September 30, 2005
GPS Lodge Monthly Round-up for September 2005
This was another fun month here at the GPS Lodge, as we were able to bring you a lot of GPS News this month. Most recently you may have seen us referenced on Gizmodo where they picked up our exciting announcement on the new Magellan RoadMate 800. If this is your first trip to the GPS Lodge, welcome. Check us out, we have a lot of GPS information and GPS reviews on receivers and devices. While you are here, check out some of the other sites at the Blogpire.
We also covered Magellan's announcement of their new RoadMate 360, adding features to the low end of the automotive market. We also reviewed the Magellan eXplorist 600 this month - Magellan's high end handheld.
In news from the other biggie in the industry here in the US, Garmin announced the new Garmin Nuvi, a personal navigation handheld device geared for travelers - complete with translation capabilities. Garmin kept up a fast pace on GPS releases, with the new Garmin StreetPilot i5 - a great little inexpensive automotive GPS. Wonder how Garmin can keep up the fast pace of new introductions? Check out our article on Garmin's HUGE increase in R&D spending. In cleaning up some older business, we reviewed the tried but true Garmin V GPS; is it a handheld? Is it an Automotive GPS model? It's both!
In other news, AOL's MapQuest announced that they will start selling a MapQuest branded TomTom model. In case an automotive GPS is too big, you can carry along a key chain GPS from Navicom or the GPS watch from Suunto. Finally there's some interesting news coming out on the Navman PIN 570.
September 30, 2005
September 29, 2005
Magellan RoadMate 800 Announced
The latest in the RoadMate series has been announced (not officially - more later) upping the ante on the hot automotive GPS market. The Magellan RoadMate 800 adds a couple of extended features on top of the popular RoadMate 760 released earlier this year, namely a build in MP3 player and a photo viewer. Magellan calls it a "multimedia marvel." This release comes on the heels of the new Automotive GPS, the Magellan RoadMate 360 which was announced September 14, 2005 (see article).
Update March 24, 2006 -
Looking for the new Magellan RoadMate 860T - Click Here
Looking for the new Magellan RoadMate 3000T - Click Here
Anyway, much like it's little brother the Magellan RoadMate 760
(see review), the feature set on the GPS side of the RoadMate 800 is plush and rock solid.
Continue reading: "Magellan RoadMate 800 Announced"
September 29, 2005
Garmin units to be on Honda Gold Wing Motorcycles
Honda has selected Garmin to be part of their tier one parts providers for GPS units to be sold on their Gold Wing motorcycles.
Known as the Honda Satellite Linked Navigation System, it provides complete North American mapping with nearly six million points of interest - places like hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and Honda Motorcycle dealerships and service centers - displayed on a large seven-inch integrated display.
Continue reading: "Garmin units to be on Honda Gold Wing Motorcycles"
September 29, 2005
September 28, 2005
AOL's MapQuest in deal with TomTom- The MapQuest PND
UPDATE: We have received pictures from MapQuest and here it is the MapQuest branded Personal Navigation Device (PND). Not bad; like we thought, looks like a TomTom GO 300. Good for them, happy to have more people driving the use of GPS to the masses. TomTom is under represented in the US market despite their high quality GPS devices and interfaces. Maybe this will give them some help and on the back of AOL/MapQuest, they'll do well.
Sept 27th - TomTom, (makers of the TomTom GO300, GO700, TomTom Rider, and the NAVIGATOR 5 - a BlueTooth GPS module) announced today that they are working with AOL's MapQuest to launch an automobile unit - branded the MapQuest Personal Navigation Device (PND).
From the information here, it sounds like a re-branded and customized TomTom GO 300, pictured to the right - second pic.
"The MapQuest Personal Navigation Device represents the most natural and significant extension of our brand to date, as we move beyond the PC and take navigation into the car making it simple for drivers to reach their desired destination and change course, if needed," said Austin Klahn, Chief Technology Officer, MapQuest, Inc. "We selected TomTom, a global leader in developing personal navigation solutions, as we believe they offer the latest technology and the best consumer experience in personal navigation devices in the marketplace today."
Continue reading: "AOL's MapQuest in deal with TomTom- The MapQuest PND"
September 27, 2005
AOL's MapQuest in deal with TomTom- The MapQuest PND
TomTom, (makers of the TomTom GO300, GO700, TomTom Rider, and the NAVIGATOR 5 - a BlueTooth GPS module) announced today that they are working with AOL's MapQuest to launch an automobile unit - branded the MapQuest Personal Navigation Device (PND).
From the information here, it sounds like a re-branded and customized TomTom GO 300, pictured to the right.
"The MapQuest Personal Navigation Device represents the most natural and significant extension of our brand to date, as we move beyond the PC and take navigation into the car making it simple for drivers to reach their desired destination and change course, if needed," said Austin Klahn, Chief Technology Officer, MapQuest, Inc. "We selected TomTom, a global leader in developing personal navigation solutions, as we believe they offer the latest technology and the best consumer experience in personal navigation devices in the marketplace today."
Continue reading: "AOL's MapQuest in deal with TomTom- The MapQuest PND"
September 26, 2005
September 24, 2005
September 23, 2005
September 20, 2005
Huge increase in Garmin R&D spending pays off
Here's a quick bit that I came across today and thought that I would pass along......
Readers of the GPS Lodge know that Garmin has been introducing new GPS devices by the truckload since July..... the Garmin StreetPilots (i2, i3, i5, c340, 2720), the innovative Garmin nuvi, the bicyclist targeted Garmin Edge, the new FRS based RINO 520 and 530, the Garmin Mobile phone service, the Jeep Wrangler only Trail Guide, the iQue M3, the Garmin GPSMap 376c and the Quest 2 receiver... whew! Are there more, our sources say that there are. Ever wonder what's changed? A huge increase in R&D spending is what's changed. In 2003 R&D spending was a fraction of what it was the following year....
Continue reading: "Huge increase in Garmin R&D spending pays off"
TomTom now available at BestBuy in US
TomTom and BestBuy announced today that TomTom GO models 300 and 700 will be available through all 694 BestBuy locations nationally this month.
"The market potential for personal navigation devices is tremendous; through this relationship, Best Buy will broaden TomTom's reach and bring the TomTom GO line to drivers nationwide," said Jocelyn Vigreux, President of TomTom USA. "This only reinforces that consumers want personal navigation in their lives."
Continue reading: "TomTom now available at BestBuy in US"
September 19, 2005
Suunto X9i GPS Watch
Just when you thought things couldn't get smaller, the Suunto x9i watch brings GPS to your wrist. The Suunto x9i is not much bigger than other watches, but comes packed with a GPS receiver that allows you to plug into a computer and download your trips. Some features include black or tan colors, an altimeter, barometer, 3D compass, chronograph and comprehensive GPS unit accurate to three feet. Did I mention it's compatible with National Geographic TOPO!
Continue reading: "Suunto X9i GPS Watch"
New Garmin StreetPilot i5 - building on the entry level of the Automotive segment
Garmin today announced the Garmin StreetPilot i5 GPS Navigator, it is pre-loaded with detailed maps of North America which includes the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It features three buttons on the face of the unit: on/off button, "back" button, and a unique and convenient click-to-enter scroll wheel -- which makes it easy to select a destination from the unit's menu-driven interface.
See our coverage of the Garmin StreetPilot i2 and i3 launch announcement.
See our related article on a StreetPilot i3 gps review.
See our own GPS Review of the StreetPilot i5's sibling the StreetPilot i3: Garmin StreetPilot i3 Review at the GPS Lodge
Continue reading: "New Garmin StreetPilot i5 - building on the entry level of the Automotive segment"
Mounts for Garmin StreetPilot 2720
A lot of readers have been asking about alternative mounts for their new Garmin StreetPilot 2720. For one reason or another the factory mount isn't suitable for their needs. The folks over at eMounts have confirmed that these mounts will fit the 2700 series products. So if you need a windshield mount, a c-clamp bar type mount, a cup holder mount, or a crazy floor mounted bendable stand, you can find them there.
September 17, 2005
GPS Review: Dual XNAV3500P Portable GPS Navigation System
Well, it'srefreshing to see that people can be honest in their reviews; here's some information on a GPS that you should stay away from. Here we have some words from a straight forward review that ranks the Dual XNAV3500P as Poor: "What really differentiates navigation systems is the quality of the user interface and routing algorithms. Unfortunately, the XNAV3500P from Dual Electronics misses the mark on both."
At a street price of $999, this thing isn't cheap, and for that money you could get one of the biggies with better features and proven track records.
Continue reading: "GPS Review: Dual XNAV3500P Portable GPS Navigation System"
September 16, 2005
Amazon Claims Lowest GPS Prices of the Season
Another Amazon Sale
Limited-Time Savings - Take advantage of the lowest prices of the season on popular electronics offered by Amazon.com. For a limited time, prices have been lowered on select GPS, including the Magellan 760 and the Garmin 2610. Hurry--special pricing ends September 26.
Here are a few of the hot models to check out the prices:
Magellan RoadMate 760
Magellan RoadMate 700
Garmin Forerunner 201
Garmin Forerunner 301
Garmin eTrex Legend
Garmin StreetPilot 2610
Magellan eXplorist 600
September 15, 2005
Update: New Magellan RoadMate 360 Press Release
Update: Magellan has posted their press release at their site... a few days after the news hit the web and GPS Lodge. Huh?
ReadMore
Our Original story follows....
Not to be outdone, Magellan has announced the new Magellan RoadMate 360 , a continuation on their popular RoadMate line. The RoadMate 360 has picked up on some key needs of the lower end of the market and added onboard maps for a device ready out of the box to navigate. It also has a full color touchscreen and a full set of advanced navigation features at a price point that comes in lower than the high end RoadMate 700 series.
Continue reading: "Update: New Magellan RoadMate 360 Press Release"
September 14, 2005
GPS News: New Magellan RoadMate 360
Not to be outdone, Magellan has announced the new Magellan RoadMate 360 , a continuation on their popular RoadMate line. The RoadMate 360 has picked up on some key needs of the lower end of the market and added onboard maps for a device ready out of the box to navigate. It also has a full color touchscreen and a full set of advanced navigation features at a price point that comes in lower than the high end RoadMate 700 series.
Continue reading: "GPS News: New Magellan RoadMate 360"
September 13, 2005
September 10, 2005
September 9, 2005
Update: Garmin Mobile
Sept 9th - More info available from the Gamrin Press Release and the hometown favorite newspaper for Garmin (Olathe Kansas, USA) from the Kansas City Star.
"Garmin Mobile exposes an entirely new group of consumers to turn-by-turn satellite navigation," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "We are thrilled that Sprint Nextel, an industry leader in voice and data communications, has chosen Garmin to provide these exciting new applications and location-based services to their customers."
Continue reading: "Update: Garmin Mobile"
September 8, 2005
GPS News: Navman iCN320 Flash Based GPS
Navman has launched their Euro version of the iCN320 at the Frankfurt Auto show. This continues the new product flow out of Navman recently. The Flash based (SD/MMC card) GPS navigator has a 2.83 inch LCD screen and comes pre-loaded with street level maps of the UK and Ireland.
Other features include the ability to search for town, postcode, street, junction, house number or point of interest (POI).
The iCN320 is expected to retail for under 300Pounds in the UK (Roughly $580 USD).
Continue reading: "GPS News: Navman iCN320 Flash Based GPS"
September 6, 2005
September 3, 2005
GPS News: Blaupunkt Automotive GPS
This is Blaupunkt's first portable car GPS unit, and it also happens to be the first ever portable GPS that plays music, photos and can pipe voice directions over your car speakers.
The Blaupunkt Lucca will come in two versions, a 370Pounds that adhere's to the windshield and a 430Pounds Smart Cradle edition that - needs to be installed by a pro. The upgrade to the cradle based system seems like a worthwhile step because it allows the unit to pipe the voice directions and the MP3/WMA tunes over your stereo speakers.
Continue reading: "GPS News: Blaupunkt Automotive GPS"
GPS News: Hey you wanna Play? Gizmondo - GPS based gaming
Gizmondo is rolling out a new handheld player that uses GPS (SiRF Xtrac) to provide locatoin based gaming. GPS is not the only feature of this gaming platform, as the list is long and looks pretty good. It's got a camera, a Music Player, a Movie Player, Messaging, a GPS, GPRS connections for head to head playing, and Bluetooth. Whew! That's a lot of stuff. The Sony PSP looks like it is in the sights of the Gizmondo, as the Sony comes closest to the feature set of the Gizmondo, but the PSP does not have a GPS receiver. Hang on, because with the advent of low cost, small and highly accurate GPS components like SiRF is rolling out, is there any end to where the GPS location based activities will end? It's not just for geocaching anymore folks...
Continue reading: "GPS News: Hey you wanna Play? Gizmondo - GPS based gaming"
September 2, 2005
GPS News: Navman iCN320 and iCN 550
The French site Mobinaute, has interesting and exclusive news about the iCN 320 (330 euros) and the iCN 550 (799 Euros, 899 Euros with Traffic Feed), the new PIMs from Navman.
The gadgets will be released in Europe in the coming weeks as well as the US.
Continue reading: "GPS News: Navman iCN320 and iCN 550"
The Best of the Blogpire
It's September and Summer is slowly wrapping up around the Blogpire. The students are back in Boston and causing traffic madness wherever you go, the nights are a bit cooler, but we all know we've got a few weeks left of some really nice late Summer weather and some great late Summer blogging.
Single Serve Coffee has news of the Keurig Elite B40 & Special Edition B60 Available at Keurig.com and their Single Serve Coffee.com Monthly Round Up for August 2005
Just The Chips looks at Phil Gordon's Little Green Poker Book and the PSP World Series of Poker
Kitchen Contraptions reviewed the simplehuman Wall Mount Paper Towel Holder and also has a great Monthly Round Up for August 2005
Shaving Stuff found Hitachi's +10 Razor of Goodness and also has a terrific August Wrap-Up
What's All the Racquet found The Coolest Tennis Gear in Forbes Magazine and 5 New Racquets from Dunlop, Head, Prince, Wilson & Yonex
TV Snob has been watching Photonic Textiles on their pillows and has great Roundup for August 2005
Shirt Snob continues to find Great deals at Max Studio and has their round up for August
GPS Lodge find a bunch of new reviews: GPS Review: Garmin V and an UPDATE: Geocaching.com Contest Details for September plus their Monthly Round-up for August 2005
And The Cooking News finds out that Hurricane Katrina May Affect Coffee Prices and some very cool cooking tips that Asian flavors add to recipes
September 1, 2005
Magellan just announced a $50 mail-in rebate on the eXplorist 
Inrix announced today at CTIA Wireless 2005 that it has partnered with Tele Atlas, a leading provider of digital geographic content, to deliver Inrix Traffic Services to Tele Atlas partners and customers through a reseller agreement. As part of the agreement, Tele Atlas will also provide Inrix with the rights to resell and internally use Tele Atlas map data with Inrix's services.
This latest GPS tracking device from Navicom is small enough to be placed on a keychain, but features a full set of GPS functionality. The C-TRAC GPS Personal Tracker has unlimited GPS tracking/locating, an E911 emergency feature, and even a push-button concierge service akin to GM's OnStar - working through the cellular network. Since its E911 functions work through a cellular network, don't expect help to come running when you hit the call button from 100 miles away deep in the back woods. Other features include a two-way speaker phone, programmable buttons for one-touch dialing, a USB port, and 256k flash memory. 
Navman's got a new PiN device out, the Pocket PC based 570. It looks a lot like the Garmin iQue, and the PiN 570 features Navman's SmartST 2005 software, a 2.5-inch 65k color QVGA touchscreen, a 266MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, SDIO slot, and no Windows Mobile 5.0. 
Stumbled across this post and thought I would pass it along. The post offers an easy way to tag photos with GPS/Lat Longitude coordinates and see on a map or google earth where you took them. With the advent of cheaper, smaller and more efficient GPS modules, we should start seeing the convergence of GPS receivers and other electronics like digital cameras. For now, you have a work around.
Most of us don't have to worry about cruising around in our cars or walking around the woods with a GPS and whether or not that's going to cause any privacy issues. How about when you grab a rental car with a nice GPS navigator in it for your use? It's there for your convenience, right? Ever stop to think about it being used against you? You may recall a case in Connecticut where a a rental car company used the onboard GPS tracking system to fine the renter for going over the speed limit. 
The folks over at BusinessWeek online took a look at several of the Automotive GPS recivers oon the market and came down with some decent observations that we thought we would bring along to you. Most of us are aware of the player in the market, especially the ones that have come out recently; 
Cobra announed that they are launching the 
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