Anyone use a Street Pilot from Garmin

1973911s · 11-14-2003, 06:58 PM

Have a few trips up to Northern California, thought it would be nice to have a GPS with me, anyone use a Garmin product?

Michael

LeeH · 11-14-2003, 08:22 PM

I've got a Garmin eMap. It's very basic and doesn't even do street level navigation, but I love it. Once you've used a GPS you'll wonder how you ever lived without one. My unit only does point to point nav, but has never failed to get me where I'm going.

It's really cool to be in a city you've never been to and press the "find" button and get a list of restaurants listed starting with the closest to your location. Press "go to" and you're on your way!

On a recent trip to Seattle I set a waypoint at our hotel. No matter where we were I just hit the "go to" button and the arrow pointed us home. There is some loss of signal in a city, but it didn't take much open space to pick up the satellites again.

Hugh R · 04:56 PM

If you have a Palm Pilot, look at their GPS accessories. I bought one on a special Palm website sale for $50 and it works great.

kcope · kcope's Garage

I have a Street pilot III and love it. It does have trouble aquiring the satilites in heavy rain though. Unlock codes for different (City Navagator) regions can get expensive. Their metro guide CD covers the whole country with out unlock codes.

Jack Olsen · 11-14-2003, 10:17 PM

Ditto. The Street Pilot 3 rocks. My advice: get the deluxe version, so the maps are all unlocked, and also get a reconditioned unit. It saved me a lot of money, and hasn't had any issues.

1973911s · 11-15-2003, 07:08 AM

Jack,

Where did you get the reconditioned unit?

Michael

1973911s · 11-15-2003, 08:55 AM

Anyone seen this yet?

Michael

Jack Olsen · 11-15-2003, 09:39 AM

I got mine from J&R in New York, but it looks like they don't currently have the reconditioned units. They sell it for $749, now.

Moses · 11-15-2003, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JackOlsen
They sell it for $749, now.

Now I will feel better about being lost...

Jack Olsen · 11-15-2003, 09:51 AM

The new one is a thousand bucks, and I'd be on the fence about the remote (a remote in a car?). It does take the standard memory chips (instead of Garmin's pricey proprietary ones), but it also can't run on batteries.

Here's the best price I found for the Streetpilot III.

84toy · 11-15-2003, 01:46 PM

My wife and I went to Europe on a motorcycle trip and she was reading the maps and telling me which way to turn. She's blonde, we got lost and I almost divorced her!!! Next year we bought a GPS (Garmin Color Map) and plotted the whole trip at home. We never got lost on a 18 day trip and 2500 kilometers and never even missed a turn. Absolutely worth the money. Call Darrel Goheen at TVNAV.com...good guy and good prices

Emission · Emission's Garage

I just went to SEMA and saw a brand new unit from Magellan. Being a Garmin eMap owner, I've never really liked the Magellan units, but this one deserves a second look.

It has a 10GB (yes, gigabyte) harddrive with maps of the entire country, color touch screen (and standard buttons) and a host of features.

It is called the Roadmate 700. I am hoping to test one for a magazine I write for....

http://www.image-acquire.com/magellan_roadmate_700.html

Moses · 11-15-2003, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Emission

It is called the Roadmate 700. I am hoping to test one for a magazine I write for....

$1,200!!!!! Now I am absolutely THRILLED to be lost.

Jack Olsen · 11-15-2003, 04:16 PM

Moses, you just need to think of how much you'd pay each time the wife says "Let's just pull over and ask someone for directions." Over the years, I think it makes a $600 never-get-lost box a bargain.

Actually, if you travel a lot, it's pretty amazing. Because you can have it show you where the gas stations/ATMs/restaurants (or almost any type of business) are.

It's expensive, but I've been surprised at how often I use mine.

Moses · 11-15-2003, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JackOlsen
Moses, you just need to think of how much you'd pay each time the wife says "Let's just pull over and ask someone for directions." Over the years, I think it makes a $600 never-get-lost box a bargain.

Actually, if you travel a lot, it's pretty amazing. Because you can have it show you where the gas stations/ATMs/restaurants (or almost any type of business) are.

It's expensive, but I've been surprised at how often I use mine.

It's so tempting. Unfortunately I'm a foolishly devoted Mac addict. Those units require a PC connection to download maps. In truth, I would probably negotiate San Francisco with more enthusiasm if I had one of those.

1973911s · 11-15-2003, 04:38 PM

Thanks guys, just got back from picking up by Denali XL, had 4 video screens and a DVd player installed. Will be heading to the garage soon to check the nintendo 64 on it.

Michael

Jack Olsen · 11-15-2003, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moses
It's so tempting. Unfortunately I'm a foolishly devoted Mac addict. Those units require a PC connection to download maps.

True. The hidden cost for me for this (as well as the DL-90 datalogger) was having to buy a PC laptop to use, oh, about ten minutes a year.

Moses · 11-15-2003, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JackOlsen
True. The hidden cost for me for this (as well as the DL-90 datalogger) was having to buy a PC laptop to use, oh, about ten minutes a year.

I'm looking for a used one just so I can program my stupid remote control. Maybe if I get a GPS unit it makes more sense.

jkrubinlaw · 11-15-2003, 07:45 PM

I use the small Garmin GPS Pilot while flying as a supplement to maps. I love the thing. I have never had trouble acquiring the satelites, although there are very few obstructions over 8000 feet. . I have had the batteries go dead on me.

Great peace of mind.

John Velasco · 11-15-2003, 10:42 PM

I picked up a new Ipaq with bluetooth and a Navman bluetooth gps receiver. The maps are from Navtech and it’s turn by turn is the same as my Alpine nave in my truck. For the price of the Garmin you could have a much more useful device and you don’t have to have the unit in your windshield. I will admit that there is a bit of a learning curve but it sure saved me this morning. I’m in Hawaii working and had to get to the airport at 5 AM. I had no clue were to go and was running late. I opened the map and zoomed way out, set the point of interest to transportation and the map showed the rental car return. I hit the rout to button and was there in 20 minuets I just bought a 993 C4S and didn’t want to put a permanent unit in the car, but I have become addicted. I found a company in Arcadia that makes a cradle that mounts like a cell phone. This cradle has a charge cord and an amplified speaker for the voice prompts. This is the best combination of technology and it doesn’t have to be in the car all the time. I am also very impressed with the speed that it routes. I have all of California, Nevada, Hawaii, Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota on a 512 meg SDO card and still have 300 megs left. The Naveman unit came with the complete US, turn-by-turn software and pc client for 400.00. The Ipaq was 580.00, but I use this every day from e-mail to MP3’s and it still works very well as a navigator. I’m not sure this will work for you but it’s a great alternative. If you have any questions e-mail me.

jv