14 DAY TRIAL // Much like many other consumer-electronics manufacturers on the market, Garmin has the rather irritating habit of releasing a very large number of devices on a single occasion, especially an important one, such as the International CES. Thus, it's really no wonder that the company has announced a vast "armada" of GPS products, each of them targeting a specific segment of the CE market.
The first announcement from Garmin we'll talk about is the one related to the Colorado series of handheld GPS devices, designed especially for outdoor, marine and fitness enthusiasts. These rugged navigators provide a very accessible control system (the Rock 'n Roller wheel), as well as a color 3-inch screen with high resolution used for viewing the various navigation maps or data (since the devices also include an electronic compass, barometric altimeter and photo viewer).
And since we're on the subject of maps, it's important to note the fact that the Colorado series lets users customize five profiles - automotive, marine, recreation, fitness or paperless geocaching. Actually, each of the devices from this series are targeting a separate category of consumers, as the basic $499 Colorado 300 features a worldwide basemap with shaded relief, while the $599 400t, 400i and 400c models target hikers anglers and coastal mariners, respectively, by adding certain important mapping details to the basemap.
Another important product from Garmin's new line-up is the Forerunner 405, a GPS-enabled fitness device that allows users to track their speed, distance, heart rate and location accurately and effortlessly, as well as train against a Virtual Partner. Furthermore, the device is water-resistant (IPX7) and can be used outdoors or indoors (with an optional foot pod). It also packs ANT+Sport technology, which means that it can be used for the wireless tracking of one's progresses, as well as the addition of supplementary sensors (heart, speed/cadence, etc.). The Forerunner 405 retails starting at around 300 US dollars.
Garmin's CES line-up also includes one of the largest PNDs released by the company to date, namely the nuvi 5000 model, which provides a whopping 5.2-inch LCD display. The $800 nuvi 5000 offers high-end navigation functions (voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions, route calculation, various re-routing options, etc.), can receive dynamic content from either MSN Direct (U.S. only) or FM TMC (Traffic Message Channel) and even sports a video signal input that supports an external analog source, such as a back-up camera. Furthermore, it also provides several entertainment-related functions, as for example an internal MP3 player, audio book player and games, as well as a built-in FM transmitter..
However, the nuvi 5000 is not the only new model to provide MSN Direct compatibility, because Garmin has also announced the release of the nuvi 880 and the nuvi 780, which also provide this particular function. The 880 is a Bluetooth-enabled, voice-prompted 4.3-inch PND, which also offers premium features, comparable to those of the nuvi 5000, while the 780 is a stripped-down version, with no Bluetooth or FM trasmitter, but still capable of accessing the MSN Direct content.
Last but not least, Garmin has also released the entry-level nuvi 260W model (based on the 200 series) plan, a simple-to-use widescreen personal navigation device (PND) whose main merit, compared to its close relatives is the fact that it can speak street names. No pricing details are available for the time being.
As a conclusion, it seems that Garmin has come prepared and fully equipped with latest-gen goodies at CES. It remains to be seen now how its competitors are going to react to this "flood" of devices.
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