Review by Dennis Mabrey for Garmin Talking StreetPilot III GPS Receiver, Map Compatible
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First I want to say I am very happy with the talking SPIII. It is does a pretty good job routing and if you drive off the route it will autorecalc a new route for you. I have used numerous GPS’s in the past and this does a great job for driving (for biking or hiking I HIGHLY recommend the Garmin 12 Map, my favorite GPS).Now there are some things to know about this product however. First you get a CD that allows you to download maps from your PC to your Steetpilot. It works over either serial or USB (USB goes to a 32MB memory card that you can plug in). The CD contains maps of the US BUT… you only get to select one region of the US for free. The rest of them you must pay for from Garmin for approx $116 a shot ($291 total for the total US). You can purchase this online at Garmin’s web site and they will give you a key to open up the different regions. The base map. the one built into the Garmin, on the GPS is still “good” for the whole US but the CD give MUCH better detail. I am not complaining about this since the maps seem pretty up to date. The road I live on is 2 years old and no other mapping software to my knowledge has it as part of their data but the Garmin software did.Another thing to note is the form factor for the StreetPilot III and the older street pilots are different. this can be important if you order from Garmin direct accessories like the bean bag mount (as I found out).

Review by for Garmin Talking StreetPilot III GPS Receiver, Map Compatible
Rating:
StreetPilot III is a keeper! After quickly entering your destination whether it is a address, city, or point of interest such as a restaurant or shopping center, in a matter of less than a minute, the GPS tells you exactly how to get there. Not only does it tell you to make left or right turns, but it will notify you for instance to “bear right in 300 feet”. What is great about the directions is that it compensates for when you are driving faster such as on the highway and tells you you have to make a turn longer beforehand.
I find the antenna satisfactory for acquiring satellites in a short amount of time. If you place the GPS on the dash, it is usually no longer than a minute to acquire enough satellites to be sufficient for navigation. Sometimes when I use it while driving under heavy cover of trees, it has no problem with keeping satellite reception.
The color screen is pretty good. I have had a previous GPS which was grayscale which was difficult to read. StreetPilot III’s screen which can be adjusted in terms of brightness and contrast is great. Though I must mention that if direct sunlight hits the screen, it does make it difficult sometimes to read.
The route fuction is incredible. It takes for a general route anywhere from less than thirty seconds to a little over a minute to calculate. If you are planning a longer route (such as 100 miles or more), it takes from about forty-five seconds to under two minutes. Sometimes, I would be unable to complete a direction due to construction or I would simply miss the turn and the StreetPilot III would easily and quickly recalculate a route to the destination (you can configure it to ask to reroute or it can reroute automatically for you). Just the other day, I got caught in traffic. Luckily the StreetPilot III has the detour function, which allows you to get off the road you are driving on as quickly as possible and eliminates that road from your route for the distance you tell it to (either 1/2, 1, 2, 5, or 15 miles). It told me to take the next exit and provided a route taking me on main roads that led exactly to my destination. Also, you can look at your route on a detailed map page showing each direction and the time and distance until that direction is executed. This way, you can look ahead and see what roads you will be taking and how long you will spend on them.
One thing I must mention is the need to plug it in the car power adapter when using it. If you don’t use AC power or the car adapter, this unit will use up batteries very quickly, especially if you adjust the backlight to be on a high setting. When they state in the specifications that the battery life is 20 hours or so in the lowest backlight setting, they are not lying BUT the lowest backlight setting can only be used at night and even then it is very hard to see because it is so dim. I have the brightness setting at almost the highest level which when I am not using the car adapter lasts from 1 to 2 hours.
The 32 MB data card that comes with the unit is enough for most people. I can fit all of New Jersey and half of Pennsylvania using the detailed map coverage from City Navigator included with 32 MB. This is sufficient and if I ever have to change my map coverage, I simply rewrite over the card. The number of routes and waypoints allowed seems to be sufficient for my needs (I have about 30 routes and 200 waypoints). Finally, there is a page that shows a lot of helpful numbers which includes your mileage, current speed, driving time and overall time as well as average driving speed and overall driving speed, and my favorite number, max speed. It also shows you the battery strength which is always very accurate.
Overall, this is definately the best portable automotive navigation unit currently on the market. Not only does it have a color screen and is portable, it creates turn-by-turn routes and will reroute you if you miss a direction.

Review by Remy Lefebvre for Garmin Talking StreetPilot III GPS Receiver, Map Compatible
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First of all, let me say I had a street pilot before. That was fine, the main drawback being that you have to precompute the route and stick to it.This unit does compute the route, recalculate it whenever you decide or have to leave it. No more problem with route too long to store, no more problem of badly pointed turns (like on the other side of the highway etc). The computed routes might not be the actual fastest or shortest but in my case the most important point is getting where I want without troubles.Don’t know how to get there ? It will find it. Huge traffic jam ahead ? Take first exit and let it recompute a new route.Pricey but really really cool. Also comes with everything you need (unlike the regular Street Pilot where you had to buy the map and memory card on the side).A couple of cons and enhancements (for the measure) : * I’d like to be able to ‘rate’ some road. For example to take me back home it keeps on routing thru the I-95 where I take the US-1 a couple of exists before. * I’d like to be able to store the waypoints on the memory card (right now only the maps go there, the w/p are stored in the internal memory so you have to plug the unit to the PC for the waypoints and routes).