Garmin i3 Sat Nac back at 99.99 at comet

lazybill

I'm at a loss to understand how satnav represents saving money when it comes to navigating. Surely a decent map works out much cheaper?

lordexavier_the_2nd

lazybill wrote:

I'm at a loss to understand how satnav represents saving money when it comes to navigating. Surely a decent map works out much cheaper?

I think you may have missed the pont a little.
The site is about saving money in a whole variety of ways and in many instances it is about saving money on items that people want to purchase.
I.e buying from one shop the item is £100 another is £130 thus £30 saving.

Surely you would have saved money by not leaving your computer on a few extra seconds to post your comment.

4willow

Poppycat wrote:

Comet have them online for £99.99 with free delivery. I think you are right James that its been discontinued, hopefully a newer model with appear, but this does seem to do the job anyhow, its got latest maps V8.

I spoke to a Garmin person at their stand at the Motor Show last week - they are not producing a direct replacement for the i3 - they are pushing the nuvi which is bigger & more expensive (but has more bells and whistles) - so get these while you can!

Wonga

guitaruser wrote:

Because if I stop to get petrol/shop mid journey I usually tend to turn off the ignition and lock the car!

I think this results in the unit having to reboot find its sats again etc. The batteries means it retains power.

What do you expect? With no batteries in and no power from your cigarette adapter, how would you expect it to stay on? The same thing would happen if you plugged your mobile phone in without a battery.

I always keep batteries in mine even when using the car adapter. The adapter does not charge the batteries but does keep it going (with 30 second warning) if you remove power and also if you nidge to adapter and lose power. Using it this way I get over 2 weeks of use on the batteries and I use mine for around 4 hours per day.

I have had one of these for around a year and for the money they cannot be beaten.

Poppycat

It is powered by 2xAA batteries alkaline or NiMH (not supplied) or with the cigarette lighter supplied.

I dont think it can connect car stereo only connections are aerial (ext) and a socket for cigaretter lighter and or will connect to pc.

chezzzers wrote:

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

Gorf123

kalico wrote:

Can this unit have the speed camera database uploaded to it and give warnings?

Anyone got one of these and can comment on how easy it is to use in terms of (a)size of screen and (b) input, given no touch screen?

Thanks

It's easy enough to use without a touch screen - and the screen itself is very clear despite being so small. I only ever have to look at it when it gives two instructions in quick succession, because it occasionally screws up (a double roundabout crossroads near us gets the "turn right" instruction when actually means we need to go straight on).

You can only set one "via" point, and it's struggles with a good route recalculation if you decide to detour in the first half of a long journey.

A speed camera database is available for £2 from PocketGPSworld. The i3 does not know which side of the road the camera is on, though, so you even get warned of GATSOs guarding the other side of the road.

There are loads of other POI files available, too. The "McDonalds" on is particularly useful...

Poppycat

Over time it can save you fuel if you get lost and or certianly saves you having a arguemt with the other half when your lost, ie whos fault si it mao reading etc

lazybill wrote:

I'm at a loss to understand how satnav represents saving money when it comes to navigating. Surely a decent map works out much cheaper?

Gorf123

guitaruser wrote:

Just picked one up from my Local Comet. Priced instore at 129.99, but get them to check and it comes up £99.99.

My initial thoughts after using it to drive home are:

Get some batteries (ignition cuts power off)
Does its job, nice loud and clear instructions. Sent me the longest way home!
However I didnt buy it to use locally, its only going to be used in places I'm not familiar with.

It switches off when it loses power, not when you switch off the ignition. It just happens that your car doesn't supply the socket with power when the ignition is off. Mine does. It's your car's fault, not the GPS's. If it stayed switched on and drained the two AAs inside, you'd be fed up very quickly.

Even so, there's a 30 second window when it will run on batteries without external power. This gives you time to either turn the engine back on, or press the centre button to keep it running on its own batteries for the time it takes you to fill up and pay. The batteries last about four hours, so that's a lot of petrol stops.

sevlow

I have ordered cone of these units from Comen online for £99 as a gift for my wife.

Can anyone please confirm if they work "out of the box" or will I need to purchases a memory card to store the downloaded maps?

Apologies if these seems a daft question to those who have used this or similar systems before - but a few posts on this thread seem to indicate this may be a possibility.

jobywitwot

Thanks Pav just ordered ours, woman from Comet was on phone in less than 10 minutes to give us a delivery date & say we didn't need the aerial and they are out of stock anyway.