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Free hi-res topo maps of CO and WY (and Utah soon)

January 25, 2008 By 8 Comments

Wyoming_40_foot_topos

UPDATE: I’ve posted a more comprehensive set of resources for free topo maps for Garmin GPS receivers.

One of the great things about Garmin units is the wide range of free maps that are out there for them. I recently became aware of another source, this one offering 40-foot contour interval maps of Colorado and Wyoming. The not quite accurately named site, Miscjunk, will soon add Utah to the mix too.

The screen shot at right shows a sample map loaded onto the new Garmin Colorado series. If you load a custom (U.S.) map onto the unit and have Topo U.S. 2008 (which has DEM data) loaded too, you’ll get the nice shading effects seen here.

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Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

Garmin nuvi 850 and 880 announced

January 3, 2008 By 11 Comments

Garmin_nuvi_880

UPDATE: Read my Garmin nuvi 850 review and Garmin nuvi 880 review

Garmin just announced the Garmin nuvi 800 series, the first nuvis to feature speech recognition.

In keeping with Garmin’s heritage of elegant user interface design, the nuvi 800 series’ speech recognition technology sets the new industry standard for simple and intuitive use. Users mount a push-to-talk wireless remote to their steering wheel, which is used to activate voice commands — no additional setup or “training” is required. Once activated, the user can effortlessly manipulate controls by speaking the words that correspond to buttons that are on the touchscreen display, so that almost any common task can be performed without ever touching the unit.

Garmin has also streamlined the way users can perform complex points of interest searches. Driving in an unfamiliar area and hungry for some spaghetti? Simply say, “find nearest Italian restaurant,” and you’re offered a menu of nearby pasta purveyors. Use a voice command to select the establishment of your choice, and the nuvi 800 series gives you turn-by-turn directions to dinner. The nuvi 880 also knows the names of many large business brands, so a user need only say, “find nearest Starbucks” for a quick caffeine fix.

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Garmin Colorado images and specs

January 3, 2008 By 3 Comments

Garmin_colorado_400t

UPDATE: Read our Garmin Colorado 300 review, Garmin Colorado 400c review and Garmin Colorado 400t review.

Early last month, we let the cat out of the bag on the Garmin Colorado handheld series. I’m expecting the official announcement no later than tomorrow, but here’s a sneak preview for you, replete with specs and lots of eye candy for you geocachers and other outdoor enthusiasts out there.  I’ll have more to say next week after meeting with Garmin at CES.

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Garmin friction mount review

December 22, 2007 By 7 Comments

Garmin_friction_mount_2

UPDATE: Here’s my video review of the newest Garmin friction mount.

After years of illegally using a windshield mount, I finally plopped down $28 for a Garmin friction mount. My nuvi and I now walk ride the straight and narrow.

While suction mounts are only illegal in California and Minnesota, there are other reasons to choose a friction, AKA beanbag or dashboard mount — one being theft deterrence. No suction cup, no tell-tale marks on the windshield.

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Filed Under: Accessories, Garmin

Garmin nuvi 770 review

December 22, 2007 By 9 Comments

Garmin_nuvi_770_front

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

UPDATE 2: The latest trans-Atlantic navigators to be introduced are the Garmin nuvi 2475LT and nuvi 2370LT.

The Garmin nuvi 770, with pre-loaded maps of North America and Europe, is one of the nicest of Garmin’s transatlantic navigators.  As a member of the 700 series, it incorporates a number of features not found on the transatlantic nuvi 670:

  • Multi-destination routing
  • Automatic sorting of multiple destinations to provide an efficient route
  • Tracklog recording
  • Speed limit display for many interstates and highways
  • The newer internal antenna found on the nuvi 200 series
  • Automatic marking of your last position when the unit is turned off (to help you find your car in mega-mall parking lots)
  • A "Where am I" safety feature that gives your current location,
    nearest address, nearest intersection, along with quick access to POIs
    for the nearest hospitals, police stations and gas stations
  • Finally, MSN Direct is available as an add on option

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

More on the Garmin Colorado series

December 10, 2007 By 3 Comments

Garmin_colorado_400

UPDATE: Read our Garmin Colorado 300 review, Garmin Colorado 400c review and Garmin Colorado 400t review.

It appears that the Garmin Colorado series is real, and that it may be capable of showing aerial photos (raster imagery), as shown in the image above. It’s high time Garmin took this step; after all, DeLorme, Magellan and even Bushnell have beat them to the punch with units that allow for the display of aerial photos and / or USGS topo maps. We forecast back in August that we would soon see a Garmin handheld with this capability.

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Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Free maps for your Garmin GPS

December 5, 2007 By 130 Comments

Free_international_maps

Free user-generated U.S. and international maps

UPDATE: Here’s a step-by-step guide to putting routable OSM maps on your Garmin GPS.

This was originally intended as a follow up to my international maps for your Garmin GPS post. Yet those sticking closer to home should investigate this too — the sources below include road maps of U.S. cities and some very nice topo maps of greater detail than you can find elsewhere. The image below is from a 1:24,000 scale Lake Tahoe map.

Lake_tahoe_24k_map

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Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

International maps for your Garmin GPS

December 3, 2007 By 62 Comments

One of the more common questions I receive relates to international (non-U.S.) maps — where can I find maps of a particular country? There are actually many options, and I suspect that most people aren’t aware of them all. Some are even free. I’m going to focus on Garmin in this post, which has the greatest variety of international maps readily available, at least for any of the top selling GPS receiver brands in the U.S.

Lets go through the options one by one…

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Filed Under: Garmin, Maps, Software

Garmin nuvi 750 review

November 1, 2007 By 1 Comment

Garmin_nuvi_750

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

The Garmin nuvi 750 is one of the new high-end 700 series of this popular product line, adding the following to an already outstanding feature set:

  • Multi-destination routing
  • Automatic sorting of multiple destinations to provide an efficient route
  • Tracklog recording
  • Speed limit display for many interstates and highways
  • The newer internal antenna found on the nuvi 200 series
  • Automatic marking of your last position when the unit is turned off (to help you find your car in mega-mall parking lots)
  • A “Where am I” safety feature that gives your current location,
    nearest address, nearest intersection, along with quick access to POIs
    for the nearest hospitals, police stations and gas stations

read more

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

Hidden tracklog feature in nuvi 200 series firmware

October 25, 2007 By Leave a Comment

GpsPasSion is reporting a hidden tracklog recording / playback feature in the latest firmware (v 3.40) for the Garmin nuvi 200 series. Here’s a thread about how to access it that includes a link to a tool for converting the track to a .gpx file.

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Filed Under: Garmin
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