Posts Tagged ‘GPS navigation systems’

Should I Purchase The GPSMAP 60Cx?

GPSMAP 60 CSx

The GPSMAP 60Cx is part of the most popular Garmin GPS navigation series. This is a mid-range GPS navigation system that is ideal for hiking, hunting and boating. The Garmin GPSMAP 60 series runs from a grayscale version below $200 to a full color version with an electronic compass and barometric altimeter for $399. This updated version was so popular that they discontinued the 60C entirely in favor of the new device.

Compared to the original Garmin GPSMAP 60, this next version up has 256 color display (instead of 4 color grayscale), a removable microSD memory card to handle more intricate navigator maps and has a high-sensitivity receiver that is reliable in deep canyons, indoors or under dense foliage. Additionally, you’ll receive tide tables and have the ability to add custom points of interest, as well as store 1,000 favorite waypoints (instead of the GPSMAP 60s usual 500). The most basic Garmin 60 can be found for as low as $191.60 at www.amazon.com, whereas the new and improved 60Cx will be a bit more, retailing as low as $219 at Top Choice Digital online or as high as $319.

Many people using the GPSMAP 60Cx notice immediately the improved reception and the improved quality of the maps, compared to the older units. Because there is an external SD memory card for the 60Cx, detailed MapSource maps can be loaded. You’ll receive the Americas auto-route base map with highways, exits, tide information and marina points. Other map products can then be purchased separately, such as BlueChart, CityNavigator, Topo24K and Recreational Lakes with Fishing Hot Spots. While you’re driving, you’ll get turn-by-turn directions and when you’re hiking, you’ll have a trip odometer to calculate the speed of your progress.

Your GPSMAP 60Cx will come with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty. If your GPS navigation system needs a repair, then there is an additional 90-day repair warranty as well. Their website also has a great tech help section for new users who are tired of navigating their handbooks. Customer service is one of the things that Garmin prides itself on, and since the company is such an industry leader, you will find the most accessories and supporting services with this name brand.

Reviewing The Latest Games GPS Offers

games GPS

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.

GPS games include cheesy arcade style things like “Gekoids Dodge” or “Virtual Maze.” However, the Garmin GPS navigation systems have now added more popular games like Poker, Solitaire, Sudoku, Brick Breaker, Rock Slide, Boxing and Space Shooter, which works with the Nuvi 850, 880 and Monster 5000. Most of the new games GPS are offered for free, while some cost anywhere from $5 each to $20 for a VIP package. To purchase, check out www.mygpsgames.com, where you can download the unlocked codes.

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.

Social networking has also reached the world of GPS devices. In addition to participating in some of the games GPS has to play, like “geocaching” and “geodashing,” you can also share your experiences of particular locations with others. At www.mscape.com, you can access games, music, images, text, videos, animations, narratives and games that are embedded in your location! You can then create your own mediascape or modify an existing one as well! To access these amazing interactive navigator maps, you’ll just visit the site, download the free software, connect your GPS to your PC, copy the player and starter mediascape onto your navigation device, start the player and head outside to play!

The GPSMAP 60 Navigation System

GPSMAP 60

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.

Compared to the Garmin eTrex Venture, the GPSMAP 60 is a much better site navigation device. Satellite acquisition is much faster and more accurate. The ability to download waypoints via a USB cable is also a perk. The reception is fine under trees, compared to other units in this price range. For basic hiking or hunting needs, the 60 is a modest but useful tool.

Pointers When Choosing A GPS

GPS devices

Are you looking for the top selling GPS units in North America? It can be confusing if you’re new to GPS systems because there are so many different series, maps and features! Your best bet is to start by checking out some of the top brands like Garmin, TomTom, Magellan and Navignon. Often you can get software upgrades for older devices, although you can’t upgrade your unit to play satellite radio if the components aren’t there, so it’s important that you consider where you’ll be using your Global Positioning System and what you will expect from it.

“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.

Commuters might like the Dash Express GPS, which displays crowd-sourced traffic data and allows live internet searches to find the best way around traffic jams. Boaters might like the Lowrance iWay 600C’s marine navigation mode with point-to-point navigation and satellite imagery. Hikers, campers and hunters can try the Magellan CrossoverGPS, while the Mio Digiwalker H610 works best for pedestrians and bicyclists. Garmin seems to be top dog for automobile GPS systems, although the TomTom ONE XL 330-S and Magellan Maestro have also made the top 10 list.

Garmin Gpsmap – What Are Its Features?

GPS devices

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 Garmin GPSMAP 276c is “the perfect navigator for water or land,” according to the Garmin website. This portable GPS navigation device comes in color with a sunlight-readable display monitor. A built-in auto-routing base map allows you the ability to plot a course along interstates and highways if you’re driving; while the course deviation indicator lets you know if your boat is off course. If you plan on doing a lot of driving with your Garmin GPSMAP, you can buy the automotive kit with the City Navigator maps and mount, which loads detailed street maps onto your device and allows voice prompted turn-by-turn directions. You’ll have access to more than six million restaurants, hotels, gas stations and other destinations. The 276c is also compatible with Blue Chart marine maps, which provide more detail for your high seas adventures.

If you’re not much of an outdoors person, but you fancy yourself more of a road warrior, then Garmin GPS devices has something for everyone in their car navigator models. The 200 series Garmin GPSMAP (which includes the 200, 250, 260 and 270) has a 3.5″ screen and internal antenna. Next there is the 200W series (200W, 250W and 260W), which is the same as the 200 series but with a larger 4.3″ screen. The Garmin 2×5 Series (205, 205W, 255 and 255W) adds live traffic reports via MSN Direct and also includes that nice, larger 4.3″ screen. The 500 Series include crossover models good for hiking, cycling and boating, as well as driving. The 700 series adds anti-theft, multiple-destination routing and entertainment functions. The 800 series adds voice recognition, lane assist and 3-D buildings. The 300 Series and 600 Series, though you can still find them online, have been discontinued; while each step was celebrated at the time with a new series, the newer models include all those features and more, so Garmin is simplifying their line.

GPS Map Coordinates; Some Valuable Tips

Have you ever heard about GPS Map Coordinates or GPS Navigation systems? A smart traveler knows what to take with him on his journeys. He never forgets to bring a map. It doesn’t matter if he is hiking a mountain or visiting a distant city, the time comes when he has to whip out his trusted map. It surely helps a lot when it comes to telling where he is, or planning a route to get to a particular landmark.

There are many forms of maps today. Some of them include the common paper maps, maps from travel sites on the Internet. Have you ever considered to buy gps tracking device? Heard about the latest GPS map coordinates? There’s no denying GPS map coordinates are the best of all. Read on and find out what makes GPS map coordinates stand out. In this mini guide for gps tracking device we will take a closer look at this.

Receive Up-to-Date Data with GPS Map Coordinates

If you purchase gps tracking device you will get only the latest maps. This is because all the information GPS map coordinates extend to you are from satellites in outer space, so you know that the map and other information you have right in front of you are up to date.

Using the conventional maps printed on paper or those which you can download from the Internet and print or display on a mobile device may even get you sidetracked. Why? Because you don’t know the last time they were updated. You may already be trying to locate a street whose name had been changed some time ago, or a landmark that had been torn down years back.

Customize Your Maps with GPS Map Coordinates

If you have troubles finding your way on a conventional paper map, what you do is use a pen and mark your routes on the map. This way it will help you easily keep track of where you have been, where you currently are, and where you will end up.

Sadly, once you have traced your routes with a pen, they stay there permanently. Imagine if you have been using that map for years now every single time you travel — your map must already be scrawled with a web of lines!

Using a pencil is no better; when you erase the lines, the print will also be rubbed out, rendering the map useless. But when you use GPS map coordinates, you can customize the maps and save them for later use. You will always have a map that’s readable.

GPS Map Coordinates Let You Retrace Your Trip

Keeping track of your journey is trouble-free with GPS map coordinates. Depending on the GPS device you are using, you can press a few buttons and your GPS map coordinates will let you see where you already have been. Can you also do that with a common paper map? Of course, but you might end up with a headache afterwards!

There are many more reasons why utilizing GPS map coordinates is the best choice for you when it comes to navigating a trip. Now, you can make that trip without thinking about getting lost. You can get affordable GPS Navigation systems or tracking device online as well as in traditional electronic stores.