GPS reviews, news, tips and tricks
UPDATE: Read my hands on Geomate.jr review
With so many manufacturers undercutting the big boys on auto GPS, I should have seen this coming.
It appears that the Apisphere Geomate.jr will be officially launched come Monday, but REI has scooped the company by having it already available for sale on their website. Here’s what we know so far… read more
Looks like the Garmin Approach G5 may have some competition. Savant GPS has announced the OnPar GPS, which they claim is the "first hand held color touch screen GPS rangefinder," and with availability slated for next month, it does indeed look like they'll beat Garmin to market.
It looks quite attractive and perhaps even more robust than the Approach, but I have my doubts that they'll be able to match Garmin's skills when it comes to creating an intuitive interface. No word on price yet, but the screen is a wee bit bigger than that of the Garmin Approach (3.5" vs. 3").
UPDATE: Check out a new Garmin golf GPS in my Garmin Approach G5 review
The GolfLogix 2008
As you can see in the image above, the GolfLogix provides your distance to the front, center and back of the green. It also shows up to six hazards per hole, and identifies bunkers, water, lay-ups and carries.
Bushnell has announced two new handheld GPS receivers that can accommodate aerial photos and satellite imagery (and apparently USGS topo maps). This comes hot on the heels of Lowrance announcing their iWAY 600C
There are two models — the Onix200 and Onix200CR — the only apparent difference being that the CR has a color screen with higher resolution. Amazon says that the Bushnell Onix200
Bushnell is hyping a screen layering feature, but it appears to only layer a navigation compass on the screen, rather than allow you to blend topos and aerial imagery. I’m a little disappointed that you can’t layer topo maps and aerial photos, but another concern is cost.
At first glance this doesn’t look too bad — $1 per map or photo, 25 for $20 or an unlimited annual subscription for $79. Which begs the question, after a year do I own the imagery or do I have to download it again every time I want to change images?
And consider this quote: "The ONIX200 series unit will store up to 12 photography (satellite or aerial) downloads at one time. Choose images of the same land at different levels of zoom, or broaden your coverage area by storing photos of separate areas."
With only 32 MB of user memory, the Onix200 series will accept only 12 images. And from that quote, and the layout of the download site, I assume that each time you change zoom level, it’s a different image and therefore another map or photo you are charged for.
Sounds a bit limited to me. Maybe Garmin will bring this capability to CES.
GPS Tracklog is written by Rich Owings, author of GPS Mapping.
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