NaviGadget

Somewhere at a trade show in Europe Garmin unveiled a wider version of the entry level nuvi 200 series. Looks like 200W will be the regional model and 250W the continental version which will contain maps of North America or Europe.

It is not clear whether the nuvi 270 will get a W as well.

The new 200W series will come with a 4″ screen offering 480×272 pixel resolution and the rest of specs will remain identical to older 200 models.

MSRP for Nuvi 200W will be 299€ and 349€ for 250W… via

Garmin’s new addition to the eTrex series, the eTrex Vista HCx just got the official announcement from Garmin today. When we first announced the new eTrex series a few days ago we said they have support for the upcoming Galileo navigation satellite system built by EU but the Garmin does not mention such thing. We’ll just go ahead and blame our source.

Anyhow, the eTrex Vista HCx is still quite capable despite lack of support for Galileo. It has a color screen, barometric altimeter, and an electronic compass that can you show you where north is without making you run in a straight line. Vista HCx accepts microSD cards, which means you can insert your MapSource card (requires extra cash) with detailed street maps, and Vista HCx can provide turn-by-turn directions to your destination just like a car navigation system.

Another nice thing about Vista HCx is that it runs on AA batteries so you won’t have to worry about plugging after the first 25 hours - just take some batteries with you.

Suggested retail price for the eTrex Vista HCx is $320.

At 8mm’s Keomo’s MTK claims to be world’s thinnest bluetooth GPS receiver. It has the MTK 32 channel chipset on board and a powerful 1050mAh Li-Ion battery which they claim will stand-by upto 200 hours thanks to their patented Fuzzy Auto On/Off feature.

The MTK is pretty much compatible with any bluetooth enabled device out there but if you must see them listed here you go:

• All Qtek/HTC serie - S200, 8020, 8300, 8310, 9000, 9090, 9100, MDA Vario, P3300, S620, P4350, P3600, TyTN, S310, MTeoR
• Nokia N-series - E60, E61, E70, N80, 3230, 6260, 6280, 6600, 6630, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610, 9300, 9500
• Palm - Palm Treo 650
• I-mate - I-Mate Jamin
• Mitac Mio - Mio A701
• Hewlett Packard - HW-6515
• Sony Ericsson - P900, P910(i)
• Blackberry - The Keomo GPS receiver is compatible with all Blackberry series
• PDA’s - The Keomo GPS receiver is compatible with all PDA’s

Satellite fix times for the Keomo MTK is as follows: cold / warm / hot : 36 / 33 / 1 second. It looks like the device will only be available in Europe… No word on pricing just yet.

Freedom Mini GPS promises to add GPS functionality to all those bluetooth enabled Smartphones and Blackberry’s that do not come with an integrated GPS chip. Hopefully you won’t have to take it off your key chain thanks to the high sensitivity SiRF Star III GPS receiver and recharging shouldn’t be an everyday issue since it can last up to 10 hours.

Here are some specs:

• 20 Channels All-In-View tracking
• Protocol: NMEA 0183/GGA, GSA, GSV, RMC, VTG, GLL
• Baud Rate: 57,600 bps. Frequency L1, 1,575.42 Mhz. Tracking Sensitivity: 159 dBm
• Bluetooth Version 2.0 Class II (CSR BC04.)
• No software is delivered with this device
• Power: Rechargeable 450mAh Lithium Polymer battery
• Car charger cable and USB charger cable provided
• Size: 39 x 33 x 20 mm. 1.54 x 1.30 x 0.79 in
• Weight: 30gms. 1.06 oz
• Contents: Freedom Mini GPS, 12/24v Car charger cable, USB Home charger cable, Key link, Quick Start Guide and hints manual

Freedom Mini GPS costs $99 and can be purchased through various retailers all over the world… via

WARNING: This device will NOT help you find your lost keys.

LG LN740 just got reviewed and it received an impressive report card from the picky reviewers. In fact when it comes to routing it even did better than brands like Garmin and Magellan, probably thanks to the software engineers that made the most out of the Navteq maps on board which provides maps U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico on a 2GB internal flash memory card.

The LG LN740 is an extremely capable navigation device that exhibited some of the best routing logic I’ve seen to date. The interface is relatively simple to use, the mounting hardware is effective, and the unit includes everything you’ll need to receive real-time traffic data.

Overall the LN740 is an excellent GPS. However, I found the 4-inch display of lesser quality (brightness and resolution) than other competing 4-inch models from Magellan and Garmin. The traffic service requires an additional antenna that must be routed along the windshield, creating unsightly clutter and additional steps to connect/disconnect the GPS from the car.

LG LN740 sells for $450 on Amazon… via

AIGO unveiled a new navigation system called GPS-P370 at the CHITEC 2007 show. It is your standard GPS navigation system which comes with a 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD and a SiRF Star III GPS chip. It runs Windows CE.Net 4.2 on the background on a Freescale Dragonball (!) processor at 266MHz and relies on a 1300mAh battery.

GPS-P370 measures 120 x 87 x 21.5 in millimeters and it uses a 64MB internal memory and SD/MMC cards for maps and storage. Will it ever make it to U.S or Europe? We don’t know… via

Just recently we talked about a GPS tracking system with microphone that let you listen in to your cockpit. What we have today is taking it one step forward. A Romanian company has developed a system that can track your vehicle with GPS and let you receive live video (and audio) feed too.

Called AutoMonitor, this system is currently setup to work in Romania but it can also work internationally. The retail price is expected to be around 700 EUR.

Here are some details:

• the system sends live video and audio + GPS location over high speed 3G links (HSDPA or 3G or CDMA)
• the framerate is 1-3fps at 640×480
• video is recorded and timestamped/geostamped, archived for 50 hours, so it can be played back at any time and the position shown on the moving map
• camera is infrared capable, can see very nicely in the dark
• internet access in the vehicle is offered via WiFi (you can also use the builtin WiFi access point to grab video archives when the car is parked - it’s faster than downloading them over the air)

If you want more details you’re going to have to wait for AutoMonitor website to be built.

Acer announced a new range of personal navigation devices: the V200 series. It’s price point and placement makes us think that it is going to replace the e300, e305 and e310 series. V200 has a standard 3.5″ but its price is under the psychological 150€ mark.

Main features of the V200 series :

• Integrated SiRF III LP GPS receiver
• 3.5″ TFT LCD touch screen with 65K colors and 240×320 pixels (QVGA) resolution
• Samsung S3C2442XL Processor at 300 MHz
• 64 MB RAM for applications
• 64 MB ROM flash for OS and integrated applications
• SD/MMC port
• 1W speaker
• 3.5 mm audio out
• 1100mAh Li-Ion battery that lasts 3 hours
• Dimensions : 9.5 X 7.9 X 2.5 cm
• Weight : 172 G
• Destinator 6 navigation software of with maps of France coming from Navteq on 512MB SD card

It will be marketed soon for 149€ - probably in France only… via

Motorola’s new iDEN phone i876 that is expected to come out fourth quarter of this year has already passed FCC conformity tests. Motorola i876 is of special interest to us because it features GPS. However; the amount of things you can do with the GPS is limited. Here is how much the manual mentions about using the GPS:

Use GPS with map software: Connect your phone to your laptop (or other device) with a serial data cable and set your phone to transmit data. Open the connector cover. With the phone’s display facing up, insert the serial data cable’s connector into the accessory connector, until you hear a click.

Insert the data plug into the COM port of your laptop or other device. Make sure no other application is using the COM port selected.Set the COM port settings of your laptop or other device as follows:

• Bits per second: 4800
• Data bits: 8
• Parity: None
• Stop bits: 1
• Flow control: Hardware

To set your phone to send location information to your laptop or other device: Press M > Tools > GPS > Interface > set NMEA OUT to On.

motorola i876 manual [2.2MB PDF!!!]

If you are on the market for a Garmin Nuvi you may be a little confused. So we put together this table that should help you make a quick decision. For example if you are going to use this in North America only you can eliminate 4 models (300, 310, 600, and 610) right off the bat since those are only offered in Europe. Or if you want maps for both continents you’ll see easily that you only have three options: 270, 370 or 670.

• T2S: text to speech
• LTC: live traffic compatible
• Only Nuvi 680 does MSN Direct

All prices are from Amazon. Let us know if we’ve missed any models or you think we should add another column.