Interesting article on the BBC news site about how stand alone sat Nav unit sales are declining rapidly and how this is symptomatic to just how quickly something can move from being huge to racing towards obsolescence http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31920948 Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Cell phones. Seriously, with how good the apps are getting I don't even see an overwhelming need for a stand alone anymore.
Build one with a big screen and easy to use or open SW for half the price they sell for now and maybe they will sell. I would never buy another one to use in a vehicle. Which is most of the market.
Could Basecamp be an inside plant by phone manufactures to speed the demise of Garmin? I feel confident that I can use MapSource until standalones are not available anymore.
This is disturbing. I still use an old Zumo 550. I use it in both my cars, my truck, and both my BMW motorcycles. I sometimes carry it when I fly somewhere and need to rent a car. I know how it works and dont have to relearn a different unit.
I use my phone GPS more often than not now. The only reason I still keep my Zumo 550 around is because it takes routes that I can build before I leave the house. If there was a similar app for my phone that would work int he same manner where I can drag and drop a route and it would retain the route I programmed without recalculating it. I WILL NOT spend almost a grand for a damn GPS unit no matter how "motorcycle' that unit may be. The tech isn't cutting edge by any means.
I am down to only two 76Cx, when they go, I will be forced to my damn 78. Can't wait until they come out with the next dumber dumbed down 12 V hand held and I have to stock pile some 78s!
well, i believe i smell opportunity in the water... what color would you like your track displayed ? would you prefer arrows, dashes, a solid line, a transparent line, wide, narrow, or several at once ? waypoints on top, or hidden in groups ? recalculate after x number feet, or no recalc at all ? topo maps ? google maps ? night time maps ? blue ? red ? green ? roads only ? want the phone to whistle wiht increasing frequency when you get close to a waypoint, or not at all ? want it to record at the same time ? upload automagically your location so the wife/girlfriend/whomever can watch ? want to see your buddys, in real time, right now, on the display ? no one at all ? there are several applications that do what you've ask, so much more, and do it very well.
I haven't found one that will do what a Garmin and Basecamp will do yet. Everytime I try to load routes into phone APPs it changes the routing I did to what it wants.
For in the car navigation around town, I don't even dig my Nuvi out of the glovebox, I just use my phone. If I'm headed out on a trip and need navigation, I will. On the motorcycle, it's my trusty 376c or 60csx. Both are waterproof, easily display tracks, record tracks, and just happily motor along no matter the weather. Put my iPhone on the handlebars? I think not.
Easily doable. I've been moutning my iPhone on the bars for years and years no with no issues thanks to RAM mounts :)
I've never used a road navigation orientated GPS, I've always used maps or my phone. I have apps that have the maps downloaded (Tom Tom) so I don't need a data connection if I'm abroad. For offroad navigation I don't use my phone and don't see this style of GPS becoming obsolete. Smart phone battery issues, lack of robustness and waterproofing mean they are not suitable. Plus for safety I like to have some redundancy so I sometimes consider my smart phone as the GPS back up unless I'm somewhere very remote in which case I will carry a separate trail style GPS So yes I think road sat nat units are obsolete but I think offroad units are here for a long time yet But technology definitely becomes redundant very quickly at the moment. I'm typing this on an iPad and case in point I'm unlikely to buy another. My touch screen laptop and iPhone 6 do to much of what the iPad does. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
WOW, now that's a giant market! You do realize that hand helds are for hikers and that we are just lucky that there is still ONE Garmin model with 12 V power input for a motorcycle? Does Trail Tech actually have the right marketing solution in the long run?
I use the same battery powered offroad GPS unit (Etrex 30 or cheap as chips forerunner) for my dirt bike in the desert, hiking, mountain biking and sea kayaking. Trail units have been a significant part of Garmins business since the first ones I remember hitting the market early 90's It's this adaptability of purpose that I think will prevent their obsolescence as it is a pretty big market (I'm assuming that was sarcasm [emoji12] ) Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Having said that I do like my trail tech voyager. This is kind of the same as the GPS systems built into vehicles. I don't see hem disappearing either. It's relatively cheap to include them into vehicles as the screen is all there anyway Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
But I think trail tech need to do a lot of work on their UI if they want to develop their niche. Both Magellan and Silva outdoor trail units failed in the long term because their UI was so far behind Garmins. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk