GPS reviews, news, tips and tricks
Um, I’d call this a slow news week. I’d say that next week will get better with Outdoor Retailer, but I’m not expecting to hear much new. Anyway, in case you just stumbled across this, Waypoints is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends. To get many of these stories as they break, follow me on Twitter.
Most auto GPS units give you several ways to set your home address, as you can see in the image above. But a couple of problems can result from these methods. Addresses are generally interpolated – if your address is 167, your GPS probably estimates that to be 2/3 of the way down the block on a given side of the street. (My home address is 12, but I know from experience that 64 works better for most units.) And with houses in subdivisions being built almost on top of each other, using your current location can result in you being directed down a nearby street, and not the one that your driveway connects to!
Waypoints is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends. To get many of these stories as they break, follow me on Twitter.
UPDATE: Read my hands on review of the Garmin GPSMAP 62s
Well, the Garmin 62 series has started hitting online stores, and we already know a lot about it, since it’s based on the same platform as the GPSMAP 78 series. So I thought I’d go ahead and take a stab at answering what is bound to be a common question over the next few months; should you get a GPSMAP 62s or the Oregon 450? Here’s my take on the advantages of each: read more
UPDATE: A new model, the Garmin nuvi 3490LMT, has superseded this one (despite the lower model number!).
The Garmin nüvi 3790T
Waypoints is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends. To get many of these stories as they break, follow me on Twitter.
UPDATE: The 62, 62s and 62st are all now available from REI.com.
UPDATE 2: GPS City now has all three models in stock…
UPDATE 3: Check out my hands on review of the Garmin GPSMAP 62s.
UPDATE 4: I’ve also got pages up for the GPSMAP 62 and GPSMAP 62st.
At least one vendor has a couple of the much anticipated Garmin GPSMAP 62 models in stock. Hit the links below to grab one of these bad boys:
Garmin seems to be getting good at these stealth introductions. This time it’s the Garmin nüvi 1410 for Israel
UPDATE 2: Read my hands on review of the Magellan eXplorist 710.
UPDATE: Here’s some screenshots and a discussion of capabilities and accepted map formats.
As expected following the success of the Magellan eXplorist GC, the company today announced several new additions to their updated handheld platform: the Magellan eXplorist 510, 610 and 710.
When the Oregon 450 came out, I was surprised that the visibility was significantly better than the flagship (albeit older) 550 series. I found that odd, and it now appears that Garmin is remedying the situation, with newer Oregon 550 series production runs receiving the 450’s improved screen. At least that’s the sense I’ve been getting, the latest evidence coming in a recent Groundspeak post.
I gave Garmin the opportunity to comment, but received little more than what they told me when I asked about the improved 450 screen…
…we’re continually striving to make great products even better through continuous software and hardware improvements.
I’ll take that as a non-denial. I assume Garmin is doing this because they want to retain the 550 series as the top of the line Oregon model (for the time being anyway). But such a move creates confusion among consumers. If I buy a 550 today, which screen will it have? At least when they changed the chipset on the 60CSx, you could tell which it had by the firmware version. This could be good news if you really want the geotagging camera found on the 550 series, but good luck determining which screen you got, unless you can do a side by side comparison with a 450 or older 550 series unit.
GPS Tracklog is written by Rich Owings, author of GPS Mapping.
) 
) 
Recent comments