Hasta La Gadget!

Get lost easy do ya? Then you’ll find Garmin’s new Foretrex 301 and Foretrex 401 navigators more handy on the switchbacks than a sack full of Wonder “bread.” These wrist-worn GPS navigators feature a rugged, waterproof design and the ability to store up to 500 waypoints and 20 routes that’ll help keep you from getting lost in the great outdoors. See, each Foretrex can remember up to 10,000 points of your journey displayed as a dotted trail on the screen. When you’ve reached your limits, just turn on the TracBak mode and easily double-back to camp or to your vehicle. Both devices are powered by a pair of AAA batteries for about 18-hours of use — a bit less on the 401 which needs the extra go-juice to power the electronic compass, barometric altimeter, and wireless link back to compatible Garmin devices including heart-rate monitors and cadence sensors. Both incorporate a trip computer, sunrise/sunset and hunting and fishing information with USB tethering to PC or Mac. No word on pricing or release yet but we’ll update you when we get it. Foretrex 401 and full press release after the break.

Continue reading Garmin’s Foretrex 301 and 401 navigators are like pixelated breadcrumbs

Filed under: GPS, Wearables

Garmin’s Foretrex 301 and 401 navigators are like pixelated breadcrumbs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pioneer isn’t going for subtle here: the company just unleashed a flurry of in-dash navigators, with a considerable amount of accoutrements on display. The units range through the flagship AVIC-Z110BT (pictured), “midrange” AVIC-X710BT and X910BT, and the AVIC-U310BT for rich people on a budget. Seriously, with a starting price of $599, none of this is suited for the cheap-and-simple set, but at least Pioneer backs up those pricetags with serious functionality. In the high end, the Z110BT includes an tilt-out XGA 7-inch touchscreen, MSN Direct tuner (for traffic and other live info), 4GB of internal storage, CD and DVD playback, and Bluetooth. Comforts include both voice recognition (“Find the nearest Starbucks”) and text-to-speech (“I wouldn’t do that, Dave”), along with iPod control and support for optional rear seat monitors and wireless headphones. Of course, all those perks aren’t cheap: the device retails for $1,600. The other units include smaller screens and subsets of the specs, on down to the 4.3-inch U310BT.

Read – AVIC-Z110BT
Read – AVIC-X710BT and AVIC-X910BT
Read – AVIC-U310BT

Filed under: GPS

Pioneer explodes your dashboard with new AVIC U, X and Z-series in-dash navigation systems originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just hours after the announcement of the iPhone 3G S yesterday, the emails started to flood in about third-party accessories. “Our [insert product name here] is compatible with the new iPhone! ” they said. Which we could have guessed because, y’know, the new iPhone is the exact same size and shape as the old iPhone.

One piece of hardware, though, has our attention. It’s the TomTom GPS unit, which will be one of the first accessories to hook into an application via the dock-connector. The “TomTom for iPhone” sticks onto the inside of your car window and acts as a charging cradle for the iPhone. It also provides a nice, loud (as in audible above the engine noise) sound output for turn-by-turn instruction and also lets you dial hands-free. And even more important, it gives “enhanced GPS performance”, which we take to mean an extra antenna for picking up the satellite signals.

The unit comes paired with a TomTom application, which was demonstrated on-stage at yesterday’s WWDC keynote, and works in tandem with the hardware. TomTom has made no announcement on pricing yet, so we don’t know whether the software will be free or only available as a separate purchase. Also unknown is the precise mechanism for buying software which requires a hardware dongle to work: Will you need to check a box to say you own the hardware before buying the app? We don’t know, but the alternative – actually hooking the hardware up as you make the purchase – seems a little clunky. Still, it’s exciting stuff. Now we just need the folks at OnOne to make a remote camera trigger for the iPhone.

Product page [TomTom]

Sorry this is late today. The Cheap Geek team is busy creating a summer reality show for NBC called “So You Think You Can Save Money.”

1. The deal bins are full of excellent GPS navigators. Why? Because you’re not buying them at full price. Bad for the industry, but good for you. Today you can grab the Garmin Nuvi 850 from Amazon for $245.96, and that includes free shipping. This Nuvi has a 4.3-inch screen and voice recognition so you don’t even have to take a hand off the wheel to set a destination. Cool, right? Even the Jetson’s flying car didn’t have that.

2. The price of the JBL L890 floorstanding loudspeaker is so low that Amazon can’t show it to you. But I peeked and I’ll tell you that it’s $400.22. This attractive unit offers great high-frequency sound, as well as outstanding bass. They’re sold individually, so order two to get a pair.

3. If those deals were a little too spendy for you, but you’d still like something cool, how about this: Amazon is selling the Swingline Optima PowerEase stapler for $12.46. You’ll get free shipping if your order is over $25. Why is this stapler so cool? Because it can do 25 sheets at once, it’s easy to load, and it takes 70 percent less force to use that regular staplers. We may live in a paperless society, but somehow there’s still a lot of stapling to do.

Bonus Deal: Today is National Donut Day! Dunkin’ Donuts will give you a free donut with any beverage sale. The more generous Krispy Kreme will simply give you a free donut.

Think fast! You’ve just stumbled upon this week’s episode of Ask Engadget, and just like those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books from yesteryear, you’ve a few choices here. One is to leave like a coward; another is to really dig in and contribute; and another is to drop some knowledge and send in a question of your own to ask at engadget dawt com. While you ponder which route is best for you, here’s Matthew’s plea:

“There are so many GPS trackers on the market today to choose from. I’m just looking for basic monitoring abilities and decent battery life, and of course I want one that’s as small and discrete as possible. Which is the best one for less than $300?”

No need to confess in comments what you use your own tracker for (trust us, we could narrow it down on our own), but do tell if you’ve found a winner. Bonus points if your module has landed your scandalous SO on a recent episode of Cheaters.

Filed under: Ask Engadget, GPS

Ask Engadget: What’s the best GPS tracker for under $300? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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