GPS Devices Life

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I purchased the Garmin StreetPilot i2 after a co-worker of mine researched it for his children (19 and 17). Found it on WalMart.com for under $200. I haven’t purchased a GPS unit before this because they were very expensive and I couldn’t warrant purchasing a $500+ luxury item, especially since I just bought a new suv in July. Anyway, I was a little skeptical because of the size of this unit, but man it packs a punch. Here is what I’ve found thus far after using for a couple of days:

1) Opened box and found unit (which includes a 128MB transflash card) with quick install instructions, yellow sheet with serial number/registration number/unlock code (DO NOT LOSE THIS PAPER), usb cable, car adapter, dvd with maps.

2) Followed quick install instructions, very easy to install and download maps to unit. I installed all of New England, New York, and Florida and was only at 3/4 full on 128MB transflash card.

3) Researched how large of a transflash card this unit supports: 256MB which would hold a heck of alot of states if needed. Other thought, buy two 256MB and swap when needed if you travel around the country alot or if you have a laptop, easy enough to download necessary maps and only takes about 5 minutes to do so (even on laptop battery).

4) Easy to suction to windshield, not sure if I want to adhere the dash-disk to my new vehicle. You must make sure that it is suctioned well as while traveling yesterday, I hit a typical bump in the road and it lost it’s suction, luckily I keep it low and just about on the dash in case this happened (no damage done, whew!!).

5) Volume preset at 3 (on a scale of 1 - 5) not quite loud enough to hear over radio when on highway. Adjusted to 5, found it distracting when listening to radio, changed to 4 = just right.

6) Small enough to put in coat pocket, pocketbook, or in storage compartment in my vehicle.

7) Uses standard usb cable to firewire connection, so if you lose the cable to connect to your computer, it will be easy to replace.

Free POI (Points of Interest) download from Garmin website. Unfortunately, since GPS is rather new in the USA for general public use, not too many poi programs to use. I can’t wait for more poi programs though because I read that many of the POI’s (when installed) will make an alarm noise when in a school zone and you are traveling too fast, etc… Kind of cool!!

9) Only three buttons on the unit itself: power, back (which is an arrow), and scroll wheel. The scroll wheel is really smooth to use and is very much like a scroll on a Blackberry (if you know what that is, if not, is a handheld computer).

10) When you plug in the unit in the car using the car adapter, it automatically powers on. When you turn the car off, it states it will turn off in 30 seconds unless you press the scroll wheel.

Keep in mind that this is a non-color version of the StreetPilot i3 offered by Garmin, but I really don’t think the color screen is necessary, really good visibility during the day and the night on the screen.

I did not buy the deluxe carrying case, but I am planning on it. I don’t want it to get banged around or scratched.

01/20/06 UPDATE: I finally had a chance to use this for a 1 hour trip to a conference for work. I had printed out direction just in case, but did not need to use it. I have fastest route selected in the settings and it still took me an hour (each way) to get where I needed to go. The nice this about this was, only about 10 miles of the trip was on the highway. The GPS directed me through some back roads that there was virtually NO traffic on. It proved itself in this one trip and I will never doubt it again. What a great asset if you travel a lot!!

05/01/06 UPDATE: So, my fiancee and I went to Florida on vacation and I decided to bring my Garmin i2 GPS. Was I happy with it!! We went to Fort Lauderdale and we did not know the area at all. Well, my little GPS worked wonders. Now, the obvious is, if you input an address it will get you there from where you currently are, no problems at all. The feature we used the most was the Find, then Food/Shopping feature. It allows you to find something, either by spelling it out or by breaking it down by group (recreation, restaurants, shopping, transportation, etc…). We used it to find the nearest PetsMart (by spelling it out) and a golf driving range (by breaking it down into recreation, then golf). I am more and more impressed by this unit each time I use it. It has made itself a part of my life.

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