Just got my Christmas present early from my g/f. It's a Garmin i3. FYI, cost anywhere on the net starts at $289 and goes up to $369.

I always wanted a GPS in my truck but didn't want to fork over the big dollars. For those interested, the best bang for your buck out there is the Garmin C330. I won't be using my new toy a ton since I've lived in L.A. my whole life and have audited hundreds of companies throughout the southland but, that didn't stop me from wanting one. Here's a couple of pics:

Mount w/o GPS:


GPS Mounted:

 

I'll hopefully be getting mine in about a week... no more laptop for me. My wife blew up her last laptop and instead of dishing out a G-note for another one, I gave her my SONY VAIO (which I used for GPS). So, supposedly, she's buying me a Garmin 60CS to replace my VAIO. Fun unit... totally portable and has a barometric altimeter as well.

 

Erik, is this GPS for more land stuff or does it work well in the car as well? I was really looking for one to be kept in the car but this one looks interesting.

 

im getting the bluetooth enabled garmin unit to add onto my audiovox pocket pc phone here for christmas.

should be really cool.

 

Supposed to be for both car and land use. They have all of these options and accessories for it. Removeable clips, suction mounts, external antennas for better reception. It's supposed to work quite well on a winshield, but we'll see when it comes in. If it doesn't work too hot, I'll pick up the external antenna for better signal.

 

Erik - how much for that thing?

 

$350 if you do some searching online. $450-500 in stores.

 

ebelen, is the i3 accurate? i'm acutally shopping for gps right now.

 

no (tom tom)?

 

i was looking at tom tom a while ago. looks like a great product. not sure on quality and accuracy.

 

To be honest, this is the first GPS I've ever owned. It's been accurate so far but I have no basis for comparison. I figured that I couldn't go wrong for $300.

If you only want basic GPS features, this unit is hard to beat. It's tiny yet the screen is very clear and I can easily read the upcoming street names. It's not as big as the C330 (the one I wanted) but the good thing is that it's pretty unnoticeable from the exterior of the truck. I like this as I don't have to remove it very often. So far, I'm pretty happy with the unit. I would def recommend it for any newbie like me.

 

I've read bad reviews on Tom Tom units. I have yet to run across a bad review on any C-series o I-series Garmin units.

 

nice! i do a lot of road trips with my friends. i think this gps would come in handy. i know some would say just go mapquest or wtv. but we don't plan anything out we just do what we want to do. the only thing i don't like about the i3 is how you type in the address. if only it was a touch screen. but hey for 300 i think i might try it out.

 

Yeah, I did hesitate b/c it wasn't a touch screen but think of it this way, you don't enter very often into the unit. Using the scroll button is not that big of a deal. Plus, it was about half the cost of the C330. I'm telling you this thing is small and inconspicuous. It's so worth the dollars...

 

do you think this would be great for california and nevada? jeez if only garmin made other color choices. i5 looks nice but i don't think im going to spend the extra for the same thing basically.

 

Why not? I live in Socal. The i3 comes w/ a 128 mb transflash card. I was a little worried that I'd have to spend extra cash on a bigger card but now, I don't think so. Unless you're traveling throughout a bunch of states, the 128 card is more than sufficient. Right now, I have Cali, Nevada and Phoenix and have a little more than half the card open for more states.

The i5 is about $100 more. Not really worth it unless you really will be needing every state and Canada. There's a guy selling his Delphi GPS unit for $250 in the classifieds. It looks like a pretty good unit and he says it retails for $800. If true, this would be a great deal b/c it's the same price range as a new i3.

 

Just got my new 60CS for Xmas... gonna try it out tomorrow when I get some time! I'll post a review soon.

 

Oh yea please do, I was hoping to get a garmin GPSMAP 60CS for christmas, but instead i got a garmin etrex legend c, which is still pretty nice, but I do a lot of hunting in dense, dense woods, and was afraid that the internal antena on this thing will not be able to keep a signal. Well i was planning on taking out tomorrow and see if i get lost or not.

 

Everything works well so far. I still have alot to learn about this unit. I can't give it a fair review yet because there was hardly ANY software that came with it. It has freeway information, but so far no streets listed anywhere near me. I just drive in blank space. It does draw the road for you and remembers it when it turns off. That's pretty cool. I have some parts coming in and I downloaded the mapping software. I'll have to try and install that when the power plug comes in. More to come.

 

The unit didn't come w/ maps or you haven't loaded them yet? The freeway stuff is weird for me too b/c it doesn't show any names of exits. It's weird that driving through streets, the unit knows every upcoming street but doesn't know the freeway exits as there are less of these. Makes you wonder how they program these things.

The only cool thing about driving on freeways is the unit still knows when you have to exit. I guess if it didn't, the unit would be a POS. Enough of my ranting...