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Garmin nuvi 250W review

June 26, 2007 By 2 Comments

Garmin_nuvi_250w

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

The Garmin nuvi 250W is a 4.3″ wide-screen version of the Garmin nuvi 250. Depending upon which side of the pond you live on, the nuvi 250W comes with pre-loaded maps of North America or Europe. This is a basic navigation device – no MP3 player, no Bluetooth, no text-to-speech. The one frill is the extra  wide touch-screen. Yet even without the bells and whistles, it’s Garmin nuvi quality through and through. Like all nuvis, it comes with nearly six million points of interest (POIs).

UPDATE: A new model, the nuvi 255W, offers these features and more.

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

Magellan Maestro 4050 review

June 11, 2007 By 2 Comments

Magellan_maestro_4050
UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The Magellan Maestro 4050 is one of the first GPS navigators to feature voice recognition, allowing you to speak commands. The available commands aren’t limitless though, and this is new technology, so there are bound to be a few bugs due to ambient noise, etc. Nevertheless, it certainly is very cool to be able to issue commands just by speaking to your GPS.

Before we go any further, let’s take a look at the rest of the feature set. Like its sibling, the Maestro 4040, the Maestro 4050 has a 4.3″ wide-screen, the SiRFstar III chipset, Bluetooth for hands-free cell phone use and preloaded maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Both units also have 4.5 million points of interest (POIs) and they both call out street names for upcoming turns.

What separates it from the 4040 is the that the Magellan Maestro 4050 has live-traffic included (an option on the 4040) and the previously mentioned voice-recognition feature.

To see how the 4050 stacks up against other units, check out my Magellan auto GPS comparison chart.

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

Magellan Maestro 3140 review

June 8, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Magellan_maestro_3140

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The Magellan Maestro 3140 is part of Magellan’s new line up of GPS navigators. Like the Magellan Maestro 3100, It comes with a 3.5″ touch screen and the SiRFstar III chipset. Unlike the 3100, the Maestro 3140 has Bluetooth for hands-free cell phone use, live traffic as an add-on option, and it calls out street names for upcoming turns, so you’ll get “turn right on Main Street” instead of just “turn right.”

The 3140 has pre-loaded maps of the entire U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, while the 3100 just has the lower 48 states.  A big difference, in my mind, is that the 3140 has 4.5 million points of interest (POIs), versus an anemic 750,000 POIs for the entry-level 3100.

Moving up to the Magellan Maestro 4000 series gets you a 4.3″ wide-screen interface.

UPDATE: A newer lineup, the Maestro 3200 and 4200 series, is a little thinner and lighter than the original Maestros.

To see how the 3140 stacks up against other units, check out my Magellan auto GPS comparison chart.

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

TomTom GO 720 and MapShare

June 5, 2007 By 4 Comments

Tomtom_go_720UPDATE: Read our TomTom GO 720 review.

TomTom announced the TomTom GO 720 today, a wide-screen, (4.3") flat form factor GPS navigator. There are lots of juicy details, which we’ll get to momentarily, but the big news is MapShare.

MapShare

From the press release….

This unique new map improvement technology allows TomTom users to easily improve their maps as soon as they spot changes in the roads with a few touches on the screen of their device. Via TomTom HOME, TomTom Map Share™ users also receive all map improvements made by others, making their maps as dynamic as the world they live in.

TomTom Map Share™ is a proprietary map improvement technology unique to TomTom, which enables users to easily and instantly improve maps. TomTom users can respond in real time to changes in the road network and correct the maps on their TomTom devices accordingly. Thanks to the smart user interface, it is easy to make improvements, such as to mark blocked or unblocked streets, reverse one way traffic or insert new street names, which will instantly take effect.


EDIT: Initially, six types of corrections will be allowed, though more are expected to be added later:

  • (un)Block a street
  • Reverse driving direction
  • Change a street name
  • Add a missing Point Of Interest (POI)
  • Remove or rename a POI
  • Add or change a POI phone number

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Filed Under: Hardware, TomTom

New Garmin eTrex models officially announced

May 31, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Etrex_vista_hcx_2UPDATE: Read our eTrex H-series reviews:

Last week I reported on rumors of a new Garmin eTrex lineup with a high-sensitivity chipset. Today it’s official — Garmin has announced, and put up product pages for the following units:

  • eTrex H – Monochrome display, MSRP $99.99
  • eTrex Venture HC – Color display, MSRP $199.99
  • eTrex Summit HC – Color display, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, MSRP $249.99
  • eTrex Legend HCx – Color display, expandable memory, MSRP $269.99
  • eTrex Vista HCx – Color display, expandable memory, barometric altimeter, electronic compass, MSRP $299.99

It’s nice to see features previously limited to the 60 and 76 x-series in a compact unit. I’ve included the manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) above as we’re also seeing a price drop compared to some past eTrex models and units with comparable features.

All models are capable of accepting detailed maps except for the basic eTrex H. The Summit HC and Venture HC map capacity is limited, due to their 24MB of internal memory. The Legend HCx and Vista HCx offer autorouting.

The new eTrex line is expected to be available in the third quarter of this year.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Garmin nuvi 270 review

May 26, 2007 By 3 Comments

Nuvi_270_right

UPDATE: A newer 3.5″ trans-Atlantic unit, the Garmin nuvi 275T, has recently been introduced.

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

UPDATE 3: The latest trans-Atlantic navigators to be introduced are the Garmin nuvi 2475LT and nuvi 2370LT.

The Garmin nuvi 270 is the transatlantic offering in Garmin’s new entry-level nuvi lineup. Equipped with a 3.5″ screen, the nuvi 270 includes pre-loaded maps of the U.S., Canada and Europe (see coverage map below). Other units in the 200 series have less extensive coverage; the nuvi 200 has maps of all 49 continental United States, while the nuvi 250 offers all 50 states and Canada.

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

Galileo and Garmin

May 25, 2007 By 1 Comment

Galileo
A couple of days ago, I posted a story about several new Garmin eTrex GPS units due this fall. At that point, the Canadian PDF catalog page was not available online, but it’s back now and the full story can be told.

The big news isn’t the high-sensitivity chipset, it’s this blurb from the ad…

Also “GALILEO” (the new navigation system under development in Europe) ready as a future path that will accommodate a drop–in chip when available in the future.

That’s pretty exciting except for the fact that Galileo literally can’t get off the ground. According to what I’ve been able to find, only one of 30 satellites has been successfully launched. So Galileo compatibility, while it does show Garmin adding a (potential) new feature to its handhelds, is hardly a good reason to buy one of the new eTrex units.

Filed Under: Garmin, Hardware

Magellan Maestro 3100 review

May 19, 2007 By 11 Comments

Magellan_maestro_3100_2

UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The Magellan Maestro 3100 is the entry level GPS in the Magellan Maestro series.  It has a 3.5″ touch-screen, the super-sensitive SiRFstar III chipset, 750,000 points of interest (POIs), and is pre-loaded with maps of the 48 contiguous United States.

I have not been very impressed with receivers with such a low number of POIs. Even units with 1.5 million POIs have frequently failed to turn up the store, restaurant, etc. that I was looking for, meaning that I would need to enter the address for navigation (if I even had it). Other reviewers, linked to below, didn’t seem to have many problems with the Maestro 3100 though. Perhaps they are in areas without as many new stores, etc.

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

Magellan Maestro 4000 review

May 16, 2007 By 3 Comments

Magellan_maestro_4000
UPDATE: This model has been discontinued. For current recommendations, please refer to our auto GPS buyers guide or check out our other Magellan auto GPS reviews.

The Magellan Maestro 4000 is part of Magellan’s newest GPS lineup — the Maestro series. Like the other members of the Maestro series, the 4000 has a 4.3″ wide-screen display, voice-prompted directions, AAA travel information and a SiRFstarIII chipset. The 4000 also comes with pre-loaded maps of the 48 contiguous United States. Unfortunately, it has a sure to disappoint 1.5 million points of interest (POI) in its database. My experience with such units has been that many searches fail to turn up the store, restaurant, etc. that I am looking for, meaning that I need to enter the address for navigation.

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Filed Under: GPS Reviews, Hardware, Magellan

Garmin nuvi 650 review

April 30, 2007 By 29 Comments

Garmin_nuvi_650_l

UPDATE: Though still available and supported, Garmin has discontinued the nuvi 650. For newer models, check out my Garmin nuvi comparison chart.

The Garmin nuvi 650 is Garmin’s entry level unit in the 4.3″ wide-screen 600 series.  The touch-screen nuvi 650 comes with pre-loaded maps of the U.S. and Canada, an MP3 player, and the ability to call out upcoming street names. So you’ll get “turn left on North Main Street in 500 feet” rather than just “turn left in 500 feet.” Live traffic coverage is available as an add-on.

Step up to the nuvi 660 to get an integrated traffic receiver, Bluetooth for hands-free cell phone use, along with an FM transmitter to stream music, directions and phone calls through your car stereo speakers. The nuvi 670 adds European maps to the 660’s feature set, while the nuvi 680 adds MSN Direct services to the 660’s features.

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