GPSFix» Garmin eTrex Archives – GPSFix

50% Off InvisibleShields — Extended for Today

Scott — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:42:08 +0000

Zagg has extended the sale which will get you 50% off everything on their site including invisibleShield screen protectors. If you missed the deal yesterday you have until 12 midnight Pacific Time to make your purchase! International sales are included in this promotion too. Related posts:50% Off invisibleShields Today Only 50% Off All InvisibleShield Products Garmin Handheld [...] Related posts:

REI Deals on Garmin eTrex, Garmin Edge, DeLorme PN’s

Scott — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:46:59 +0000

REI has just kicked of a Labor Day Sale which includes a couple of good GPS deals that I thought were worth passing along.

Garmin eTrex Venture HC GPS Receiver: $130 (was $170)
DeLorme Earthmate PN-30 GPS: $200 (was $300)
DeLorme Earthmate PN-40 GPS Bundle: $260 (was $400)
Garmin Edge 705 Deluxe Bundle Bike Computer: $520 (was $650)

The Labor Day Sale at REI runs until 9/7

50% Off All InvisibleShield Products

Scott — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:04:18 +0000

There has been some discussion about Garmin Oregon screen protectors on the Oregon Wiki so this deal caught my eye when I saw it today. The offer from Zagg is a great chance to pick up an InvisibleShield for your Garmin GPS or any of your electronic gadgets. The promotion is good for 50% all InvisibleShield products if you use the special code memday09 through May 27th.

Garmin Handheld Owners Benefit from Downloadable Maps

Scott — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:18:21 +0000

Last week Garmin announced that much of its map data would be made available to purchase online. The press release was centered around Garmin’s new cityXplorer product which provides Nuvi 1xxx owner’s with pedestrian and public transportation navigation along with support for traditional auto navigation and POIs. When I saw this announcement I didn’t pay much attention since it seemed like there wasn’t much here for handheld users. But after searching Garmin’s site to see what was available on the Oregon and Colorado I have found some benefits for the owners of these units.

Any Topo map that was available on microSD card format is now available as a download for the same price. That means if you are traveling to Washington state and want the latest Garmin 1:24k topographic maps you can download the US Topo 24k Northwest region for $99.
Unfortunately cityXplorer’s support for pedestrian and public transportation navigation is not available on either the Oregon or Colorado but the auto navigation features of these maps are — think of them as little chunks of City Navigator NT 2010.10. That means if you are traveling to New York City for the weekend and want to use your Oregon to auto navigate you can download the maps for $10 without having to purchase maps for all of North America. If you’ve never used the auto navigation features of your handheld Garmin GPS this is also a great way to try them out without investing $80 in City Nav, assuming you live in or around one of the areas covered by cityXplorer.
Traveling outside the US? Same deal, Garmin has cityXplorer for many European cities and topographic maps for Canada, Great Britain and Australia available for download.
I also noticed some new formats available for download which haven’t been previously released on DVD or microSD, in particular City Navigator NT for the lower 49 US states and Puerto Rico ($59) which is good way to save a few bucks if you don’t need maps for Canada (which also has its own set of City Nav maps for $59) and Alaska.

New Versions of Garmin Topo USA 100k and Topo Canada

Scott — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:52:34 +0000

Updated 4/20: GPSCity has provided more details on Garmin Topo Canada and the Garmin Oregon Canada 400t and are showing availability is today (4/20) — let us know if you get your hands on either product.

Updated 4/13: Buyers getting the first Oregon 400t Canada units are claiming they are coming preloaded with Topo V2 maps not the newer Topo V4 maps with DEM.

The GPSCity twitter account RoxieM has tweeted that updated versions of the Garmin Mapsource Topo products for the US and Canada are on their way. The new version of Topo Cananda is listed on GPSCity for $140 CAD with an availability date of 5/13.

Both new versions will include a copy of BaseCamp (which is also available as a free download from Garmin) and the Topo Canada maps provided on DVD will have DEM (digital elevation data) to support the 3D and shaded maps views available in BaseCamp and on the Oregon and Colorado. While users in the US have enjoyed DEM maps since the Topo US 2008 release, this will be the first time Canadian users will be able purchase DEM maps in DVD format.

Presumably these Canadian maps are also the same version appearing on the newly released Garmin Oregon 400t Canada . The tweet from GPSCity also mentioned expanded coverage areas in Canada but offered no details.

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Garmin BaseCamp 2.0.4 Released

Scott — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:47:40 +0000

Garmin has released the first public version of BaseCamp for the PC. BaseCamp is Garmin’s new outdoor-centric mapping software. Similar to Mapsource you can view your Garmin maps (as long as they include DEM) on your computer and do things like view 3D terrain, plot tracks, and analyze elevation profiles. I’ve downloaded BaseCamp to try it out with Topo USA 2008 and while the 3D views and elevation plots are interesting it is very slow on my laptop and I’ve managed to crash it several times. I haven’t tried the geocaching support, trackdraw and geotagging features which Garmin promised when BaseCamp was announced.

You can only use BaseCamp with maps that have built in DEM (digital elevation model). Note the mention of Topo Canada Version 4 below which looks like a full version of Topo Canada with DEM, previously only available on SD card and in the upcoming Oregon 400t Canada. Garmin’s release notes for BaseCamp 2.0.4:

WARNING: This software will not work unless you already own a BaseCamp or MapSource product.
BaseCamp will only recognize MapSource products that contain digital elevation model (DEM) data. Some examples of products that contain elevation data are Topo U.S. 24K, Topo U.S. 24K National Parks (version 3), Topo U.S. 100K (version 4 and later), Topo U.S. 2008, Topo Australia, Topo Canada (version 4), Topo Deutschland, Topo Great Britain, and Topo products produced by many Garmin distributors.
BaseCamp requires Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later operating system.
.NET framework 2.0 is required and will be installed if needed.
A video card that supports OpenGL version 1.3 or later is needed to view 3D terrain.

Here’s a video of how the track log playback function works.

Garmin Releases Topo U.S. 24K on DVD, First Screen Shots of BaseCamp

Scott — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:38:39 +0000

About a month ago when Garmin announced BaseCamp, they also hinted that the Topo U.S. 24K maps, currently available only in microSD format, would be released on DVD. Garmin’s web site now lists two $130 Topo U.S. 24K DVDs — West and Southwest. West provides coverage for California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada and the Southwest DVD covers Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico.

As promised these DVD’s will also include a copy of BaseCamp, Garmin’s new outdoor-focused mapping software. Garmin has not released much in the way of details about BaseCamp however the product pages for the 24K maps include a couple of screen shots which show off the elevation profile and 3D terrain view.

All Oregon and Colorado models are listed as compatible with the new maps. No word on the release date for the maps or BaseCamp although GPSTracklog had a tweet today which indicated that the maps will be locked to a single unit much like City Navigator — probably because of the Navteq road data included in these maps.

Garmin Announces Replacements for eTrex Legend and Vista

Scott — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:02:29 +0000

Garmin announced two new low cost handheld GPS models, the eTrex Legend H ($150) and eTrex Vista H ($200) earlier this week. Both units have a 160 x 288 four level gray display, high sensitivity GPS receiver, 18 hours of battery life, USB interface, 24MB of built in memory, no expansion slot and no preloaded maps other than a basemap. The Vista H adds an electronic compass and barometric altimeter over the Legend H.

Although the original eTrex Legend and Vista (non-H) are still listed on the Garmin site the “H” units are obvious replacements for the popular entry level black and white receivers. As compared to the originals, the H series adds USB connectivity, the high sensitivity receiver and internal memory increases from 8MB to 24MB.

Although I won’t be running out to buy an eTrex to replace my Oregon or Colorado these small, battery efficient units are great for long hiking trips or as a backup GPS for geocachers. This is especially true now that high sensitivity receivers have made their way down to the bottom of Garmin’s outdoor line.

No word on availablity from Garmin’s web site, although both units have product pages which would suggest they might be available soon.