What's Coming From Garmin?

[Ouachita Cacher]

I'm getting ready to buy my first GPS, and I'm looking hard at the Magellan explorist 210 which is due to come out in the next month or so.

 

I've borrowed both an explorist 600 and an eTrex legend before, and I do prefer the garmin interface, but I don't see a product in Garmin's current offerings that does what I want in a price I can live with.

 

I want.

 

1) USB PC connectivity (no serial-USB adapters needed)

2) Solid reception under tree cover

3) No more than $200, preferably under $150.

 

The 210 is pre-selling for around $155 on various sites, so it looks promising to me.

 

The closest thing I can find from Garmin with the features I want is the legend color, but it's at least $235. I just can't spend that much on a GPS right now.

 

Is there anything coming out in the next few months from garmin that would be competitive, cost/features-wise, with the upcoming explorist 210?

 

Thanks!

Edited October 5, 2005 by Ouachita Cacher

[Neo_Geo]

Garmin is a public corporation listed on the NASDAQ market. As such, it must adhere to strict rules and laws in how it disseminates information about its products. Anything not listed on their Web page would be considered inside information and very hard to come by.

 

Having said that, we all learned of the 60 series here in this forum about a month or two before the information was officially publicly released. I have not heard of any secret information on new models here in the forum, and if there were, there would be a very popular and active thread about it here

 

So, I guess what I'm saying is that what's on their Web page now is the only information available on their latest products.

Edited October 5, 2005 by Neo_Geo

[+JohnnyVegas]

What is comming from Garmin is on their web site. two new Rinos. ANy other new products will be released durring the winter trades shows, Outdoor Retailer, the Shot show (My Favorite) and the CES show, anything released then should be set for late spring/early summer delivery.

As far as the explorist 210. You should also look at the explorist 400, Magellan is offering a $50.00 rebate, Tiger GPS has them for about $247.00, then you get the $50.00 rebate. THis would bring the Expl. 400 within you $200.00 price range.

What ever GPS you buy, if you want to load detailed maps, the Map software is going to add about $80.00 to the price of the GPS. The maps they come with are not detailed maps. If you have no inteniton of ever loading a m ditailed map, then you could do just as well without the USB connection, loading waypoints is very fast even with a serial port.

 

Good luck with your search.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I have not heard of any secret information on new models

I have heared things!

[Neo_Geo]

Well... Out with it man... Spill your guts!! The caching community would love to hear what you've heard!

[+dino_hunters]

I've seen posts with rumors of a Garmin with an SD card slot by next summer. I know that the latest versions of garmin's mapping programs are switching to the GPX file standard, instead of the old proprietary one. Wouldn't be too much of a strech to see the model with the SD slot being able to directly read a GPX file. Wouldn't that be cool? Even cooler if it would display a whole cache page like GPXSonar.

[+IVxIV]

I've seen posts with rumors of a Garmin with an SD card slot by next summer

 

That's probably more wishful thinking than a rumor

[+leatherman]

First of all don't believe the rumors. Garmin refuses to release any info on new units. It's against the law. Garmin is on the market. They can not release/leak product info of any kind before an official press release. That means someone is lying or spreading exaggerated hopeful rumors.

 

Second I expect them to really screw up the SD feature. Their expandable memory in past units used proprietary memory. Lowrance forced users to use preloaded cards at ridiculous prices. I expect anything coming out to be along the same lines.

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

First of all don't believe the rumors. Garmin refuses to release any info on new units. It's against the law. Garmin is on the market. They can not release/leak product info of any kind before an official press release. That means someone is lying or spreading exaggerated hopeful rumors.

Geez, I hope the guys I spoke to at the Garmin booth at Outdoor Retailer don't go to jail. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I understood that some sort of expandable memory is on the way, maybe as an addition to the 60 series. And I'm not lying. Hopeful rumor? You decide.

 

Rich Owings

www.MakeYourOwnMaps.com

www.GPStracklog.com

 

"We were desert mystics, my friends and I, poring over our maps as others do their holy books." - Edward Abbey

[+IVxIV]

Lowrance forced users to use preloaded cards at ridiculous prices. I expect anything coming out to be along the same lines.

You can use whatever brand & model MMC/SD memory card in a Lowrance GPSr that you want.. or am I missing your point?

[+user13371]

Veering somewhat off-target...

 

1) Never trust anyone who enters their posts in all bold face type and color. It's about one step off from typing in ALL CAPS - and more in the direction of wearing tinfoil in your beanie.

 

2) There is no law against a publicly traded (or privately held) company announcing or pre-announcing products. Most actually try to avoid doing so though, to prevent the "Osborne Effect" - who's gonna buy this month's model if they knew how cool next month's model would be?

 

2a) While companies try to avoid/prevent it, there is no law, NDA, or any force on earth, that can completely sqaush a rumor mill, whether those rumors are fed by leaky beta-testers or just clowns who make sh!t up as they go along. Both groups often type in all caps, or bolded color text, and some wear tinfoil in their beanies - so it's hard to tell who to trust.

 

3) All current Lowrance models with a memory slot can use standard, generic SD (and/or MMC) memory. You CAN buy pre-loaded maps on SD cards (Lowrance calls these Freedom Maps) if you have more dollars than sense. But it's cheaper to buy MapCreate software package and load maps to cards as you need them.

 

4) I have no idea what Garmin is releasijng, I just wanted to set the record straight about rumor mills, Lowrance memory cards, and tinfoil beanies. I now return you to your regularly schedule ranting.

Edited October 6, 2005 by lee_rimar

[+leatherman]

Lowrance forced users to use preloaded cards at ridiculous prices. I expect anything coming out to be along the same lines.

You can use whatever brand & model MMC/SD memory card in a Lowrance GPSr that you want.. or am I missing your point?

Hmm.?!

I must have some bad info. However I could swear that it was Lowrance that had preloaded SD cards. You bought the region you wanted to use. Maybe it was older models that used the preloaded.

 

Maybe I'm thinking of the Garmin proprietary cards with preloaded.

 

[+leatherman]

All aside. I can't, for the life of me, understand why an Apple Nano can have 4 gigs of flash memory. At a price of $250. Where as my Legend C only has 24 megs at the same price, and ten times the thickness.

[+welch]

Geez, I hope the guys I spoke to at the Garmin booth at Outdoor Retailer don't go to jail. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I understood that some sort of expandable memory is on the way, maybe as an addition to the 60 series. And I'm not lying. Hopeful rumor? You decide.

 

They already have that, the problem is that the older one ones like emap used some funky garmin specific cartiages. Newer units, like some of the streetpilots use either CF or the newest ones use SD. Of course streetpilots are big bulky and cost like 900 plus bucks each. Not exactly a good unit for geocaching.

What they need to make is one of the cheaper (<$500) handheld units with an expandable memory using either a CF or SD slot

[+geognerd]

This is OT, but here goes. I agree that GPSrs should have more built in memory. As for the comparison with the Nano, come on! First, I doubt the Nano meets the IPX7 standard. Second, an MP3 player is way less complex than a GPSr. All the thing does is decode MP3, AAC, and (in the case of non-iPods) WMA files. OK, so there's a little programming involved in the menu system. On the other hand, the GPSr has to calculate time differences in the signals from the satellites, it has to compute speed, direction, distance, and location. And on the routing units, the darned thing has to figure out which roads to use to get from Point A to Point B. Comparison with a Nano??? By the way, I read that the Nano only costs like $98 to manufacture.

[+leatherman]

This is OT, but here goes. I agree that GPSrs should have more built in memory. As for the comparison with the Nano, come on! First, I doubt the Nano meets the IPX7 standard. Second, an MP3 player is way less complex than a GPSr. All the thing does is decode MP3, AAC, and (in the case of non-iPods) WMA files. OK, so there's a little programming involved in the menu system. On the other hand, the GPSr has to calculate time differences in the signals from the satellites, it has to compute speed, direction, distance, and location. And on the routing units, the darned thing has to figure out which roads to use to get from Point A to Point B. Comparison with a Nano??? By the way, I read that the Nano only costs like $98 to manufacture.

All that has to do with processing and programming. It has nothing to do with the 4 gigs of memory.

I have no stats and info to compare the circutry and processors of the two. My point was that they fit 4 gigs of flash memory into a Nano!

[+Renegade Knight]

....... My point was that they fit 4 gigs of flash memory into a Nano!

That would be nice. I could get all my maps on one GPS. Not coast to coast but every where I'm likely to be. No messing with SD cards and swaping map sets.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Lowrance forced users to use preloaded cards at ridiculous prices. I expect anything coming out to be along the same lines.

You can use whatever brand & model MMC/SD memory card in a Lowrance GPSr that you want.. or am I missing your point?

Hmm.?!

I must have some bad info. However I could swear that it was Lowrance that had preloaded SD cards. You bought the region you wanted to use. Maybe it was older models that used the preloaded.

 

Maybe I'm thinking of the Garmin proprietary cards with preloaded.

 

In the early days of GPS way before geocaching Lowrance did have a pre loaded chip, now this was many years ago after the first gulf war. The early Garmin street pilot also use a pre load card. And are of the San Francisco ba are sold for $150.00, Los Angles $150.00. Then Garmin had the e-map that use an over priced propietary card

 

The info I have be given is that they will have a GPS that will us and SD card and a Li Ion battery. Now I must also add that the first time a Garmin rep told me there would be a GPS out with an SD card slot was three years ago.

As redwood mtn biker said, Garmin can say what ever they want about what is in works for new products. Reps like to talk about what is on the way.

 

Maybe some day they will offer a triaxial compass

[+user13371]

nano ... ipx7 ... complexity ....

Nano? I dunno about waterproofing, but the little buggers are tough.

 

What does it take to destroy an iPod nano?

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

 

As for "complexity" necessitating a certain size, take a look at the eXplorist, or a DeLorme BlueLogger, a Garmin Forerunner, or any of the "puck" style GPSRs (those without displays, they just plug into a computer).

 

There's no reason for a GPS to fill one's hand other than the need to be big enough to hold and have a usable interface. And a small form factor does not rule out a larger memory capacity.

Edited October 6, 2005 by lee_rimar

[+geognerd]

What does it tak to destroy an iPod nano?

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

Has anybody (Today's Cacher?) done a similar test of a GPSr? I'd also be interested in what the inside of a receiver looks like. Maybe it's not that interesting: Just a processor and memory on a circuit board connected to the LCD. But it still would be cool to see. Anyone willing to take apart a dead receiver and post pics?

[+Alan Ellis]

I read somewhere that they were developing a hand-held unit with weather capability like the Garmin 376c has. However, it was a very vague and untrustworthy reference. Even so, it would be a nice to have a hand-held unit with real-time weather radar, etc.

[+JohnnyVegas]

I do not see a lot of geocachers wanting to pay a monthy fee for the XM weather data feed. It might be a good feature for a back packer, but the hard core back packer is not going to want to carry the extra weight. I think your comment about an untrustworthy reference hits the nail on the head.

[+briansnat]

What does it tak to destroy an iPod nano?

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

Has anybody (Today's Cacher?) done a similar test of a GPSr? I'd also be interested in what the inside of a receiver looks like. Maybe it's not that interesting: Just a processor and memory on a circuit board connected to the LCD. But it still would be cool to see. Anyone willing to take apart a dead receiver and post pics?

If anybody wants to donate their GPS I'd be very happy to do such a test for Todays Cacher.

 

As far as what is coming from Garmin, I hear its called the SuperTrex C and it's basically a Vista C with a gig of memory (now wouldn;t that be nice).

Edited October 7, 2005 by briansnat

[+Redwoods Mtn Biker]

I read somewhere that they were developing a hand-held unit with weather capability like the Garmin 376c has.  However, it was a very vague and untrustworthy reference.    Even so, it would be a nice to have a hand-held unit with real-time weather radar, etc.

I would LOVE to have that. I go canyoneering in places where you can't get any kind of forecast. Weight isn't that much of an issue, but flash flood potential is!

 

Rich Owings

www.MakeYourOwnMaps.com

www.GPStracklog.com

 

“We were desert mystics, my friends and I, poring over our maps as others do their holy books.” – Edward Abbey

[+Alan Ellis]

I do not see a lot of geocachers wanting to pay a monthy fee for the XM weather data feed. It might be a good feature for a back packer, but the hard core back packer is not going to want to carry the extra weight. I think your comment about an untrustworthy reference hits the nail on the head.

Agreed. However, if they now have it on the 376c, what is to stop them from developing a hand-held weather unit. I would like the weather on a hand-held because I do a lot of stuff outdoors in addition to GCing.

[tossedsalad]

What does it tak to destroy an iPod nano?

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3

Has anybody (Today's Cacher?) done a similar test of a GPSr? I'd also be interested in what the inside of a receiver looks like. Maybe it's not that interesting: Just a processor and memory on a circuit board connected to the LCD. But it still would be cool to see. Anyone willing to take apart a dead receiver and post pics?

I have been conducting some unintentional destructive testing on a Merigold. So far I have been unsuccessful. I have dropped it multiple times from heights of 4 feet. I have also dunked it (intentional), sat on it, dropped it in stones and gotten it caked in dirt (all unintentional). So far I have not been able to diminish its performance in any way, much less destroy it.

 

My next attempt will be to use 2500 mAHr batteries. We'll see if I can fry it!

[+av8ndv8]

My next attempt will be to use 2500 mAHr batteries.  We'll see if I can fry it! 

Nah, they have the same voltage as any other NiMH battery, just more reserve power. Your unit will never know the difference.

 

Give it a real workout - plug it in to an electrical outlet......

[vagabond]

I loaded some pics of my gold after a little mishap with a dumptruck, I salvaged the 512 sd card and 1 batt.

The pics are on an archived cahe of mine its the very last post.

 

broken gold

 

You'll have to be logged on to view them

Edited October 6, 2005 by vagabond