Your Optimum Navigation Solution Is The GPSMAP 276C
April 21st, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
The GPSMAP 276C is a good unit for entry-level site navigation users who want a versatile device that can be easily upgraded. Not all navigation systems can be hooked up to the computer via a USB cable or can receive data (like upgraded maps) through SD memory cards. The 276 was previously considered expensive, debuting for $500, but with the newer releases the price has dropped down to around $300.
There are many pros to the 276C. The transflective screen makes the display visible in direct sunlight, which doesn’t necessarily come with all site navigation units, not to mention the high resolution which boasts three times the amount of pixels for better definition. Additionally, the 10,000 point track log is handy. Many consumers like that this system has buttons, rather than a touch screen and that the unit is battery-powered and portable so they can be used in motels and restaurants too. The WAAS technology results in accurate readings within 3 meters and the computer interface makes adding programs, route information or additional maps easy.
The GPSMAP 276C is ideal for marine site navigation. The color chart plotter and built-in base map can show water depth, temperature and water speed. Additionally, the helpful Course Deviation Indicator will help steer the wayward boat back on track. The system is compatible with BlueChart maps, which are some of the most vivid, high-detail marine maps available. Back on land, the Garmin GPSMAP 276C auto-routes motorists to their destinations with voice prompted turn-by-turn directions and City Navigator maps.
Edward Cocca of Scottsdale, Arizona said his Garmin GPSMAP 276C was easy on his eyes. “The controls are so improved and the color screen is great for these old eyes. The contrast is sharp and adjustable,” he explains. Also, he adds, “The operation manual is simple and easy to understand.” For older users, first-timers and those looking for a nice mid-range site navigation tool, the GPSMAP 276C can do everything the Garmin GPSmap 276CSx can do and more.
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The GPSMAP 60 Navigation System
April 18th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
The GPSMAP 60 by Garmin is one of the least expensive GPS navigation systems. This useful tool will navigate from the backwoods and boundary waters to the highways for a well-rounded adventure. For avid hikers who don’t want to break the bank, the 60 is reliable for just under $200. The next version, which is the GPSMAP 60Cx, comes with color display and retails for just under $300.
The 60 is perfect for beginner navigators or those who need a reliable GPS navigation device while wandering around the woods or waters. The built-in base map and 24 MB of internal memory will store basic marine, topography and city street information. It is waterproof for marine adventures and provides turn-by-turn automatic routing capabilities for road warriors. Hunters and fishers like the alarm clock, sunrise/sunset time, moon phase table and optimal hunting/fishing time features. With 28 hours of battery life, this device is a reliable and affordable companion for outdoor adventures.
There are many pros to the GPSMAP 60. Since this GPS navigation system uses Wide Area Augmentation System technology, the margin of error is 3 meters or less, which is fairly precise. Adding new programs and maps, storing trips and automatically recording waypoints or trails is easy with the computer-like interface too. The unit is waterproof, making it suitable for water travel and rainy hikes. Lastly, the affordable price (less than $200) is a draw for many outdoor adventurers! On the downside, the display screen is only 2.6″ and there is only gray-scale graphics with the old style receiver, which works best in open areas. For hikers traversing deep canyons, urban areas or dense forests, the high-sensitivity receivers are preferable for more reliability.
The www.amazon.com editors gave the GPSMAP 60 full marks, arguing that the GPS navigation system “offers a high-contrast, four-level grayscale LCD (160 x 240 pixels) with backlighting for the display and the keypad. A large-numbers option provides easy viewing. You get 1,000 user waypoints with name and graphic symbols and 20 reversible routes. A handy trip computer provides an odometer, stopped time, moving average, overall average, total time, max speed and more. The unit also comes with a 10,000-point automatic track log, and 20 saved tracks (500 points each), which will let you retrace your path in both directions.”
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Refurbished GPS Products Are A No Brainer
April 18th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Isn’t it strange how there seems to have been an explosion of refurbished GPS devices on the market, within just about any given ecommerce store that can be found by doing a google search? This shouldn’t come as a shocker to anyone, finding quality GPS devices, especially those that you can use in your car, for a low price is definitely something that consumers want.
Why are there so many refurbished navigation GPS out on the market right now? There are actually a slew of reasons why companies are either forced or willingly choose to mark their GPS products as refurbished. Some refurbished GPS are still in their pristine, pre-production condition and haven’t even left their own packaging. Here is a list of some of the common reasons why electronics can get marked as “refurbished” by their manufacturer:
1. The product was a “return” by the customer that purchased it, indicating that there was some motivation on the part of the owner of the product to get their money back. In some circumstances the reason behind this return has nothing to do with the functionality or quality of the product; sometimes people just don’t want the product that they bought.
2. The manufacturer created too many of the specific model and needs to get ride of some of their inventory to make room for more. At that point the retailer will put the product back on the shelves at a marked down price, or ship the GPS back to TomTom, Garmin, or Magellan; once the company that made the product get it, the manufacturer will, in come cases, label the product “refurbished”, and then distribute the devices out again at greatly reduced prices. The funny part about this is the simple fact that the product is still literally brand new, and has never even been opened at all.
3. The product was a “demonstration” or “display model”. Devices used as display models generally get shipped back to the factory; the producer checks out the navigation unit for any defects or damage and then sends it back out to be sold as a refurbished GPS.
4. The product was opened. When this is the case, there is nothing wrong with the product, other than it needs to be sent back to the manufacturer to be repackaged, in which case, oddly enough, it is then labeled as “refurbished”.
5. Shipping damage. When this happens, it usually just means that only the box that the product was in got damaged, but if anything other than the product was damaged (accessories, or the actual unit), it is completely fixed or replaced by the manufacturer.
6. There was a defect in the product. This is can be a rare scenario. Once the defective GPS is in the hands of the manufacturer they test it to see what exactly is wrong with it, and anything that was broken or defective is replaced with brand new parts; once the repair is done the GPS is as good as new, and some might say it is now actually less likely to become defective than the non refurbished products sitting on the shelves of the retail stores; this is due to the fact that refurbished products under go very extensive testing.
In examining all these reasons we can see that refurbished GPS devices are probably just as good as “new” devices. The chances of getting a bad unit is probably just as likely as getting a “new” one so take the plunge, save some money, and go refurbished.
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A Garmin GPSmap For Everything
April 14th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
A Garmin GPSMAP can be used by motorists, bicyclists, hikers and mariners. The crossover GPS devices are usually smaller, which allow for hand-held capacity, especially when compared to the bulkier nuvi automobile models. The navigator maps can range greatly too, as some are in color and some are black-and-white. As well, some are equipped with customizable points of interest, some aren’t; some have 16 hour batteries, some with 28 hour; some with automatic routing and games, some without.
Garmin knew that active individuals needed a reliable crossover device to help them navigate their way. In this world of James Bond caliber adventure, we find ourselves traveling by various modes in our pursuits. At the very beginning of the Garmin line of GPS maps, there are aviation navigator maps for pilots to travel by land, air and sea, such as the GPSMAP 96 or 196, for example. From those basic grey-scale models, Garmin has advanced to full-color portable devices like the GPSMAP 495 and 496, adding airport maps, pre-loaded maps, 3,000 favorite locations, traffic information services, voice prompts, satellite radio and weather.
The 60 Series is very popular for people who want a mapping handheld Garmin GPSMAP for hiking, biking and exploring. As the site says, the Garmin GPSMAP 60cx “puts the great outdoors in the palm of your hand.” The high-sensitivity of these GPS devices provides you with good satellite reception even in dense foliage or deep canyons. The screen is versatile and can be viewed during night or day conditions and can even survive a dunk in the water if it’s encased in the IPX7. The built-in America auto-route base map will show you highways, exits and tide information, in addition to offering turn-by-turn directions. To use, you can connect to your computer using a USB cable to load map data or transfer routes and custom locations; or you may be able to purchase 64 MB microSD cards that come pre-loaded with MapSource maps, so you don’t have to hook up to your computer at all. The Garmin GPSMAP 60 takes you from the backwoods and boundary waters to the highways with 28 hours of reliable battery life, in addition to geocaching features, games, alarm clock functionality, as well as optimal hunting/fishing times and sunrise/sunset/moon phase tables.
The Garmin GPSMAP version 378 comes pre-loaded with “Chart Plotter” marine maps, as well as “Street Navigator” road maps so you can travel from boat to car with ease. When boating, you’ll have access to information on 3,200 lakes, depth contours, rivers, creeks, islands, boat ramps, tide stations and obstructions database. At the touch of a button, you’ll then receive turn-by-turn driving directions with voice prompts to get you home. If you’re hungry or need gas along the way home, you’ll appreciate the City Navigator maps information with more than 6 million points of interest. You can also add XM satellite radio, weather and sonar if you’d like.
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Choosing A GPS
April 14th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
Like the internet, a GPS is another technological advancement made by the military, which has been approved for civilian use. In just under two decades, GPS devices have expanded into cell phones, boats, automobiles and hand-held devices. At first, GPS systems were too expensive for the mass market, but now you can buy a good device for less than $200. There are many different brands, features and map types for site navigation these days, so many consumers spend a good deal of time reading reviews and doing some comparison shopping before they buy.
“Garmin is founded on the principles of innovation, convenience, performance, value, and service,” proclaims the company website. In fact, Garmin, which has been around since 1989, is the most well-known North American brand name in Global Positioning Systems today. Based out of Kansas, no part of the manufacturing process gets outsourced, as the company designs, manufactures, markets and sells all of their products themselves. They offer GPS navigation systems for all different lifestyles, such as fitness-based systems, automotive GPS systems, systems for hikers or campers, aviation technology, marine technology and site navigation for geocachers.
There are a number of Garmin GPS systems to choose from for your automobile. The low-end Garmins are the 200 Series, which still offer color displays, 6 million points of interest and voice-prompted directions. The Garmin nuvi 350 (starting at $169 at Circuit City) is an incredibly popular device, which is called “a Personal Travel Assistant that combines a GPS navigator, language translator and travel guide capability, an MP3 player, an audio book player, a currency and measurement converter, a world clock and a digital photo organizer.” Instead of prompts like “turn left in 100 feet,” you’ll get “turn left on Main Street.” The Garmin 600 series add a number of exciting features: the 650 adds music streaming capacity, improved graphics, entertainment functions and a larger 4.3″ display; the 660 adds live traffic; the 670 adds European maps; and the 680 adds MSN Direct services with weather, fuel prices and movie times. The nuvi 760 adds multi-destination routing and track logs.
When buying an auto GPS device, look at how many “points of interest” are offered. Anything less than 2 million will be frustrating, whereas the ideal number is around 6 million. Next, check for screen size. They range from 2.1 inches all the way up to 7 inch. If you plan to use your GPS while walking, you’ll want something smaller, whereas the 7 inch is best for an RV. For cars, the Garmin nuvi 680 is an ideal 4.3 inch. You’ll want something with good functionality that allows you to switch maps or search points of interest with a button tap or two. Some of the newer, more advanced GPS systems include things like text-to-speech, multi-destination routing, satellite radio/audiobook player/MP3 player capacity and Bluetooth speakerphone capabilities.
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What Are The Latest Games GPS Offers?
March 23rd, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
The games GPS gadgets offer may seem primitive at first glance. While cell phones and computer games have embraced new technology and offered thousands of options, what can you really do with GPS systems? There are some of the run-of-the-mill offerings like Poker or Sudoku, but the idea behind GPS games is to get families into the great outdoors, racing against other families in a thrilling competition. They call this “geocaching” or sometimes “geodashing,” which has become one of the uses for GPS navigation systems that is a lot of fun.
One of the newest games GPS has come out with is called “Geotagging,” which is offered by the Surreal Scania website as a new approach to art. Located in southern Sweden, artists have created videos of the local landscape, then geotagged their contemplative videos to play on GPS navigation systems when users pass these points. The artistic representations beg the question, “What is real and what is imaginary?” The filmmakers show how imagination and location interplay with one another. A similar project was filmed in Singapore and can be found at www.gpsfilm.com. While this concept is new to North America, it’s expected to take off soon, with the increasing popularity of site navigation.
If you have ever watched “The Amazing Race,” then you’ve got the concept of the increasingly popular Geocaching games GPS has to play. Teams or individuals will receive sets of coordinates and will race from waypoint to waypoint, performing different tasks at each location and competing for prizes. In their ventures, seekers often find hidden containers with inexpensive toys, keepsakes or items and log books; they then replace the item with something new and record their name in the log. To find hosting in your area, check out www.geocaching.com to see if one of the 673,265 geocaches can be found near you.
Whether you like the games GPS has created to date or not, this is just one more neat function of GPS devices. The latest technological trends are in all-in-one multimedia devices that allow users to share information, create and upgrade. GPS is no exception! With your Garmin, Magellan or TomTom, you can look up information at the touch of a button, play your satellite radio, talk on your cell phone with Bluetooth technology, gather directions where you’re going, plan your rest stops, get the weather, play a game and so much more!
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