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November 2005: I already beget several GPS units.
After getting into an argument with a novice who bought a Garmin "i3" and loves it, I bought a Garmin "i5" so that I could present him atrocious. A GPS unit this inexpensive fair can't be that sterling. Boy was I heinous.
I picked the Garmin "i5" instead of the "i3" because my computer doesn't have a DVD drive for downloading maps.
The first plot I was valuable about was the thumbwheel with the two button (enter and encourage) solution. After a few hours I found I could enter data faster using the thumbwheel than using a touch mask.
The "i5" is puny enough to bear in the palm of my hand, eliminating vehicle bounce, scroll the thumbwheel, and then press the thumbwheel to enter the desired letter or number.
Entering an address often requires only a few thumbwheel presses. First the state/province is entered, eliminating 98% of all the addresses in North America.
Garmin then guides you through a list of city and street names. Often the number of thumbwheel presses is shortened by selecting from a list of possible matches using the befriend button. Garmin did a tremendous job in this place.
Next is the cloak size. The advertising on Garmin's website shows screens with jagged lines. But the valid veil, although smaller is also clearer than most PNDs (personal navigation devices) . I enlighten this is because the pixels are closer together.
Next is signal strength. I place the "i5" inside my dashboard approach the speedometer so that thieves wouldn't easily peek it. It composed worked astronomical. It occasionally lost the signal but so did my more expensive PND which was windshield mounted.
Next is the instruction manual. You don't need it. Unlike the Magellan RoadMates, where the grand buttons do nothing half the time and I don't know which to push the other half, the succor button and the thumbwheel always do something and the veil always prompts you.
Next is routing. Don't put a question to the "i5" to procure the best route to score from point A to point B. None of the PNDs do that and the less expensive ones usually chose the first successful route. But it will accumulate you to point B and hastily recalculate a original route if you drive off route. Often the routes it chose were identical to my more expensive PND.
POIs (points of interest) . Where POIs are useful is when you know there's a store nearby but you don't know the adddress. The "i5" will reveal you a list of stores and route you to one if desired. Once I drove around for 30 minutes looking for a runt store without the expend of the "i5". Finally out of frustration I stale the "i5" to route me straight to the region and serene couldn't gaze the store. After walking around for about a runt I found that the store was hidden gradual a larger store.
My only suggestion is that I wish the "i5" had talking street names.
I bought this unit to recognize how well it worked and planned to return it. But I reflect I'll give it to my wife instead. She's always getting lost on long trips and the "i5" makes a nice extreme cost second PND.
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January 2006: I gave the "i5" to my wife and at first she was not impressed. I reflect she'd rather have jewelry.
But she liked the thumbwheel because it didn't interfer with her finger nails.
This morning she took a long budge and as usual called me. But instead of saying that she was lost, she said she got to her destination without any problems and stress free. Usually she's yapping away with her mother and misses a distinguished turn.
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December 2006: The modern review claimed the "i5" old the SiRF receiver, but I cannot verify this. My apologies.
I continue to be amazed by the simplicity of the two button solution and the intellectual veil. In my understanding you won't gain a better original PND for less money.
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May 2007: The "i5" has been discontinued. It is being replaced by the Nuvi 200, which has a quick-witted touch cover and rechargeable battery.
Thanks everyone for reading this review and clicking on whether it was estimable, whether Yes or No.
A tennis ball. The Garmin StreetPilot i5. What do the two have in favorite? Size.
The i5 is without a doubt, one of the best purchases I've ever made. Everyone has the same reaction I first had when I saw it on exhibit at a marine supply store. "That's a GPS? No plan." Then they want a demonstration.
The main selling point for this unit is it's size. It can do everything that other competitor's GPS units can do, and more, at a third of the size. If you've ever wanted a GPS on your motorcycle, the i5 is the steady deal.
The unit comes with a 12V power cord for automobile exhaust. You can also pop in 2 AA's and leave the cord slack. The unit is rated for 3-4 hours consume when using with AA's alone. If you are going to spend the 12V cord, Garmin calm recommends having unusual AA's in the unit, as the unit is able to update it's situation upon powering up faster, that unprejudiced going with the cord alone.
The i5 gets a perfect collect from me when it comes to ergo. Navigating through menus is hasty and painless.
It also has an auto-brightness setting that brightens or dims the unit's present depending on ambient lighting conditions. Even cooler, at night, the nav way changes it's color diagram to darker colors which is frosty.
Voice prompts are factual on cue. Very jubilant the command has NO "computer-voice" and even happier it's a female inform. I call her "Garmina".
So why not 5 stars? There's no Mac wait on for this intention. This is why I had to pick the i5 instead of the i3. Having North America pre-loaded however might be worth the extra $100 bucks for some. Garmin also offers a "POI" (points-of-interest) loader software FREE, again, only for Windows users. This nifty feature enables you to load user defined proximity notifications for all kinds of different variables. Approaching a school race zone? Once programmed, the unit will warn you to sever your urge.
Bluetooth wait on would have been nice too, since other fresh (but worthy larger) units have it. If you have a Bluetooth cell phone and a Bluetooth GPS, the cell can announce the GPS of delays, accidents, road closures etc. in sincere time. This is of course with a subscription. The unit does have a USB port and maybe Garmin might want to assume about writing in benefit for the exhaust of a USB Bluetooth adapter in future firmware updates (graceful please) .
Garmin does not include a carrying case for the unit, which it should have. You will not want to leave this in paunchy notion when away from your vehicle, it will most certainly be stolen and the kid who stole it will exhaust it on their BMX, since it's so runt.
This unit uses NAVTEQ diagram data, (North America pre-loaded) which is known industry-wide as the benchmark for blueprint database into.
The i5 rules.
I'm such a tech geek. Why do I need a golf ball-sized road assistant? Don't know, but I fell in cherish with it at the store. Initially, I walked into Circuit City to lift a radar detector and nothing more, but after seeing Garmin's Street Pilot i5 ("i5"), I became arresting. For years, I have always found ways to derive lost on the road. I have an uncanny knack for making scandalous turns, and often rep myself a slight confused when one road either changes names or does a 90 degree turn on me. With that being said, I detest being lost!! It's stressful, makes by blood boil, and turns me into a driving heart-attack waiting to happen. Thus, I bought the Garmin's i5 on sale at Circuit City for $399.99 (while quiet selling at other stores for about $499.00) and here's what I contemplate about it:
Out of the box
Out of the box, the i5 comes with a gleaming posthaste setup guide (with the fat manual only available for download at Garmin's website), a disc and USB cable (for downloading updates) and two different mounts: One is a windshield mount, and the other is a permanent dashboard mount. I wish there was another design to mount the i5 to the dashboard without permanently affixing it to the stir. But since I'm driving a '96 Thunderbird and not a '05 Thunderbird, I didn't care about permanently changing the appearance of my flow. When I say "Permanent" I don't mean screws and bolts, but there is some really strong glue on the befriend of a dusky plastic disk that attaches to your dash; you then connect the windshield suction mount to the disk. I've removed the unit from the disk mount multiple times in the past week using its lickety-split release, and the disk has not given. I didn't go for windshield mount option because that would region the i5 a exiguous too far away from me. Since the fonts are little, I can witness the maps better when mounted on my breeze. For those of you who don't want to raze your dashboard, you can mild mount the unit to your windshield. But If your eyes were helpful enough to qualify you for a drivers license, then you should be able to peer the hide when mounted on the windshield; I honest like it on my dashboard better.
Operation
Operation was a breeze: I opened the box, plugged in the power cord and connected it to my design and viola! The unit asked me a few preliminary questions regarding my time zone and I was ready to go. It is very easy to navigate through the user interface: You spend the thumb scroll to channel through your options, then press the wheel in to gain a selection. If you develop a mistake, you press the attend button on the left which will assist you out of your mistake(s) in incremental steps until you arrive the main menu. The navigation snort is that of a woman's, is very loud and sure, and can be spoken in various languages. It's also very easy to spell street names and input street numbers using the thumb scroll.
Comparison / Reliability
I haven't tried any other navigational devices so I cannot compare this one to the more pricy brands, but I can bid you that the cover is impartial as lustrous and shiny as the other units on expose at Circuit City. I am learning to trust the i5's sense of direction. The first day I purchased it, I turned it on in Circuit City's parking lot and clicked the link that searches for nearby "transportation" places. I received hits for all the nearby airports with turn-by-turn directions at a glimpse, and was incredibly impressed! Next, I told the i5 to catch nearby food places, and it returned all the places of various cuisines in proximity to me, including miniature nondescript mom-and-pop restaurants that the unassuming motorist would never stare! Didn't know there was a Hip-Hop Museum a couple miles from my house until I searched for nearby museums (Who'd have thunk it? ) . Turned out to be a defunct building peaceful listed as a Hip-Hop Museum (but smooth icy) . For most of the destination spots stored on the i5's hard drive, the complete addresses and phone numbers are provided; I would highly recommend calling the destination situation before driving there, to minimize your chances of driving a few miles to a rib shack only to collect that the business is defunct. The i5 has over 6 million preloaded points of interest and categorizes with headings such as nearby food, post offices, city halls, museums, department stores, shopping malls, gas stations, etc. You are also free to manually input an address and street name which is also easy to do.
Fun
Using the i5 for finding things to do on the weekend is like playing a game of score the flag: I devour typing in the names of restaurants and amusement attractions to where I've never been, and watching the i5 locate the address and save my car on auto pilot, taking me to the uncharted destination. I must admit that I smile every time the i5 says "arriving at destination on honest." It's unbiased so 21st century.
Range / Sense of direction
Each time I turn the i5 on, I have to wait about 20 seconds while it finds the satellites, then I'm ample to go (the unit locks onto 3 satellites when you have the "3-D arrangement" setting on) . The only time my i5 looses the satellites is when I enter my parking garage in Downtown Detroit. If you produce a bad turn, the i5 will stare after about 5 seconds then say "recalculating" which takes about another 5 seconds, then tells you what to do now. Depending on your preferences the i5 will either dispute you to create a U-Turn, or have you effect a series of turns around the block until you are encourage on course. I turned the "acquire a U-Turn" preference on. So now, if I pass my destination by mistake, the unit says, "When possible, obtain a U-Turn." Also, I passe my i5 on a very wet and murky day this week and it never skipped a beat. I have noticed however, then when I ask the i5 to navigate me somewhere while I'm sitting in a parking lot with various ways to ingress and egress, the i5 doesn't know what direction my car is facing and may exclaim me to gain a series of turns to net onto a particular road (when that road is actually moral in my face) . Also, if you exit a freeway too early and continue on the service drive, the i5 will not survey the change as long as the service drive runs parallel to the freeway, it only recalculates your course after the service drive and freeway diverge and the satellite realizes that you keen in a different direction of the freeway. However, once the i5 realizes that you are on a different path (probably a miniature later depending on when the divergence occurs, you are set befriend on course in seconds) I rate the i5 4 out of 5 stars for this reason only.
External power usage
For the occasional days when my cell phone is plugged into my DC outlet, I wanted to test how the i5 long would it select before the i5 drains an alkaline battery; it took about 5 hours to drain my 2 AA Duracell alkaline batteries. Garmin's specifications says that the i5 should between 6 and 7 hours. I probably only got 5 hours because I had the volume turned all the map up, and the design settings on "most detail." There is a battery setting on this unit that ask you whether or not you are using Ni-Cad or alkaline batteries. I guess this helps the unit choose the most efficient contrivance to employ the batteries. First I plan it asked that quiz to resolve whether or not to charge your rechargeable batteries, but after leaving the power cord plugged into my i5 overnight, I found that my rechargeable batteries' strength meter was neither weaker nor stronger by the morning. Garmin's next Street Pilot should have a built in battery charger.
All in all the i5 is a unbelievable unit. I deem it's a joy to consume and a must have for those who like to spy different plot without getting lost.
