NaviGadget

six GPS navigation systems no longer with us

Apr 11, 2009 gps navigation 6 Comments

GPS navigation system market is very dynamic and fast moving. New features come out monthly, prices keep going down. Small brand names can’t just compete or the big ones (HP, Sony) just take a quick stab at the market and realize people just won’t give up their Garmin’s :)

Here are a few names that are either out of the GPS navigation market or about to be gone.

• Magellan


Magellan was one of the big shots here in the U.S. but recently was bought by Mitac Mio. Even though Mio said they’d keep the brand going we think it is a matter of time until the Magellan name completely disappears.

• HP


HP had a decent looking device called iPAQ 310 for a while but it turns out they’ll be discontinuing their stand alone GPS navigation systems and a few others such as iPAQ 312, 314, 316, and 318.

• Dash


These were the guys to first come out with a decent two way connected system. We really loved it. But they didn’t last long. When they quit they promised they’d keep their awesome user collected traffic information platform alive.

• Harman/Kardon


Harman did come out with a few models that really looked promising such as the GPS-810. But due to continued price cutting they’re out as well.

• Sony


Sony never really got traction in the PND market. They officially quit the European market. Even though SonyStyle for U.S. still offers the NVU series the fact that they haven’t offered anything new makes us wonder…

• Panasonic


Panasonic is also out but only for standalone GPS navigation systems like the Strada CN-GP50N, and CN-GP50U. They’re keeping their in-dash systems.

UPDATE (May 6th):

• Navigon


We’re sorry to now add Navigon to this list. They really had some decent devices but the aggressive pricing was too aggressive for them. They’ll continue business in Europe.

NavGate 500 now official in Europe

Feb 1, 2008 CES 2008, gps navigation 7 Comments

Pioneer AVIC-F500BT – now known as NavGate 500 was just made official yesterday.

One of the main innovations with NavGate 500 is the size of the screen measuring 5.8″ – which we believe is a record as far as portable nav systems go. NavGate will have 800×480 pixel (WVGA) resolution, just like HP iPAQ 310, and Garmin nüvi 5000.

NavGate 500 integrates a hands free Bluetooth kit from Parrot, an RDS/TMC module for traffic information, voice commands, a processor running at 600 MHz and of the course the SiRF StarIII GPS chip.

It will ship with maps from TeleAtlas covering 30 European countries including Greece, Poland, the Czech republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania and Turkey.

Another feature with NavGate 500 will be the ability to connect to your car stereo through Mosfet 50 amplifier which should provide a very good sound quality. Also AV, USB port, iPod connection, and an SD card slot are standard with NavGate 500 allowing you to connect various external audio and video devices.

Pioneer NavGate 500 will hit the market in May and will sell for 699 €. Read More …

HP iPAQ 310; best display, bad software

Jan 30, 2008 gps navigation, reviews 9 Comments

HP iPAQ 310 also got a review recently. As we expected the iPAQ 310 has the best screen out there for a GPS navigation device which is super bright and has 800×480 pixel resolution. It is also very impressive in terms processor power – how about a 600MHz dual-core CPU?

But the software… It seems to be lacking in every department. Here is a small excerpt:

We also had an issue with not being able to cancel navigation. Typically when you are navigating to a destination, and you navigate away from the screen giving you directions it’ll ask you if you want to cancel the route planning, but that is not the case with the 310; it keeps navigating, no matter what. In fact, if you choose a route and then decided to just cancel, it won’t, even if you go back to the home page. From there, pressing the “map” button takes you back to the route you were previously navigating. One time we even turned it off because we were tired of hearing it tell us to turn here and go there, and it magically turned itself back on a few minutes later to tell us to make a turn. It’s literally like the Terminator as far as navigation goes.

And there is more like this in the review. It seems like it would be wise to wait for a second generation iPAQ 310 which hopefully will be more user friendly. Currently iPAQ 310 sells for $320 on Amazon.

HP iPAQ Navigate

Jan 5, 2008 gps navigation, software 2 Comments

HP announced a new website called HP iPAQ Navigate which lets you plan your trips, search for POIs from your computer and then transfer them to your device. Even though iPAQ 310 features bluetooth we believe the transfer part can only be done via the mini USB port.

The website is a nice add-on for iPAQ 310 user. And it is free of course… Read More …

HP iPAQ 310 now available

Dec 3, 2007 gps navigation 6 Comments

HP’s new dedicated GPS navigation from the new iPAQ 300 series is now for sale in the U.S. as HP iPAQ 310. We thought it would be called iPAQ 314 but I guess we were wrong. Possibly that may be the Euro version with a different set of maps.

HP iPAQ 310 sells for $400 on Amazon and NewEgg and both have it in stock ready to ship.

This navigation system has a good set of features but it also has some good components inside that slim body. First off it has one of the fastest processor we’ve come across as far as sat nav systems are concerned – buzzing at 600Mhz with its SiRF Titan dual core processor. It comes with 128MB of SDRAM and 2GB ROM for maps and POI’s. It has a long lasting removable and rechargeable 1700 mAh Lithium-ion battery too.

iPAQ 310 has a very nice screen measuring 4.3″ offering 800×480 resolution, speaker, an integrated microphone with echo cancellation, and a headphone jack. It has a mini USB port and microSD slot for sync and expansion and has bluetooth connectivity.

It will come with a few HP sofware installed such as the HP navigation software with text to speech guidance and web based trip planning, digital video player, digital music player, picture viewer, games, bluetooth hands free, calculator, world clock, contacts with Outlook sync.

You should read an HP iPAQ 310 review before you buy it:

The most interesting feature on the GPS navigator is the 3-D mapping software. For certain, select cities, maps don’t simply appear as lines in a 2-D space (not even a tilted, almost 3-D space). Instead, you get actual 3-D models of buildings filling the city space. We can’t imagine populating an entire globe’s worth of buildings, but in our hands-on experience mapping trips through London, we were quite impressed at the range of buildings represented, and the graphical prowess of the small navigator.