Garmin’s Dakota 20 and Dakota 10 handheld GPS navigators, announced this morning, are the latest Garmin mapping handhelds in a successful line that includes the Oregon and Colorado families.
Heavily based on the Oregon in physical design and user interface, the Dakota line is rugged and waterproof with a glove-friendly, 2.6-inch color touchscreen display. Inside is a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with Garmin’s HotFix technology, improving the ability to acquire and keep satellite communication in heavily-treed or mountainous outdoor environments.
850 MB of internal memory means users will be able to store up to 2, 000 geocaches, 1, 000 waypoints, 50 routes and an active GPS tracklog of 50, 000 points and 200 tracks. Both devices are lightweight, weighing only 6.75 ounces, have a AA battery life of 20 hours, have a preloaded global basemap and compatibility with Garmin City Navigator NT (for turn-by-turn street directions), as well as BlueChart g2 marine maps and TOPO US 24K and 100K terrain maps.
The flagship Dakota 20 throws in a few extra features as well. Included with the Dakota 20 is a 3-axis compass that shows directional heading, even when standing still and the handheld isn’t level (I think Garmin has the potential to create some useful augmented reality applications here). It also has a barometric altimeter, microSD card slot for expandable memory, and wireless connectivity for sharing data with compatible Garmin Oregon, Colorado, Dakota and Foretrex devices.
Both the Dakota 20 and Dakota 10 are scheduled to ship in the 3rd quarter with respective prices of $299.99 and $349.99. Check out the pictures after the cut.
