Garmin Sat Nav: 2010

Sunday, 4 April 2010

Garmin Oregon Delivers a Rescue

The Garmin Oregon series is a touchscreen handheld unit with a lot of capabilities, but one you won't find listed on the box under "Electronic Compass" and "Barometric Altimeter" is "Lifesaver". For one set of boaters coming home from hunting out on the lake, their Garmin Oregon was a lifesaver. Not only did the coordinates of their overturned boat help guie rescuers, but the screen's brightness helped the rescuers find the overturned boat in the darkness as the owner flagged them down with it held high in the air.

Garmin gets a lot of consumer letters, I am sure, but this one is worth a read; it's pretty good.

ReadMore at Garmin Blogs

Update Your Garmin and TomTom Maps? Lifetime/Regular Map Upgrades

Got Maps? Well eventually you need to upgrade your maps and I want to explain a couple of options I like that get you updated maps almost all the time.

Garmin

Garmin has a lifetime map upgrade for North America at a $95 price point. Sure it's a lot, but at about $50 a year, this is a pretty good deal to keep your GPS updated for the long haul. The $95 gets you updated maps about every quarter for the lifetime of the device that you register it with.

There are no monthly fees or continuing maintenance costs; you pay only once per Garmin GPS. When you want to update your maps, connect your device to your computer and log into your myGarmin account, where the latest map data is ready to load to your individual device. We're constantly gathering new map data, and a new update is available up to four times per year. Sign up for our email notification, and we'll email you when the newest data is available.

Garmin nüMaps Lifetime North America Map Updates
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Garmin Forerunner 305 - $152 at Amazon - Running and Biking GPS

The Garmin Forerunner 305 has been a long standing, well performing GPS trainer for a lot of runners and bikers alike. I continue to find that people enjoy training and keep ing track of that training with a GPS enabled device, which allows them to not only track mileage but also pace, heart rate, and route on the map. With communities like Garmin Connect , you can upload your data to share the route with others, while also finding out about new routes in what ever area you are in or going to.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 comes with a heart rate monitor and a design that allows it to grab and lock onto satellite signals quickly and reliably. I have used it successfully to bike with too. With the optional Garmin Forerunner Bike Mount
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New Garmin Friction Mount - Lighter, Smaller

A lot of people just prefer friction mounts to keep the windshield free of suction cup mount marks, and some just want the GPS closer in cars with steeply raked windshields. Whatever the reason, the new Garmin mount does away with the beanbag style in favor of the tacky bottom style. The kicker here is that the base is flexible and can conform to your dashboard's contours. Very cool.

New design is lighter weight, more flexible and more compact. The integrated arm can be folded down for easy storage in an automobile or luggage and holds your Garmin Nuvi Transfers from car to car

Available with free shipping from Amazon - New Garmin Portable Friction Dashboard Mount
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RIP - Garmin Colorado 400 Series Discontinued

The Garmin Colorado 400 series was discontinued by Garmin recently and I am sad to see it go. While that means there will be plenty of deals on it in the coming weeks to months, it was and for me, remains a strong reliable GPS with advanced features that made the upgrade from an eTrex obvious and painless. The first to include a set of features that brought the handheld GPS to a more user friendly place like USB computer connections, pre-loaded with Topo, Coastal or Inland waterway maps, a large and easily readable screen all helped to make it a powerful contender. The wireless sharing of routes, waypoints helped and when combined with the ability to display data from other modules, like a heartrate or bike cadence monitor made it an attractive new device on the market.

While discontinued, I think that the Colorado will still offer great service for years to come. I still use mine on a regular basis for hiking, biking and boating, and expect to for years to come. When i have a crowd, I use my decade old eTrex Vista and an eTrex Vista C - both old, both discontinued and both still reliable.

Introduced just two years ago at CES, it was quickly followed by the touchscreen Oregon series which has seen more popularity, spawning its smaller sibling the Dakota. The touchscreen versions seem like an easier sell, and a more sustainable platform.

Look for good deals on them as the Garmin Colorado 400t
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What Does IPX6 and IPX7 Waterproof Rating Mean?

When you are out on the trail, and your hike just turned into a muddy downpour mess of an afternoon, you'll want to make sure that you are carrying a GPS that is rated to handle the weather.

Most handheld GPS units are rated to the IPX7 waterproofing standard; a pretty good standard that keeps the unit sound in the face of whatever a typical hike bike, run or other outing can throw at it. Some handhelds are rated to the IPX6 standard; which is a lower standard that doesn't offer the immersion capability that the IPX7 does...... Immersion capability? Yes, see below:

IPX6 Waterproof Standard

Heavy splashing and rain - This test sends water at all angles through a 12.5mm nozzle at a rate of 100 liters/min at a pressure of 100kN/m2 for 3 minutes from a distance of 3 meters. Must not fail or show water seepage.

IPX-7 Waterproof Standard

Puddle, stream, beer cooler and splash rated - Protected against water immersion - Immersion for 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter.

I have had my GPS units out in the driving rain for hours and have dropped them in muddy puddles without issue on the IPX7 standard. I like it and it works for almost anything you can throw at it on a typical day.... except dropping it overboard on a boat..... and luckily that hasn't happened.

Photo via:Tom Curtis / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Read More in: GPS News
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Win a SPOT Satellite Messenger Emergency Tracker GPS

I tweeted this earlier today, and wanted to post a link to the page too. If you enjoy the back country, you should consider a SPOT Tracking GPS. The SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger
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TeleNav - Insight into GPS Use

Telenav has researched what people are using their service for - where people are going, what they are looking for and how they are battling traffic. The data was collected anonymously from their applications and on-phone navigation system. What's the most searched for Point of Interest? Which city needs to re-route around traffic? What's the most searched for food?

The data is fun to look through and it's not a surprise to see the results - like Pizza being the most popular search for food, WalMart being the most popular Point of Interest searched for, and maybe not a big surprise that Los Angeles is figuring out how to get around traffic most frequently. The data is a fun read.

More on TeleNav and their navigation solutions at Telenav

Full press release after the jump...

TeleNav, one of the largest navigation services providers with more than 13 million subscribers, today released usage data
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Garmin Nuvi 285WT - $119 at Amazon

The Garmin Nuvi 285WT is a full featured widescreen GPS that offers text-to-speech, bluetooth hands free, and for a while, access to MSN Direct's load of features including traffic, weather, movie times, local gas prices and more. The downside here is that MSN Direct is stopping in January 2012, making the MSN direct features short-lived.

The upside is that the unit itself is a solid unit, offering a lot of capability at this price - widescreen GPS navigation with Bluetooth. The discount is pretty significant, driving the populatrity of this GPS at Amazon to the top of their best seller list.

At Amazon - Garmin Nuvi 285WT
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Garmin Edge 500 Bike Computer Gets the Team Garmin Argyle Traeatment

Garmin is skinning the their Garmin Edge 500 cycling computer with the team colors - argyle in honor of the Team Garmin biking colors. The team that features Christian Vendevelde will unveil the new design along with a more calm black and white treatment in May at the Tour de California.

Looks like a nice design on the Edge that is a solid performance minded biking computer. It is a low profile bike GPS that has data galore, and no on screen mapping. The unit tracks speed, distance, time, GPS position, elevation, calories burned, climb and descent; the latter is facilitated by a barometric altimeter in the Edge 500.

The blue and White version is available at Amazon Now - Garmin Edge 500
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Saturday, 3 April 2010

Garmin - Movin' on Up to Switzerland; Dividend Doubles

Garmin is going to be asking shareholders to approve a move of their umbrella company from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland. If approved the move is said to help with strategic location for growing their European business, and of course the murky world of tax favorability. The number crunchers must have been busy with this one, but I would imagine that with European acquisitions in recent years, their critical mass on that continent makes for a compelling balance sheet change.

As part of the move, Garmin will have a one time increase of the cash dividend from $0.75 per share, to $1.50 per share. Must have had some cash hidden in the closets down there in the islands!

Pilots on Russian Plane Used Handheld GPS Before Crash

Reportedly, the pilots of the Russian plane that crashed earlier this week were using a handheld GPS as they approached the airport, and not the onboard GPS system. It is not known why they turned off the system, as they were making their approach in fog and cloud conditions. The plane was en route from Egypt to Moscow's Domodedovo airport.

More at SpaceDaily

Garmin Introduces the Forerunner 110

Garmin announced another Garmin Forerunner, the new Forerunner 110, an entry level fitness watch that offers some nice features in a really compact size. The Forerunner 110 captures the classic details via GPS, like pace, but also can be paired with a heart rate monitor for an extra level of data and insight into your fitness.

Water-resistant and slimmer than any other GPS-enabled fitness watch on the market, Forerunner 110 boasts a high-sensitivity SiRFstarIV GPS receiver with Garmin's HotFix
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GPS Inventor R. Easton Inducted into Inventor Hall of Fame

Sure, we're pretty happy that the GPS is a household item these days, but it wouldn't be that was if Roger Easton didn't come up with the idea at the Navy Research Labs. Originally dubbed TIMAITON for Time Navigation, the invention that we now call the GPS, used precise atomic clocks on satellites to help devices on the earth triangulate to their location. The original GPS would fill a room, and now the chips are omnipresent on mobile phones. Not a bad ascendancy into worldwide use.

You can go see his patent for the navigation system at the Patent Office website.

The invention summary is:
"The present invention provides the advantages of the prior earth-satellite navigation systems while avoiding their disadvantages. More specifically, the present invention allows the navigator to passively determine his position by measuring the distance, or range, to one or more satellites. Each satellite transmits multifrequency signals which are derived from extremely precise oscillators. Similar multifrequency signals are derived by the navigator's equipment from an extremely precise oscillator which is phase synchronized with the oscillators on the satellites. By measuring the phase differences between the signals received from the satellites and the locally produced reference signals, the navigator obtains an indication of the distance to the satellites and, therefrom, of his own location. The navigator's presence is not betrayed since no interrogation signal transmission is required. "

Roger Easton is being inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame for this invention. For more on the early days of the GPS, see my Q&A with Bob Rennard, one of the original engineers on the GPS project, and co-founder of TeleNav.

Via CNet

Garmin Sat Nav