheers and jeers

Now that I've used my i3 for a little while, I've got a few more things to say about it.

Cheer: The mounting bracket does keep the unit put.

Jeer: I wish it was a shock-style mount to accommodate for bumps in the road because it shakes like crazy over less-than-perfect terrain - but then again I do have it mounted on the dashboard. Were it on the windshield I probably wouldn't have that issue.

Cheer: Auto day/night color scheme is really trick. When the sun goes down it changes automatically. Very nice.

Jeer: Night colors are ugly, but very readable. I can just imagine the Garmin researchers scratching their heads when they were developing this. Should roads be orange.. or yellow? I dunno, man, flip a coin.

Cheer: I like the fact it states how fast you're going.

Jeer: This feature is only available when the unit is not in Navigation mode, which sucks (it switches to "arrival" time). I wish that the two fields at the bottom left and right corner could be programmed to display what you want it to display. The Rino 130 has this in abundance (with four fields mind you...) why doesn't the i3?

Cheer: Zoom in/out feature is absolutely 100% cool.

Jeer: Adjusting that while driving = bad idea. Yes, I know - the unit states up front to not adjust settings while driving, but you know... we're all gonna do it anyway - right before we smack into somebody else's car (insert sheepish grin here).

Cheer: Controls are easy.

Jeer: Some menu functions you have to dig for, but not many.

Cheer: "Avoid highways" really works.

Jeer: None. It works.

(Note: Haven't tried "Avoid Tolls" yet, but will do that probably before the end of this month)

Cheer: Priced right at $400.00

Jeer: Feels like I paid too much, considering the Rino 130 has a ton more features in it and is much less in price. Then again, it is one of the lowest-priced mobile specific GPS's out there and the construction is Garmin standard (meaning very sturdy). I'm pretty sure the i3 will dramatically drop in price once more people start buying them.

Cheer: Being able to pick places by category is very cool (like Parks, Shopping and so on)

Jeer: None. Works and it's accurate.

Cheer: Gets signal easily.

Jeer: Sometimes has issues with a signal during inclement weather only on startup, but then again, all GPS units have this problem when trying to punch a signal through a storm cloud, so no biggie.

That's pretty much it. If there's any more to it I'll be sure to write about it.

Published 2005 Aug 31