Taking a page from the Magellan playbook, Lowrance has a "crossover" product coming out, the Lowrance XOG, billed as a road-trail-water navigator. Unfortunately, the unit comes with a 12 channel GPS receiver, which tells us that it doesn't have a high-sensitivity chipset like the SiRFstar III.
The Lowrance iWAY 600C
The iWAY 600C has a large 5" touch-screen, pre-loaded maps of the continental U.S. and Canada, plus electronic charts with depth contours for U.S. inland lakes, the Great lakes and coastal waters. It also has an MP3 player, built-in FM transmitter and 5.5 million points of interest (POIs).
25 GB of its 30GB hard drive is dedicated to maps and aerial photos. The remaining 5 GB is available to store MP3s.
Many auto GPS receivers come with an integrated MP3 player, allowing you to control musical selections in your car via the GPS. Some even work with Audible audio book (.aa) files, or come with XM Radio receivers. Typically, playback is paused when navigation directions are announced; some units even rewind a couple of seconds when the music starts back.
There are a number of things to consider when purchasing a GPS receiver with an MP3 player; speaker quality, whether or not you can import playlists, the amount of disk storage available for files (if the unit doesn’t use an SD/MMC card for storage), how intuitive menus are, etc. The variations are too great to delve into here. Our GPS reviews link to many user reviews, so dig deep and check them out, or find a message board for the unit you are interested in, and search or ask.
Earlier this week, Lowrance announced a new GPS receiver, the iWAY 600C. What makes this unit so special is that it can display satellite imagery. It looks like they will beat DeLorme, manufacturers of the fabled Earthmate PN-20, to the punch (though no release date has been set). Actually, Garmin already has marine units that can accommodate aerial photography.
This is a rare feature, and one reason is memory. The points and lines you see on your GPS screen come from data files, not images. It takes a lot more room to store the latter. 25 GB of the iWAYs's 30 GB hard drive is devoted to maps and satellite imagery. But hey, if they can make an 80 GB iPod, this stuff can't be to far away for GPS. Hopefully, the manufacturers will get it right, and not charge us extra for imagery that is available for free on line.
Get the Lowrance iWAY 600C
Continue reading "Satellite imagery and aerial photos on your GPS" »
Call them message boards, discussion groups, online forums, or some other combination of those terms -- Connecting with other folks on the web, who are using your particular brand of GPS can be one of the quickest ways to get an answer on anything from basic noobie queries to perplexing technical questions. Especially helpful are groups that focus on particular brands and models of GPS.
A few caveats before the list of message boards…I've tried to screen out those groups dominated by spam. Also, some of these groups overlap, and they vary greatly in posting volume. Speaking of which, I have one tip for the many Yahoo groups below -- you may want to choose to view messages on the web only, rather than by email, lest your inbox quickly become clogged. Finally, be sure to drill up and down through these websites. There were just too many forums to list them all, and there are other great message boards out there.
Its maps are on a 2 GB MMC/SD card, which has 40 MB free for MP3 files and photos. This isn't quite as nice as the iWAY 350C, which has a 4 GB hard drive for maps, freeing up the MMC/SD card for entertainment.
The Lowrance iWAY 250C
Maps are on a 2 GB MMC/SD card, which has 40 MB free for MP3 files and photos. This isn't quite as nice as the iWAY 350C, which has a 4 GB hard drive for maps, freeing up the MMC/SD card for entertainment.
Lowrance is offering a $100 rebate on the Lowrance iWay 500C through July 31, 2006.
Technorati tags: GPS
The Lowrance iWay 350C
The smaller sibling of the iWay 500C, iWay 350C has a smaller screen (3.5" vs. 5") and hard drive (4 GB vs. 20 GB). Here's what Amazon has to say in their Lowrance iWay 350C review
"...The Lowrance iWay 350C features a touchscreen, GPS navigation, MP3 player, photo viewer, and more in a single device. Simply pick a destination via the easy-to-use touchscreen display and you're on your way. Once programmed, the iWay 350C automatically calculates the best route and delivers turn-by-turn directions with audio and visual cues. It's more convenient than ever to view your route thanks to the three selectable mapping displays--2D Track Up, 2D North Up, and Elevated 3D--and the sunlight-readable 3.5-inch TFT color display, whose 320 x 240 resolution is sharp and detailed. Once you approach your destination, the display's auto-zooming function kicks in to give you a more detailed look..."
Compare prices on the Lowrance iWay 350C
Here's what others are saying about the iWay 350C:
Google Trends, a tool that allows you to compare the frequency of searche terms, was released earlier this week. I've been having a little fun tonight comparing the major brands of GPS. Worldwide trends are shown at left. Now remember, these charts are based on search term frequency, not market share. Garmin and TomTom are the clear leaders, with Magellan and Lowrance trailing significantly. TomTom appears to have surpassed Garmin in the first half of 2005.
The picture in the United States is a little different, with Garmin clearly out in front, as shown at right. Here Magellan comes in a strong second, with TomTom tied with Lowrance for third. This surprised me, given the reports that TomTom had taken the number two spot in the U.S. market from Magellan. Sales are what counts though, and we do see evidence of a fourth quarter 2005 holiday spike for TomTom, which I recall being a period where they really ramped up their U.S. presence.
Finally, lets take a look at the U.K., where TomTom rules the roost, as you can see at the left. What really struck me in this graph was the well-defined holiday spike. You guys across the pond must do all your shopping on Christmas Eve, whereas its a little more drawn out on this side. Anyway, I'm sure there's not a perfect correlation between search and sales, but it's fun to look at anyway!
Technorati tags: GPS
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