Laptop, Check. GPSMAP 696, Check. A Blog topic for this week, Check! Garmin’s engineers are at it again. Recently they have added a new feature to the 696 that will allow customers to add customized checklists. That’s right. No more flipping through a multitude of pages for Pre-Flight, Engine Start, Taxi, Pre-Takeoff, and etc. With the 696 and G3X you can literally make your own checklist and check off the items as you complete them. Still don’t believe me? Then check it out yourself with the free checklist editor here.
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"The slim profile and large, sharp screen make this nüvi one of the most portable and best-looking standalone GPS devices that we've tested," raved CNET in their just-posted review of the nüvi 3790T. In fact, they were so impressed with this nüvi's design, features and performance, they gave it 4.5 stars and deemed the new 3790T an Editors' Choice pick! In addition to being the "best looking" PND they've tested, CNET also liked the voice command feature that lets you truly be hands-free by speaking the words you see on the screen or by speaking certain commands, the included traffic data, and Bluetooth capability. The bottom line? According to CNET, "the Garmin nüvi 3790T is an exceptional portable navigation device with just the right blend of form and function."
If you agree and think this is one nüvi you can't live without, don't forget to follow @Garmin on Twitter for a chance to win a top-of-the-line nüvi 3790T of your own! All you have to do is hit "retweet" on the weekly key phrase, and Twitter will take care of the rest! To be eligible to win, you have to retweet the entire phrase, be following Garmin, and be a resident of the U.S. And be sure to retweet the key phrase each and every week throughout the contest, because we start from scratch every Friday at noon. Click here to go the Week 2 key phrase to retweet. Good luck!
To learn more about the nüvi 3790T, check out out interactive minisite and these tutorial vidoes.
It's been a busy week for Team Garmin, which becomes Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. The team issued the following press release with more exciting roster announcements as Eurobike kicked off, marking the debut of the new touchscreen Edge 800.
BOULDER, COLORADO (September 1, 2010) -- Slipstream Sports today announced six additions to the 2011 roster, marking the remaining Cervélo TestTeam riders to join the newly formed Team Garmin-Cervélo.
Roger Hammond (UK), Heinrich Haussler (AUS), Andreas Klier (GER), Brett Lancaster (AUS), Daniel Lloyd (UK) and Gabriel Rasch (NOR) will join teammate Thor Hushovd (NOR) in 2011. These seven will be joining Garmin riders including Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie and Dan Martin.
"Team Garmin-Cervélo's roster will be strong and versatile," said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO, Slipstream Sports. "All of these riders bring a lot of experience to what's already a great team. I'm proud of what we've done since 2008, and I'm excited for what we'll do in 2011."
The creation of Team Garmin-Cervélo is still under development. More information, including an official team roster, will be released as it becomes available.
When we talk about how Garmin's Forerunner 110 is meant to simply answer runners' two most important questions - How fast and how far? - the answers get even easier when the runner is Ryan Hall. How fast? Very. How far? Very.
While Forerunner 110 is easy enough for beginners training for their first 5K, its GPS-enabled features are powerful and accurate enough for elite runners such as Ryan. Check out this video from Ryan's YouTube channel (which is full of helpful training tips) and hear him talk about his favorite features ... while he runs ... uphill ... at a 7-minute pace. Sigh. And to learn more about these easy-to-use features, visit our online learning center and watch Peg's demonstrations in the short tutorial videos.
Thor Hushovd, Norwegian Road Race Champion, nine-time Tour de France stage winner and 2009 green jersey holder, will ride for Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. Team Garmin-Transitions and Cervélo SA announced last week they will join forces for the 2011 season to create a new team that will be known as Garmin-Cervélo.
“I’m proud to join Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. Cervélo has been a great supporter for the past two years and its partnership with Garmin feels like a good fit,” said Hushovd. “I chose Garmin-Cervélo because I have a lot of respect for what Jonathan Vaughters has done for cycling, because I think we’ll have a very strong, competitive team, and because I’ll be able to continue to work with Cervélo. I look forward to seeing what we can all do together next year.”
Hushovd started racing at age 9 and went on to win the under-23 time trial world championship and the under-23 versions of Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours. He turned professional in 2000 and is considered one of the best sprinters, time trialists, and Classics riders in the world. Hushovd has twice finished in the top three of Paris-Roubaix and will focus on a strong Classics campaign with Garmin-Cervélo.
"We are incredibly excited to bring Thor to the team in 2011,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports. “One of our goals is to become stronger in the Classics, and adding a world-class rider like Thor will get us there. He’s an exceptionally talented rider and a great fit for our new team.”
“I’m going to focus my season on the Classics,” said Hushovd. “My biggest goal is to get one major Classics victory in 2011. I’ve come close over the past few years so I will build on that experience and hopefully, stand on the podium with my new team.”
The creation of the new team is still under development. More information, including official team rosters, will become available in the October timeframe.
Many people don't realize that when we're developing products we put them through extreme test conditions. We drop 'em, dunk 'em, freeze 'em, and heat 'em, and that's just a few of the tests engineering puts products through. We're proud that our devices are rugged and can stand up to the challenges our customers give them -- even accidental challenges. Here's a great testimonial sent to the Garmin inbox from Kevin, a satisfied Garmin customer, and his GPSMAP 76s that survived his accidental challenge.
I just thought that you would like to know that your products have gone up a notch or two in my book this week. I always like to give credit where credit is due, and I think that your products have earned some praise following an accident I had with one during a recent road trip.
I've been a Garmin customer for many years now, and currently use a Foretrex 101 and GPSMAP 76S for hiking here in Colorado. I also still have my original Garmin unit (a "GPS 40" from the mid 1990's). All of these units have performed as advertised, though I never had the opportunity to subject them to a true durability test...until this week.
I often keep the GPSMAP 76S in my vehicle when I travel, and that was the case during the past week when I traveled to Ohio to visit family. Unfortunately I wasn't very careful with the storage of my GPS on this trip, and didn't realize that the unit had been knocked out of my car's door pocket while I was unloading the vehicle at my parent's house. When I backed out of the driveway a short time later, I immediately felt a solid bump as the front wheel of my vehicle drove squarely over my GPS unit.
I honestly didn't even realize that I had driven over my GPS unit at the time, and I got out of the car expecting to find that I had run over a brick (or some other equally inconsequential item) in the driveway. I was greatly disappointed when I saw my GPS laying in front of my tire on the pavement. Although this unit was being stored in a soft-sided nylon case, this case is not really padded in any way, and certainly wasn't designed to protect the product from anything more than the most minor abuse.Thanks, Kevin, for sharing this great story! To learn more about our other rugged and waterproof marine handheld products, visit the On The Water section of Garmin.com.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – August 30, 2010 – TeleNav, Inc., (NASDAQ: TNAV) one of the largest global wireless navigation services providers, today announced the immediate availability of its embedded automotive navigation product in the 2011 Ford Edge, and the 2011 Lincoln MKX, called MyFord Touch and MyLincoln Touch respectively. Ford Motor Company uses TeleNav's automotive-grade navigation software in its latest generation of Ford SYNC™ to help drivers search, find and drive to places more reliably and quickly. The in-vehicle system integrates with Ford's award-winning SYNC platform – also powered by TeleNav routing software – and connects with the infotainment and telematics system in the vehicle.
"Ford took SYNC to the next level by adding a consumer-friendly on-board navigation system," said HP Jin, president, CEO and co-founder of TeleNav. "By seamlessly integrating the car with mobile services, TeleNav is creating an easy-to-use, connected drive-time search and navigation experience for drivers."
MyFord Touch allows customers to interact with the system through a new, touch screen interface or more than 10,000 voice commands. MyFord Touch includes an 8-inch touch screen in the center stack and dual 4.2-inch screens in the instrument cluster to showcase full color maps and routing information. The premium SD card-based navigation system provides a low cost, easily updateable option compared to CD, DVD or hard-drive-based systems.
Ford's new navigation system marks TeleNav's first automotive embedded solution. TeleNav also powers the routing in Ford SYNC's Traffic, Directions and Information (TDI) application, the automaker's network of services that leverages the driver's mobile phone to access a wide range of cloud-based features and information. When MyFord Touch premium navigation and SYNC TDI are combined, drivers get the best of the system's off-board connected navigation services – such as real-time traffic, local weather and more than 12 million up-to-date POIs – with the performance of an embedded navigation system.
"People want the reliability of an in-vehicle navigation system with the connectivity of a mobile device," added Jin. "With TeleNav's routing and mapping experience, Ford can offer consumers an industry first with connected in-vehicle navigation."
In addition to MyFord Touch map-based navigation, TeleNav developed Eco-Route™, an application for the system that calculates a fuel-efficient route for the driver. When a destination is entered into the system, MyFord Touch accesses historical and real-time traffic data as well as speed limits and road angulations to calculate three drive route options: fastest, shortest and eco-friendly. Ford testing shows using Eco-Route can be up to 15 percent more fuel-efficient when compared to other route options provided by MyFord Touch.
MyFord Touch map-based navigation will be available in the U.S. in select vehicles starting this week with the Ford Edge and will be available globally on the 2012 Ford Focus. MyLincoln Touch will be standard equipment on the new 2011 Lincoln MKX. SYNC TDI is an option or comes standard in more than 80 percent of Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
In announcing the new Garmin Edge 800 cycling computer today, we took the best of Garmin Edge technology, added a touchscreen color display and made route planning easier than ever before with a one-stop shopping for creating, previewing and downloading routes to ride. New mapping options such as Garmin’s BaseCamp route planning and BirdsEye™ Satellite Imagery make it perfect for training, touring and riding on the trail.
“Whether you’re on the road, in the mountains or around the city, Garmin’s touchscreen Edge 800 puts the most important information of your ride at your fingertips,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Thanks to its simple mounting system, improved mapping and route-planning capabilities, and the GPS-based features that make wires and calibration obsolete, we can easily say that one Edge fits all.”
Building on its popular GPS-enabled predecessors, Edge 800 is smaller and sleeker than the Edge 705, yet features a larger 2.6” display with a simple touchscreen interface. And while Edge 800 gets its streamlined design from the ultralight Edge 500, the color display and versatile mapping options make exploration more enjoyable and efficient than ever. The latest version of Garmin’s free BaseCamp software (www.garmin.com/basecamp) gives users an easy tool to survey the terrain and plan routes. BaseCamp lets users plan and preview routes – along with viewing elevation changes – and then send those routes to Edge 800, Edge 705 and Edge 605 as courses to follow.
Edge 800 will debut at Interbike (Booth 2631) and Eurobike (Booth
A5-201), where it won the coveted Eurobike Award for electronic
components.
In its third year as title sponsor of the Pro Tour cyclists of Team Garmin-Transitions, Garmin has worked closely with the sport’s top athletes in developing Edge products that can be appreciated by cyclists around the world using a cycling computer to get their fastest time – or for the first time.
“At Garmin-Transitions, we’re going to be on the cutting edge of technology, in everything we do,” said Team Garmin sprinting sensation Tyler Farrar. “Edge 800 can track all of our performance data, and it also keeps things interesting on training rides because we can use it anywhere in the world to plan and follow new routes – on and off road – and always find our way back to the start.”
Cyclists can view Team Garmin’s featured rides – or download, analyze and share rides of their own – at Garmin Connect™ (http://garminconnect.com), the free-to-join online community of more than 30 million activities from around the world. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, speed, elevation and heart rate through charts and a variety of map representations, including street, satellite, topographic, and elevation maps. Garmin Connect users can search for activities in their area and try them by uploading the data to Edge 800, which will guide the way.
“I can come back and do even more on the computer when I download it,” said Team Garmin’s Christian Vande Velde of combining Garmin Connect with the Edge products he used in consecutive top-8 finishes at the Tour de France. “It takes all the guessing out of everything in my training.”
Using information directly from GPS satellites, Edge 800 accurately tracks speed, distance, time, GPS position, elevation, calories burned, climb and descent. For even more real-time data on display, Edge 800 syncs wirelessly through ANT+™ technology with compatible third-party power meters as well as Garmin heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors. For extra-precise climb and descent data, Edge 800 incorporates a barometric altimeter to pinpoint changes in elevation.
Because Edge 800 requires no calibration, it can be switched quickly between bikes thanks to a low-profile, quarter-turn mount that fits easily on the stem or handlebars with tight-gripping rubber rings. Boasting a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFix that quickly acquires and maintains satellite reception, Edge 800 displays temperature readings, changes time zones automatically, lasts up to 15 hours on one charge and alerts riders if they’re moving but the timer has not been started.
As powerful as it is for performance cyclists and speed specialists, various mapping options make Edge 800 an ideal device for singletrack exploration, everyday errands and casual commuting.
On the trails, using a separate TOPO U.S. 24K DVD or microSD card brings you the highest level of topographic detail available, with maps comparable to 1:24,000 scale USGS maps, featuring terrain contours, topo elevations, summits, routable roads and trails, parks, coastlines, rivers, lakes and geographical points. In town, optional City Navigator mapping provides detailed street maps, millions of preloaded points of interest and onscreen turn-by-turn directions to your destination.
Subscribers to BirdsEye Satellite Imagery can quickly transfer high-resolution satellite images to Edge 800 and seamlessly integrate those images into the onscreen maps to get a true representation of the surroundings. And Garmin’s Custom Maps can bring the details, labels and landmarks of your existing paper or electronic map to Edge 800 in just a few simple steps.