China deploying their own satellite navigation network http://j.mp/hTAJNL GPS

Garmin chirp Review - GPS beacon - 1 year battery - 1-10m range - US$20 http://bit.ly/bT2CDy

digital camera with GPS comparison http://bit.ly/d3FduH

ContourGPS helmet mounted video camera has GPS with embedded map
http://ping.fm/ikwj3

GPSFileDepot - Custom global maps, Ximage hosting, tutorials GPS http://bit.ly/d4xFab travel

Garmin Foretrex 401

Picked up a Garmin Foretrex 401 at REI for full price, $250, + CA sales tax, less last year's annual dividend and expecting something like a 10% dividend for 2009 purchases.  It's been getting very mixed and scanty reviews, but I want something for both traveling around and for heart rate monitoring.  Amazon had the best price on the associated heart rate monitor.

I had found a significantly better price at PC Nation but, once the PC Nation on line ordering system found out I was in California, it wanted an additional 9% use tax.  REI has the best return policy in case the Foretrex 401 turns out to be a turkey. 

Garmin's web site doesn't describe where the serial number is.  It's under the batteries.

Garmin's WebUpdater recognized the unit, but found no applicable updates.

One set of interesting functions is for free fall exit and descent management, "jumpmaster" functions, though that's a bit of a misnomer since besides calculating the High Altitude Release Point it can be also be used once out of the airplane to manage both the free fall and under the canopy parts of the descent.

Dash Express size

The Dash site FAQ has a Q/A about the Dash Express size.

Q: Why so big?
A: "Dash Express has a large battery to support up to 2 hours of use without a power supply. Dash Express also has three antennas - GPS, GPRS and WiFi which makes the device a larger size."

The simplistic comparison is with iPhone Gen2, though.

Lightweight "Travel" GPS in Direct Sunlight

I'm looking for a GPS that I can put on the handlebar of a moto (small motorcycle) or bicycle when traveling instead of having my Garmin Vista HCx in the carabiner stretch holster (Garmin part 010-10480-00) I've currently been using.  The idea is to be able to view while riding, instead of having to stop/slow down to look at the screen.

Requirements:
--readable in direct sunlight
--waterproof
--relatively lightweight (especially for the bicycle scenarior)
--readable screen
--addon maps.

Other considerations:
--batteries (removable chargable; AA; non-removable)
--screen size
--controls (touch, button, manipulate relatively safely while moving)

Evaluation so far:
--the nuvi 270 isn't readable in direct sunlight as the HCx and 76CSx are, regardless of what I see in online reviews.

GPS: Garmin Nuvi versus Dash Comparison

I've been reading reviews of the Dash Express, which is just being dropped into general availability, though it appears that Amazon won't be shipping it until 27 March, 2008.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of data available yet comparing the Dash Express with currently available devices. Since I need to do this anyway, I'll come up with something for the Dash Express, my now back level Garmin nuvi 650, and a current traffic enabled Garmin nuvi.

----------------

Ok, first possibly fatal problem is that it's not clear how the Dash Express can be transferred between cars, which is a problem since I most often need GPS when in a rental car. And, since I travel a lot in rental cars in California, I can't affix the mount to the window, by law. Dash support says they're aware of the issue and it's not a straightforward fix, since the unit is bulky and heavy.

(to be continued)

Handheld GPS: Garmin Colorado and Vista HCx

My Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, which I've had for less than a year, may be lost forever, so I'm looking for a replacement.

The obvious first choice would be the same thing, an eTrex Vista HCx.

However the new Garmin Colorado, either 300 or 400t, are worth considering.

Some considerations:
--size: Colorado is 2.4"W x 5.5"H x 1.4"D, HCx is 2.2" x 4.2" x 1.2" (the Garmin web site, for some reason isn't consistent in listing W-H-D in the same order)
--weight: Colorado 7.3oz; HCx 5.5oz
--display size: Colorado 240x400 pixels - 3" diagonal; HCx 176x220
--battery life: Colorado 15 hours; HCx 25
--chipset: Colorado- Garmin proprietary; HCx SiRF III
--datacard: Colorado SD, though it appears that 4GB is the limit supported with SDHC; HCx microSD

Some unanswered questions:
--the Colorado has a "Transflective color TFT"; the HCx has 256 level color TFT. What's the functional difference, if any? There is at least one report that the transflective TFT technology is less readable out of doors as well as discussion about the display.
--apparently the Colorado lacks a "night mode," which affects the screen brightness and colors displayed.
--is startup time too long?
--is Trackback feature needed?
--USB 1.1 only?
--no street names with City Nav loaded
--no waypoint averaging
--map borders clutter screen (I've seen this on other units)
--lists don't scroll around, but have a beginning and end
--zooms only to 80 feet

This page lists many perceived deficiencies and this one lists issues.. It's hard to know which of these can be changed/fixed with a firmware update, assuming that Garmin wanted to make the change in the first place.

One concern I haven't yet seen mentioned elsewhere is, with the non-SiRF chipset, can the Coolorado ever take advantage of Ephemeris APGS to reduce time to fix. Perhaps the function or its equivalent is already included?

Garmin City Navigator Thailand NT comments

Garmin has produced street level mapping for Thailand with points of interest such as lodging, restaurants, and transit (for example, small town bus stations)and ships it on a microSD in an SD adapter. I got version 8.

Some initial comments:

• the serial number isn't evident, if it has one at all
• when used with a nuvi, it doesn't show 3D maps
• detail in small towns is pretty good, though there are some misspellings

Points of interest include:

• border checkpoints
• Banks and ATMs

Garmin's Worldmap V3.02 and V 4 Comparison

Trying to determine the differences / comparison between Garmin's Worldmap V 3.02 and V 4. On a 76CSx I found that I could generally tell where I was in Malaysia, but when zoomed the map might show me well in the water in places like Melaka.

A comparison is the kind of thing that would be useful in the site's product description.

Comparison of TMC Traffic vs. MSN Direct for GPS

Comparison of TMC Traffic vs. MSN Direct on your GPS | GPS Lodge

Compares traffic features such as on Garmin nüvi [nuvi[ 660 and 680

Garmin Nuvi 680 Full Review

...it has the ability to pull down information about weather, movies, traffic and gas prices.

The MSN Direct system will retrieve movie theater locations and what's playing at those theaters too, allowing you to search by movie or theater.

When you tap on the weather button you get a forecast for a city or town close to you. As the unit pulls down more weather information, the display will show you the opportunity for a weather forecast at most cities and the option to browse other cities.

You get a list of towns and cities near you and then as you continue to scroll you start to get a list of major cities near you.

MSN Direct covers about 100,000 gas stations across the country, and after doing a little research I found that the US has 121,000 gas stations, making for about 83% coverage of major gas stations (there are about another 10,000 outlets with no employees, making them, in my mind, so small they may not be worth considering; even if you add those, that's still an impressive coverage number - 75%)

MSN Direct Traffic on the Nuvi 680
This gets a little messy, and to fully understand the traffic area, you need to understand the suppliers of traffic data. The Nuvi 680 uses MSN Direct Traffic. MSN Direct uses Traffic.com's data (being acquired by NAVTEQ), which relies on road sensors for the most part to gather information about traffic flow and incidents.

The Nuvi 660 and most of the Garmin line uses TMC traffic also supplied over the FM band by ClearChannel communications. The data is fed by Inrix. I have written a lot about Inrix, and their miles of road covered is superior to Traffic.com's from what I can tell. Check out how Inrix collects more information about roads that don't have expensive installed sensors; it's called the Dust Network, and it's pretty innovative.

Don't walk away from the Traffic.com fed MSN traffic yet. The data feed coming from Traffic.com tells you anticipated delays along your route, where speed data is given. So something like: "2 incidents on your route. 15 minute delay." I like this, as it informs me about what is going on and how much trouble I am in for. The trade-off here is coverage, for what is a pretty useful feature in my mind.

You can compare the coverage for your area at Inrix or at Traffic.com. At Inrix, just click on your city to see a what roads are covered in your area. At Traffic.com, click on your city and then on the Map tab to show the coverage graphically.