GPSFix» Garmin Archives – GPSFix

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 Announces BaseCamp™, hints at 1:24k Topos on DVD

Scott — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:04:15 +0000

Updated 1/15/09: GPS Business News is reporting that 1:24K Topos will be available on 4 regional DVDs for $99 each.

Garmin has announced a new software utility called BaseCamp which is aimed at outdoor users. This new product feels like an updated version of Mapsource with some new features. The new features that I picked out of the press release are:

Native support for Geocaches (Mapsource currently does not provide access to the full set of groundspeak extensions)
Support for 24k and 100k Topo maps in 2D or 3D. 3D view on the computer is a new feature. Let’s hope it is more useful than the Colorado and Oregon 3D view.
Although the press release is not very clear it seems to hint at the fact 1:24k regional topo maps might be released on DVD to support BaseCamp (they are only available on SD card today). Some are speculating that this refers to the National Parks 1:24k DVD only not the regional 1:24k maps.
Maps can be oriented in any direction, not always in “North Up” orientiation as in Mapsource.
Support for geotagging photos
Real-time “TrackDraw” allowing the user to create a track and view the elevation profile as it changes. This suggests BaseCamp can use the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in the topo maps to generate elevation profiles. Elevation profiles can only be done in Mapsource using the track data from the GPS.
Transfer of photos to the GPS (although they indicate “on supported devices only”)
improved support for printing maps and organizing data

The program will ship with the 24k and 100k DVD topo products and current owners of the Topo2008 will be able to download a free version of BaseCamp. Garmin indicates it will be available on both Mac and PC in the first quarter of 2009.

Questions this raises:

What is the GPS device compatibility list for the new product?
Will there be any official Garmin support for Oregon and Colorado 400t owners to view and use their maps in BaseCamp? The press release indicates you still need to buy the DVD maps if you want to view your maps on a computer. This doesn’t make sense if you’ve already paid for them on the unit.
What about raster map support in BaseCamp? I was expecting we might see an announcement from Garmin at CES along these lines. When I saw this press release I was sure that this must be it, but there is no mention of it in the release. I’m still guessing that this utility might be the path forward to raster map support on the Oregon and Colorado.
Why not just update Mapsource — that makes me wonder what features will be missing. Will you still be able to autoroute and view City Navigator in this new product for example?

As pictures and details become available I’ll post them here.

Garmin Press release.

Garmin’s CES 2009 Annoucements

Scott — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:37:01 +0000

Not a lot here for outdoor GPS enthusiasts but I thought I would post what I’ve seen so far:

Garmin nuvi 885T: The new high end nuvi which combines speech recognition with lane assist and enhanced MSN Direct.

ecoRoute: Software update for the nuvi line that calculates fuel efficient routing. Maybe updates will be provided for the Oregon/Colorado, but the details aren’t posted on Garmin’s site yet.

nuMaps Lifetime Maps: For $120 (CIty Navigator North America) you get quarterly map updates for the life of your Garmin product. It sounds like this might apply to all GPS units not just the nuvi line.

Garmin Approach G5: A new golfing handheld based on the Oregon platform.

Garmin zumo 660: A new nuvi-based motorcycle GPS.

Garmin Oregon Sweepstakes

Scott — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:41:45 +0000

Garmin has posted a new sweepstakes on their site called Land of Oregon. As you might expect it is just an ad for the Oregon but the “simulator” that you can play with gives you a pretty good feel for how the interface to the unit works.

Oregon Firmware 2.8 Available

Garmin announces 3rd quarter results, outdoor/fitness up 35%

Scott — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:30:34 +0000

Garmin announced third quarter financial results yesterday. I’m always curious to see how the outdoor part of the business does since the Colorado and Oregon are factors in that number. Here are some quotes from the press release:

Outdoor/Fitness segment revenue increased 35% to $119 million in third quarter 2008

Outdoor/Fitness segment revenue increased 37% to $308 million in year-to-date 2008.

Revenue in our outdoor/fitness segment continued to grow rapidly when compared to the year ago quarter due to the strength of our product line-up and an expanding fitness market. Specific growth drivers include the Colorado™ series, the Forerunner® 405, the Edge® 705, and the Oregon™ series, which was just released in the third quarter. We believe this category will continue to perform well during the holidays due to the gift appeal of both the outdoor and fitness products.

Gross margin for the aviation and outdoor/fitness segments remained on target when compared to our long-term targets at 65% and 63%, respectively.

We anticipate annual segment revenue growth rates for our automotive/mobile, outdoor/fitness, and aviation segments to be 13%, 25%, and 7%, respectively.

Given the total third quarter revenue for Garmin was $870m that means that about 13%-14% of the company’s revenue came from outdoor/fitness products which includes the traditional outdoor handhelds as well as the fitness devices like the Forerunner and Edge. I didn’t see any mention of the crossover Nuvi 500 series devices or break down between outdoor and fitness units.

It is interesting to see how the outdoor/fitness devices have much higher margins (65%) versus the ultra competitive automobile PNDs (38%). If you do a quick calculation of average revenue per unit sold in the third quarter it comes out to about $225 — that says most of Garmin’s sales are on the low end Nuvis, not surprising I guess! Either way the outdoor/fitness segment is seeing some solid projected revenue growth (25%) for the year thanks in part to the Colorado and Oregon.