Archives for January 2008

Garmin nuvifone

January 31, 2008 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Garmin_nuvifone

Garmin has announced a 3.5G cell phone, the Garmin nuvifone. The touch screen device will include Google local search capability. Nüvifone users can search for locations like “coffee shops” and Google will sort the results based on the user’s current location and relevance. Information provided by Google includes a web-based rating so that users can select the most appropriate destination and route directly to it. In addition, the nüvifone also includes personal messaging functions, including email, text, and instant messaging.

Filed Under: Garmin, Garmin-Asus, Hardware, Mobile, The business of GPS

Screen visibility problems on the new generation of handhelds

January 29, 2008 By Rich Owings 8 Comments

Triton_and_colorado

UPDATE: Screen visibility took a major leap forward recently with the Garmin Oregon 450, and it appears that later production runs of the 550 series now include the improved screen.

The new Garmin Colorado and Magellan Triton series (and now the Garmin Oregon too) have higher resolution screens than anything we’ve seen before in handheld GPS receivers. But those gorgeous and detailed displays come at a cost. Many early adopters have been surprised by the decreased visibility of these units in their natural habitat — the great outdoors.

Filed Under: Garmin, Handheld/Sport, Hardware, Magellan, Magellan handheld GPS

Free hi-res topo maps of CO and WY (and Utah soon)

January 25, 2008 By Rich Owings 8 Comments

Wyoming_40_foot_topos

UPDATE: I’ve posted a more comprehensive set of resources for free topo maps for Garmin GPS receivers.

One of the great things about Garmin units is the wide range of free maps that are out there for them. I recently became aware of another source, this one offering 40-foot contour interval maps of Colorado and Wyoming. The not quite accurately named site, Miscjunk, will soon add Utah to the mix too.

The screen shot at right shows a sample map loaded onto the new Garmin Colorado series. If you load a custom (U.S.) map onto the unit and have Topo U.S. 2008 (which has DEM data) loaded too, you’ll get the nice shading effects seen here.

Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

Magellan Triton 1500 review

January 24, 2008 By Rich Owings 12 Comments

The Magellan Triton 1500 is one of a new series of handheld GPS receivers from Magellan that can display USGS topo maps (raster imagery) from National Geographic. I’ve had the unit for over six weeks now and have put it through its paces.

Filed Under: GPS Reviews, Handheld/Sport, Hardware, Magellan, Magellan handheld GPS Tagged With: Magellan Triton, Magellan Triton 1500

National Geographic TOPO! moves to Web – adds aerial photos and trails database

January 22, 2008 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

Topo5_explore_hybrid1

National Geographic TOPO!, a long-standing favorite mapping application, has announced that they will soon be debuting a new Internet-based application. New features will include aerial photos and hybrid imagery that blends aerial photos with contour lines (screen shot above).

Filed Under: Internet applications

Closing thoughts on CES 2008

January 13, 2008 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

Ces_logo

The International Consumer Electronics Show is a beast. 140,000 participants. Totally crazy and exhausting. It’s a hard thing to blog, unless you have a staff like Engadget or Gizmodo. For smaller sites like GPS Tracklog, making industry contacts is one of the most important things that I can accomplish. Hopefully this will pay off in the coming year with more scoops, hacks and hands-on reviews.

Too many GPS manufacturers

The GPS market is amazing. There must have been at least a hundred manufacturers at CES with their own GPS units. Most will die the same death as Via Michelin, frustrating consumers with a lack of tech support and map updates along the way. Some of these devices are lame, others have decent hardware and software (like NavNGo’s iGo solution used by so many manufacturers), but that still won’t stop them from getting trounced in the market place.

I try to cover only quality manufacturers, but I don’t want to miss up and coming players in the marketplace. Adding Mio and Navigon in 2007 worked out well. I hope to add at least one new company to my coverage in 2008.

What will 2008 bring?

Filed Under: More GPS News

Garmin nuvi 850 and 880 announced

January 3, 2008 By Rich Owings 11 Comments

Garmin_nuvi_880

UPDATE: Read my Garmin nuvi 850 review and Garmin nuvi 880 review

Garmin just announced the Garmin nuvi 800 series, the first nuvis to feature speech recognition.

In keeping with Garmin’s heritage of elegant user interface design, the nuvi 800 series’ speech recognition technology sets the new industry standard for simple and intuitive use. Users mount a push-to-talk wireless remote to their steering wheel, which is used to activate voice commands — no additional setup or “training” is required. Once activated, the user can effortlessly manipulate controls by speaking the words that correspond to buttons that are on the touchscreen display, so that almost any common task can be performed without ever touching the unit.

Garmin has also streamlined the way users can perform complex points of interest searches. Driving in an unfamiliar area and hungry for some spaghetti? Simply say, “find nearest Italian restaurant,” and you’re offered a menu of nearby pasta purveyors. Use a voice command to select the establishment of your choice, and the nuvi 800 series gives you turn-by-turn directions to dinner. The nuvi 880 also knows the names of many large business brands, so a user need only say, “find nearest Starbucks” for a quick caffeine fix.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Garmin Colorado images and specs

January 3, 2008 By Rich Owings 3 Comments

Garmin_colorado_400t

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

Early last month, we let the cat out of the bag on the Garmin Colorado handheld series. I’m expecting the official announcement no later than tomorrow, but here’s a sneak preview for you, replete with specs and lots of eye candy for you geocachers and other outdoor enthusiasts out there. I’ll have more to say next week after meeting with Garmin at CES.