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Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:36 pm

This little GPS unit is pretty cool. It's about the cheapest of the automotive GPS units, retailing for $299, but West Marine carries it for $219 here:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servle...SiteSearch

Here are the pros n' cons. For me, it was worthwhile considering the savings.

The screen is monochrome, rather than color like the more expensive units.

The unit talks. It tells you outloud to turn right or left in _____ miles and periodically lets you know how far you have to go until your next turn. But it does not say the street names aloud. It says "Turn right in .2 miles" then says "turn right" when you get there. It's pretty obvious where to go. The street names are in text on the screen if you need clarification. More expensive units will say "Turn right on West Elm Street in .2 miles"

The i2 was able to hold it's satellite signal very well, even driving through our redwood forest. When it lost signal, it would pick it right back up again in a matter of a few seconds. Quite impressive really.

It does take about 10 minutes for the i2 to find a satellite when you initially turn it on, so you do have to plan for that and turn it on well before you leave. I am not sure if other GPS units take that long to locate a satellite or not.

You do have to upload your own software. The software comes on a DVD, not a CD. So you do need to have a DVD drive on your computer, or borrow a buddie's. They are about $30-$40. The upload is quite easy.

The memory card that comes with the unit was able to hold several regions that I selected and was about 3/4 full. For me that was the SF bay area, north to the oregon border, south to LA, LA to San Diego and south to the border. So essentially the entire state of CA with room to spare. The rest of North America is on the DVD if I need it and there are optional larger memory cards that run about $40 if I were to drive cross country.

I found that sometimes in rural areas, the software may think an address is slightly before or slightly after your exact position. But again, this is pretty obvious. It will get you into the right place.

All in all, I'm really quite pleased with the i2. It's a great little GPS for a very reasonable price. Well worth it for me.... getting lost sucks.

Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:21 am

Claire, how do you enter an address on this unit, touch screen ?
Does it have an available external antenna port ?,that will make your satellite location times a whole bunch faster.
My 2610 works great in most cars and trucks without the external antenna, but in my Range Rover it struggles initially due to the heated front windshield grid in the glass.
Chris.

Thu Dec 29, 2005 12:07 pm

To enter an address you push the black roller on the front which functions as both a rolling scroll and a push button, so you can scroll and select screen menu options. There is a alpha-numeric part that lets you enter in the state, city, street and house number. It's quite easy.

Yup, there is a little hole on the site that I bet is an antenna port. I'll look into that. That might help it out. I found that sometimes it picks up satellites right away, other times it takes several minutes to find them.

I was very impressed with it yesterday on a road trip. I followed the directions that were given to me on the way up, and the GPS adjusted. Oon the way back I let the GPS be the guide. That little bugger shaved an hour off my driving time by taking short cuts I didn't know existed! Very impressive!!