GPS

Originally a $600 piece of kit and released at $400, Amazon and Dash have been drilling away at the Dash Express pricetag since its conception. The unit permanently hit $300 in June, but we’re getting the one-day-only vibe on this latest sale: Amazon’s offering the Dash Express Navigator as its Gold Box deal of the day for a mere $200 (monthly fees notwithstanding). Not bad for an internet-connected, ultra-extensible navigation device — in fact, not too bad for 4.3-inch GPS device of any sort, even if those maps are still mega-ugly.

Garmin launched its updated 7×5 series of nuvi navigators back in August, but the high-end MSN Direct-equipped 785T is just hitting stores, and GPS Magazine says it’s a solid improvement over previous nuvis — but if you’re not willing to pay the $50 / year for the MSN service, you’re probably not going to miss it. The 785T drew high marks for its fast frame rate, nice 3D lane guidance / upcoming turn features, and semi-realistic building displays, but the MSN Direct traffic implementation was less accurate than the free traffic service built into lesser T-series nuvis, and download speeds for the service weren’t particularly swift. We’re not all that sold on the connected GPS concept yet, so we’re inclined to take the reviewer’s advice and pick up the otherwise-identical non-connected 765T, but click on for the full exhaustive review to decide for yourself.

While not packing nearly the pizazz offered in the AURA, Motorola’s two freshest navigators don’t look half bad. Up first is the dead-simple MOTONAV TN20, which provides spoken street names and turn-by-turn directions, NAVTEQ 2D / 3D maps of the continental US and a 3.5-inch touch panel. The slightly more sophisticated MOTONAV TN30 picks up where the TN20 left off and adds in maps of Puerto Rico and Canada, four million searchable points of interest, a 4.3-inch touchscreen and Bluetooth handsfree support. Both systems include a SD slot for updating maps, a mini USB port for charging, speed limit display with warnings and the obligatory on-screen speed, distance, arrival time, elevation, and distance traveled tidbits. If you’re into either, you’ll have to scoot over to the RadioShack most convenient to you and plop down $199.99 / $299.99, respectively.

As with Jeep’s lackluster RT-300, Panasonic’s portable Strada CN-GP50U GPS is probably better left on the shelf. We know, it’ll be awfully tough to resist that magnificent 5-inch panel and the sleek black frame, but according to PC Mag, this thing is just so-so on its best day. For starters, the price premium over rivaling 4.3-inch units was tough for critics to justify, and coupled with a small POI database, sluggish performance and awkward destination / POI input, hope for success was pretty much extinguished. As if that weren’t enough to frighten you off, reviewers also noted that data fields in the map view were “small and difficult to read,” which probably should not ever be the case on — you know — a navigation system. We appreciate the effort, Panny, but we’d suggest nailing the basics next time before turning to pizazz.

Best Buy’s new cellular-connected Insignia NS-CNV10 (and larger NS-CNV20) certainly has the specs to get noticed, but if the few first impressions that are now cropping up are any indication, it looks like it may not be quite as solid a bet as it seems on paper. The biggest drawback, according to both GPS Lodge and GPS Trackblog, is a decidedly lacking interface that runs on top of Windows CE, which is described as slow, visually unappealing, and simply not that easy to use (all things fairly important in an interface). On the upside, the cellular connectivity and integration with Google Maps apparently does work as promised, and the free service for a year certainly makes the somewhat hefty $399 price tag a bit more bearable. If you’re still undecided, you can dig into the links below for a few more first impressions and, of course, some requisite unboxing pics.

Read - GPS Lodge, “Insignia NS CNV-10 Connected GPS - Unboxing & First Impressions Review”
Read - GPS Tracklog, “Insignia GPS first impressions”

We’ve had our doubts about this Orange Gadgets outfit — the same folks promising that entirely-too-wonderful iControlPad — but it looks like the company is making good on its first promised product, the iGPS360. The little add-on module brings GPS to your jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, and is now available for order. Only 1,000 will be available out of the gate, at $75 (plus shipping) a pop. Since we haven’t seen one in the wild, it’s hard to know how well these modules will work, but Orange Gadgets has a pretty open development model, so feel free to page through the blog and see this thing through from concept to execution. Now, about that iControlPad…

Just under a year ago, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced his hopes that one day he could pinpoint the location of his black Labrador, Koni, at any time of the day. Today, a dream has been realized. Mr. Putin has finally procured a satellite collar that will enable him to track the lab regardless of which of the eleven times zones she may be in while waltzing through Russia. Once the collar was slipped on, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov immediately said “she looks sad, her free life is over.” Putin didn’t miss a beat when snapping back: “In Soviet Russia, GLONASS track you!”

[Image courtesy of Picasa, thanks MJ]

Hmm, maybe Jeep should stick to scaling mountains and whatnot. To be totally frank, we had all but forgotten that a Jeep-branded navigator was even in the works, let alone closing in on release — of course, maybe that’s because we last heard of this thing in December of 2007. At any rate, the ruggedized RT-300 has finally found its way to the review bench, and unfortunately for those holding out for this critter, it didn’t fare too well. At all. For starters, $249.99 is a lot of scratch for a lowly 320 x 240 resolution screen, and the fact that it’s not even waterproof didn’t help matters either. Worst of all, testers had issues with route calculation (read: its main function), with a certain Cincy-to-Jersey query causing a total freeze three times in a row (and even on a second unit). Bottom line? Steer clear of this one, hard though that may be for the Jeep faithful.

It’s been a solid tick since we’ve seen a new Maestro, but the latest and greatest from Magellan is here to help navigate you into the nearest body of water, bridge or narrow lane. The unit offers up a 4.3-inch WVGA display, Bluetooth (and thus, handsfree calling), a built-in AAA TourBook, QuickSpell, rechargeable battery, integrated MP3 player, live traffic support and an FM transmitter. We don’t really see anything super special here, but Magellan is mighty proud of this thing — or, at least that’s the impression we get from the $599.99 MSRP.

[Via GPSTracklog]

It looks like those wanting a GPS unit that’s a bit more stylish than the usual fare now have a new option to consider from Navman, which has just introduced is IDEO-designed S100 model. In addition to being shiny, this one measures just 13.5-mm thick, and packs a 4.3-inch “super flat” touchscreen, all the usual PMP features, 3D maps, Navman’s trademark NavPix photo navigation, and SirfStar’s InstaFix II, which promises to deliver a GPS fix five times faster than normal. It also uses Mio’s new “Spirit” software with Glide Touch, which provides “simple tap and slide functionality,” but apparently not full multi-touch. No word on a release ’round these parts, but folks in the UK will be able to pick this one up in November for $199, or roughly $340.

[Via NaviGadget]