The single largest and loudest complaint about Garmin automotive GPS devices was the fact people had to pay for map updates. Garmin tried to get around this by offering a Lifetime map update subscription, but that didn’t do very well because the cost of the subscription was more than the GPS device itself. Now however, Garmin finally gets it right and...

PND means Portable Navigation Device, and in general use refers to any portable automotive GPS device. For several years now there have been those that claim PNDs are a dying market and that they will die a quick death. The exact opposite of that has been true. PNDs still continue to sell by the truckload and in addition have become quite advanced in overall...

It is a sad truth that there is no such thing as a universal mount to hold the mobile devices we put in our cars and trucks. In addition, almost all of our devices are powered by disgustingly huge cigarette lighter plugs because most cars do not have USB ports. On top of that, most modern car dashboards can’t hold anything because they’re bulbous and...

Automotive GPS devices while used by many have the issue of difficulty of being able to edit locations on a desktop PC level. There are tools available such as Bing Maps, Google Maps and Google Earth which allow for some fine tuning, but the way in which those sites work is still a bit on the difficult side. Nuvi Editor on the other hand is very easy. It makes...

Twitter, the service you either love or hate, will be offering a geo-location service soon. This is something other web sites like BrightKite have tried to get other people to start using. You go somewhere then announce where you are by means of GPS coordinates. Consumer location-aware tech is still something that’s relatively new. There are certain things...

The Garmin nüvi 255W GPS has been on the market for some time now, but I just got one (upgraded from my nüvi 205), so here’s the scoop on it. I’ll be concentrating on what matters most to the PCMech audience (and if I miss anything you want to know about it, chime in with a comment as I’m very familiar with the nüvi line of products.) In...

The typical tech people put into cars are music players, DVD decks, PNDs (personal navigation devices) and smartphones. And the most annoying thing is how to mount it. You have seven basic options for mounting tech in a car:Proprietary in-dash Semi-proprietary in-dash In-mirror Gooseneck/Bracket Suction mount to adhesive plate Suction mount to glass...

It’s an ever-increasing mobile world, and with it comes all the tech stuff we need to get things done. Being mobile means your tech will run off a battery or two. However there are certain items when you should care and other times when you don’t have to. Point-And-Shoot Digital Cameras Should you care? Yes. I won’t buy a point-and-shoot...

Due to an accident that permanently damaged my nuvi 270 (don’t ask, but it was totally my fault), I was put in the situation where I had to buy another GPS. The base model from Garmin right now is the nüvi 205 and that’s the one I bought. The 2×5 (i.e. 205, 215, 255, etc.) is the updated generation from the older 2×0 line (200, 250, 260,...

This story is a bit old but still pretty darned good. And being this is a Florida story (where PCMech is based) makes it even better. Every year during the holiday season there are Nativity scenes placed out for public display. And, sure enough, some fool thinks it’s a laugh to go and steal the Baby Jesus figurine. Fed up, one church (of many) decided to...

A few days ago I acquired a new GPS unit, the Garmin nüvi 270. Since my StreetPilot c580 is now a discontinued model I figured it was time for an upgrade to one of the newer and (much) thinner nüvi models. A few notes before continuing: There are only very slight differences between nüvi models 200, 250, 260 and 270, and they are (for United States...

Upon recent acquisition of a Garmin nüvi 270 I found that I had the ability to manually enter in longitude and latitude coordinates for locations. This is a very convenient feature because you can enter in coordinates directly without having to connect the GPS to the computer at all. For those that would ask “Why can’t I just enter in a street...

Garmin will at times post stuff for their GPS units that has absolutely nothing to do with GPS functionality and all to do with fun. For Halloween this year they’ve released six vehicle icons called a Boo! Bundle for use in your nuvi (any nuvi), StreetPilot c510, c530, c550 or c580. These icons replace the standard arrow that’s on the map display...

For those out there that use a GPS that find the glare from the sun (whether in warm or cold weather) is a bit too much to read that screen, a really cheap and really effective way to make it much more readable is to simply put a "hoody" on it, that being a Glarestopper. The Glarestopper is made for a ton of different GPS units, so chances are...

When most people plan trips they will only use the internet for the most basic of information and not much more. You may use it to print out a map, find a hotel, check flights and not much else. There’s much more you can do besides just plotting maps and making reservations. 1. Calculate your tolls. Many (if not all) US states have toll calculators so you...

The team over at Autoblog acquired an iPhone 3G that touts new GPS features and tested it out. The verdict can be easily figured out just by the title of their post: Should’ve bought a Garmin? Testing the iPhone 3G’s GPS capabilities Before telling you the worst about iPhone 3G GPS, every single thing I knew was going to suck about GPS on the iPhone...

mio knight rider gps from knight rider online on Vimeo. Cool-but-tacky GPS of the moment, above is a Mio GPS unit that is based off the television show Knight Rider (the original good one, not the new crappy one). It’s black, it has KITT-like lights and yes that is the voice of William Daniels you hear on this unit. Now if I could just find an ’82...

Note: This is the short version. Last week on my personal blog I wrote a very long-winded article about the Garmin City Navigator North America NT Map Update 2009. And yes the title of the product is in fact that long. But anyway, if you want to read up on what I think Garmin needs to do in order to keep up with the times as far as map updating goes, read up if...

If you have GPS, you can use it right now to help you save gas when you drive. If not, GPS is not expensive anymore. It’s well under $200 for a well known brand name that does the job and does it well. 1. Set route preference for quickest and not shortest In the vast majority of GPS devices you have two options for route preference; the quickest or the...

There is a way to directly send a Google Maps location to just about any mobile Garmin GPS device (StreetPilot, nuvi, zumo, etc.) Step 1. If you haven’t done so, install the latest Garmin USB drivers. Install the Garmin Communicator Plugin (this is so your web browser can “talk” to Google Maps correctly). Remember to restart your web browser...