Whether you're looking for ways to freshen up your ol' nuvi or make a new nuvi from our Holiday Gift Guide ever better, look no further than everyone's favorite fry cook, SpongeBob SquarePants. He's ventured out from Bikini Bottom and steered his way to the Garmin Garage with a bundle of Holiday cheer. He may not have a license to drive, but he'll liven up any trip, whether you're grabbing some fries at the Krusty Krab or dropping the kids off at boating school. Just sail over to garmin.com/nickelodeon to get a bundle for yourself. You'll get the real voice of SpongeBob along with with two fun vehicle icons starring – you guessed it – SpongeBob SquarePants. To sweeten the deal, the whole package is now just $5.99.

And if SpongeBob doesn't float your boat? Dora the Explorer is ready to guide your adventures! Find them both at garmin.com/nickelodeon.

And if SpongeBob doesn't float your boat? Dora the Explorer is ready to guide your adventures! Find them both at garmin.com/nickelodeon.

With hockey season right around the corner, we thought it was time to prep the ice at rinks around the world with our newest Garmin Garage creation. Introducing: Hat Trick. Hat Trick showed up in the Garmin Garage earlier this spring after a hard season workin’ the ice. Although he didn’t get much use during the warm summer months, we tuned him up, sprayed on a fresh coat of paint and tuned him up for the season. So now he’s ready to go and available for you to download straight to your nüvi. Plan your trip to the Garmin Garage and grab Hat Trick before you hit the ice! And while you’re downloading Hat Trick, take a look at the rest of the vehicles available in the Garmin Garage. It’s where you’ll find a great collection of free vehicle icons that were made just to give your nüvi a little personality.

In perusing the Garmin blogs inbox, we just had to share this comment that Andy submitted this week in response to Dr. Nightmare, just one of the free downloadable voices in the Garmin Garage. (And yes, we love the fact that they're having fun with this despite the fact that Halloween is seven months away.)

"Love the voice. Ours has the habit of saying creepy things at the most opportune moments when looking for a house to buy. When we arrived, if the house was no good, he would say 'Welcome to this dreadful destination.' A friend was in the back of our car, and as she leaned over to look in the rearview mirror to check her hair, he said 'Is that a goblin in the rearview mirror?' She then replied 'No its me.' But the most uncanny of them all was just the other day, we were driving slowly through a small town when the vehicle in front of us stopped at the pedestrian crossing. As he did so a cat by the side of the road crossed in front of this vehicle. As we drove off Dr. Nightmare said "Did a cat just cross your path?"! Weird or what?!"

Thanks Andy - and Dr. Nightmare - for making our day. To join the fun, just download the good doctor - or his friends Elfred the Elf, Squirrely, Yeti or Team Garmin's Matt White - from GarminGarage.com, where you can also find dozens of vehicle icons for spring road trips and summer adventures.

When we announced Garmin's new Voice Studio at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, we turned heads, raised eyebrows and got a lot of people talking ... as the voice on their own nüvi. And because Voice Studio is a free and easy way to customize your nüvi, you can record your own voice, or have your kids give you directions, or let your spouse navigate, or practice your impressions to surprise and impress your friends - or a little of everything. So because the answers to the most popular questions - "How much does it cost" and "How long does it take" - were "nothing" and "not long," the question that always follows is "How do I do it?"

Simply download the free Voice Studio application from http://www.garmin.com/voicestudio and install it on a PC. You can then record a few dozen phrases, and edit them directly within the Voice Studio application. To achieve the best quality recordings, we recommend that you use an external microphone. Once complete, the voice file is loaded onto a compatible Garmin nüvi. The entire process typically takes less than 30 minutes.

Combined with free and fun icons from the Garmin Garage (http://www8.garmin.com/vehicles/) - and other downloadable voices - Garmin customers can personalize their devices to a degree that no other navigation provider can match. Voice Studio is compatible with all nüvis except the nüvi 300 and 600 series. Voice Studio does not provide text-to-speech directions.

Are you fired up for February's frigid festivities in western Canada? Maybe you're one of the lucky ones heading to the Vancouver/Whistler area to catch some competition. If so, you can navigate like a local with help from Garmin's cityXplorer Vancouver/Whistler edition. For just $9.99, you get all of the detailed map coverage your nuvi needs to help you navigate city public transit. It can show you where to walk, as well as where to catch the bus, subway, tram or other transportation, and how long it will take. And with cityXplorer's points of interest database, you can find fun and excitement in and around the mountains, including sports venues, hotels, restaurants, parking, entertainment, fuel, shopping and more. Also, be sure to check out our other cityXplorer options for affordable navigation in cities around the world.

Even if you're stuck at home watching the excitement on TV, you can still get in on the action. Check out the Garmin Garage for free downloadable icons inspired by our favorite winter sports. It won't turn your car into a bobsled or help you glide effortlessly along the ice on foot, but it will get you in the proper spirit without spending a cent.

For any driver who has ever been curious about what's really going on under the hood, Garmin's new ecoRoute hd provides many of the answers. By accessing onboard diagnostics and performance data, drivers can use a compatible Garmin nüvi to wirelessly monitor real-time vehicle diagnostics while accurately calculating ecoRoute data and driver challenge scores (speed, acceleration, braking, etc.) in an effort to conserve fuel and money through fuel-efficient navigation. 

“When it comes to fuel conservation and vehicle upkeep, the real-time information provided by ecoRoute hd is the key to being a smarter driver,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Garmin is known around the world for getting you to your destination efficiently, and now you can know how your car is performing every step along the way.”

By simply plugging the ecoRoute hd module into the vehicle’s standardized onboard diagnostics port (OBD II), safely mounting the transmitter clear of vehicle controls and pedals, and completing the easy one-time pairing with nüvi, drivers can start receiving the vital data from their vehicle and run diagnostic checks through nüvi’s intuitive interface before a trip to the auto shop is necessary. Drivers also get more accurate ecoRoute data, making fuel conservation easier than ever, and they can monitor their engine data (including temperature, RPM, emissions) and diagnostics through the Trip Computer screen and customizable Gauges screen. Drivers can then view Diagnostic Trouble Codes – with on-screen descriptions of some error codes – and reset the “check engine” light. ecoRoute hd will be compatible with many current and future nüvi models, including 1260, 1370, 1390, 1490 and 1690.

Real-time data monitored by ecoRoute HD, which has an expected availability date of March 2010 for a suggested retail price of $149.99, includes vital diagnostics such as:
• Intake air temperature information
• Coolant temperature data
• Throttle position and engine load
• Intake manifold pressure
• Battery and charging system information
• Mass airflow rate
• Timing advance
• Emissions

Introduced by Garmin in 2009, ecoRoute is a free software update that helps drivers conserve money and fuel, easing growing pressures on personal budgets and the environment. In addition to “faster time” and “shorter distance” for route preference, ecoRoute lets nüvi users choose “less fuel” as a routing option as the best way to help save gas and money. Through ecoRoute’s Fuel Report, Mileage Report and fuel-saving tips, drivers can focus on fuel conservation even when they’re not behind the wheel. Fuel Report tracks fuel usage over time, and Mileage Report monitors mileage and fuel usage on a per-trip basis. Drivers can customize their nüvi to fit their vehicle by accessing the “vehicle profile” under ecoRoute in the tools menu. There, you can enter your car’s fuel economy and the current price of gas to help nüvi better calculate your savings. To find out if your nüvi is compatible with ecoRoute through a free, downloadable software update, go to www.garmin.com/ecoroute.