December 17, 2007

Dash Express available for pre-order

Dash_express_front_2

UPDATE: Read our full, hands on, Dash Express review.

Dash Navigation is now taking advance orders for the Dash Express for shipment at the end of February. Last week we noted that Dash Navigation had set their service fees for the Dash Express. I'm glad to see that a three-month trial subscription is included in the $599 price of the unit.

Sure to be one of the most talked about, and hopefully one of the hottest, GPS receivers of 2008, the Dash Express brings a live traffic / update / search connection to the GPS navigation experience. The unit will use anonymous position information from other Dash users to provide detailed traffic information, arrival times and the best route. It also allows access to Yahoo! Local search.

Over at Engadget this morning, they've posted a field test of the unit, including some video footage.

Dec 17, 2007 10:26:42 AM | Dash, Hardware

1 Comment

Zane

I'm not too sure if $599 is reasonable enough, considering that it's closest competitor in terms of features - the nuvi 680, is available for under 500 bucks with 12 months of free service (worth $60). While I have no doubt about it's capabilities, it makes me wonder if people are really going to pony up 10-12 bucks a month for the "Dash Service", speaking of which, what exactly does it include? Is it just traffic or the entire gamut of features including WiFi and OTA updates? Come to think of it, the cost for the first year of usage is 600+132+taxes which puts it in the same league as in-dash systems with gargantuan 7" screens.

Posted by: Zane | December 17, 2007 at 11:16 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEXT POST
Magellan Triton 1500 - First impressions UPDATE: Read my Magellan Triton 1500 review. I’ve had a few days to try my new Magellan Triton 1500 and have decided to post some initial impressions, since a full review isn’t likely till after the holidays. Cable snafu After a stumbling introduction, Magellan seems to be going the extra mile to assist folks who received units without cables (short of moving their tech support back to the U.S.!). If you were one of the unlucky recipients of a Triton 1500 sans cable, email me at rich at makeyourownmaps dot com and I’ll try to put you in touch with someone who can help. Hardware The Triton 1500 fits nicely in my hand and feels solid. I like the touch screen and am finding it relatively easy to move back and forth between it and the button controls. I am not finding it necessary to use the stylus that often. The buttons are stiff, and will take a little getting used to. They are backlit, which is a nice feature. One of the worst things I can say about the hardware at this point is that the screen isn’t that bright. You have to hold it at the proper angle...
PREVIOUS POST
Tech talk - raster vs. vector, or why has it taken so long to get aerial photos and USGS topos? What makes aerial photos and USGS topo maps so different that we've been waiting years to get them on our GPS screens? A few companies have started offering these images in the past year. But so far, Garmin, the king of GPS receivers, has not had this capability (with the exception of limited aerial imagery of ports on some marine units). To address this, we first need to define two types of imagery and the problems they can cause. I'll close with what's coming from Garmin and Magellan in this regard. Raster and vector graphics All those nice graphics that show roads in 3-D, POIs and street names on your auto GPS come from data files that are made up of lines and points. There are no images stored in system. The "images" you see on your screen are generated on the fly and are called vector graphics. Aerial photos on the other hand are pictures rather than data files; these are known as raster graphics. USGS topo maps are also raster imagery. These true image files eat up a lot more storage space than vector files. Barriers to successful implementation So memory is one problem to be overcome. And...

Rich Owings

The Typepad Team

Search

Recent Comments