Rich Owings, Author at GPS Tracklog

Choosing the right friction mount for your auto GPS

July 16, 2008 By Rich Owings 15 Comments

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Friction mounts are great, but it’s easy to get one that won’t work with your GPS. Today I’m going to look at three different friction mounts and address how to select the right one. First I want to cover some common questions about friction mounts.

Why use a friction mount?

I prefer friction mounts over suction cup mounts for two reasons — theft prevention and convenience. Let’s say you’re navigating to a shopping center or restaurant. You see it coming up. You can lift the friction mount off the dash before you even pull into the parking lot. No one sees you remove the GPS and there is no tell-tale suction mark left on the windshield. If I’m leaving the car only briefly, I will often just place the mount with GPS attached on the floorboard.

Filed Under: Accessories

TomTom XL 330-S review

July 14, 2008 By Rich Owings 14 Comments

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For a list of current TomTom models and their features, please see our TomTom comparison chart.

Hands on with the TomTom XL 330S

The TomTom XL 330-S updates the TomTom ONE XL-S, with a new design that includes a built-in mount, dubbed the EasyPort^TM, that stows on the back of the device. Other than the form factor and re-designed speaker though, this new entry level model is almost identical to its older sibling. read more

Filed Under: Auto, GPS Reviews, Hardware, TomTom, TomTom auto GPS Tagged With: TomTom XL 330-S

Garmin Oregon series first looks

July 10, 2008 By Rich Owings 6 Comments

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UPDATE: Read my hands-on Garmin Oregon 400t review. I’ve also posted Garmin Oregon 200 and Oregon 300 pages.

Okay boys and girls, we’ve got Garmin Oregon photos for ya. As you can see from the Garmin Oregon 400t image above, they really mean it when they say touch-screen, because there aren’t many buttons on this thing.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware Tagged With: Oregon

Garmin Oregon handheld GPS with touch screen

July 4, 2008 By Rich Owings 4 Comments

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UPDATE: Read my hands-on Garmin Oregon 400t review. I’ve also posted Garmin Oregon 200 and Oregon 300 pages.

Buy.com appears to have jumped the gun and has a couple of pages up on a new Garmin handheld line — the Garmin Oregon, complete with a touch screen. Not yet officially announced, the Garmin Oregon line is slated to have the same 3" diagonal, 240×400 pixel screen size as the Colorado series, though the unit itself is an inch shorter and a half-ounce lighter.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware Tagged With: Oregon

Magellan Maestro 5310 review

July 2, 2008 By Rich Owings 5 Comments

Magellan_maestro_5310

The Magellan Maestro 5310 is Magellan’s first GPS with a 5″ screen. It has preloaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, six million POIs and text-to-speech, so you’ll hear “approaching right turn, Maple Street” instead of just “approaching right turn.”

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

Dash Express becomes the first GPS to learn your shortcuts

June 30, 2008 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

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Dash Express users will be getting a major software update today, delivered wirelessly of course. There are lots of changes, so we’ll delve right in and start with the most important.

MyRoutes automatically learns your preferred routes

How long have we pined for a GPS smart enough to learn our favorite shortcuts? Well wait no longer boys and girls — the Dash Express gets bragging rights as the first GPS to do this. The MyRoute shortcut is shown in pink in the image above. Some details…

Filed Under: Auto, Dash, Hardware, Other auto GPS

DeLorme PN-40 boasts impressive specs

June 25, 2008 By Rich Owings 1 Comment

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DeLorme is announcing the PN-40 handheld GPS today. Scheduled for release this fall, the PN-40 appears to be something akin to the PN-20 on steroids. Slow map redraws on the PN-20 were a common complaint, which has been addressed somewhat with new firmware, but the PN-40 is slated to have a dual-core processor for rapid screen re-draws. Here’s what Chip Noble, who manages DeLorme’s User Interface Design department, has to say about it:

Filed Under: DeLorme, DeLorme handheld GPS, Handheld/Sport

Geohashing – New GPS sport requires planning and caution

June 25, 2008 By Rich Owings Leave a Comment

GPS geohashing

Geohashing is a new GPS sport where participants are sent to random coordinates to meet. Each day, new coordinates are automatically generated for each 1°x1° square of latitude and longitude.

Filed Under: GPS News

Garmin nuvi 850 review

June 25, 2008 By Rich Owings 2 Comments

Garmin nuvi 850 review
UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide.

The Garmin nuvi 850 is a member of the 800 series nuvi family, the first Garmin products to feature voice recognition. I covered that feature thoroughly in my hands on review of the Garmin nuvi 880, so this review will primarily cover the differences between the two units and how to get a deal on the nuvi 850 with an MSN Direct receiver.

Filed Under: Auto, Garmin, Garmin auto GPS, GPS Reviews, Hardware Tagged With: Garmin nuvi 850

Garmin nuvi 880 review

June 16, 2008 By Rich Owings 3 Comments

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UPDATE: MSN Direct is ceasing operations on January 1, 2012.

UPDATE 2: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide.

Killer app voice recognition makes Garmin nuvi 880 the best GPS on the market

The Garmin nuvi 880 is the top of the line unit in the nuvi 800 series, the first Garmin products to feature voice recognition. And while it may not be the first GPS with this feature, it is far and away the best. It is a breeze to use and makes it much easier and safer to navigate on the go.

Filed Under: Auto, Garmin, Garmin auto GPS, GPS Reviews, Hardware Tagged With: Garmin nuvi 880