Garmin Nuvi 660 - Price around $697 at Amazon. See our review - Also check out the GPSNow site for what has been often a lower price, and Order by 5PM weekdays, you get same day cheap shipping.
Garmin Nuvi 670 - Need to travel to Europe and navigate when you get there? Garmin Nuvi 670 comes pre-loaded with both US and Euro maps. It's the very capable Nuvi 660 base unit with the extra maps pre-loaded.
V7/My Guide unveiled its Navigator 1000 GPS product last year and I recently got one in for review. The unit is targeted at the entry level market. The MyGuide V7 Navigator 1000 comes with many features, including a 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen, 320 x 240 resolution, touch-screen enabled, turn-by-turn voice instruction in 23 languages, SD card technology, expandable storage, picture viewer, MP3-audio and AVI-video capabilities. The unit carries a two-year warranty and includes mounting hardware. The unit uses an iGo software package that is similar to the Mio C310x (and other Mio products) so if you have seen or used those, you'll be in familiar territory. From my playing around with the unit, it is not EXACTLY like the Mio and their Mio Map branded interface, so I'll dig in and understand some of the key differences as I use the unit.
Mio Technology’s DigiWalker H610 personal navigation and digital entertainment device was recognized for its innovative design at the 3rd annual Bottom Line Design Awards, sponsored by leading strategic-creative consultancy frog design and Business 2.0 magazine. The awards are published in the April issue of Business 2.0 and not only celebrate products that feature great design, but also those that demonstrate versatility, elegance, an ability to increase their value by attracting attention, driving sales and nurturing long-term customer loyalty.
“This year’s awards are more than just visually appealing. They provide great business potential, their customization is smart and timely and in many cases, their impact on the environment is notable. We’re pleased to showcase and share these design winners with our readers,” said Business 2.0 Editor Josh Quittner.
So if you were wondering how to upgrade your new Garmin C530, to Text to Speech, look no further; note: Hacking required. For some of us, it might be a total nightmare, for others it might just be a dream come true to add a hidden capability by hacking a few lines of code, but here you go, directions on how to take a non-text-to-speech model like the C530 and adding the capability found at higher prices.
Geotagging your photos, or tagging them with location information, is set to get big as a few things are happening right now: 1) GPS adoption climbs and more people have a GPS to use and gather information, and 2) the cheap GPS chips find their way into more and more digital cameras. With the plummeting size and cost of GPS chips, I would be surprised if we don't see consumer digital cameras with GPS chips inside of the next 2 years.
Everytrail is one site that helps you combine your tracklog from a GPS and your digital photos to share them with friends. The site is free. The process of creating "Trips" s simple and adding photos to the site allows you to tell a story of your journey. I used the EveryTrail site recently to build up a trip detailing our Mt Washington journey last summer.
Tele Atlas announced the availability of Tele Atlas Connect, which provides digital map coverage for more than 140 countries. A complement to the company’s comprehensive MultiNet global digital map database, Tele Atlas Connect has already been selected by Nokia for the N95 multimedia device, which is the first product to leverage the data and help users initiate local searches all over the world.
After some stops and starts, Sony has launched a pair of GPS systems that look pretty nice with a great design presence. The NV-U82 and the NV-U92T are big widescreen units at a 4.8 inch diagonal with a huge point of view of what’s to come and where you are going. With all of that screen real estate, they can cram a lot on there, and have started to offer some extras that units with smaller screens can’t quite do without the extra real estate. The extra information may be a help or a distraction; can’t wait to try these out.
As previously disclosed, the new Sony models feature “gesture support” which allows the user to flick the screen in different ways to give commands of where to go. Just sketch a simple line or shape on screen with a fingertip and the NV-U82 and NV-U92T will guide you safely and surely to frequent destinations – like ‘home’ or the ‘nearest gas station’.
I have been driving around with the Via Michelin X-930 for a several weeks now and it’s about time I got back and wrote a review up on this entry-level device. The Via Michelin X-930 is in expensive but has some impressive characteristics for that low price.
" The Via Michelin X-930 is a decent first step in the US market, which I expect will not be their last."
While the SiRF star III chipset is fairly common in GPS units these days, the Via Michelin goes beyond this with a very thin profile and light device (4.8 x 2.8 x 0.7 inches and weighs in at about 4.9 ounces) that has a fit and finish that is pretty good. It’s got a 3.5-inch screen in a widescreen format. The design is straight forward, refined beyond its entry-level status, and it slips easily into your pocket.
After a couple of weeks behind the wheel, with the unit, I have to say that I never got lost, and the unit got me to where I was going with solid directions and good turn indications. The unit does not have text to speech capability, but few at this price point do.
INRIX announced the availability of INRIX Traffic for Windows Mobile devices. Wireless users can now gain instant access to real-time and predictive traffic conditions on their Windows Mobile devices in more than 60 U.S. metropolitan markets, with additional markets becoming available in the coming months. The application is available at handango.com with a free trial period. This is a big step as it will put predictive traffic capability in the hands of a lot of users who don't have a traffic enabled GPS (yet) at a reasonable cost.
Garmin announced new features and content for select mobile phones equipped with Garmin Mobile -- a subscription-based, feature-rich application delivering maps, directions and turn-by-turn navigation on mobile phones. The new services are available now at no additional cost to customers. They namely added hotel info and content to the Garmin Mobile Interface. Mobile Phone services or Location Based Services (LBS) are going to be big this year, and Garmin is doing their best to make sure that they, as leaders in the GPS world, are part of that upswing.
"Adding Garmin Mobile to cell phones transforms the phone into a high-end personal navigation device," said Charles Morse, Garmin's director of mobile and PND marketing. "Customers who have experienced Garmin Mobile know that it simplifies travel at home and afar. Plus, it's one of the most affordable ways to enjoy the benefits of GPS navigation with real-time traffic info, fuel prices, weather forecasts and hotel prices."
Tele Atlas announced the expansion of digital map coverage in South America, with increased coverage in Brazil. As part of its ongoing global expansion strategy, and in response to increased demand from global customers for highly detailed and accurate maps of all major countries, Tele Atlas’ maps in Brazil now reach more than 65 percent of the country’s population, with significant coverage focus on economic growth areas.
With this release, Tele Atlas is successfully bringing to market digital maps with a considerable increase in navigable city coverage, furthering the company’s lead position in the Brazil market. Maps for Brazil now feature detailed street-level map coverage for more than 1,000 municipalities, incorporating major and interconnecting roads, and include navigable data for more than 150 cities, such as Brasília, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and São Paulo. With the country’s rapidly expanding infrastructure and growing population, Tele Atlas considers Brazil a strategic region.
The Garmin Nuvi 200/250/270 has shown up to extend the Garmin line into the value end of the market just as this end of the market is exploding. Late last year, the holiday shopping spree on value GPS systems blew the doors off the retailers, and catapulted the GPS onto the mainstream stage.
"Garmin has a winner on their hands...solid through and through."
Garmin is too big and too smart to let an opportunity like that slip past. I have been using the Nuvi 250, and from my travels with it, Garmin has a winner on their hands and they will put a lot of pressure on the value end of the market to bring on their “A” game; a demand that a many won’t be up to. Garmin has brought to the market a true Garmin GPS, no big corners cut, no big misses in their design. I am pretty happy to be able to bring the first full review of the unit to you; so let's take a look.
Garmin Nuvi 660 - Price around $710 at Amazon. See our review - Also check out the GPSNow site for what has been often a lower price, and Order by 5PM weekdays, you get same day cheap shipping.
Garmin Nuvi 670 - Need to travel to Europe and navigate when you get there? Garmin Nuvi 670 comes pre-loaded with both US and Euro maps. It's the very capable Nuvi 660 base unit with the extra maps pre-loaded.
Garmin StreetPilot C340 – Think about moving up to the Garmin StreetPilot C530 whose price is down to $389. Won't speak street names, but Better chipset, and better screen for less money.
NAVTEQ announced the semifinalist applications in the 2007 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. There are a few interesting ideas in the navigation category that should be adopted by all mobile phone companies... like marking the locatin of your car so you can find it again easily, and parking spot finder services (although the implementatin could be a mess). The program is designed to encourage application developers around the world to build innovative location-based services (LBS) that work with mobile and wireless devices using dynamic positioning technology and NAVTEQ® maps. NAVTEQ selected 16 applications in the Americas region, out of over 340 companies registered for the LBS Challenge globally, to continue on to a final judging round at CTIA Wireless 2007 based on each competitor’s commercial feasibility, functionality and design.
Sprint customers soon will have the power of a new robust GPS-enabled navigation service included at no additional charge in select Sprint data packs. Sprint Navigation powered by TeleNav will give customers the power of a full-featured GPS navigation device right on select Sprint phones, and unlimited use of Sprint Navigation will be included in the new Sprint Power Vision(SM) Navigation Pack, along with two other existing data packs. In addition, Sprint customers who subscribe to other Sprint data packs will have access to Sprint Navigation for just $2.99 per day.
So if you know you already want the Garmin Nuvi 200, then you might be interested in getting some Nuvi Wallpaper for your computer. Check out the Garmin Nuvi 200 mini-site and click on wallpaper for a few different designs.
Yea, there's a catch, you have to get married in WalMart. Walmart is giving away a wedding package to seven couples who will walk down the WalMart aisle on 07/07/07, and receive a prize package worth more than $5,000 (Why didn't they make it worth $7,777?). Anyway, one of the items in the package is a Garmin Nuvi 350.
So think about it, you can either get married in a WalMart and get a free Nuvi 350, or you could plunk down the $399 and skip the "dream" package.
PC Mag has a new review out on the ultra portable LOOX N100 that joins the Mio Digiwalker H610 in the category, and if you don’t think this is real, there are some older rumors that TomTom is also taking a look at the segment. With that said, I thought that the Mio H610 was a solid little device when I reviewed the H610 late last year, and that the idea of an ultra portable GPS multifunction device is an appealing idea for those who need to be on the move.
Craig Ellison of PC Mag points out that there are some novel functions on the LOOX N100 that make navigation a different experience. This includes road signs, speed limit signs, lane information and branded POI icons, which I have to think is a sign of things to come. As more and more companies start to recognize the shear reach of a GPS platform, they will start to push their brands into the devices recognizing the power to pull in customers. TeleAtlas recently announced a program to allow companies to insert their locations and one would think eventually their branded icons into the map database.
While PC Mag doesn’t call it a true winner, but the LOOX N100 has some definite appeal.
DeLorme, the company that pioneered GPS for laptops and PDAs, has now introduced the Earthmate GPS BT-20, a uniquely versatile solution for deploying GPS navigation on either Bluetooth-enabled PDAs and touch-screen phones, and on USB laptop PCs.
“The Earthmate GPS BT-20 provides the broadest spectrum of hardware-GPS compatibility on the market,” said DeLorme Marketing Director Caleb Mason. “It supports both Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices, and laptop PCs with or without Bluetooth. Even if you have a Bluetooth-enabled laptop, there are still going to be times when you’d prefer a USB connection. The Earthmate GPS BT-20 gives you that flexibility.”
I love the recent price cut on the TomTom ONE that lowered the price to below $300, well how about a free TomTom ONE. TomTom generously donated a TomTom ONE as a give away for a contest running over at the TomTomForums (unaffiliated with the TomTom company). So go on over to the forums and check them out to see what the rules are to get a free TomTom ONE.
Garmin has been selected as the exclusive supplier of compact navigation devices to Honda Access Europe N.V. The customized units (a derivative of a Nuvi 360) will be available for six different Honda models of vehicle including the Civic (3 door and 5 door), Accord Sedan, Accord Tourer and CR-V.
The unit is a custom product with features that are specifically designed to complement Honda vehicles. It contains a preloaded Honda database so drivers can always find their nearest dealership and has a custom dash board attachment with an integrated power supply. There is a unique mount for each vehicle dash board, which means no visible wiring and when the navigation device is removed, a matching cap discretely hides the mount.
Just thought I would point out how fast people can jump on a well priced solid GPS. The Garmin Nuvi 350 that was dropped $50 to $399 at Amazon this past week is now the #2 seller in electronics, right behind an $11 USB drive. That's pretty impressive.
If you doubted the demand for GPS units at all, you’d have to look at this and think that we’re sitting on a gusher here.
Should be interesting to see what happens when the Nuvi 200/250/270 line goes on sale later this year.
The new iGo navigation software is being shown off as promised, and some pictures and video have surfaced out of the CeBit show. Pocket GPS World is showing the iGo software that runs the Mio line of GPS devices, which is why it is interesting to see that the video taken shows the new 3-D routing with 3-D buildings being shown on the Mio H610. I am not blown away yet with the capability as shown, but it has hints of a really different navigational experience to come.
The H610 has a beautiful graphics capability that I enjoyed when I reviewed it, so it's not a surprise to see them using the unit to show off their new software. I also would imagine that this is another hint that the newest iGo capabilities will be on the Mio systems soon.
Update: (I'll include the link this time....) More at Pocket GPS World
DigiTimes is reporting that Mio has set a goal of shipping 1.6 million GPS units into Europe in 2007, achieving an 11% share of the market. That's a pretty aggressive goal, considering that TomTom has 50+% of the market and Garmin is below 20% share of the market.
Mio has announced the newest line including the C320, C520 and C520t at CeBit. This would all springboard off the popular C310x for the US, and the current C220, C510E and C710 in Europe.
The best deal of the week has to be the Lowrance 250C for $177, with an additional $10 off if you use Google Checkout. The Lowrance 250C looks like a decent entry level GPS. Haven't used it myself, but PCMag reviewed it.
Garmin Forerunner Rebate - $50 back on a Forerunner 205 or 305, which drops the prices down significantly.
Other GPS's. Here’s a quick rundown:
Garmin Nuvi 660 - Price around $710 at Amazon. See our review - Also check out the GPSNow site for what has been often a lower price, and Order by 5PM weekdays, you get same day cheap shipping.
Garmin Nuvi 670 - Need to travel to Europe and navigate when you get there? Garmin Nuvi 670 comes pre-loaded with both US and Euro maps. It's the very capable Nuvi 660 base unit with the extra maps pre-loaded.
Garmin StreetPilot C340 – Think about moving up to the Garmin StreetPilot C530 whose price is down to $389. Won't speak street names, but Better chipset, and better screen for less money.
Well, the Garmin Nuvi 250 was officially announced yesterday, and I am happy to say that we have a new Nuvi 250 at the GPS Lodge for review. The Nuvi 250 is a very stylish and attractive unit, that has some classic lines making it new, but distinctively a Nuvi. It's amazingly small and has a bit of that uncontrollable appeal that comes with holding an iPod for the first time. You roll it around in your hands a few times, put it down and then pick it up and do it again. It appears above next to a Garmin C340, which is part of the older C-series that the Nuvi 200 series is thought to be replacing.
The Nuvi 200 series will be differentiated by their map content. The Nuvi 200 will have the continental US, the Nuvi 250, will have North America (all US+Canada+Puerto Rico), while the Nuvi 270 will follow in the footsteps of its big brothers, the Nuvi 370 and Nuvi 670 to add North American AND Euro maps pre-loaded.
The Nuvi 250 has a 3.5 inch touchscreen and comes with NAVTEQ maps/POI's weighing in with over 6 million POI locations.
Magellan Maestro 4000, 4040 and 4050 Available for Pre-order
Magellan recently announced the introduction of the Maestro series of three new portable vehicle navigation devices. The new Magellan Maestro 4000, Maestro 4040 and Maestro 4050 are now available for pre-order at Amazon.
The Maestro 4050 offers voice input as well as the widescreen that comes on each of the Maestro navigation systems.
The Garmin Nuvi 200 series was officially announced after being leaked a few days ahead of time. Included here are some information and links about the newest Nuvi to the line-up.
NAVTEQ announced the availability of a new suite of Visual Content designed to enhance the digital map experience by providing relevant visual context for users of location-based and navigation applications. Two types of content are being launched: three-dimensional models of major cities and three-dimensional landmarks of prominent and important structures in and around those cities. That should make navigation a very different experience. I would imagine that this will add a burden to the GPS unit in terms of storage space and video display capabilities. If you thought 3-D capabilities were good now, I can’t wait for this. Hummm, so who uses NAVTEQ predominantly? Garmin and Magellan.... If this is as good as NAVTEQ says it is and can be implemented quickly, expect a GPS with this capability before the holidays, if not straight forward, look for it at CES or CeBit in 2008.
Navigon has announced the Navigaon 5100 and 7100 GPS navigation systems at CeBit, and while I have run into some devices with Navigon software that I didn’t like, they have a new interface that looks fantastic and offers what they call “Reality View”. This innovative approach sets you in the driver’s seat and it shows the road laid out ahead of you on the GPS receiver, with signs overhead, and a directional arrow that shows you where to go.
The Navigon 7100 has a 4.3 inch widescreen, while the Navigon 5100 has a normal aspect ratio 3.5 inch screen. The designs are fresh and sleek looking with a Samsung 400 Mhz processor and some serious features to keep you going: Speed assistant, lane Assistant, Voice input, and a log book. The 7100 will come with TMC capability, and it is Bluetooth compatible.
Prices are about 450 – 500 Euros for the Navigon 7100 and 350 – 400 Euros for the Navigon 5100 depending on the maps that are loaded (regional or pan-Euro).
GPS Steals and Deals - 3/30
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