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Just putting this review to clear my account, I used to have this and it was great, traveled many roads with it. (have a Zumo 550 now)
Me and my friends were looking to go camping and had been lost in the mountains for some time. After asking for directions, which were terrible, we found this device under the passenger seat.
Buy this thing. My friends and I are so grateful for this little GPS.
The StreetPilot III was very simple to use and delivered us to our destination with ease and much excitement. Thank god.
This product was a last resort in a deparate situation. Our mapquest directions failed miserably.
It still works today.
You have to use their 12th century card reader to plug to your pc to download the software to the unit. The memory card that came with unit was defective, I had to get a new one from Garmin, and you can easily damage it. While the LCD has an excellent resolution (that's why I am giving a one star rating), it will take you some time before you can learn all the features of the units and the map source.To sum things up, stay away from this gps, invest a few more hundreds and get a newer version. This is an out of date GPS that has been discontinued by Garmin.I had a lot of problems downloading the driver into my notebook and desktop (both running Windows xp). I had to try several times (I am computer savvy). You cannot hook the unit directly to your pc (unless you have an old serial port-male)The memory card (128mb) can only hold so much map data.
Magellan next time for me. Garmin wants $250 to fix the unit regardless of the issue. My Garmin 2610 has long been a terrific electronic unit. Now, for no known reason, the screen has shifted to the point where the touch does not allow you to enter text. I think this is excessive for a unit that has been immaculately cared for and is quite expensive.
It's currently mounted on the dash of the bike for me to get used to it and play with its functions during my daily commute.I agree with others regarding its unnecessary rerouting when I've never strayed off course. No water. The only good point is that I didn't pay over $500 for it. I'm attempting to complete the 1,700+ mile ride in under two days and will need to stretch out my gas stops as much as I can. So the jump to the SP III was a big one.Had to struggle a bit to download the info (updated from the website) onto the unit. Strangely, it even gives different directions although I don't change the route I take on a daily basis. Less than 5% of the time, the crossroad names are incorrect.
Perhaps I can adjust the pre-set surface street and highway speeds to get it to work more appropriately. My other issue is the interference the unit seems to be getting from time to time from my satellite radio that's mounted on the handlebar less than a foot away from the dash-mounted GPS.I thought this GPS would be able to take me right to where I wanted to be, using the most efficient route, ALL BY ITSELF. Working with the unit alone is a bit more complicated as naming waypoints and such can take a bit of doing using the toggle switches. No roads. Nothing. But again, I'm still new at this and am looking forward to working with it a lot more in the near future.My plan is to use it to have a constant knowledge of the location of gas stations between my home outside Philadelphia, and Sturgis SD for my motorcycle trip out there in August.
Rerouting calculation takes a bit, but I seem to remember that the calculation time can be adjusted through the menu. If I have to set up specific waypoints on a specific route in order to get it to follow what I know is the fastest way, the unit is of no value to me. My first GPS was a very old style that gave you longitude and latitude only. Tough for this first timer to get the hang of it initially, though it gets easier with time. Unfortunately, it also continually gives me a slower route than the one I know is faster even though it's set for highway use and the fastest time.
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