NaviGadget

new Garmin GPSmap chartplotters

Nov 16, 2009 garmin, gps navigation, marine 5 Comments

We’ve talked about Garmin’s GPSmap series here on Navigadget but just today they came out with a bunch of new models including this one pictured above – the GPSmap 7215.

Their new series of chartplotters are the GPSmap 6000 and GPSmap 7000 which include the new Garmin G Motion technology that promises to smooth map panning, and zooming with super fast updates. Unlike most other devices out there when it comes to marine GPS devices it is sometimes really important to have a really really dim backlight – and all the new models in these series boast a display that can dim down to 0.5 nits.

The new models are:

• GPSMAP 7015: touchscreen, 15″, basemap only
• GPSMAP 7215: touchscreen, 15″, U.S. coastal charts and more
• GPSMAP 7012: touchscreen, 12″, basemap only
• GPSMAP 7212: touchscreen, 12″, U.S. coastal charts and more
• GPSMAP 6012: soft key interface, 12″, basemap only
• GPSMAP 6212: soft key interface, 12″, U.S. coastal charts and more
• GPSMAP 6008: soft key interface, 8″, basemap only
• GPSMAP 6208: soft key interface, 8″, U.S. coastal charts and more

Youll have to wait until February 2010 to get one of these MFD chartplotters. Expect to pay more than $3000… Read More …

Fujitsu built Android based GPS navigation system in two weeks

May 19, 2009 gps navigation 2 Comments

Fujitsu just very recently showcased an Android based GPS navigation system at the 12th Embedded Systems Expo in Tokyo where there were many similar devices that built up on Google’s Android platform were also on display.

The whole GPS navigation system was utilizing network cloud service for map data and route computation – leaving only data transfer to for Android – which shouldn’t have any speed problems in a place like Japan. The whole device was actually brought to life in a matter of two weeks – demonstrating the ease in time-to-market with a reliable platform such as the Android. However keep in mind the device – named Armadillo – is pretty much just a terminal and GUI and all it needed to do was to format the data coming off the servers and draw it on screen.

You can pick it up at Best Buy for $79 next week. (you know we just made this part up right?)… Read More …

garmin nuvi 880 from consumer reports

Aug 5, 2008 garmin, gps navigation 1 Comment

Consumer Reports has a nice video of Garmin Nuvi 880, mostly displaying its voice recognition feature. If you are deciding whether you should get a nuvi 880 or not, you must see this video.

Here are some of the features of Garmin Nuvi 880 which currently goes for $880 on Amazon:

• Text-to-speech
• Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) capability (screen control)
• Bluetooth wireless technology (pair with phone or headset)
• FM transmitter
• Picture navigation: routing to a geocoded point in JPEG files
• Included traffic receiver via MSN Direct receiver for North America
• Last position: unit automatically marks your position when you remove it from the windshield mount, so you can navigate with nüvi on foot and find your way back to your vehicle
• Location and Text messages
• Instant on
• Web drop: create favorites in a PC browser and send to nuvi via USB (.gps files)
• Route planning with via points
• USB 2.0, high speed connectivity and mass storage
• SD card slot
• MCX connector (external antenna)
• Digital Elevation Maps (DEM)
• Embedded Linux (OS)
• Replaceable battery, high capacity Lithium-ion (up to 5 hours use)

Read More …

JVC KV-PX701 and KV-PX501

Oct 13, 2007 gps navigation 6 Comments

JVC who initially made us think they were out of the GPS navigation market must’ve regretted their decision since they just unveiled two new devices called KV-PX701 and KV-PX501.

KV-PX701 have the wide 4.3″ touch screen and run on a 400Mhz processor. Maps are supplied by Navteq and they cover the whole continental Europe. RDS-TMC is standard on the KV-PX701 and it uses a GPS SiRF Star III GPS receiver.

KV-PX501 on the other hand has a 3.5″ screen and uses Media Tec’s GPS receiver. This model also features RDS/TMC receiver but JVC decided put it into the car mount rather than integrating it into the body.

KV-PX701 will cost you 400 € and KV-PX501 will be 50 € cheaper. Expect to see them in stores later this month – in Europe… via

NaviBlue NBC3500 for only $155

Jun 3, 2007 gps navigation 3 Comments

NaviBlue NBC3500 is your basic starter navigation system from an unknown company. This could be scary at first – but at $155 you can almost risk it. The specs look OK too. It uses the sensitive SiRF Star III GPS receiver that almost everyone else uses it. Comes with a mid-range 1250mAh rechargeable battery and runs on an Atlas II 300Mhz processor.

NaviBlue NBC3500 has multimedia capabilities too – it supports MP3, WMA, OGG, Vobis, JPG, BMP, and GIF formats. Maps of the U.S. comes pre-installed on an SD card which has 1GB capacity.

We’ll be sure to add this to our sub $200 GPS systems list.

world’s thinnest bluetooth GPS receiver

May 31, 2007 bluetooth, gps navigation 1 Comment

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.

Microsoft Street and Trips 2006 on Woot for $45

Mar 1, 2007 gps navigation, software Leave a comment

If you’ve been looking for a GPS navigation upgrade for your laptop you should check out Microsoft’s Street and Trips 2006 with GPS locater. It’s a decent piece of software with a lot of features and the hardware is quite fast to get a satellite fix. Check out this review of MS Streets and Trips 2006.

It sounds like a good deal, and the “I want one” button is bouncing meaning they don’t have very many left… woot

Mio A501

Feb 17, 2007 gps navigation, mio 10 Comments

A few days ago we mentioned Mio’s new A501, a GPS enabled PocketPC phone. Today we some better pictures and few more details.

Compared to A701, the only downside of A501 is that it lacks Wi-Fi. Everything else seems to be a plus for the new younger brother. The A501 will come with 1GB of storage space and 64MB of RAM and have support for quad band GSM networks. Also from the picture we can see that A501 is using the new mapping software V3 from Mio.

We still have no info on pricing or availability… via

Mitac Mio A501

Feb 14, 2007 gps navigation, mio, phones 14 Comments

Mio is releasing another GPS-enabled Pocket PC Phone called the Mio A501. The device is expected to be released in March of this year. It is a bit shorter compared to their Mio A701 model, but it seems to pack same set of features, even a same size (240×320) screen. It’ll only weigh 135 grams with battery and run Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition AKU 3.5 on a TI processor.

The Mio A501 is a quad-band GSM phone with bluetooth support, with both USB port and SD/MMC slots. The system of course comes with an embedded GPS chip, namely the SiRF Star III. The battery’s capacity is 1050mAh. Don’t forget the 2MP digital camera.

woot sells 80 PlayStation 3’s in 4 minutes

Dec 22, 2006 gps navigation, misc news, sony 10 Comments

We know PS3 is not really related to Navigadget since it doesnt do any sort of GPS navigation (or does it?) – but we thought this would be worth mentioning. Today’s Woot was Sony PlayStation 3 (20GB) for $499.99 and $5 for shipping for next day delivery. What a great Xmas present for PS3 fanboys out there!

They only had 80 of them and it sold out in about 4 minutes.