GPS reviews, news, tips, tricks and deals
Garmin and Harley sittin’ in a tree…
Ahem…Garmin and Harley-Davidson have announced the Road Tech zumo, a customized version of Garmin’s motorcycle-specific GPS device specially enhanced for Harley owners. The Road Tech z?mo will be on display and available for sale beginning the week of August 4th at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and around the world in Harley-Davidson authorized dealerships.
UPDATE: The nuvi 2×5 series has been officially discontinued. For current recommendations, see our auto GPS buyers guide.
The Garmin nuvi 205W
Heading to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing? Garmin has you covered. Two weeks ahead of the games, Garmin has released City Navigator China NT, though I have to wonder if the coverage is as good as is suggested by the map above.
UPDATE: Read my hands-on Garmin nuvi 500 review. I’ve also posted a Garmin nuvi 550 page.
The rumors were true — Garmin announced today the introduction of the nuvi 500 series — multi-use navigators for driving, cycling, walking and boating. Ruggedized and waterproof, the nuvi 500 series sports a 3.5″ touchscreen and appears to share the feature set and much of the interface of the nuvi 2×5 series I wrote about this morning, including the ability to add MSN Direct or FM/TMC traffic.
The nuvi 500 comes with pre-loaded City Navigator and topo maps of the 48 contiguous United States, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The 550 offers highway coverage of the entire U.S. and Canada but drops the topo maps.
I’ve been testing a Garmin nuvi 205W recently and have been surprised to find a couple of advanced features in this entry-level product that I wasn’t anticipating:
You can see both these features in the screen shot above. The tracklog is the thin blue line trailing behind the current position icon. The speed limit being shown is for a two-lane road, albeit a relatively busy one.
UPDATE: Read my hands-on Garmin Oregon 400t review.
I received a Garmin Oregon 400t review unit yesterday, right before a scheduled bike ride with a friend. I scrambled to get Garmin’s Colorado mount on my bike, which works with the Oregon series, since the carabiner attachment is the same on both models. (The RAM mount will not work however, since the Oregon is smaller than the Colorado.) I had no time to set up waypoints or routes, or load tracks. Nevertheless, I do have some first impressions to share…
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.
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.
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.
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
