Garmin i3 GPS unit
- Reviewer
- Stuart Miles
- Review Date
- 26 October 2005
- Manufacturer
- Garmin
- Price as reviewed
- £199.99
- Latest price
- compare
Reader review
User: Paul, West Sussex
Date Posted: 6 October 2006
Review: Does a good job for a decent price (although the hassle I had with C*M*T when I thought I'd ordered one by phone got me off to a bad start. Dislikes: even if you put in the unique postcode for, say, a Hotel, it still wants a house number. And the database doesn't appear to very up-to-date. Could easily be two years old. And a letter to Garmin Europe regarding 'missing' items (missing from all the other boxes in store) remains unanswered after TWO months. I won't be buying their kit again, thanks very much.
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Tom Syrett, Sheffield
Date Posted: 1 September 2006
Review: A brilliant GPS for car travel however I would like a GPS which is truck friendly i.e. I pull 14 foot 10 trailers on a regular basis so you can imagine my horror when this unit takes me down roads with 12 foot bridges anyone who knows of an update or sat nav you can enter trailer heights please let me know otherwise 9 out of 10 for this as a car sat nav.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Richard, Herts, UK
Date Posted: 1 September 2006
Review: Brilliant. Bought for £99.99 (+ p&p) from Comet online. Took a long time to acquire satellites first time (45 mins), but now tunes in instantly. Unexpected bonus - it includes France, even the streets in small towns. Not tried yet, but menu also lists Belgium, Channel Islands, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway. Can also be set to miles or kilometres.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Reshida, Cardiff
Date Posted: 17 August 2006
Review: I brought my street pilot in July My cousin borrowed it to drive to London and he was thrilled, He could not believe that he had arrived at his destination much quicker. He now does not stop talking about it whenever he sees me.
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Glen, Newcastle
Date Posted: 12 August 2006
Review: I'm very happy, it's worth every penny and pound, I always travel with it. It's so easy to use paid.
Rating:
13 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Bernard, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK
Date Posted: 11 August 2006
Review: Garmin i3 - This is a really excellent unit. It is extremely good value. I also have a Tom Tom 510, which costs £349.99. The Garmin i3, at £200+ less, is much better value; it has most of the features of the Tom Tom, but continues to work. I would be happy to recommend it. 9/10
Rating:
4 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ahmed Nalla, London
Date Posted: 11 August 2006
Review: I bought the i3, and used it straight from the box. Generally, works well, but since my last unit was a Dayton, I must say I find the features Spartan. But never mind, as it's only the size of a tennis ball. After some time, I started noticing three problems: 1. The system seems to update itself at a very slow rate. I'm talking about driving at 40 mph in London, and it updates itself after I pass a turn that I need. Then its navigation software tries to take me back to the point where we'd left off, via a million roundabout turns. 2. It sometimes takes AGES (I'm talking 30 minutes) to get a signal. Plus, in built up Central London, the Unit was practically useless. 3. If you have dreams of running them on batteries, dream on. This is a real battery guzzler; considering it's features can't be THAT processor demanding. I finally took it back to Argos to weep and wail about the unit, and they refunded me in full (Thanks, ARGOS) as they couldn't replace it (Thanks again, ARGOS) as they no longer stock this item (I wonder why. Perhaps this item has too high a return rate). In any case, the i3 is one more item on my "cheap-no-good, good-no-cheap" list. I would score this toy 9/10, but as a GPS navigator 4/10. Works great on highways and open spaces. I think it all boils down to software and signal. Too bad, though, as it was such a cute package.
Rating:
9 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Detours?, Leicester, UK
Date Posted: 10 August 2006
Review: I don't have one but these reviews all say that you can't tell it to avoid traffic jams - the manual says otherwise in that you can request a detour. Or is this feature restricted to the i5!
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Barry, Birmingham
Date Posted: 13 July 2006
Review: This is brilliant, I’ve tried 2 other brands and this one has never got it wrong. I use it daily, the post code and house number is all that’s needed.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Philip, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Date Posted: 13 June 2006
Review: Just bought the Garmin i3 from Woolworths for £99.99! Within minutes I had it up and running and I have to say it's a great bit of kit. Just installed the speed camera database and it works a treat! 10/10
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mike, Leicester
Date Posted: 10 June 2006
Review: I have had a Navman, which took anything from 2 minutes to 40 minutes to find a signal. It would not work in a car with heat reflective screen and cost nearly £400. The i3 generally has a signal in under a minute. It is £99 in Woolworths at the moment. I have recommended it to about 6 friends and they think its great. If you want Sat Nav for the UK this is the one!
Rating:
15 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Geezer, Norfolk
Date Posted: 23 May 2006
Review: What can I say a belter of a unit for the price, I have owned this for about six months now and would not be with out it "It Works" and it works well and for the price it's as good as if not better then some units costing twice and three times the price.
Rating:
10 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Baily, Coventry, UK
Date Posted: 11 May 2006
Review: Just got an i3 (for my backup car) largely based on feedback from your site. It is amazing. Do not let size of screen put you off! Have tried 2 others (one over £500) including ultra slow Tom Tom 500 (amazing what mass advertising can do!) This little baby is great. Portable - no cables when used with batteries. Try telling that to (spaghetti junction) Tom Tom! Voice is clear and various volumes but can be loud if you want. Simple and to the point. Changeable settings. Easy set up. I know it sounds like I work for Garmin but I don't and I don't upload info like this often unless it's worth it and the Garmin i3 is worth it (£129.99 from Comet at the moment while stocks last but get Halfords to price match it and fit it for you if you are really unsure or have never used one before).
Rating:
4 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: PerseusTheseus, West Midlands
Date Posted: 9 May 2006
Review: I recently bought my Garmin i3 from Halfords for £120 it came loaded with software version 2.6. I took it home and plugged it straight into my computer and found that it needed updating to version 3.0, it took less than 5 minutes to complete. I installed the speed cam POI with alerts then I installed 36k custom POI's which wiped out my cam alerts, Solution: Make sure speed cam POI files and Custom POI files are located in the same directory! While messing around with the menu's and setting the unit to navigate me to my mothers house I found that you CAN set waypoints, HOW: once you have set your unit to navigate you to (wherever) and it has already finished calculating a route for you, if you exit the current map view by pressing the back button then scroll and click on where to?, click on address type in your required address/waypoint after selection it gives the option to insert selected addresses as waypoint/via on current route!. This unit is the best by far in comparison to other low budget units; I won’t be getting rid of mine in a hurry!
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: The Gerbil, Surrey
Date Posted: 20 April 2006
Review: Alan (post 18 APRIL 06) I’m not a computer whiz but this may help. . . You have the camera database and POI’s saved somewhere in your computer. Create a new file and then store BOTH your unzipped POI’s and speed camera databases in it. Then use the POI loader. Use ’Browse’ to find the above file. Once found follow the loader wizard and you should then get both lots of data in the i3. I may be wrong but when you update the i3 it APPEARS that its stored POI’s / speed camera files are deleted. The new files will REPLACE rather than amend or update the old ones. So update BOTH the speed camera and POI’s at the SAME time as outlined above. I create a new file for each update I do so there is never old and new info in the update file. My reasoning may not be correct but this method works for my i3! Hope it helps.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Alan, Aylesbury
Date Posted: 18 April 2006
Review: I am very pleased with this unit. With fairly detailed Navteq Irish Maps which my previous Tom Tom did not offer I have been accurately taken around the North and next week it will be the South. My forthcoming holiday to Brittany is also well provided with detailed mapping and quite a bit of POI detail too. I do however miss the on screen distance to destination and speed when in Navigation mode. The camera alerts are really valuable but I made the same mistake as Chris from Leicester did in not setting the POI loader to miles rather than kilometres. I also downloaded other POI's which wiped out my camera settings in the Custom Points file so I do not know if the card is full or why this should be. I think the lack of a true PC link is a weakness, but for about ?100 who can argue. The latest 2.9 firmware download has improved the timing of voice prompts with turns which were previously too early.
Rating:
4 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: K Underwood, Surrey
Date Posted: 18 April 2006
Review: Fantastic bit of kit. Cheap and cheerful and does exactly what it says on the box. At ?130 (or less as some lucky ones have found) it's a steal. Overall I prefer it to factory fitted units I have previously used. I own a Zafira with the heat reflective screen. I have found the unit works very well clamped to the small front quarter light. No need for the additional receiver! The small screen nearly stopped me from buying it but don't let it put you off. It works very well and is surprisingly clear and easy to read. Just 'follow the red line'. Turns are clearly indicated by a big white arrow and as you get closer to the turn the picture zooms in to make the route obvious. Once clear it zooms out. The clear voice prompts mostly delivered in good time. My unit has told me to turn right/left at some bends but a quick glance at the screen shows the route as straight on. It appears that when the road name changes on a bend it prompts me to turn left/right. Now I'm aware of this it causes me no problems. (when I was caught out the unit recalculated routes in about 5 seconds). It does not always direct me via the fastest route even though I have set it up to do so. However, it always gets me there which is one of the reasons for buying a GPS. The points of interest are useful as is the speed camera database. The scroll wheel and simple menu is soon mastered. For the vast majority of the time this will do what a GPS unit costing 2 or 3 times more will do. It deserves the 9.6 / 10. Fantastic.
Rating:
11 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Malcolm Hyde, Worcestershire, UK
Date Posted: 7 April 2006
Review: I bought the i3 from Halfords having sold my massive Street pilot 111 colour which was a huge unit to lug around and a pain to fit on the dash. However the i3 is an incredible piece of kit, small yet easy to use, with a reasonable battery life. I have had many GPS units over the years including PDA's with Tom Tom installed; these are no match for the i3.
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Lee, Worcestershire
Date Posted: 4 April 2006
Review: I’ve debated for some time whether to buy the i3 or to spend the extra £110.00 and buy the tom-tom-one. The only practical differences I could establish are the smaller screen and lack of "touch" facility. The i3 has a full (7 digit) post code search which is fantastic, lots of options for different downloads are available for the i3. Although the screen is smaller, the difference is not significant when you consider the tom-tom-one has an information bar on the bottom of the screen which reduces the useable screen. Excellent "my favourites" allow you to load destinations before leaving home, and the two button go home feature is a bonus. All in all a fabulous unit, exceptional value at £129.99.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Stevo, Cardiff, UK
Date Posted: 17 March 2006
Review: This is the second cheapie unit I’ve had and I must say what a pleasure it really is. Its quick reliable and impossible to catch out, the only thing it lacks is the ability to avoid traffic but for sub £150 you just take a side road and it will recalculate a new route avoiding the problem. This unit is far superior to my previous Navman 320 it was really slow and sometimes never found satellites. This is as good as the unit in my wife’s new Range Rover, the free up-loadable software, speed cameras, poi etc is excellent if you are unsure about which unit to buy this has to be a top contender its as good as serious money devices for relative pennies.
Rating:
3 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Darren, Northants, UK
Date Posted: 13 March 2006
Review: Great bit of kit. I brought the Garmin i3 today from Halfords in Milton Keynes for £129.99. After the initial set up which took less than five minutes, I plugged it into the car and away it went. The unit took me straight home without any problems what so ever. We even drove off route and the unit redirected us straight away. The menu system that the i3 uses is pretty much straight forward to use, and you can’t really go wrong with it. I read several reviews on it prior to buying it. All the reviews said how good it was, (hence me owning one now) and how much cheaper it is compared to the TomTom and various other sat nav units. 10/10
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Carolyn, Cheshire
Date Posted: 13 March 2006
Review: Can anyone tell me, does this Garmin allow you to go from A to B via a certain route? I notice from the Comet website that you cannot program 'Waypoints' and am not sure what this means exactly. I need a device that I can program to take me a preferred route (which may not be the route that it first selects)!
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ben Hooper, South Wales
Date Posted: 5 March 2006
Review: I paid £89 for mine at my local Somerfield with a staff discount; I thought it was so good I bought 2. It’s so small and light and also very simple to use. This is my first sat nav and I think it will be the only one for a long time as I love it. I just recently uploaded a database with 32000 POI's (free from net) with basically everything from local pubs and clubs to random places I never new existed and anything else with an address :). Also it’s worth downloading the speed camera database. I was also amazed by how quick it was, there’s no loading or please wait its just click and drive. Go buy one now!!!!!
Rating:
9 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Amp..., London, UK
Date Posted: 5 March 2006
Review: I’ve just got one of these from Staples for £119.99(£120). I took it on a trip to Birmingham and I have to say it's been very impressive. The thumb wheel at the front becomes a bit tedious but I've learned to program my destinations as favourites before I leave home. The battery life is very short but, to be fair they did last the quoted period albeit without voice prompts for the last 1.5Hrs. This unit does what I want it to do and I think it represents excellent value for money. My colleagues have TomTom units and they will be kicking themselves for being early adopters.
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Charlie C, Bristol, UK
Date Posted: 3 March 2006
Review: I bought an i3 before Christmas at Woolworths for £144 and it was really impressive. I loaded on the 2.7 software update, camera database and poi's without any problems. The screen is small but extremely clear and speaker sound is nice and clear. A really decent feature is the speed camera poi which only alerts you if you’re speeding over the limit, so it’s not annoying! Then I got a TomTom one for my birthday in January so I sold the i3 thinking the TomTom was better. Now after a month I can clearly say the i3 is far better. It’s much more accurate (i.e. maps), less confusing, changes to night mode automatically (if selected), AA batteries and easily mounts on the screen without taking up too much space. I prefer the ball socket joint to TomTom’s slide on attachment. The two things better on the TomTom is the touch-screen, although can be fiddly as the keyboard on-screen are small, and the satellite lock takes literally 10-20 secs! The battery life on the i3 is really good using 2700 Ni-mh rechargeable batteries (about 6 hrs). One bad thing is that it won't charge using the USB cable or car lead which is a shame. On the TomTom the battery life is about 3.5-4hrs. When you charge the TomTom a green led on top of the unit lights up. I didn’t notice this light change to any other colour or switch off when fully charged. Yesterday I rang Staples and they had an i3 in the clearance sale for £109.99, so I bought it and I'm selling the TomTom! If you want an inexpensive satnav system with poi alerts, go and grab yourself a bargain you won't find a better system than the i3!!!
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Chris, Leicester
Date Posted: 3 March 2006
Review: I bought this on Saturday from Staples, paid £119.95 and it’s absolutely brilliant. Now I’ve uploaded the latest POI including speed cams T/L cams etc from pocketGPSworld.com. The only minor problem is that the camera speed alerts are reading wrong values i.e. in 30 mph zone it states that it is 19mph zone!
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Matthew Evans, Birmingham, UK
Date Posted: 2 March 2006
Review: I bought one of these for my wife who has a truly terrible sense of direction. She fell in love with it immediately. Easy to use, can be used with rechargeable batteries (setting in the menu), OK it's a bit small, but causes less obstruction on your windscreen. Fantastic thing - with the money my wife will save through not driving round in circles and phoning me because she's lost, it will pay for itself in no time! But I'll stick with my Pioneer Avic X1!
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Unknown, London
Date Posted: 2 March 2006
Review: It’s now at staples for £119. 22. Feb 06 in stock.
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7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Paul, East Sussex , UK
Date Posted: 14 February 2006
Review: These are currently available at £99.99 at Dixons retails chain (Dixons, PC World, Currys and The Link) - but there are very few left - get one if you can track one down. They're excellent VFM. A colleague reckons it's as good as the TomTom SatNav he paid £400 for. I’ve only had mine two days, but it worked straight out of the box, and I haven't uploaded the POI database yet. Haven't had any problems with loss of signal so far, and it works fine in my '53 Zafira without an external antenna. Accuracy is spot on, and the click wheel and button system works well, and is very easy to master.
Rating:
4 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Billy, West Yorkshire
Date Posted: 6 February 2006
Review: This is the second ‘sat nav’ I have owned, the first was the TomTom go 300 and I can honestly say the Garmin i3 is just as good and in some cases better then the TomTom, for instance the external Arial from TomTom was £50 the one I got from Maplin was £10 and the Garmin i3 was just £99 from Kwiksave / Summerfield and it works fantastic. No problems at all, well done Garmin.
Rating:
7 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mark, Leeds
Date Posted: 6 February 2006
Review: I too bought one from Somerfield for £99. I have been using it for 2 weeks now with no problems apart from telling me to turn left/right when these are merely bends in the road. Good loud voice instructions, useful features and clear easy to read screen. Well worth the tiny price but I don't think there are any left now at that price. Use Ni-Mh 2300 rechargeable for strong battery life.
Rating:
4 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ron Chesney, N Wales
Date Posted: 3 February 2006
Review: Superb value but not fault free! Mine locks up at times - usually when most inconvenient. Also if I input LL53 8NP - IT ACTUALLY TAKES ME TO LL53 8DD. I now check the REVIEW TURNS feature to the end to make sure it ends up where I input - just to make sure.
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6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Peter, Manchester, UK
Date Posted: 31 January 2006
Review: Excellent kit, never get lost again. The only problem with reception and lost of satellite signal is when I went through the toll in Merseyside, but as soon as I’d come back out the signal was there again. As regards to power I have routed the cigarette lighter end underneath my dash and have it located to a switch on the dash to turn off and on, so no more cables, its very tiny so it can not be seen from outside especially as I have my windows tinted and a sun visor strip on the front windscreen. I am glad I bought it instead of having a brick like some of my friends have. I recommend 100% you get this, instead of listening to someone who is paid to tell you how to spend your money.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Gary, UK
Date Posted: 31 January 2006
Review: Brilliant piece of kit. Same as Gareth, it was £99 well spent. Two colleagues have them as well. Updated software to 2.7 (from Gamin website) loaded POI (Speed Camera etc). It’s bound to pay for itself in the first year or so.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Richard Olphin, Staffordshire, UK
Date Posted: 31 January 2006
Review: I travel a great deal. I have to find three or four new addresses per day and arrive reasonably sane and unflustered at each. I have had two different Satnav units each built into the particular model of company car I had at the time. The i3 is superb. I bought it for my wife so that she could get to places without map reading (steady chaps!) It is simple, quick and transfers between cars so that any family member can borrow it. It is accurate to a few metres. But the best thing is that it can work from FULL POSTCODES. That saves loads of inputting. I only paid £144 at Woolworths just before Christmas....BRILLIANT at the RIGHT PRICE.
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Dee, North West, UK
Date Posted: 26 January 2006
Review: Inexpensive (mine was £99.99 from Somerfields) and it does the job. A word of warning though for anyone wanting to use the i3 in a car with a metalized windscreen, an external antenna is required, as the i3 refused to work on the dash of my Citroen Picasso without one (I expect this is also the same for any other self-contained GPS.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Paul, London
Date Posted: 20 January 2006
Review: Great bit of kit, I own a Zafira so it has an athermic windscreen, thus NO GPS until now worked reliably. I purchased a GPS aerial from Maplin and the i3 works fine. It transfers to my Mercs and my daughters Fiesta without any problems (and no external aerial required in those cars). I am very pleased, and at the cost, it’s a real bargain.
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Gareth T, Wales
Date Posted: 19 January 2006
Review: I bought one after my father had bought one over the weekend for the bargain price of £99 from Somerfields. We have both uploaded the Safety Camera POI. The in-bulit POI's are excellent for picking up the local fuel stations etc – it even found me one I did not know existed here! Well worth the money. Europe maps look good too.
Rating:
6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Skippy, London
Date Posted: 18 January 2006
Review: Nice review. Your car probably has a heat reflecting windscreen which is why it had a poor reception. These windscreens have a distinctive blue or bronze tinge and are often fitted to Citroens, Renaults and Zafiras. You can get an outside aerial for the GPS for about £20 to overcome the problem.
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6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mark Wheeler, Gloucestershire, UK
Date Posted: 18 January 2006
Review: Generally a very good system. I have never had problems getting to my destination; however, the system rarely seems to calculate the shortest route, which is very annoying.
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5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Steve, UK
Date Posted: 13 January 2006
Review: Your review says "we were concerned with having two AA batteries in the unit and connecting it to the cigarette lighter, something that you could easily forget" As far as I can tell this is not a problem - the unit seems to switch over to cable power when it's available, and back to battery power as soon as the engine is switched off or the cable removed.
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5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ken M., Kent
Date Posted: 10 January 2006
Review: My wife bought me a Garmin 3i for my taxi and I have never been lost since! It’s a great bit of kit, especially when you download the POI's (points of interest) it becomes a safety device as well, which is essential if you do a lot of driving. I find it rarely loses satellite contact, but when it does it quickly re-connects. I love it and would recommend it to anybody. Excellent value, well done Garmin for producing an affordable GPS that really works.
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3 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Peter, Hertfordshire, UK
Date Posted: 7 January 2006
Review: At a current on-line price of less than £150, this is really excellent value for money. I have had my i3 for 3 months now, and am delighted with the overall performance. The only occasion that it has lost satellite lock was when travelling through a tunnel of trees, and lock was re-acquired within a few seconds of emerging into the clear. I personally prefer to use NiMH batteries to avoid cluttering up the car with trailing cables, and a pair of 2100 mAH AA cells gives around 6 hours of operation. A spare pair of charged batteries gives a useful backup. Using the POI loader to provide warning of speed cameras is very effective, and provides a timely warning when several hundred feet from the camera site. The unit gives continuous warning if accidentally exceeding the limit when in the vicinity of a camera, and when in "View Map" mode the speed display allows one to check the accuracy of speedometer calibration. (Mine is 10% fast at 30mph and correct at 60mph - useful to know!!). Although the screen is small it is quite adequate for navigation, as the voice prompts are clear and accurate, although sometimes a little irritating. Volume from the small speaker is more than adequate in all normal circumstances. Screen brightness is adjustable, and so far has always been adequate even in bright winter sunshine. Setting up a destination is fairly easy using the thumbwheel, and it is quicker to put on a postcode destination rather than a full address. At least this method avoids getting finger prints and scratches on the screen (which appears to be plastic). Deviations from the chosen route are detected quickly, and I suspect the voice gives a small sigh of annoyance before announcing "Recalculating"!. One facility missing is the ability to insert a latitude and longitude as a destination point via the thumbwheel, this can only be done using the POI loader, and the desired lat/long must be added to all other points of interest to avoid wiping speed camera locations.
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5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Ben, Smalley
Date Posted: 6 January 2006
Review: My dad bought one a couple of days before Christmas and his 'Voice' on his does not seem to work, but I got one for Christmas and mine works just fine! Apart from that, I cannot fault the system. It works very well in routing the fastest and shortest routes too.
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6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Colin B, Yorkshire
Date Posted: 6 December 2005
Review: I had been looking for a stand alone GPS for quite a while and was determined to wait until they started to sell for under £200. This unit is very easy to use and for a first time GPS user who does a large amount of business miles I have found it to be invaluable. The voice directions are clear and concise and only remind you of what to do when it needs to. As for getting lost it will recalculate within seconds therefore stopping you from getting further into trouble. Up to now I have not had any major problems with the signal and the unit works perfectly well even though my car has a heated windscreen. I would recommend this unit to anyone who wants to get from A to B without fuss. Also I have seen the unit priced for £170. All in all a great buy.
Rating:
5 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mike, UK
Date Posted: 29 November 2005
Review: With reference to the first review it is possible that your windscreen was contributing to your reception problems. I know that my car (Peugeot 206) has an athermic windscreen to reduce heat build up inside the car from direct sunlight. Unfortunately as well as blocking the suns rays it also blocks radio waves, therefore limiting GPS reception to the other windows around the car. It is usually possible to purchase an external GPS antenna for most sat-nav devices (usually around £15) so that you can locate the antenna away from the windscreen, either to the rear window or another convenient location. It is worth checking with your car manufacturer before purchasing a device just so you don't get a surprise later.
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3 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Tim, Aberdeenshire, UK
Date Posted: 28 November 2005
Review: I’'ve had the Garmin for two months now and overall I'm very pleased with it. You need to install two high capacity NiMH batteries. It can be slow to find satellites when switched on & can loose signal on tree-lined roads but quickly locks on again. I've had no problems in built up areas. It’s not touch screen so should not suffer greasy prints on screen. Using the scroll wheel is slow to enter addresses and it demands a street number before name. The latest software update may fix this but I have not tried it. The Garmin update software is PC only not Mac and it is not in the box. There is a choice of 3D, plan view or turn only screens. The screen is big enough for easy viewing and the volume for the spoken instructions is adjustable as is screen magnification. You can select a "bong" to warn you of new instruction. If a route is not selected speed is shown bottom left of screen and it would have been nice to have this following a route. I find the predicted route mileage is always too low only about 75 % of actual. Rerouting after a wrong turn is very quick. You can download the free speed camera locations database from www.pocketgps.co.uk and install with the Garmin POI loader. It’s not as complete as a paid for service and it’s a bit convoluted to install. If you are over the speed limit the unit keeps giving a bong till you reduce speed, nice.
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8 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Leigh, UK
Date Posted: 25 November 2005
Review: Update the software to cure problems with the reception.
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6 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Robert Long, Croydon-Surrey, UK
Date Posted: 8 November 2005
Review: I recently purchased a Garmin i3 as an "early Christmas present" for myself and as a complete novice to GPS systems I found the unit quite incredible! It is usable straight from the box and easy to operate. Although the screen is small, it is very clear and accurate and in auto mode switches from a daytime view to night time. This reduces the brightness as if driving in a "full moon" environment. Excellent for safe night driving! The voice directions are also very clear for such a small unit. Come to think of it, if the screen was any bigger it would distract from your driving. Anyway the directions are so clear and accurate you only need to look at the screen as a last resort. Should you miss a turn then the i3 re-calculates your route within seconds and puts you back on track. I compare this unit with that of a mobile phone. What do you want it to do? Most of these modern gadgets have facilities you never use. The i3 gets you from A to B with no fuss. You can easily customise the unit to suit and you can download POI (points of interest) for free. Most of the GPS units on the market are nearly double the price so the i3 is real value for money. I will recommend this great little unit for the first time buyer and give it 10 out of 10. Well done Garmin.
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