Category — Garmin

Boaters using Garmin’s BlueChart marine technology to navigate the high seas, lakes, and rivers will be getting an upgrade soon.  Starting in January 2009, Garmin will be replacing the current BlueChart’s with an enhanced version of BlueChart g2.  Says Garmin,

“revised mapping data will add increased dimension and standardized information to the Garmin marine chart offerings, and will allow the user to define colors to depth contour ranges. Users will also benefit from improved transition between zoom levels and seamless changes across chart boundaries with the redesigned product.”

BlueChart g2 will include basic charts, tidal stations, currents, perspective view and fishing charts, while keeping the products usability similar to the current version.

Additionally, Garmin will also be launching an upgraded BlueChart g2 Vision providing high-resolution satellite imagery, 3D views both above and under water, and auto guidance with compatible units.

via garmin

Skyhook Wireless has made a hugely important strategic move today, not only cementing their future in the mobile handset market, but ensuring that positioning in mobile handsets is a helluva lot more accurate.  The company has licensed Qualcomm their Wi-Fi Position System (WPS) for use in former’s gpsOne positioning system, used in over 400 million handsets globally.

So what does this mean? First off, it cements Skyhook Wireless as the world’s foremost Wi-Fi positioning technology provider and places them in an enviable position compared to the Garmin’s and TomTom’s of the world.  They’ll be around for awhile.  Second off, end consumers like you and me who own handsets with Qualcomm GPS chips will find ourselves on the end of faster positioning fixes, and fewer drop in urban canyons and tunnels.

It will also be a boon to location-based application developers who achieve greater usability for their products, thanks to an innovation completely unrelated to their own work.  I’m sure Qualcomm realizes this and I wonder if that’s why the company has released the brand new Brew Mobile Platform SDK today.

Suitable for use in both lower and higher-end handsets, and all 3G technologies, the Brew Mobile Platform SDK also integrates Adobe Flash bringing a whole new level of functionality to mobile apps.  Is it possible we could see the location-based YouTube for mobile in the near future.  Who knows, but wouldn’t it be cool?

And I think that just might be Qualcomm’s thinking.  A member of the Open Screen Project, Qualcomm is looking to bring such rich user experiences to all screens: the TV, computer, and mobile phone.

(Image Credit: Skyhook Wireless)

Speck, a world-leading case brand, has chosen to avoid the struggling PND hardware industry and protect what is already there.  The company has developed ToughSkin protective casings for some of the most popular GPS devices around including: Garmin’s nuvi 200, 205, 250, 260, 270, 300, 310, 350, 360 and 370 models as well as Garmin’s widescreen 200w, 205w, 250w, 255w and 260w models.

But well aware of the threat TomTom GPS devices pose to Garmin, Speck has developed ToughSkin protective casings for TomTom’s XL 330, 300-S, ONE 130 and 130-S.

Speck’s GPS Flyer Universal Portable GPS Travel Case also fits most popular PND models, has a small outer compartment that fits most PND’s and props it up for view, protecting it while in case.  Once your done with it in-vehicle, it collapses into a zipped portion of the case perfect for storage.  It also has a number of other pockets and pouches to store cables, etc.

How much?  It’s a rather simple pricing structure actually:

Garmin ToughSkin’s: $29.95

TomTom ToughSkin’s: $29.95

GPS Flyer: $39.95

Thanks Bill!

Garmin and BMW are celebrating a successful 5-year partnership with the launch of the BMW Portable Navigation System Pro and BMW Portable Navigation System Plus.

The Portable Navigation Plus comes with or without preloaded mapping so it’ll eventually be sold worldwide.  Right now the Plus models are available in Europe and North America and are compatible with separately purchased SD cards so you can load maps specific to your region of use.  Features include a 4.3-inch high-res touchscreen, Bluetooth, MP3 playback, a BMW vehicle icon to represent your position, a BMW dealer database, park position recall, and local search.  In North America it also has Garmin’s FM traffic receiver with FM real-time traffic and fits BMW 1 Series, BMW 3 Series and BMW X3 models.

The Portable Navigation Pro has all of the features of the Plus, but has MSN Direct’s real-time traffic reports, gas prices, weather conditions, movie times, and more.  It also has voice recognition technology and preloaded maps of 33 European countries.

via garmin

Garmin has announced its flagship GPSMAP 696 and GPSMAP 695 portable aviation navigation devices, updated from the company’s GPSMAP 495 and 496, and for brevity’s sake I’ll run down the impressive feature set of its flagship model in point form.

The GPSMAP 696 features:

• 7-inch high-res portrait display
• bottom soft keys to control most-used features on any page
• dedicated right side buttons to control “functions such as nearest, direct to, flight plan, zoom in/out and menu”
• rotary knob/joystick on right side “that lets pilots enter airport identifiers, pan the map, or scroll to page and sub-page groups”
• IFR map mode similar to a standard enroute chart but with advanced situational awareness with visual reference points including major visual reference points like rivers, state boundaries, highways and railroad tracks
• Garmin FliteCharts, updated every 28 days
• XM radio and XM WX Satellite Weather receiver for United States customers
• PIREPs and icing forecast information
• Smart Airspace, SafeTaxi and AOPA Airport Directory data

The GPSMAP 695 is split into three versions: GPSMAP 695 Americas, GPSMAP 695 Pacific, and GPSMAP 695 Atlantic.  Only the 695 Americas model includes an XM receiver.

The GPSMAP 695 and GPSMAP 696 are available now priced at $2,695 and $3,295 respectively.

via garmin

I’m sorry to say it, but boating and fishing fans everywhere have really been disappointing Garmin.  The company’s marine segment has shown virtually no growth this year, and Garmin expects it to stay that way until their fiscal year-end.  Of course it hasn’t been your fault entirely; fuel prices were pretty high not that long ago and what looks to be the beginning of a nearly global recession has us all pinching pennies.  Floating the high seas, lakes, and rivers isn’t really a necessity, right?

If you do have some cash to burn though, pitch in and help the fight: Garmin commenced shipping the GHP 10 Marine Autopilot system today, as well as the GHC 10 Marine RF Autopilot Remote Control.

The GHP 10 Autopilot utilizes Shadow Drive technology that immediately disengages the autopilot if the helm turns, enabling quick maneuvering on your part.  Once you’re back on course, the autopilot automatically turns back on.  It uses a standard NMEA interface, and is designed for boats over 70 feet long using hydraulic outboard, inboard, or stern drives.

The GHC 10 Remote allows you to control the GHP 10 wirelessly from up to 45 feet away, floats, and no surprise here, is IPX7 waterproof.  It has a variety of programmable commands including navigation by GPS, trolling patterns as well as features like Man Overboard, Standby/Engage, and Turn Left/Right which are all useable in stepped increments for maximum safety.

via garmin

Garmin’s third quarter numbers looked fairly strong despite tough global economic conditions, mainly thanks to the introduction of the nuvi 2×5 and nuvi 7×5 series’ PND’s.  Both of Garmin’s automobile/mobile and outdoor/fitness lines showed fairly significant revenue growth, however the company’s marine segment had an 8% decrease in revenues and both gross and operating margins continue to shrink thanks to falling PND prices.

While the North American and European markets continued growth, the Asian market only generated $38 million in revenues for the quarter down a drastic 21%, although over the year the segment is still up 8%.  Despite promising revenues, Garmin is still hunkering down for tough times ahead, cutting their inventory by $150 million by years-end.  Recent acquisitions of the company’s Austrian and Portuguese distributors and an intent to purchase their Swedish distributors also plays into this as they attempt to increase their market share and operating efficiencies in Europe.  These acquisitions also contributed to decreased operating margins for the quarter.

Garmin revised their fiscal 2008 outlook once again to take into account some of our recent economic challenges, but still expect every navigational segment to grow with the exception of the marine segment.  The almost-forgot-about Nuviphone is still on track for a 2009 first-half release, and the company claims that they’ve signed letters of either intent or agreement with several carriers.  Just don’t expect a further announcement until closer to the release date.

Check out all the numbers in their full glory after the jump…

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Garmin’s nuvi 510 looks to be nothing more than an entry-level device available to the European market..at first glance.  And while it’s very true it’s not internet-connected, doesn’t have any particularly predictive features, nor does it have 3D maps, it does have an impressive 8 hour battery life, FM real-time traffic support, a variety of mounts, and a microSD memory card slot should you choose additional maps beyond those offered.  Offered?  Yes, regional maps of Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal among other European countries, not only in street form but also nautical and topographic formats.  Hence the strange feature set.  Looking at the interface it features extra large touch-sensitive icons on its 3.5-inch touchscreen in case you’re motorcycling the highways or boating the rough seas, has IPX7-standard waterproof casing, can store 1000 of your points of interest, and has Bluetooth so you’ll be able to communicate, for instance, if you stick earbuds in your bike helmet.  And yes, the nuvi 510 is known as the nuvi 500 across the pond so if you’re suffering through some type of deja vu experience at the moment, that’s why.  Available now, the Garmin nuvi 510 is priced at €300 or roughly US$380.

xataka via ubergizmo

Garmin has just announced the GPSMap 640 and GPSMap 620, the first two GPS navigators in its 600 series.  This time around Garmin has taken the popular nuvi line and basically mashed it together with the features of the company’s popular marine navigation lineup to come up with an all-in-one automotive and marine GPS device.

The flagship GPSMap 640 has an IPX7 waterproof 5.2-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, comes preloaded with street maps of North America and global shaded relief mapping, and US coastal BlueChart g2 marine charts.  The 640 also comes with a BlueChart g2 Vision option that provides 3D “above water” views as well as 3D underwater views that accurately display contours on the bottom.  Plus g2 Vision suggests the best route to a given destination much like a vehicular PND.

One of the cool things about the GPSMap 640 is that it comes with a marine mount and a car mount, and is able to detect which mount its placed in, automatically switching to that mode.  On the road the 640 provides voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, POI search and custom POIs and even proximity alerts.

The GPSMap 620 is extremely similar to the 640, but its geared for international users and thus places optional street maps and marine charts on an SD card.

It’s no surprise that with such features packed into one device you’ll pay dearly.  The GPSMap 620 has an MSRP of $999.99, while the GPSMap 640 will go for $1199.99.  The full release is after the jump.

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Garmin’s Edge 705 line of GPS navigator and bicycle computers will now include a special edition Team Garmin Edge 705 model with the same orange and blue argyle design you saw on the pros’ bikes in the 2008 Tour de France.  Aside from GPS navigation with City Navigator mapping, turn-by-turn directions and millions of POIs , the Team Garmin Edge 705 has tons of features specific to cyclists including a heart-rate monitor, speed and cadence sensor, and the ability to share data with fellow cyclists wirelessly using ANT+ wireless technology.  Check out the full release after the jump for all the details!

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