GPS reviews, news, tips, tricks and deals
If you’re a fan of handheld GPS devices, then this might just be your lucky week. After the recent announcement of Garmin’s new eTrex devices, GPS City has been reducing price like crazy on their old eTrex devices. And, just for good measure, also has discounted the extremely popular Oregon 650 which is still one of the better handheld GPS devices on the market. read more
Apple is one of those huge corporations that, whenever it does anything, it’s all over the news. Recently, the technology behemoth purchased a small navigation startup by the name of Coherent Navigation, and the internet exploded with theories as to why. With the dismal state of Apple Maps, I can’t say that I found the move particularly surprising or even all that noteworthy. I hadn’t even heard of Coherent Navigation until Apple purchased them.
After doing a bit of research (mostly out of curiosity because it kept popping up in my news feed) this little GPS company apparently was pretty small, based on the coast and mostly handled navigation and location research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Pretty cool, but again, nothing super noteworthy. The company’s primary claim to fame was its work on High-Integrity GPS or “iGPS” which is meant to help improve GPS reliability. Which, if you’ve ever looked at Apple Maps, then you know Apple certainly is interested in. read more
Garmin’s Forerunner series of running and cycling watches while not really the top of the market, are still reasonably popular in the GPS watch market. These devices can track runner/cyclists paces, distance, speed, track and, with the addition of a heart monitor, heart rate.
Well, all of that changed with the recent introduction of Garmin’s new Forerunner 225. This device comes with a built-in heart monitor which allows it to record user’s heart rates without the addition of an uncomfortable and bulky chest strap. The Forerunner 225 is expected to be released in the next couple of months, but if you’re in the market for a new Forerunner device, then now is definitely the time.
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I came across a really interesting article published by the BBC earlier this month regarding the use of sat-navs and GPS navigation and how the proliferation of these technologies is a threat to basic map-reading skills. The article itself talked a lot about how the younger generation doesn’t know how to read basic maps and is, therefore, losing a lot of basic skills and independence.
“Many cannot read a landscape, an ordnance survey map, or find their way to a destination with just a compass, let alone wonder at the amazing role astronomy plays in establishing a precise location,” the president of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), Roger McKinlay told BBC in the article. “Instead, generations are now growing up utterly dependent on signals and software to find their way around.”
But, is that really a problem? read more
Just about every handheld top 10 features at least one, if not more, of Garmin’s eTrex line. These durable and affordable devices are incredibly popular, so it’s no surprise that Garmin has finally announced the next-generation eTrex devices: the eTrex 20x and 30x. The new eTrex units are expected to be available this summer and will share many features with the original eTrex line including the simple, easy-to-use interface. read more
GPS is one of those technologies that has completely changed the way that people function, and I would argue completely for the better. While I talk a lot about how knowing how to use a paper map is a good skill, at the end of the day, GPS is incredibly useful and helpful. But, according to an article by the National Defense Magazine, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is somewhat less of a fan, and would be all too happy to see GPS reliance gone completely.
“[GPS] is very expensive to launch and operate,” Carter said during a podcast in April. According to Carter, GPS makes the United States vulnerable and “is impossible to use in the valleys of Afghanistan or in a big city, or in places where the signal is poor.” read more
This week in GPS is a weekly link roundup of (mostly) GPS related odds and ends, from GPS Tracklog and other places around the Web. This week’s featured image is Garmin’s newly introduced Forerunner 225, which is the first Garmin watch to include heart rate monitoring without a chest strap! About time, Garmin.
Here are some other things going on in the world of GPS this week: read more
Drones are pretty cool, but I have to admit that I’ve never really seen any particular reason to invest in one. They are super expensive, hard to maneuver (judging by the hundreds of drone crash videos I’ve seen), there are all kinds of legal considerations as to where you can fly, and they just don’t seem all that useful for your average person.
However, today I saw a video for Lily, a video-recording, photo-snapping, GPS-guided drone that is designed to be durable, pretty small (all things considered), extremely simple to use, and I totally want one. Lily is still in production and is expected to be shipped in February of 2016. read more
If you’re in the market for running trackers, GPS watches or fitness activity trackers, then you have no shortage of options. There are literally dozens of different units on the market right now, and they are all pretty similar. But, if you’re looking for something that does all of the above, then Garmin has finally delivered.
This week, Garmin introduced the next Forerunner running watch. Called the Forerunner 225, this GPS watch is the first Garmin device to include heart-rate monitoring without uncomfortable and more expensive straps or any external devices whatsoever. Thanks to a partnership with Mio, industry-leading technology has made this particular running watch stand out. read more
In December of 2013, Amazon announced that it was working on allowing drone deliveries to Prime customers within an half hour of order. It caused quite a stir on the internet and most customers were as excited as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was condemning. However, after much debate and posturing on both sides, apparently the FAA has decided that letting Amazon test drones in the US wasn’t really going to hurt anything.
The date on the exemption is actually listed as early April, so this is slightly old news. However, as the FAA has spent many public meetings stating that it wasn’t a huge fan of this idea, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Amazon, however, can’t be 100% happy as the exemption did come with a few restrictions; at least one of which is extremely problematic. The FAA is allowing Amazon to test out its drones as long as: read more
