Don't know if you've noticed, but I have, prices are way down on GPS units over the past year. But of course they are, right? We are coming out of a recession. In an article from teh WSJ today, they cited the prices of GPS units a year ago and now, indicating that the average selling price dropped from $242 to $189 from August of 2008 vs. August 2009.
To me, that signals a good holiday season if you want to go shopping for a GPS. While the average is still fairly high, I see a lot of great units below that average number, and expect that you can get an excellent widescreen device to the mid-100's and a standard screen entry level device for around $100, not on sale, and well below $100 for deep discounts like on Black Friday.
From the crazy gag hopper comes this one; a gag GPS that makes wise cracks as you drive down the road. Motion activated, the unit will spew a few annoying phrases your way to make that drive all the more pleasurable. The G-rated mode passes for even grandma, but the R-rated mode isn't for little kids.
Thought I would pass this along - Do it Yourself street level cameras for taking those images just like Google did for their street views. The rig has eight webcams, a route and a GPS all tied into his laptop. Apparently the pictures snapped are pretty good even at 60 MPH. I assume that's in plenty of light. So just in case you wanted to set up your own competitor to Google Maps and drive most major cities, you're all set. Personally, it seems like a great project to just see if you can do it.
Garmin has a version 3.0 software upgrade out that adds a few nice features to the capabilities of the Colorado series. I have the Colorado 400t, and welcome a couple of the additions:
Added Waypoint Averaging application. (For more information visit our new Trail Tech website)
Added ability to load maps from any img file in the Garmin directory
Added ability to see a list of points from the map when several points are at the same location
Added customizable text to unit power-on screen (see \Garmin\startup.txt)
I particularly like the waypoint averaging, where you are able to let the Colorado sit at a location (i.e. a Geocache that you are placing, or a particular trail waypoint), and let the Colorado average readings over time to get a more accurate assessment of the true location. With the advancement in the sensitivity of chipsets, some argue that this isn't needed, but I will take the capability and the added accuracy anytime, especially in dense tree cover or other challenging locations.
Filed under not nearly as awesome as a GPS with a screen is this GPS watch that shows you the way back home or to your car with little LED indicators. When you get out of your car, you can press and hold a button for 2 seconds to log your target's location and then when you need to find your way back, you can utilize the directional LED's to find your way there. When you are ready, you can also log your trek on your computer and see the trek on Google Maps. With a battery life of 21 hours, you'll be charging yet another appliance every night.
According to a recent NPD study, in-dash Navigation is up 36% while portable navigation is only up 4%; the evolution continues. What's driving it? Cost is one factor, average selling price is down to $700 for the after market in-dash models, still much lower than the factory installed models. So while the in-dash models are starting at a really low base point, they may be a more viable format in the future. Another amazing stat from NPD is that 84% of all portable GPS sales were below $200 in June. Not a big surprise that the number is high, I am just amazed that the number is THAT high. This is not good news for new launches targeting only 16% of the market with higher end connected devices like the TomTom 740 LIVE and the Garmin Nuvi 1690.
I love the Tour de France and all of the drama that came this year with the layout of the overall stages to end the race on Ventoux. Obviously a big win for Contador, and one heck of a comeback for Lance, apparently sending TV ratings around the world through the roof. Pretty impressive to come back after four years and finish on the podium, beating some of the best riders in the world. If you missed Ventoux, you missed some unbelievable riding by the #2 finisher overall, Andy Schleck.
Team Garmin came back in their sophomore year and really stood out in my mind to come in second for the Team standings, with Brad Wiggins coming in fourth overall, and young sprinter Tyler Farrar on the podium today just missing the last sprint for first place.
If you like Team Garmin, you should have been following Jake on Twitter; he was there for the first six stages, and again the last few days of the Tour, offering up some great pictures, (Note the Garmin Edge on the handlebars of Brad Wiggins) and some fun commentary too. Sure Jake is an employee of Garmin, but it's easy to tell he's a fan too.
TomTom Survey Reveals Interesting Facts about Drivers
TomTom conducted a survey to discover some driving habits of a few major cities around the country, discovering that there are certainly some fun differences out there. The survey figured out that the following cities divide out as:
There are also some fun questions about who uses their horn the most - Boston, who sticks to the speed limit the most - Minneapolis, and who claims to pick their nose the most....... you can find the answer after the jump.
Well, it's been a busy week this first full week in July. Personally, I have been on vacation, in the land of the GPS Store - a great week at the beach. Having time off during the first week of the Tour de France was great to see developments unfold as Lance returns in what appears to be full form, and watching Jake's Twitter feed (Garmin Outdoor PR Manager) tell the behind the scenes tales of a tour junkie (Did you know Jimmy Buffett is a Tour Fan and a Garmin user?). Team Garmin Slipstream, is doing well as is Lance's team; Astana. Should be an exciting Alps set of stages next week. If you are following us on Twitter, you'd know all of this already; if not go ahead and follow GPSLodge on Twitter.
Mobile GPS applications are all the rage right now, as big names are pushing into the iPhone and G1 space. TeleNav, TomTom and Navigon are all going into the iPhone space, while Trimble announced an Outdoors application for the G1.
When people hike into the woods for a day hike, sometimes the choice is not as critical, but when you are hiking, let's say into the White Mountains, or any back country area, you need to be able to rely on your navigation tools. I always carry a couple of sets of extra batteries to back up what I think I will need for my expected trip, and a paper map just in case. It's a system that hasn't failed me yet.
The AMC did a little run-off on the Map and Compass vs. the GPS in a nice little head to head exercise that helps set the stage for why you might want to bring both, while also pointing out the obvious: the GPS is a nice step forward in technology.
I will say that before you get a new GPS and carry it into the wilderness, you need to take the time to rely on it's capabilities and learn to use them to locate where you are, where you want to go and how to get there as fast as possible. There's a big difference between having a GPS, so that you know where you are versus having a GPS and being able to navigate with it.
Here's a contest that can earn you some bragging rites or at least a few grand from MapMyRide.com, the program that allows you to map and upload bike routes to share them with the greater biking community. The site has really grown up since I first saw it with lots of integration of services, capabilities and features. The basic idea is that it is a great community of other riders where you can share rides, routes and tips. They have also wrapped training programs and training goals around the offering to make it a pretty compelling site. There is a free and premium version.
Check out Map My Ride and look into how you can Map Your Ride, and ride the virtual tour this year; maybe even win some prizes. Who knows, maybe Phil Liggett will be announcing you winning the virtual tour at the end of the contest.
NAVTEQ is talking about a future with more pedestrian based navigation, driven by their Discover Cities mapping work. The effort is delivering more data to hardware and service providers that enable the on foot navigation where there is not supposed to be traffic, or where subway or bus travel is involved. The idea that navigation help makes the jump to foot traffic is not a giant leap, but I am not sure how it will make that jump. The question if people actually be more likely to use this capability if it is through an over the air service to their mobile phone or through an add-on to their GPS navigation device like a Nuvi remains to be answered.
"The growing number of commercially available devices and applications reinforces the trend that pedestrian navigation is becoming mainstream," said Jeff Mize, executive vice president, global sales, NAVTEQ. "We are pleased that the high-quality data from NAVTEQ Discover Cities will enable our customers to provide consumers with accurate orientation and guidance to further enhance the pedestrian experience."
Cobra is launching a new Red Light Camera locator into the market to pump up their "Aura" database of red light cameras, offering a non-navigation GPS-based solution to being alerted to the threats of red light cameras, speed cameras and enforcement areas. The unit comes equipped with a database of "threat" areas pre-loaded and it simply plugs into your computer to update the database when ever you want. The database is 100% verified for accuracy, and available anytime. No word on the going cost after the 1-year trial subscription runs out.
The toy-like device will light up when you are approaching a danger zone to warn you of your imminent "photo-op". Cost is $99 and comes with a 1-year trial subscription.
GPS Tour of The Wall in Berlin
Continue reading: 
Mailing List
Subscribe - RSS
