Home > Consumer Reviews > Garmin I2 In Car Satellite Navigation System With UK Mapping

If all you want to do is navigate from place to place without too many bells and whistles check one of these out before spending hundreds of pounds...
I found it quite hard to get hold of one of these little beauties, presumably because of the low price meaning they sell out quickly. Yes the screen is black & white and not touch sensitive, but that doesn't matter as it's easy to use, doesn't obscure your windscreen and (so far at least) seems quick & accurate.
Only minor quirk was that on first turning my unit on it told me the map was out of date which struck me as a bit odd. Garmin's website seems pretty comprehensive though so I'm sure that they can explain it to a GPS newbie like me!

I was a little concerned about this unit the first time I tried it around my home town. The main issue is that the spoken directions are very limited and often don't occur until it is too late to get into the right lane. In particular roundabouts are a problem - perhaps because it is an American unit little regard is given to the fact that at larger roundabouts you need to be in the right lane on approach, and at multiple roundabout junctions you need to have clear directions for each roundabout. The trick is to make full use of the small but perfectly readable B&W display which gives far more detailed information on the directions required. The unit is very easy to use with just two button operation - you can enter a postcode or a street name quite quickly and store it in a favourites folder if required. Routes can be reviewed ahead of time. It can work out detours but the functionality in this regard is very limited - it may be easier to use the map function to plot your own route around traffic jams. Alternatively simply start off on a new route in roughly the right direction and let the unit re-calculate new directions to your destination.

It took about 15 minutes for the unit to lock onto the satellites the first time (I understand this is a common issue with SatNavs, and you must be outside for the satellites to be aquired) but since then the unit takes typically less than a minute to lock on (apparently having re-chargeable batteries in the unit itself helps, although in operation power can be taken from the cigar lighter socket).

To summarise I am very happy with this unit. Commercial travellers doing a lot of driving would probably prefer something more sophisticated, and people who rely on spoken directions should avoid the Streepilot i2, but for most drivers it is more than adequate at a budget price.

Bought one for my mother Xmas 06. Just finsihed installing it and so far very impressed!

I was a little worried when it couldn't find any satellites but a bit of patience and 30 minutes later, it knew exactly where it was located.

On inputting a few friends adressess into 'My Favourites' using the postcode search, it did come up with one incorrect address. However, using the alternative 'search by street name' function, I was easily able to get the right one.

All in all, an excellent little machine for very little money!

Well recommended.

Just purchased a used one of these for the girlfriend. At work I use various vehicles, so have access to tom toms, navman, etc, so regularly use the more expensive models, and I must say, this is a great little unit!! Strong signal (sat in the office at home with 4 signal bars!), good POI database, full postcode input, and dead simple to operate.

Most sat-navs are like mobile phones these days, bags of add-on features that have nothing to do with their core function. If you want a sat nav that does just that - navigate, then you cant go far wrong with this little unit.