Garmin Street Pilot III Imagine never being lost while road trippin' again. Garmin makes it possible with their new automotive GPS system, the Street Pilot III. Unlike earlier models, Street Pilot III will create a route and then you follow clear, accurate, voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions to safely reach your destination. This device is ideal for long road trips to remote destinations. On our recent trip to Alaska we used the MapSource Roads and Recreation for Alaska. The Street Pilot was indespensible in keeping us on track; any unexpected detours or missed turns takes you off course, the StreetPilot III automatically plots a new one and sends you on your way, making driving in unfamiliar territories a snap. The simple, intuitive menus of the Street Pilot III offer access to the shortest and fastest routes, directions, and estimated arrival time of your intended destination. While driving through Denali National Park the Stree Pilot performed flawlessly with voice alerts to upcoming turns, course deviation, and distance to final destination. Arguably our favorite feature was at the touch of a button, you can view the locations of all the nearest restaurants and shops. It even located a local climbing store, where we loaded up on some new swag. The StreetPilot III comes with a CD-Rom and everything you need to download street-level map sets from your PC. Then, just place the portable system on the dash of any vehicle, and enjoy stress-free road trippin' and peace of mind. The StreetPilot III's 12-channel receiver is extremely accurate and fast; we were able to acquire a 3D fix (four satellites) in less than a minute the first time we powered up. Once the unit located our position, we used the "Find' button to locate a destination and had the system plot the fastest route to our destination (shorter-distance and off-road choices are also available). Testing things out, we purposely made wrong turns and took a few dirt "short cuts", but the StreetPilot III immediately recalculated our route each time, directing us to our destination with voice prompts. Really, the only problem we had with the product was that we felt Garmin should have included more remote location and topo maps. The CD-ROM contains 10 district-coverage-area (DCA) maps, which cover different portions of the country. However, Garmin lets you unlock only one DCA map (a code is required) via its Web site. That may be OK if you don't plan on traveling outside your home region and neighboring states. But to unlock additional DCAs, you'll have to pay $99 for one or $279 for the whole catalog. (Note: The 32MB data card that ships with the unit holds only one DCA. An optional 128MB data card is available, but it costs around $400.) That gripe aside, we came away really impressed with this unit. Certainly, it's not cheap. But other vehicle-navigation systems, such as Magellan's 750M, cost more and aren't as portable or easy to operate. The fact is, if you get lost using the StreetPilot III, you shouldn't be driving. Garmin International, Garmin.com — Written by Arnold Kinder, Mountain Zone Correspondent Photos courtesy of Garmin International Got an opinion? Tell us what you think about this product by posting your own review. You can also read what other people had to say about this product. [Top] [MountainZone.com Home]