Archives for May 2007

New Garmin eTrex models officially announced

May 31, 2007 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Etrex_vista_hcx_2 UPDATE: Read our eTrex H-series reviews:

Last week I reported on rumors of a new Garmin eTrex lineup with a high-sensitivity chipset. Today it’s official — Garmin has announced, and put up product pages for the following units:

eTrex H – Monochrome display, MSRP $99.99
eTrex Venture HC – Color display, MSRP $199.99
eTrex Summit HC – Color display, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, MSRP $249.99
eTrex Legend HCx – Color display, expandable memory, MSRP $269.99
eTrex Vista HCx – Color display, expandable memory, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, MSRP $299.99

It’s nice to see features previously limited to the 60 and 76 x-series in a compact unit. I’ve included the manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) above as we’re also seeing a price drop compared to some past eTrex models and units with comparable features.

All models are capable of accepting detailed maps except for the basic eTrex H. The Summit HC and Venture HC map capacity is limited, due to their 24MB of internal memory. The Legend HCx and Vista HCx offer autorouting.

The new eTrex line is expected to be available in the third quarter of this year.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Garmin opens up

May 29, 2007 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

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Garmin has published an API and taken several steps to open Garmin devices to third-party generated content.

The Garmin Communicator Plugin API beta "allows developers to transfer location data – such as waypoints, track logs, maps and points of interest (POIs) – to and from a website and Garmin device." I find it especially interesting that maps are included in that statement. Perhaps we’ll start seeing more third-party map providers now that Garmin has given them tacit approval. Geocaching.com and Motionbased.com are both using the technology behind this, though users may have to download a plugin to ensure that it works with their browser. Currently IE 6+ and Firefox 1.5+ are supported. Mac support is "coming soon."

Many of the other tools announced today move Garmin farther into the location-based services game:

Filed Under: Garmin, Location based services

Garmin nuvi 270 review

May 26, 2007 By Rich Owings 3 Comments

UPDATE: A newer 3.5″ trans-Atlantic unit, the Garmin nuvi 275T, has recently been introduced.

UPDATE 2: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide.

UPDATE 3: The latest trans-Atlantic navigators to be introduced are the Garmin nuvi 2475LT and nuvi 2370LT.

The Garmin nuvi 270 is the transatlantic offering in Garmin’s new entry-level nuvi lineup. Equipped with a 3.5″ screen, the nuvi 270 includes pre-loaded maps of the U.S., Canada and Europe (see coverage map below). Other units in the 200 series have less extensive coverage; the nuvi 200 has maps of all 49 continental United States, while the nuvi 250 offers all 50 states and Canada.

Filed Under: Auto, Garmin, Garmin auto GPS, GPS Reviews, Hardware

Garmin TOPO U.S. 2008

May 25, 2007 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

Topo_us_2008_screen
Garmin has announced an updated version of its backcountry maps for the U.S. – Garmin TOPO U.S. 2008. There’s not a huge amount of information available yet.

What’s known now is that the maps use 1:100,000 scale data, not 1:24,000 – a disappointment. The maps do include some new features, including the ability to generate elevation profiles on your PC or compatible Garmin receivers (shown below, after the jump), though that will be of little use if they are generated from straight lines rather than along trails. No word yet on whether there is auto-routing for trails or roads, nor do we know if this map product will be locked.

TOPO U.S. 2008 will be available on DVD or micro SD cards. Garmin has not posted an availability date.

There is a discussion thread on Groundspeak, Geocaching.com’s message board.

Via Allory.

Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

Galileo and Garmin

May 25, 2007 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

Galileo
A couple of days ago, I posted a story about several new Garmin eTrex GPS units due this fall. At that point, the Canadian PDF catalog page was not available online, but it’s back now and the full story can be told.

The big news isn’t the high-sensitivity chipset, it’s this blurb from the ad…

Also “GALILEO” (the new navigation system under development in Europe) ready as a future path that will accommodate a drop–in chip when available in the future.

That’s pretty exciting except for the fact that Galileo literally can’t get off the ground. According to what I’ve been able to find, only one of 30 satellites has been successfully launched. So Galileo compatibility, while it does show Garmin adding a (potential) new feature to its handhelds, is hardly a good reason to buy one of the new eTrex units.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Navionics – a new provider of outdoor GPS maps

May 23, 2007 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

With auto systems dominating the GPS market, handheld users often feel neglected by the major manufacturers. We rarely see hardware improvements, and topo maps are updated even less frequently. The GPS maps that we do have usually show 40 meter (131 foot) contour intervals. Personally, I like to know if I’m approaching a cliff of say 100′; with these maps, it wouldn’t show! Nor do most outdoor maps allow for auto-routing on trails, the way that GPS highway maps do.

Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

Magellan Maestro 3100 review

May 19, 2007 By Rich Owings 11 Comments

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The Magellan Maestro 3100 is the entry level GPS in the Magellan Maestro series. It has a 3.5″ touch-screen, the super-sensitive SiRFstar III chipset, 750,000 points of interest (POIs), and is pre-loaded with maps of the 48 contiguous United States.

I have not been very impressed with receivers with such a low number of POIs. Even units with 1.5 million POIs have frequently failed to turn up the store, restaurant, etc. that I was looking for, meaning that I would need to enter the address for navigation (if I even had it). Other reviewers, linked to below, didn’t seem to have many problems with the Maestro 3100 though. Perhaps they are in areas without as many new stores, etc.

Filed Under: Auto, GPS Reviews, Hardware, Magellan, Magellan auto GPS

Magellan Maestro 4000 review

May 16, 2007 By Rich Owings 3 Comments

Magellan_maestro_4000
UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The Magellan Maestro 4000 is part of Magellan’s newest GPS lineup — the Maestro series. Like the other members of the Maestro series, the 4000 has a 4.3″ wide-screen display, voice-prompted directions, AAA travel information and a SiRFstarIII chipset. The 4000 also comes with pre-loaded maps of the 48 contiguous United States. Unfortunately, it has a sure to disappoint 1.5 million points of interest (POI) in its database. My experience with such units has been that many searches fail to turn up the store, restaurant, etc. that I am looking for, meaning that I need to enter the address for navigation.

Filed Under: GPS Reviews, Hardware, Magellan

Tech tips for GPS map makers

May 14, 2007 By Rich Owings

This weekend, my publisher forwarded me a nice email from Jim Bosch, a reader of my book, GPS Mapping – Make Your Own Maps (Amazon). Jim has some great tips about free software that makes creating your own GPS maps even easier, and I’m including his entire email below, verbatim. I especially liked learning about a tool that directly converts SDTS files to shapefiles, eliminating one of the steps in the process that I described in Chapter 24. Thanks Jim!

Filed Under: Software

TomTom ONE XL review

May 5, 2007 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For a list of current TomTom models and their features, please see our TomTom comparison chart.

The TomTom ONE XL updates the popular TomTom ONE, adding a wider 4.3″ touch-screen. This GPS receiver comes with pre-loaded maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico and is ready for real-time traffic services via a subscription to TomTom Traffic or the purchase of an RDS-TMC traffic receiver.

Filed Under: GPS Reviews, TomTom auto GPS