Hasta La Gadget!

Pack a lob wedge or extra utility iron? Punch and run or flop and drop? Crush a five iron or hit a three-quarter four? These are just a few of the questions that amateur golfers wish they had to ponder as they instead devote their time to rummaging through the brush trying to find what could be their fourth lost ball in three holes. Maybe Garmin‘s new Approach S1 watch can help. It’s loaded with every hole from over 14,000 golf courses and, from anywhere on the course, will give you precise yardage to the front, back, and middle of the next green — meaning it won’t help your lay-up but could be just the ticket for nailing that approach. Its integrated odometer will even track how many miles you covered through the course of the day and, we’re presuming, not tell your significant other whether you spent those drinking in the cart or walking at a brisk pace. The Approach S1 is available now for $249 and is subtle enough that your buddies might not even notice your new wrist-borne advantage.

Update: As a few of you pointed out, the Suunto G9 watch from a few years back also offers GPS, meaning this is, indeed, not the first after all! That’s a two-stroke penalty, Garmin.

Continue reading Garmin Approach S1 is the GPS watch for golfers, sends that caddy back to the shack

Garmin Approach S1 is the GPS watch for golfers, sends that caddy back to the shack originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Details of the Garmin-ASUS breakup are slowly being revealed. We now know that ASUS has obtained exclusive rights to license Garmin navigation and location based services on its Android smartphones with a Garmin navigation trademark slapped on the back — other Android handset makers need not apply. ASUS will go back to selling its own-brand handsets in January, including models equipped with 3D for gaming and connectivity with ASUS ebook readers and tablets, according to DigiTimes. For its part, Garmin’s official blog says that it will be expanding its mobile application handset development by offering navigation and other applications through “certain consumer application stores.” According to DigiTimes, that means Apple’s iTunes App Store and RIM’s App World. So, in other words, Garmin and ASUS are still friends but are now free to date anyone they want, you know, except for anyone in eachother’s families. How mature.

Garmin navigation to be an Android exclusive for ASUS, headed to Apple and RIM app stores originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was hinted at back in September, now the Chinese-language Economic Daily is reporting that the Garmin-ASUS joint venture will end in January after the two-year deal expires. We’ve heard this from our own sources as well. At that point, Asus will return to flooding the market with indistinguishable product iterations and Garmin will go back to watching GPS-enabled smartphones (and now tablets) eat away at the dedicated personal navigation device market. ASUS is expected to continue making GPS-enabled smartphones under the ASUS brand with Garmin providing navigation and mapping software.

Garmin-ASUS collaboration said to be ending in January originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 03:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Runners love to tell you about their post-workout highs, but they rarely mention the mid-workout delirium that comes when muscles deprive your brain of blood, leading to doubts about how long you’ve been running, what your target heart rate should be, and indeed how to get home again. Garmin’s updated Forerunner 410 (above) can help you out with all those things, and the larger touch bezel means oxygen-deprived cardio hounds can easily scroll through data describing things like pace and heart rate, even when it’s raining — or you’re sweating excessively. Once back home and showered this $325 watch automatically syncs to a USB dongle via ANT+, uploading data to Garmin Connect, just like its predecessor the 405. Then there’s the $300 210, pictured below, a follow-up to this spring’s 110 and providing a more simple display of real-time distance and heart rate without a bunch of other confusing data. Both models will be on display at the upcoming Chicago and New York City marathons before pacing themselves into stores this fall.

Update: The 410 can indeed help you find your way back home thanks to a simple navigation mode that will direct you from one waypoint to the next. Great for finding new routes — or new tactical insertions.

Continue reading Garmin updates GPS watch line with Forerunner 210 and 410, data-craving runners rejoice

Garmin updates GPS watch line with Forerunner 210 and 410, data-craving runners rejoice originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Garmin’s cellular nüLink! service was something of a success — it’s now become the brand of the company’s new top-tier GPS. The Garmin nüLink! 1695 replaces the nüvi 1690 with a model nigh-identical on the outside but for a larger, 5-inch touchscreen, but imbued with the traffic trending features of the 3700 series — in other words, pretty much just what we expected. Unfortunately for spendthrifts lusting after its connected search functions (including traffic, weather, Google, fuel prices, flight times and more) and new integrated services store, the price is about what we expected as well, starting at $450 for the unit with a year of nüLink data and $5 a month thereafter. However, if that’s out of your price range Garmin’s not going to let you go without a fight — it’s also introduced no fewer than eleven new nüvi 2200 and 2300 series PNDs with a wide variety of features at nearly every wallet size. Press releases after the break, and find the full lineup at our source link.

Continue reading Garmin’s nuLink! 1695 attracts high-end GPS buyers, nuvi 2200 and 2300 mop up the rest

Garmin’s nuLink! 1695 attracts high-end GPS buyers, nuvi 2200 and 2300 mop up the rest originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 03:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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