Customer Reviews

Garmin StreetPilot ColorMap 3.5-inch Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

First I want to say I am very happy with the talking SPIII. It is does a pretty good job routing and if you drive off the route it will autorecalc a new route for you. I have used numerous GPS's in the past and this does a great job for driving (for biking or hiking I HIGHLY recommend the Garmin 12 Map, my favorite GPS).

Now there are some things to know about this product however. First you get a CD that allows you to download maps from your PC to your Steetpilot. It works over either serial or USB (USB goes to a 32MB memory card that you can plug in). The CD contains maps of the US BUT... you only get to select one region of the US for free. The rest of them you must pay for from Garmin for approx $116 a shot ($291 total for the total US). You can purchase this online at Garmin's web site and they will give you a key to open up the different regions. The base map. the one built into the Garmin, on the GPS is still "good" for the whole US but the CD give MUCH better detail. I am not complaining about this since the maps seem pretty up to date. The road I live on is 2 years old and no other mapping software to my knowledge has it as part of their data but the Garmin software did.

Another thing to note is the form factor for the StreetPilot III and the older street pilots are different. this can be important if you order from Garmin direct accessories like the bean bag mount (as I found out).

Before I bought the StreetPilot III I did a lot of searching around on the internet for a GPS system for my car and all signs pointed to Garmin. I bought my StreetPilot on e-bay for a considerable amount under the retail price. I also purchased the unlock code to all the DCAs because I am going to be heading down to the South in March. I was able to purchase the Streetpilot and the unlock code for less than the lowest advertised price for the StreetPilot by its self.
Does the Streetpilot III work? It is simply amazing. I thought that the screen would be a bit small but it seems the perfect size for the dash. The mapping is extremely exact; even my street, which is a dirt road, was on the basemap. The voice commands are very helpfull, especially in heavy traffic when I do not want to take my eyes off the road. The voice commands are at times are a bit misleading, though. For example, at a rotary, which the GPS refers to as a roundabout (trying to be British?), the voice sometimes says, "take second right," when the correct direction is either first or third right. However, the map is always correct and I just follow the route that I have programed by looking at the map. Except for instances at "roundabouts" the voice has been very accurate for me.
Other than the voice commands at times being misleading there is not much wrong with the Streetpilot. The buttons on the unit are easy to use and their functions are easy to learn and follow.
The tracking is amazing. Location is usually within 20 feet of my location. When driving, distances seem to be given just a bit sooner than they are. For example, when aproaching an exit the GPS voice will say, "Exit in 400 feet," when the exit is 500-600 feet away. However, this is much better than being a bit off in the other direction. The GPS also gives speed and is always about half a mile per hour under what my spedometer reads, which seems extremely accurate.
Programing with the Mapsource took a little while to learn, but that is the case with most new software. Once the data is loaded to the data card one can access it from the GPS unit. Finding locations is simple. Entering an address takes a couple of minutes or one can search for a city or town by pressing the menu button and choosing from a variety of ways of finding a location. Everything on the Streetpilot is layed out very well. Garmin did an excellent job designing the streetpilot and it is amazing that they can offer the StreetPilot for half of what Magelen charges for their 750, which I never really considered buying.
I recently used my StreetPilot on a New Year's trip to Quebec. On the entire trip I never once had to consult a map or ask for directions; the Streetpilot took me from Boston to my hotel in Quebec City with ease.
I would strongly recommend the Streetpilot III to anyone considering a portable GPS for their car. I'm sure that within a few years this unit may be half the price. However, the Streetpilot seems to be a unbeatable value to me. The Streetpilot can do everything that an in dash nav. system can do but at half the price. I definatley have no misgivings on purchasing my Streetpilot and look forward to the next time I head out on the road, knowing that I probably won't get lost again.

StreetPilot III is a keeper! After quickly entering your destination whether it is a address, city, or point of interest such as a restaurant or shopping center, in a matter of less than a minute, the GPS tells you exactly how to get there. Not only does it tell you to make left or right turns, but it will notify you for instance to "bear right in 300 feet". What is great about the directions is that it compensates for when you are driving faster such as on the highway and tells you you have to make a turn longer beforehand.
I find the antenna satisfactory for acquiring satellites in a short amount of time. If you place the GPS on the dash, it is usually no longer than a minute to acquire enough satellites to be sufficient for navigation. Sometimes when I use it while driving under heavy cover of trees, it has no problem with keeping satellite reception.
The color screen is pretty good. I have had a previous GPS which was grayscale which was difficult to read. StreetPilot III's screen which can be adjusted in terms of brightness and contrast is great. Though I must mention that if direct sunlight hits the screen, it does make it difficult sometimes to read.
The route fuction is incredible. It takes for a general route anywhere from less than thirty seconds to a little over a minute to calculate. If you are planning a longer route (such as 100 miles or more), it takes from about forty-five seconds to under two minutes. Sometimes, I would be unable to complete a direction due to construction or I would simply miss the turn and the StreetPilot III would easily and quickly recalculate a route to the destination (you can configure it to ask to reroute or it can reroute automatically for you). Just the other day, I got caught in traffic. Luckily the StreetPilot III has the detour function, which allows you to get off the road you are driving on as quickly as possible and eliminates that road from your route for the distance you tell it to (either 1/2, 1, 2, 5, or 15 miles). It told me to take the next exit and provided a route taking me on main roads that led exactly to my destination. Also, you can look at your route on a detailed map page showing each direction and the time and distance until that direction is executed. This way, you can look ahead and see what roads you will be taking and how long you will spend on them.
One thing I must mention is the need to plug it in the car power adapter when using it. If you don't use AC power or the car adapter, this unit will use up batteries very quickly, especially if you adjust the backlight to be on a high setting. When they state in the specifications that the battery life is 20 hours or so in the lowest backlight setting, they are not lying BUT the lowest backlight setting can only be used at night and even then it is very hard to see because it is so dim. I have the brightness setting at almost the highest level which when I am not using the car adapter lasts from 1 to 2 hours.
The 32 MB data card that comes with the unit is enough for most people. I can fit all of New Jersey and half of Pennsylvania using the detailed map coverage from City Navigator included with 32 MB. This is sufficient and if I ever have to change my map coverage, I simply rewrite over the card. The number of routes and waypoints allowed seems to be sufficient for my needs (I have about 30 routes and 200 waypoints). Finally, there is a page that shows a lot of helpful numbers which includes your mileage, current speed, driving time and overall time as well as average driving speed and overall driving speed, and my favorite number, max speed. It also shows you the battery strength which is always very accurate.
Overall, this is definately the best portable automotive navigation unit currently on the market. Not only does it have a color screen and is portable, it creates turn-by-turn routes and will reroute you if you miss a direction.

This is Definatly the way to go if you are in the market for a top of the line GPS< however 800$ is the suggested retail price, most businesses sell it for @ 550$ and included are some accesories so here is a tip if you pay more than 550$ and don't get any accessories you are getting ripped off.

First of all, let me say I had a street pilot before. That was fine, the main drawback being that you have to precompute the route and stick to it.

This unit does compute the route, recalculate it whenever you decide or have to leave it. No more problem with route too long to store, no more problem of badly pointed turns (like on the other side of the highway etc). The computed routes might not be the actual fastest or shortest but in my case the most important point is getting where I want without troubles.

Don't know how to get there ? It will find it. Huge traffic jam ahead ? Take first exit and let it recompute a new route.

Pricey but really really cool. Also comes with everything you need (unlike the regular Street Pilot where you had to buy the map and memory card on the side).

A couple of cons and enhancements (for the measure) : * I'd like to be able to 'rate' some road. For example to take me back home it keeps on routing thru the I-95 where I take the US-1 a couple of exists before. * I'd like to be able to store the waypoints on the memory card (right now only the maps go there, the w/p are stored in the internal memory so you have to plug the unit to the PC for the waypoints and routes).

Following up on a previous review stating that Garmin would be upgrading to 128MB cards, I discovered some things you should know before purchasing. First off, yes, in June they are releasing what will be called the Street Pilot III Deluxe Package: Product #010-00232-10. It does come with a 128MB card and the latest version of City Navigator (4.01). This package has all of the regions unlocked. The COOLEST part about this new software is that it contains more information on medium and small-sized cities. When I initially called the tech, I asked him to lookup this small town in NJ and asked him to find a street (it wasn't found). He then asked if I would be willing to wait a moment while he loaded the latest software that will come with this package, and not only did it find the street, it found many other places in this town where I thought NOTHING would be found. The list price, he said, will be 1166.65 which is actually lower than the original list for what the Street Pilot III is now. He also said that the price of the current 32MB version of the Street Pilot III will be dramatically lowered (they are disconinuing the 32MB product in May).

Bottom line is that people should wait until June when they release this product. It sounds well worth the wait.

I just replaced the Garmin GPS III+, which I had in my truck, with the ColorMap. The screen is much easier to see in a variety of lighting conditions. The ColorMap also changes some of the field colors, depending on the time of day, to provide ever greater visibility. This unit is really designed to be used in a vehicle and provides features to that effect such as a readout stating which road your currently on. This is much easier than trying to find the road label while you're driving along.

The ROM maps cover most major areas of the US, but for true coolness you need a memory cartridge and a copy of the MetroGuide CD ROM. The areas in this software are HUGE so I suggest going with the 16 Meg cart and skipping the 8 meg one. For example, Northern Virginia takes about 7 Meg and the DC metro area is another 7 Meg. Anyone living in either area probably wants both regions available so you can see that the 16 Meg cartridge is key. All in all, a very cool toy.

First of all, beware of many of the reviews in this section, as they pertain to the StreetPilot or Color StreetPilot, and NOT the StreetPilot III. Unlike its earlier predecessors, the StreetPilot III does all of your routing for you, guiding you to your destination by telling you when and where to turn (with a voice as well as an onscreen display). The earlier models (StreetPilot and ColorStreet Pilot) required you to pre-plan your route. With the StreetPilot III, you can just enter the address you're heading to at any point in time, and it will automatically guide you there.

Now that we have that out of the way... Once you own a SPIII, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Let's say you're driving around town and you get hungry. Ask it for the nearest restaurants, and it will list them all (showing you which is closest to where you are at that particular moment). Pick one from the list, and it will guide you there with spoken directions as you drive.

Or let's say your friend calls you on your cell phone and tells you to meet him at a particular address. Enter it into the unit (this takes a little work, as there's no keyboard, but no more than 30 seconds max), and it will direct you to the address on the quickest route possible from whereever you happen to be at that particular moment. Hit some traffic along the way? Tell the SPIII, and it will pick an alternate route.

Worried about the unit becoming obsolete? Don't be. You can upgrade the software (not the maps, but he actual software the unit runs) over the internet for free!

Overall, an amazing unit...

I bought one from Amazon in June 2002. I have used it for a few days, enough to become generally familiar with it.

I am very disappointed with the City Navigator software. I unlocked my home region (the mid-Atlantic region including Washington, D.C.) and loaded several maps into the data card with the included USB cable. The street maps seem accurate, but the features are not, as if the data were very old or merely grossly incomplete.

Examples: There are at least 25 Starbucks coffee shops within ten miles of my home and office. The City Navigator software lists only one. It lists no Dunkin Donuts restaurants. None. It did not list a hardware store I wanted to route to. The hardware store has been in the same place with the same name for more than 50 years. When I asked the software to find McDonald's, however, I learned that there are 505 of them in the map regions I loaded. Great for the arteries.

Around here, I don't care much about the missing data. I know where the coffee and donuts are. But when I'm on the road, I'd like to be able to find a Starbucks. City Navigator won't do it for me.

I tried to call Garmin but was on hold for more than 45 minutes before giving up. Maybe the Metro Guide software is better than City Navigator. I cannot tell from the Garmin site's poor descriptions. Bad phone service; bad website. That equals lousy customer service.

On the plus side, Garmin includes the cables and a data card (if a small one) with the unit. I had no trouble unlocking my region in City Navigator and no trouble downloading and installing a software upgrade to the SPIII itself. I am pleased with the tracking as I drive along, but the reception is spotty. It will often lose coverage unless I hold it near the window. Get the external antenna. I plan to.

I am waiting for my free City Navigator upgrade CD, which I hope will have some new data (like maybe a coffee shop or two).

If Amazon allows, I'll update this review when I learn more. (Not sure what the Amazon policy is on that.)

I purchased this unit used from Amazon, and it was almost brand new when it arrived! I was expecting a little wear and tear but it is perfect. I would still be happy if I paid full price for it!

The first thing I did when I received my unit was to upgrade the firmware. This corrected a few minor flaws and added the ability take detours. Sounds great but I haven't used it yet. They just released a new firmware which fixes problems where it tells you to "keep left" on a road where you are obviously going straight, but there is an exit to another road.

I only have a couple minor suggestions, but am otherwise thrilled with the unit. It not only gets me to my destination, but all my friends like to play with it!

Things to change:
- Entering road names that have spaces. You actually need to select the "space" between the two names. Minor, but annoying.
- The ability to enter multiple destinations. This would be incredibly helpful! I'm not asking the unit to calculate all the routes, but just store the next waypoint then automatically take me there. Sometimes I'll have 2 or 3 places I need to go and would like to program them at once. Other times I'll be on my way to my destination and realize I need to pick up beer for Monday Night Football. If I could "insert" a waypoint that is 'the nearest supermarket' then I would be a Garmin user forever.
- Spoken instructions should include street name. Speech technology is getting very good (e.g. Sprint PCS's Voice Command) and it would be awesome to have the spoken directions include the actual street name. Currently, the spoken directions are "turn left in 1.7 miles" while the on screen directions will be "Exit 92 East towards Hayward." I'd like to not have to take my eyes off of the road know exactly which road I will be turning on.
- Antenna. The included antenna is ok, but I just ordered an aftermarket, longer one. Occassionaly I will get "satellite signal lost" because the unit is on the passenger seat and loses line of sight with the satellite (I don't have a good place to mount the unit in my car). Now I can mount the antenna and get better reception.