Garmin StreetPilot C580 with MSN - Hot Buy at $224
The MSN Direct connected Garmin StreetPilot C580 is available for a pretty low $224 today, with MSN traffic, gas prices and more. The unit is a standard, 3.5-inch screen with maps of North America, and text to speech so it says the name of the streets. I reviewed its sister product the Nuvi 680 (Garmin Nuvi 680 Full Review) a while back and enjoyed the capabilities. These days, having the gas price capability is a nice plus. The StreetPilot line is not a flat product like the Nuvi, but to get the Nuvi 680 that is flat (and widescreened) you'll pay almost $400.
Nokia is a powerhouse of a mobile phone maker, and with the move to acquire map maker NAVTEQ, they set in motion the wheels to make sure that they are a key player in location based services, and navigation. According to a recent interview, Michael Halbherr, the head of Nokia's location based activities, said that they are set to hit their goal of having half of their handsets GPS enabled by 2010-2012.
I have no idea if that means the death of the GPS stand alone device or not, but I am leaning more and more towards not these days. When GPS units cost $400 for an entry model, I could see the attraction of a small screen, phone based navigator that was essentially free (already had the phone and an extra $10 a month is pretty cheap).
With the drop in GPS prices, entry level units are going to be under $100 and that's not even a splurge item for many folks. Unless the connectedness of the mobile phone can offer a significantly better user experience, I think that the spread of mobile phone GPS will only spur demand for a better and not too expensive stand alone GPS device.
The European Union gave clearance of the TomTom TeleAtlas deal which paves the way for the merger to move forward; the US gave its OK last year.
"The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition," an European Union executive said in a statement.
TomTom and Tele Atlas issued a joint release on the subject saying:
"The ruling of the EC is the best possible outcome for TomTom and Tele Atlas allowing the new combination to go ahead with the full execution of its strategy."
It's unfoutunately illeagal to mount your GPS on the windshield in Minnesota and California, but a lot of people also don't want to have those suction cup rings on the windshield to deal with either. There is always the dash mounting option that solved these problems.
Here are a couple of options:
1. Adhesive disk - these come with almost all GPS units, usually black and can go right on your dash. I saw a driver the other day with one of these mounted vertically on his dash near the center stack that put the GPS well within reach. Wouldn't work in my car, but it looked great in his. The downside may be looks; a lot of folks don't want one of these stuck to the dash no matter what.
2. Garmin Friction Mount - Garmin offers this, and a lot of people are happy with it, judging from the emails I get from readers and the ratings on Amazon.
3. Bracketron NavMat GPS Friction Mount - is another option that allows you to use the mount along with the suction cup mount that came with your GPS. I have also had readers write in about this one too, and from the reviews at Amazon, a lot of people seem to like the mount for a lot of different GPS models.
Best buy this week has to be the Nuvi 260W that dropped again this week - down about $75 in the last two weeks; very good navigator. Widescreen and text to speech with the new thin Garmin design.
Standard Screens - 3.5-inch
TomTom ONE - $146 and Free Shipping at Amazon; Entry Level TomTom with Maps of North America, no Text to Speech.
Garmin Nuvi 260 at Amazon - $217 Text to Speech, Maps of North America, solid interface. Same quality routing as Nuvi 200, just adds more maps and text to speech. At this point, I am recommending the Nuvi 260 with its updated interface, newer design and slightly lower price; for more see: Compare the Nuvi 260 vs. the Nuvi 350.
Nuvi 350 at Amazon $236; down this week - Still a top seller with North American Maps, and Text-to-Speech. Want Bluetooth? Get the Nuvi 360 that adds Bluetooth Handsfree, for two bucks more at - $238.
Circuit City has the Magellan 1200 for $149 - skip it and buy a Garmin 200 (above) or a TomTom ONE (above) for about the same price and get a better unit.
Garmin Nuvi 260W - $272 at Amazon; down $75 in the last two weeks; Text to Speech and a dead easy interface.
Nuvi 660 at Amazon $344; still the best seller at Amazon - Text to Speech, North American Maps, TMC Traffic Capability included. See My Full Review - Nuvi 660
TomTom ONE XL S at Amazon $244 - Text to Speech, North American Maps, MapShare. I think the Text to Speech is worth the extra money, but if you don't need it, the TomTom ONE XL is only $227. Or $199 at BestBuy
Nuvi 750 - $374 at Amazon - New thin design with Text to Speech and Maps of North America. Route Optimization - plug in multiple stops and let the unit optimize the route for fastest planning.
Nuvi 760 - $422 at Amazon - Down a bit again this week. New thin design with Text to Speech and Maps of North America. Route Optimization - plug in multiple stops and let the unit optimize the route for fastest planning, adds Bluetooth handsfree and built-in TMC traffic. See My Full Review of the Nuvi 760.
It's Running Season and for many, it's time to hit the roads. I am starting to watch the prices on the Forerunners. Steady price these days.
Garmin Forerunner 405 is available for pre-order - the watch-like GPS enabled fitness device has a smaller design with all kinds of functionality, including wireless sharing. Probably won't deliver in time for the Boston Marathon tomorrow though...... Garmin is launching the Forerunner 405 at the Boston and why not, one of the best marathons in the world meets one of the coolest fitness devices. I like biking more than running, so, I tend to think the Edge 705 is cooler.... I took my first ride with it recently.
Forerunner 305 - $214 at Amazon - Heart Rate Monitor with wrist-mounted GPS Receiver, tracks distance and keeps your speed and pace. Syncs to computer for training records.
Forerunner 205 - $149 at Amazon - Wrist-mounted GPS Receiver, no Heart Rate Monitor. Tracks distance and keeps your speed and pace. Syncs to computer for training records.
TomTom announced a new enhanced TomTom RIDER2 that updates the unit with some of the best features of the other TomTom devices while adding to the cache of motorcycle driven features to bolster its appeal. The newly enhanced RIDER allows updates through MapShare, offers the latest Map guarantee, adds the Help Me! capability to the menu, trip stats features, and a nice itinerary planning and sharing ability to help people create and manage custom POI sets and itineraries.
You've seen the icons you can download for the Garmin GPS units, and now you could win a Garmin Nuvi 205 if your icon is the winner of the contest. Every week Garmin will choose 5 weekly winners, for which you will get a t-shirt. At the end of the contest, they will put up all icons for internet voting. If the net likes what you've done, you win the contest and the Nuvi 205.
Cruise over to Garmin and check out the entries so far. Get creative, and submit your own.
The Garmin Nuvi 760 came out on top of Consumer Reports' latest GPS rating, with TomTom and Magellan also rounding out the top 5. It's not a big surprise that these three occupy the top 5, I have always said, it's easy to design a GPS, but it's hard to design a good one. The big guys have been designing their units for years, and the difference is a solid understanding of the basics, with a very good interface. I am still not as impressed with the Magellan interface still as the Garmin and TomTom interfaces.
Let's face it, gas prices are pretty high, and finding cheaper gas can save some big bucks. There are some great options to help find cheap gas prices around you where ever you go. Instead of driving around and keeping track of the ever changing gas prices there are a couple of ways to keep track of gas prices when you need them and where you need them. Let's run through some options for GPS units:
Garmin Nuvi 680 & Garmin Nuvi 780 - Both Garmin Nuvi models come with MSN Direct services optional, which with a $50 annual subscription you will get the ability to search nearby regular gas prices. The feed comes over the FM airwaves and is cached on the unit. When I reviewed both units, I found that the gas price capability was one of the most attractive features on the units. It was easy to find gas for a nickel or a dime cheaper per gallon without working too hard. See my Full Review of the Garmin Nuvi 680, and my Full Review of the Garmin Nuvi 780.
TomTom PLUS with Gas Prices - Compatible right now with the TomTom GO 920/920T, the ability to pull in gas prices is only a low <$20 per year subscription away. The system goes through the Bluetooth connection to your COMPATIBLE bluetooth phone running on a data network. This will pull in data through your phone and populate the data into the TomTom to give you a bead on cheaper gas. After subscribing through you TomTom HOME computer application, you will select which grade of fuel (regular, mid, premium, or diesel) which will then show up in your Gas station POI search.
Dash Express Connected GPS - This new generation GPS has a a cellular radio built in so it is connected to the network whenever you need it (and are in range of a cellular tower). A quick search for gas on the Dash allows you to pull up station by station listing and with the tap of the button, you can grab not only the "Regular" gas price as well as the prices on other grades.
Finally, you can always get local cheap gas prices on MapQuest with their new gas pricing capability and MSN. Cool searches allow you to search around addresses, with the ability to search by price, distance and by name.
How's it all work? No, there isn't someone riding around phoning in the latest gas prices.... A company called OpisNet scans the credit card transaction streams for fleet vehicles and watches for gas transactions, checking for gas prices and reporting them. These updates can come several times per day in the case of Dash (although any particular station might get updated less than that), to slightly less frequently for other manufacturers.
Best buys this week have to be the Nuvi 260W that dropped $50+ to $290, which is about right-priced for its capabilities. The Garmin Nuvi 200 is $139 at Office Depot after discounts and Mail In Rebate. Staples has a good low price for the Nuvi 200W - $199.
Standard Screens - 3.5-inch
TomTom ONE - $144 and Free Shipping at Amazon; Entry Level TomTom with Maps of North America, no Text to Speech.
Garmin Nuvi 260 at Amazon - $208 Text to Speech, Maps of North America, solid interface. Same quality routing as Nuvi 200, just adds more maps and text to speech. At this point, I am recommending the Nuvi 260 with its updated interface, newer design and slightly lower price; for more see: Compare the Nuvi 260 vs. the Nuvi 350.
Nuvi 350 at Amazon $231; down this week - Still a top seller with North American Maps, and Text-to-Speech. Want Bluetooth? Get the Nuvi 360 that adds Bluetooth Handsfree, for $249.
Garmin Nuvi 260W - $295 at Amazon; down $50 this week, MUCH more Reasonable. Like I said last week, I think a good range is $290 - $299 range; getting there faster than I thought.
Nuvi 660 at Amazon $340; up again this week; still the best seller at Amazon - Text to Speech, North American Maps, TMC Traffic Capability included. See My Full Review - Nuvi 660
TomTom ONE XL S at Amazon $249 - Text to Speech, North American Maps, MapShare. I think the Text to Speech is worth the extra money, but if you don't need it, the TomTom ONE XL is only $227. Or $199 at BestBuy
Nuvi 750 - $371 at Amazon - New thin design with Text to Speech and Maps of North America. Route Optimization - plug in multiple stops and let the unit optimize the route for fastest planning.
Nuvi 760 - $426 at Amazon - Down a bit this week. New thin design with Text to Speech and Maps of North America. Route Optimization - plug in multiple stops and let the unit optimize the route for fastest planning, adds Bluetooth handsfree and built-in TMC traffic. See My Full Review of the Nuvi 760.
Nuvi 5000 - The Big Bad Boy of GPS units with a 5.2" screen is on sale, and is only $559 at Amazon. Big screen and dead simple interface for solid usability and great navigation. Price continues to drop across the last few weeks. Best Buy has it for a mere $699 after $100 savings; ouch.
It's Running Season and for many, it's time to hit the roads. I am starting to watch the prices on the Forerunners. Steady price these days.
Garmin Forerunner 405 is available for pre-order - the watch-like GPS enabled fitness device has a smaller design with all kinds of functionality, including wireless sharing. Probably won't deliver in time for the Boston Marathon tomorrow though...... Garmin is launching the Forerunner 405 at the Boston and why not, one of the best marathons in the world meets one of the coolest fitness devices. I like biking more than running, so, I tend to think the Edge 705 is cooler.... I took my first ride with it recently.
Forerunner 305 - $214 at Amazon - Heart Rate Monitor with wrist-mounted GPS Receiver, tracks distance and keeps your speed and pace. Syncs to computer for training records.
Forerunner 205 - $149 at Amazon - Wrist-mounted GPS Receiver, no Heart Rate Monitor. Tracks distance and keeps your speed and pace. Syncs to computer for training records.
Engadget had this story yesterday on Garmin testing Nuvifone ideas and potentially price points. Typically this type of concept testing is done far in advance by the maker of the product to test out features and designs, and yes price points. At this stage in the game, this concept is probably checking out the appeal of the carrier, the wireless features and the price point of the phone.
The $500 price tag is not so outrageous now, but Apple, who is rumored to be putting real GPS capability into the next generation of the iPhone, is also working with AT&T. Now a recent BusinessWeek article speculated about AT&T dropping the price on the iPhone as a way to spur on demand in this sluggish economy. That $500 price point for the Nuvifone all of a sudden would be pretty expensive in comparison.
April saw some serious discounting hit the store shelves as GPS makers are getting ready for the summer driving season. New models have been announced, store shelves are getting stocked and with Tax Rebate checks in the mail, maybe people will be grabbing GPS units by the handful. If so, we are locking and loading on a bunch of reviews coming up so stay tuned.
These are some crazy times; Garmin's earnings were up against last year, but not up enough for the stock market to feel comfortable, and as a result, Garmin's stock lost a few bucks after teh earnings announcement. To be clear, the earnings were the best Garmin ever had, and sales are up 35% overall, with 43% increase in automotive sales, 30% in Marine sales, 19% increase in Aviation sales, and a 16% increase in Fitness/Outdoor sales. Garmin also cited their strategy of distributor acquisition in Europe as a main reason for gaining sales there.
The problems come when Wall Street expected more from them, and from the fact that operating margins shrank, meaning that prices are shrinking faster than costs versus a year ago.
CEO Min Kao said
"We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, particularly given the general slowdown in the global economy. Demand for our automotive/mobile products continued beyond the traditionally strong fourth quarter holiday season, with another quarter of robust triple-digit growth. While the first quarter is typically our slowest quarter, we were
nonetheless able to achieve healthy growth in each of our business segments and each geographic area."
REI has a pretty big sale every year, and if you're already a member, you might just want to swing by to grab a Garmin Forerunner. These are the best prices I have seen on these items. Sale is from May 2 - 11.
The Forerunner 205 grabs satellites and allows you to train with the benefits of gathering a whole lot of data including where you have been, pace, time, etc. The data syncs back to your computer through Garmin's Training Center where you can track your data. The Forerunner 305 adds a wireless heart rate monitor. See the Garmin website for more on the Forerunner.
Also, if you are buying something at full price that's not already on sale, you can use this code May 2-11, and it's good for one item per REI Membership. Not a member? It's only $20 for a lifetime membership; what the heck?
TomTom has announced their newest addition to the TomTom ONE line for 2008 slimming down the model adding a new foldable mount that makes the entire package more portable. The TomTom one 130 and 130S bring a lot to the entry level end of the TomTom line with Maps of North America, MapShare - the ability to make corrections of your own to maps and then elect to share and receive other updates from community members and in the case of the TomTom 130S you get Text to Speech.
The EasyPort mount looks like an interesting development replacing the push on/pull off mount that TomTom uses previously on the ONE and GO lines. (As an aside you have to wonder what's in store for the GO line on the next iteration if the EasyPort is successful). When folded the whole unit is only about an inch and a half thick, easily stowed and carried. When folded out, the suction cup is pushed to the windshield and with the turn of a bezel the unit sticks tight. I'll look forward to checking it out when I review it.
One other feature that is worth mentioning is the optional ability to add TMC Traffic to the ONE line which makes for a nicely expandable entry level product line.
At the same time TomTom is announcing the TomTom ONE XL 330 and 330S which are the widescreen versions in the launch.
The TomTom ONE 130 will list for $199 and the TomTom ONE 130S for $249.
The 4.3-inch widescreen versions, the TomTom ONE XL 330 will list for $249 and the TomTom ONE XL330 S for $299.
With the launch of the GO 730 and GO 930 this makes for a pretty well rounded line.
The TomTom ONE 130/130S is 6.1 ounces, has a 3 hour battery life and is 3.8"x3.2"x1.0".
Garmin StreetPilot C580 with MSN - Hot Buy at $224
Review: Garmin Colorado 400t Full Review
Garmin StreetPilot C580 with MSN - Hot Buy at $224
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