GPS reviews, news, tips, tricks and deals
UPDATE: Read my hands on review of the Magellan RoadMate 5175T-LM.
Hey, look what showed up on the FCC website this morning – a WiFi-enabled Magellan RoadMate 5175 series. We don’t have a lot of specs at this point, but we can tell you that it rotates into portrait or landscape orientations, and that it will come in traffic (5175T) and traffic plus lifetime map (5175T-LM) editions.
A little over two years ago, MiTAC purchased the consumer products division of the old Magellan Navigation company. The latter went on to become known as Ashtech, continuing to sell professional grade GPS receivers under the MobileMapper brand. I don’t know if there was a two-year non-compete clause or if that doesn’t apply in this case, but MiTAC’s Magellan GPS is back in the game as of today, announcing the Magellan eXplorist PRO 10.
The Garmin nüvi 2300LM
Is there a GLONASS receiver in your future? You may be more motivated if you live at a northerly latitude. A Swedish firm, Swepos, which demands one-meter accuracy for their work, has integrated the Russian system into their operations, saying…
"It functions somewhat better at northern latitudes because its satellite orbits are located higher in the sky and we see them better than we do the GPS satellites," said Bo Jonsson, deputy head of a geodesic research unit at Swepos.
UPDATE: The Garmin nuvi 2475LT is a newer trans-Atlantic navigator.
UPDATE 2: This model has been discontinued.
The Garmin nüvi 2370LT
The Garmin nüvi 2360LT
The Garmin nüvi 2450 
UPDATE: A new 7″ model is available, the Garmin dezl 760LMT.
The Garmin dezl 560LMT
Garmin has quietly rolled out TOPO Alaska Enhanced, which includes 1:24,000 and 1:63,360 scale topo maps, routable roads, urban and wilderness points of interest, and public land boundaries.
UPDATE: DeLorme tells me that SPOT units have been tested and sorted, and that “any new package from DeLorme heading to retail will have a blue sticker on the bottom of the box as the indicator it is a new or tested good unit.”
I received an email overnight announcing a recall of SPOT Communicator units sold with the DeLorme PN-60w. Apparently there is an issue with messages not being sent when temperatures are below 40 degrees F. Affected units include all those with an ESN number range between 0-2000000 and 0-2019999. To make amends, the company is offering a six-month extension on service plans. Hopefully, the company discovered this issue without it impacting any emergency situations. This just goes to point out that there is no substitute for good old-fashioned wilderness preparation.
