GPS reviews, news, tips, tricks and deals
I’ve been trying to do some barometric altimeter field testing for awhile now, and I keep running into problems on nearly every outing. On the last foray, my Montana 600 shut down twice. I’ve had this happen before and it seems to be due to vibration. This time it was while mountain biking, but I’ve had it happen when hiking too. read more
I started using the Garmin Trailhead Series Appalachian Trail map soon after it came out last year, so it’s high time I posted a review. It includes a routable, 1:24,000 scale topo map of the entire AT, complete with a searchable points of interest (POI) database. read more
While prepping a review of the Garmin Trailhead Series Appalachian Trail map, I wanted to verify that it couldn’t be used in BaseCamp. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did indeed work! The screenshot above shows a route on the AT in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. read more
Last month ABI Research issued a report saying that Personal Navigation Device (PND) manufacturers seem to be “moving away from mass market consumer goods to becoming low volume, high value.” While I take issue with their analysis showing that “nearly one-third of all products offered on the market are above the US$500 mark,” I do think they are onto something.
The fact is, we’re already seeing this trend. Garmin may be stepping up enforcement of their minimum advertised price (MAP) program — I’m not seeing PNDs discounted very much, especially at the high-end. We’re still seeing the upper-end of the Advanced nuvi series selling at their list price on Amazon, a full six months after these units started shipping. Significant discounts are mostly relegated to prior generation units. read more
The Garmin nüvi 3590LMT
UPDATE: Read my hands-on review of the TomTom Start 55TM.
The TomTom START series has finally hit North American shores and stores. These entry-level units will replace the TomTom EASE which was introduced a couple of years ago. No word on whether they’ll work out of the box without a software update (ouch!).
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While the US Supreme Court has ruled against warrantless GPS tracking, they left unresolved a host of issues related to cell phone tracking. So why should law enforcement bother getting a warrant or messing with a GPS tracking device? All they need to do is go to your cellular carrier and pay a fee, and they can get your location history, a record of your calls and other data from your mobile phone. read more
I know, I repeated the pun; couldn’t help myself. About 17 hours after TomTom admitted to a leap year bug affecting satellite acquisition, and three days after it first reared its head, they’ve come up with a fix. Interestingly enough, they are blaming it on some sort of third-party software. Mmm, maybe so, but it sounds like something pre-installed on their devices.
UPDATE: I’ve posted a Garmin Approach S3 review and resource page.
Okay, it’s not as stylish as a Rolex, but if you like to hit the links on those frequent overseas jaunts, the new Garmin Approach S3 may be for you. With 27,000 preloaded courses around the world, the S3 has its eyes on a more mobile crowd than the S1, which limits you to a paltry 17,500 courses in the US and Canada. read more
UPDATE: A fix has been posted.
Been having problems locking satellites on your TomTom the last few days? Turns out you’re not the only one. It seems that a leap year bug has affected some TomTom models, although they aren’t saying which ones. Please chime in below if your’s is affected and tell us which model it is. The company is letting users know, via its website, that a fix (pardon the pun) is on the way…
