Archives for December 2007

Garmin friction mount review

December 22, 2007 By Rich Owings 7 Comments

UPDATE: Here’s my video review of the newest Garmin friction mount.

After years of illegally using a windshield mount, I finally plopped down $28 for a Garmin friction mount. My nuvi and I now ~~walk~~ ride the straight and narrow.

While suction mounts are only illegal in California and Minnesota, there are other reasons to choose a friction, AKA beanbag or dashboard mount — one being theft deterrence. No suction cup, no tell-tale marks on the windshield.

Filed Under: Accessories, Garmin

Garmin nuvi 770 review

December 22, 2007 By Rich Owings 9 Comments

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

UPDATE 2: The latest trans-Atlantic navigators to be introduced are the Garmin nuvi 2475LT and nuvi 2370LT.

The Garmin nuvi 770, with pre-loaded maps of North America and Europe, is one of the nicest of Garmin’s transatlantic navigators. As a member of the 700 series, it incorporates a number of features not found on the transatlantic nuvi 670:

Multi-destination routing
Automatic sorting of multiple destinations to provide an efficient route
Tracklog recording
Speed limit display for many interstates and highways
The newer internal antenna found on the nuvi 200 series
Automatic marking of your last position when the unit is turned off (to help you find your car in mega-mall parking lots)
A "Where am I" safety feature that gives your current location,
nearest address, nearest intersection, along with quick access to POIs
for the nearest hospitals, police stations and gas stations
Finally, MSN Direct is available as an add on option

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

Tech talk – raster vs. vector, or why has it taken so long to get aerial photos and USGS topos?

December 18, 2007 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

What makes aerial photos and USGS topo maps so different that we’ve been waiting years to get them on our GPS screens? A few companies have started offering these images in the past year. But so far, Garmin, the king of GPS receivers, has not had this capability (with the exception of limited aerial imagery of ports on some marine units).

To address this, we first need to define two types of imagery and the problems they can cause. I’ll close with what’s coming from Garmin and Magellan in this regard.

Filed Under: FAQs

Magellan Triton 1500 – First impressions

December 17, 2007 By Rich Owings 49 Comments

UPDATE: Read my Magellan Triton 1500 review.

I’ve had a few days to try my new Magellan Triton 1500 and have decided to post some initial impressions, since a full review isn’t likely till after the holidays.

Cable snafu

After a stumbling introduction, Magellan seems to be going the extra mile to assist folks who received units without cables (short of moving their tech support back to the U.S.!). If you were one of the unlucky recipients of a Triton 1500 sans cable, email me at rich at makeyourownmaps dot com and I’ll try to put you in touch with someone who can help.

Hardware

The Triton 1500 fits nicely in my hand and feels solid. I like the touch screen and am finding it relatively easy to move back and forth between it and the button controls. I am not finding it necessary to use the stylus that often.

The buttons are stiff, and will take a little getting used to. They are backlit, which is a nice feature. One of the worst things I can say about the hardware at this point is that the screen isn’t that bright. You have to hold it at the proper angle to view it in sunlight, and even then it is difficult. It is nowhere near as bright as my Garmin 60CSx. I’m assuming that Magellan made compromises here to save some money and to be able to bring the unit to market at a lower price point.

Filed Under: Handheld/Sport, Hardware, Magellan, Magellan handheld GPS Tagged With: Magellan Triton

More on the Garmin Colorado series

December 10, 2007 By Rich Owings 3 Comments

UPDATE: Read our Garmin Colorado 300 review, Garmin Colorado 400c review and Garmin Colorado 400t review.

It appears that the Garmin Colorado series is real, and that it may be capable of showing aerial photos (raster imagery), as shown in the image above. It’s high time Garmin took this step; after all, DeLorme, Magellan and even Bushnell have beat them to the punch with units that allow for the display of aerial photos and / or USGS topo maps. We forecast back in August that we would soon see a Garmin handheld with this capability.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Mio C720t review

December 10, 2007 By Rich Owings 4 Comments

Mio_c720t_review

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

I’ve spent the last few weeks trying out the Mio C720t, a new high-end GPS navigation device from Mio. Like the Mio C520, the C720t is equipped with a 4.3″ touchscreen, text-to-speech, Bluetooth for hands free cell phone use, and the SiRFstar III chipset. The C720t adds to this feature set with live traffic info, an integrated 2 MP camera, and photo geotagging. You can use this feature to navigate to locations you’ve taken a picture of.

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

NAVTEQ vs. Tele Atlas – Try before you buy

December 6, 2007 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Sharp-eyed reader and frequent commenter Zane tipped me to this. Here’s a mashup from Mike Purvis, co-author of Beginning Google Maps Applications, that lets you see and compare Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ data sources. So if you have been wondering whether to buy a Garmin GPS (with NAVTEQ data) or a TomTom GPS (with Tele Atlas data), now you can check them out before you buy!

Filed Under: Maps

Free maps for your Garmin GPS

December 5, 2007 By Rich Owings 130 Comments

Free user-generated U.S. and international maps

UPDATE: Here’s a step-by-step guide to putting routable OSM maps on your Garmin GPS.

This was originally intended as a follow up to my international maps for your Garmin GPS post. Yet those sticking closer to home should investigate this too — the sources below include road maps of U.S. cities and some very nice topo maps of greater detail than you can find elsewhere. The image below is from a 1:24,000 scale Lake Tahoe map.

Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

International maps for your Garmin GPS

December 3, 2007 By Rich Owings 62 Comments

One of the more common questions I receive relates to international (non-U.S.) maps — where can I find maps of a particular country? There are actually many options, and I suspect that most people aren’t aware of them all. Some are even free. I’m going to focus on Garmin in this post, which has the greatest variety of international maps readily available, at least for any of the top selling GPS receiver brands in the U.S.

Lets go through the options one by one…

Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

Archives for December 2007

Top posts of 2007

Garmin friction mount review

Garmin nuvi 770 review

Tech talk – raster vs. vector, or why has it taken so long to get aerial photos and USGS topos?

Magellan Triton 1500 – First impressions

More on the Garmin Colorado series

Mio C720t review

NAVTEQ vs. Tele Atlas – Try before you buy

Free maps for your Garmin GPS

International maps for your Garmin GPS

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Best selling auto GPS

Best selling handheld / sport GPS

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