Garmin i3 Sat Nac back at 99.99 at comet

iBozz

I've had one of these excellent units for several months and have the following comments:

1 It is excellent for the price - I paid £120 at Halfords some little time ago

2 It came with the UK and Eire maps pre-loaded on a tiny card

3 It supports full postcode search although it can be a bit of a nuisance when looking for somewhere (such as many hotels or shops) that do not give a "house" number in their address - or as I found out at the weekend, a remote farmhouse in The Peak District! But if you just enter a house number of 0 itwill get you to roughly the right area.

4 It does, however, allow you to enter an "I am here" location when you have first found one of those places - just press the wheel in for a few seconds and it remebers your location in Favourites. You can then edit the name to whatever you want.

5 It, and other garmin units, are not yet Mac compatible, although they say that they will be by the end of 2006. Experience with VirtualPC (A Windoze emulator) is patchy.

6 Maps are updated every year, usually around February/March. The download is chargeable.

7 Entry of destination dats is by clickwheel - a little fiddly perhaps for a commercail traveller with many stops to make, but perfectly adequate for the "normal" motorist.

8 Rechargeable batteries last around 5 to 6 hours - better to invest in a couple of sets of AA NiMHs rather than by alkalines.

9 Remember to remove both the unit and the windscreen sucker from view when you park. Thieves are attracted by these items and will even break into a car with just the sucker on view as it shows that there could well be a unit in the car.

10 As with all SatNavs it is a slave and not a master. If its instruction sounds odd, take a best guess and it will, if you are wrong, quickly recalculate the route. If it says "turn left" and that way lies a cliff then don't do it! Just make an intelligent guess and it will work out the alternative.

Best of all, of course, is that the Lady speaking to me never loses her temper no matter how many times I ignore her - unlike Her Ladyship in the passenger seat! :rotfl:

mpeattie

Now found a reference that suggests that Ireland maps are included

http://www.supergps.co.uk/garmin-streetpilot-i3-uk-ireland-maps-speed-camera-pois-p-481.html


Boatman on his earlier post (#10 on page 1) gave a great summary and links to updates, including the camera one) - thanks Boatman

geniusmum

Thanks everyone for this very useful info.
I have just ordered one for my "better" half. It came up as free delivery on the final invoice but the earliest available day was Friday 11th Aug.

Neiliboy

are these available instore?

cubwolf

quoia wrote:

And it happens again yesterday !!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/5234396.stm

I don't think I'll bother !

I wouldnt use belgian lorry drivers as a yardstick when it comes to sat nav :rotfl:

mpeattie

Neiliboy
Comet have a very few in stores at the moment, but my local store (Watford) are expecting some at the low price in the middle of next week. Might be the same all over.........

chezzzers

How is the unit powered? Does it plug into the cigarette lighter? Can it be connected into the back of a Car Stereo headunit?

Thanks

lordexavier_the_2nd

I noticed Halfords Had these advertised at the fantastic price of £99.99 aswell.

Papa_Lazarou

According to the comet centre in hull, most stores will be shipped some of these on Friday, due for arrival Sat/Sun.

blowstar

It's exceptionally small - only a 1.75 inch screen which is comparable to some mobile phones, so difficult to read whilst driving. My recommendation would be to hold on for the next round of price cutting and look for a 3.5 screen model currently hovering just under £200 and likely to be under £150 by August Bank Holiday sale time!