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Updated November 20th, 2008 A new ski season is upon us and so is a new version of the SnowRanger maps by Mountain Dynamics.
These new maps leverage the large and colorful display of Garmin's new units, the Colorado and Oregon handheld systems. They can also use their shaded terrain feature for some pretty stunning rendering of the resorts and trails that are now color coded. European users will also be happy to know that the Snowranger maps are available for Garmin units, previously you needed a Magellan GPS system. I probably won't be able to test these maps live in the field until February but it if you do, make sure to leave a comment in this topic of the "Sports GPS Systems" forums.
Updated February 10th, 2008 - While GPS is now used in many areas, driving, sailing, hiking, geocaching, geocoding, etc...there were no dedicated maps for skiing. The skiflash experience in Morzine four years ago (see below) was shortlived, but the new SnowRanger maps by Mountain Dynamics are quite promising. They don't provide actual guidance, which wouldn't make much sense on the runs, but thanks to their rich features (ski lifts, trails, lodges, parking) they make it easy to pinpoint your position on the mountain. They have coverage of most US resorts for Garmin and Magellan systems and Europe for Magellan systems. As a bonus, their website lets you browse through the resorts and upload and visualize your tracks on the Snow Days page....
Updated November 17th, 2008 The Navigon series 8 saw the light of day in Europe under the 8110T name in the spring and is finally making it to the US as the 8100T in late 2008. It stands out from the other GPS systems with its : 1. "Panorama View" that shows the actual terrain, impressive in hilly areas and in the mountains ! 2. Large 4.8" screen 3. Active car holder with "pole" mount 4. FreshMaps (quarterly map updated) subscription included. A nice list, however Navigon are asking $500 for the 8100, a $200 premium over the recently relased 7200. Is it worth it ? You can use this topic of the "All in One" Navigation Systems forums to discuss.
Updated November 5th, 2008 - As expected the new Navigon Q4/2008 Maps (Navteq Q2/2008) maps are now available via the FreshMaps program, as well as a free MN|7 update for the 2100max and 2120max models. A good surprise since software upgrades are far and between on GPS systems...
Updated November 14th, 2008 The new TomTom GO x40 (740 and 940) GPS systems have started shipping in Europe. They are TomTom's first connected devices with their onboard GPRS module and SIM card. They come with the "TomTom PLUS" services as we know them with the notable addition of Google Local Search, Gas Prices and of course "HD Traffic", TomTom's answer to the often inaccurate "Traffic over RDS". TomTom said they currently didn't have any plans to release them in the US.
A GO 940 made it today to the "GpsPasSion Labs" and I have started testing it and comparing it to the GO 920 and GO 930 reference systems. You will find pictures and first comments in [TOPIC] TomTom 940 - HD Traffic, Google - Testing of the www.GOtomtom section of the forums.
Posted September 2nd, 2008 - After the TomTom GO in 2004, the GO x00s (300/500/700) in 2005, the GO x10s (510/710/910) in 2006, the GO x20s (520/720/920) in 2007 and the GO x30s (530/730/930) earlier this yera, here comes the sixth generation of TomTom GO systems, the x40s LIVE with the 540, 740 and 940 models, see the TomTom website for the press release. At this point they are only announced in a few European countries (Holland, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland) as they require a phone carrier partner due to their "always connected" nature. TomTom recently cleared the HD Traffic receiver with the FCC so availability in the US...
Updated November 12th, 2008 News from Pharos today with the launch of the Traveler 117 and Traveler 127 GPS Smartphones. They could actually be called PDAPhones since they both have a touchscreen, which makes the the Traveler 127 quite unique since it also has a keyboard. With GPS Smartphones being common these days, the difference comes from the navigation software, and they both ship with Pharos Smart Navigator billed as a "unique hybrid navigation product that is the first to combine navigation software + location services on a Windows Mobile device.".
This might well be the case since ALK's CoPilot offers tracking and Garmin's Mobile XT offers Google Local Search and Trafic, but neither has both. Unfortunately it seems the "old" Ostia interface is still being used so we'll have to see if it's usability has been improved. In the meantime you can use this topic of the "GPS and Mobile News" forums to discuss.
Updated February 20th, 2008 - The review of the Pharos Drive GPS 250 is now available in this article in the the "AIO (All in One) Navigation Systems" section of the forums. The biggest surprise is that Pharos are no longer using their in-house Ostia software. Probably a wise move since it hadn't been able to keep up with the competition in terms of usability and there are now many other options available...
Updated November 10th, 2008 TeleNav caught everyone by surprise on Friday when they launched the TeleNav Shotgun connected PND. This is unexpected because it was announced last week that the Dash Express, the connected PND poster child, was being terminated.
Contrary to Dash and deCarta (powers BestBuy's Insignia), TeleNav have a lot of "consumer GPS" experience thanks to their Mobile GPS software available since 2005, assuming they're using the same navigation engine. The map rendering doesn't look "great" though compared to Garmin's or TomTom's especially that 2D vehicle arrow...Let's wish them good luck, but the pricing might be a problem, $299 upfront is reasonable but $12/month or $130/year for the service paln not so much, they'll really have to offer much better traffic than Garmin's RDS or MSN to pull it off. You can use this topic of the "GPS and Mobile News" forums to discuss.
Updated February 1st, 2006 - After Garmin and Telenav's solutions that some visitors tested side by side (see below), here's another competitor on this "off-board" market, Verizon's VZ Navigator. Monthly pricing is similar at $10 per month but they have added a one day $3 option that could come in handy on the occasional trip even for regular GPS users in case their "on-board" setup lets them down.....
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Updated November 20th, 2008
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