Birds don't need the Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe, but if you do more than head south for the winter you might want this GPS receiver. It not only shows you where you are, but it can direct you to the nearest locations for ATMs, gas stations, hospitals, restaurants and other places of interest. So even in an unfamiliar area, you'll be prepared to handle any emergency, from financial to food.

There are four versions of the Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe. Each covers a different part of the world with one each for the Americas, Australia, Europe, and South Africa. The Americas version has a basemap which provides built-in coverage of North and South America. The details include cities, major and minor roads between cities, rivers and lakes, and state and country borders.

Supplied with the StreetPilot III is a CD with street map software for navigating within cities. The Americas version has maps for North American cities and gives you the ability to create door-to-door routes. Also included is a 128 MB CompactFlash (CF) memory card. Using your PC and the interface cable provided, you upload the map data from the CD to the CF card. The cards plug into the receiver and give you an unlimited amount of map storage. In addition to the city maps, Garmin has world and topographic maps you can use with this receiver.

With the maps in place, you're ready to navigate. When using the Garmin StreetPilot III Deluxe either you can have a specific destination in mind or a general category destination. For a specific destination, you can identify it by marking the location on the map display, or find the address or name in the points of interest database. If you don't want a specific destination in mind, but only whatever is nearest, there's a separate listing for points of interest closest to your location. Once you have your destination chosen, you select the "Route to It" function, decide between taking the fastest route, shortest distance, or off road (straight line), and your route is calculated for you.

After your route is created, you're ready to follow it. The map page of the StreetPilot III shows your location, the route as a bold magenta line, your direction, speed, and distance traveled. The map scale is adjustable to see more area and less detail or more detail and a smaller area. Turn instructions have the distance and time to each and can include voice prompts. You can choose a different language for the voice messages by downloading it from the Garmin site. The receiver already has 14 languages built in for text displays.