It looks like Navigon is taking a page from Garmin and Magellan's playbook, introducing a multitude of models with varying feature sets and at multiple price points. The next unit slated for roll-out appears to be the Navigon 5100 max, which just cleared the FCC. The feature set isn't entirely clear yet, but we expect to see Bluetooth, a 4.3" screen, text-to-speech, lifetime traffic and Zagat ratings (which we dearly love).
I'm pleased to announce the rollout of GPS Deals, a companion site designed to bring you the best sales on GPS receivers from around the Web. Last year, during the holiday season, I was inundated with great deals from vendors like Amazon and TigerGPS. To keep GPS Tracklog from getting cluttered up with things that may or may not interest you, I've decided to roll out a separate site for the GPS deals I come across.
So please stop by and check it out. Here are some more details from the site:
"...Each deal we post will show the expiration date along with price comparisons, so you can tell how good the deal is...
...The best way to keep up with these deals is to subscribe to our RSS feed. In case you're new to RSS, check out our guide to RSS feeds. We're anticipating great deals as we approach the holiday season, especially around Black Friday, so subscribe today and don't miss a single deal."
The Mio Knight Rider
There isn't a lot of information to be had yet about the forthcoming connected GPS units from Best Buy, but I do have a couple of things for you, including the promo photo above. It shows multiple route options, ala the Dash Express. There's no indication that they'll use crowd-sourced, anonymized cell phone data for traffic though. Of course it's always possible that they've struck a deal with Dash or IntelliOne; I've been waiting awhile for someone to announce a partnership with the latter.
Garmin is announcing the GPSMAP 640 today, a new hybrid marine and auto navigator. The 600 series represents a completely new product line for Garmin. Nuvi-like in appearance, the 640 features a 5.2" touchscreen, the same size as that found on the nuvi 5000.
With a couple of extra-wide screen models out now, I'm betting we'll see some more 5.2" automotive nuvis announced early next year at CES. The other item of interest for non-boaters is the availability of XM WX Satellite Weather™, which I'd love to see on the nuvi series and Garmin handhelds. And as long as I'm wishing, if Garmin can put aerial imagery on this and other marine units, why not make it available for the rest of us too?
Continue reading "Garmin GPSMAP 640 - Hybrid marine and auto unit" »
GpsPasSion is reporting that Garmin will begin offering "Lifetime Maps," effective October 15, at a cost of $119. According to the site, "subscribers will be able to download quarterly updates for their GPS system as long as they own it."
UPDATE: Garmin UK has a page up on the product, dubbed called Garmin GB ActiveTM.
Garmin Oregon owners in the UK will soon be able to view Ordnance Survey raster maps on their units. Raster aerial imagery has been available on marine units since the release of the Garmin Colorado and Oregon 400c/i models, yet we landlubbers have had to make do with vector maps.
The OS maps, due to be released early next month, will reportedly overlay vector data on top of raster imagery, allowing for turn-by-turn navigation.
Continue reading "UK to get raster maps for Garmin Oregon" »
Best Buy will launch their first house label GPS units on October 19, under their Insignia brand. But the big news is that these devices will sport a cellular connection and local Google search, as well as real-time traffic.
Priced at $499 for the 4.3" Insignia NS-CNV20 and $399 for the 3.5" NS-CNV10, the PNDs will carry no service fees for the first year.
Via TWICE.
DeLorme is now taking pre-orders for their new handhelds, the PN-40 and PN-40 SE. The latter bumps the internal memory from 1 GB to 8 GB. Their site says that both models are expected to ship in late October. If you're interested in the SE model, note that it will only be available from DeLorme. Here are all the details.
Related posts:
With NAVTEQ traffic coming to the Garmin nuvi 2x5T and 7x5 series, it's a good time to look at the coverage of the five major traffic providers in the U.S. Live traffic information is far from perfect, though it can save your bacon occasionally. But first you have to be in an area with reception. So let's look at their coverage maps, and then I'll turn it over to you, our readers, to hear about how accurate these maps are (or not!).
After a lot of changes last month, there were mostly minor shifts in our top ten list this time around. The biggest change was the TomTom GO 730 jumping from the 9th spot to 3rd, perhaps due to some good deals on a relatively high-end device. The trans-Atlantic Garmin nuvi 770 bumped the newer nuvi 205W out of the tenth spot on the list. On the sport/handheld GPS side, there were only minor shifts.
As always, the rankings are based on the number of times each review has been read here on GPS Tracklog, which is usually a pretty good indicator of the overall GPS market.
Top ten auto GPS
I've just been informed that one of our favorite vendors, GPS Now, has received a shipment of the latest Garmin nuvi models -- the nuvi 265T and nuvi 265WT. As usual with new models, it appears that Garmin has saddled dealers with a minimum resale price, since they are being sold for the MSRP of $299.99 and $349.99, respectively. Nevertheless, these models pack some bang for the buck, with text-to-speech, Bluetooth for hands-free calling and free lifetime traffic. This is in addition to all the great new and advanced features that showed up on the first generation nuvi 2x5 series models, which I detailed in my hands on review of the nuvi 205W.
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