GPS reviews, news, tips, tricks and deals
The Garmin nuvi 3550LM is one of the company’s new top of the line auto navigation units. As part of their Prestige series, this model basically offers the same feature set as the nuvi 3450LM, but with a larger 5″ screen. Which means you get a bevy of customization options, the new Exit Services feature and a large glass capacitive touchscreen.
In addition to the new zumo 350LM, Garmin has made a few other changes to their motorcycle-friendly lineup, adding lifetime maps to a couple of units – the zumo 660LM and 665LM
, while discontinuing the original 660 and 665, along with the zumo 550.
It seems every time you look there’s a new geolocation game on the market. Some of these are little more than thinly veiled behaviour tracking vehicles fighting for a place in an already crowded segment of the app market, but some of them are genuinely fun games offering something a little different. Munzee is one of the fun ones, sitting somewhere between traditional geocaching and smartphone based location-based games such as Foursquare. read more
Magellan has annouced five new RoadMates featuring Landmark Guidance, portrait mode and, in the two Bluetooth models, safe texting. This feature, highlighted in the video above, “enables drivers to quickly and safely respond to a call with a pre-written text message. The driver may select from a text message to inform the caller that they are driving and will call them later or a text that will include the vehicle’s present location and estimated time of arrival to their destination.” read more
It’s that time again — the first of the month, when we look back on our readers’ favorite auto and handheld GPS. The rankings below are based on the number of units sold on GPS Tracklog and our sister site, GPS Deals, through our various partners like Amazon and REI. And we have two new units topping the charts this month, the Garmin nuvi 50LM and the eTrex 20. On to the charts…
Magellan has announced eXplorist 310 and 510 Topo Editions (the latter is pictured above), which will come bundled with a one-year subscription to National Geographic TOPO, offering 1:24,000 and 1:100,000 scale USGS-based topos. According to the news release, you will also be able to “view a unique collection of road and trail data that shows a complete network of back roads and trails on a national scale.” read more
Garmin has announced the Alpha 100 dog tracking and training system, the first product to integrate Tri-Tronics technology since their acquisition of that company. The Alpha utilizes a new form factor we haven’t seen in Garmin handhelds before, comes with preloaded 100K scale topo maps, and is compatible with other mapping products such as BirdsEye imagery. read more
Hands on review of the Magellan Switch seriesThe Magellan Switch and Switch Up
The iNavX marine charting app is targeted for recreational boaters. This app allows navigation using NOAA raster charts and a few other proprietary vector and raster chart formats. Users can create waypoints & routes and also record tracks. read more
UPDATE: Read my hands on review of the Magellan RoadMate 5230T-LM with Landmark Guidance.
I’ve been testing the Magellan Roadmate 5230T-LM for the last few weeks, which (AFAIK) is the first navigator in the US to feature Landmark Guidance. Basically, in addition to using street names for guidance, it will tell you to turn at “landmarks” like a McDonalds or a Chevron station. You can see and hear it in action in the admittedly shaky video above. Apparently I need a camera with image stabilization, although the main point in this video is the audio. read more
