Innovation Continues to Surprise GPS Users

July 1, 2009 By: Stephen Colwell

Mass Market OEM Newsletter, July 2009

All of us in this business used to believe that eventually a wide segment of consumer interest would develop for location-based devices and the cross pollination of applications. Few believed us. But luckily, the few turned in to the many, and consumers responded with unmatched fury.

Today the unlikely has taken place. A situation that boggles the senses and brings us back to the heady day of CD players, VCRs, MP3s, and the venerable DVD player.

One GPS system is not enough. Frankly speaking, the numbers indicate that with the factors of lower price, increased competition, and the massive integration efforts we are all destined to own multiple GPS/mapping products. To understand this further, the consumer trend has indicated increased purchasing per individual on GNSS products. Does this mean you’re going GPS shopping again? No. You already have been and just don’t know it yet.

Understanding Life on our Planet

A couple of seasons back, the personal navigation device (PND) was the present of choice. One PND begat two PNDs — yours and your significant others. Two PNDs begat a third, for your kids. Three average cellular phones with GPS brings the total to six. If you’re a recreational boater, hiker, hunter, private pilot, bicyclist, runner or geocacher, add another two or three units. Six begat nine.

Beget Equation (add total):
Total per family may now equal 9-10 GPS mapping location devices.

Now that you know the unalterable direction your life is heading, let’s take a look at few product offerings that really make the cut this year.

Standard Horizon CPV550

With 50 years under its belt of providing high-end marine electronics, Standard Horizon recently introduced a truly remarkable GPS + (everything else) new chart plotter for serious recreational and commercial marine users. The marine electronic side of our industry tends to be overshadowed by the more visible PNDs and cell phones. As innovation, price, and capabilities fuel consumers’ increasing demand for these marine offerings, consumers have begun to realize that many of the features found common in their auto navigation and cell-phone services were developed years before by GPS marine electronic manufacturers. The CPV 550 is hands above what has currently been available and my pick for the old crusty water dogs.

Living on a floating home nestled on the Northwest’s beautiful Columbia River means plenty of local mariners in all shapes and sizes. We live and breathe the water. In the morning I walk out on my back deck with a cup of coffee, and my boat is five feet away. Same story with all the residents on the Marina. Discussing marine electronics is a way of life. My deck has been crowded since I got my hands on a trial CPV 550.

Nuts and Bolts

I’m tempted to mount the CPV 550 in my SUV. Anyway, here is a unit with a stunning 12-inch 800 x 400 high-resolution display and standard 50-channel WAAS antenna. This unit, like most all chart GPS plotters, use the Jeppesen C-Map charts. Integrated into the unit is a powerful Class D DSC VHF Radio with 25 watts of transmit power. In addition, the radio has:
· Audio tone control
· 25W transmit power
· Noise-canceling speaker microphone
· DSC distress, urgency, safety, individual, position
· Report and request calls
· Instant 16/9 and NOAA WX keys
· Dual RAM+ microphone or VH-310 telephone handset remote control

Add to this a 30 W PA and fog hailer, four pre-programmed fog signals, and a special “listen back” feature. The CPV 550 back panel excepts inputs from radar, fish finders, and above and underwater video cameras. Throw in 3,000 possible routes with 50 waypoints each, and that just begins to describe the capabilities.

What really impressed me was when I took it out of the box without reading the instructions and had the unit up and running within 10 minutes. I have had PNDs that took twice as long to get operational! Be aware, though, the manual is about 300+ pages to really understand what’s possible with this GPS chart plotter. While many of these features apply only to marine navigation, it begs the question when these features might begin showing up on my personal location device. The tide’s out and the vote is in. Good sailing.

The Blackberry Storm with GPS

Lets face it. Blackberry is a cult. At least it is to the 26 million+ users and counting. The new Blackberry storm with GPS was introduced in the U.S this spring, and so far it looks like it’s a winner. It was touted as an iPhone killer, but so is every new phone these days. My relationship with the various Blackberries goes back about three or four years now, and includes most all of the models. People ask how RIM took such a commanding lead early on, and the answer is pretty simple: Rim made a smartphone easy to use, rugged, and dependable. Stylish is another category if you care about those things. I don’t.

Having probably owned 200 cell phones since 1987, I’ve seen them come and go. To really date myself, the first cellular phone I owned was a Motorola 800 3W Bag phone which weighed 12 ponds with battery and cost $2,700. Since then, I’ve had LGs, Samsungs, Sony Ericssons, Motorolas again, and a few others. Each one was smaller, lighter, and harder to use. What hit home with the Blackberry smartphones was that it felt like a phone again. Great displays, rugged, ergonomic, and very dependable.

Weight was more than most, but the size allowed for easy gripping and use. Yet even with these mostly positive features I suffer from the same problems millions of Americans now face. Your eyebrows are getting bushy, hair is popping out of your nose and ears, and your thumbs are blunt instruments after decades of hitting them with a hammer when hanging that picture. Not, Not pretty. I can handle the hair invasion but my thumbs are finding it more difficult to press those miniscule buttons, which are tightly grouped together on the Blackberries.

Therefore, after this long-winded introduction, the arrival of the GPS-enabled Blackberry Storm was well accepted. Its flowing, iPhone-style keyboard provides a larger keypad for texting, and the lighter weight and slimness provides a better-than-expected tactile feel. The GPS responded quickly. Verizon started out with its VZ Navigator. Recently, TeleMaps became available, which also powers the ATT offerings; Google Maps was just introduced and seems the logical choice with its extensive database of mapping features. Blackberry Apps has a slug of navigation-related programs, including a Trimble geocaching program.

One issue I’ve had is the sluggish time it takes the unit to establish position. When it does, the initial accuracy is unusable for navigation as it indicates a 3,000+/- foot location. I found that by letting the Storm have a little time to settle in and refine its GPS position, the accuracy drops to within reason. Switch to Google Maps or TeleMaps, and it drops into the workhorse zone quickly.

Between location-based social networking apps and your primary navigation platform, many users are trending towards standardization of the same navigation application between devices. This greatly enhances the ability to grab one of your various devices and just get busy. Learning curves are significantly reduced. If it was only that easy to use different manufacturers’ PNDs operating systems. To sum up, the Blackberry Storm is a solid performer. Easier-to-use functions, a touchscreen, and horizontal or vertical orientation all lend to an efficient communication platform. It is also quite stylish. Although I said it did not matter to me, it does. I lied.

TomTom 740 Live

TomTom recently sent me its latest and greatest, the Go 740 Live PND for a test drive. I can only assume naming of PNDs must get tiresome when you produce so many models. So I guess TomTom wanted to boil this unit name down to its core elements, Go and Live. Who knows what the 740 stands for other than a product position in TomTom’s grand scheme of units. Besides, it’s easier to say I have a “740 Live” to your pals. I did get a little confused, though, as I owned a 900 series TomTom, and wondered if I was stepping down, which was not the case. It makes me wonder about the connection of several other European products such as the venerable BMW 740 and the SAAB 900 series. Purely coincidental, I’m sure.

The Go 740 Live gets it right straight out of the box. It’s touted as one of the first ”connected” PNDs, allowing all sorts of traffic and driver information updates as you drive. Beyond traffic updates, you can check on location-centric fuel prices, do a Google search, check the weather, and send instant messages to your friends who may also be Go Live users.

The feature set of the TomTom unit is well thought out, and the information layered on the screen in formats that make sense to me. As it’s TomTom’s top-of-the-line offering, you should expect advanced features not found in others, and that is the case here as well. Some of the most interesting features include:

TomTom Traffic
Fast route (re-)calculation
IQ routes technology
QuickGPSfix
Local search powered by Google
Spoken instructions and street names
Help Me emergency menu
Bluetooth hands-free calling

As expected from a top-line model, the unit comes with everything you need to get started. Out-of-the-box power on delivered the location within a minute, and the set-up menu took me through the rest with ease. TomTom Home provides an easy way to go online and manage your TomTom product: staying up to date on new features, personalizing the device, updating the maps, and backing up your devices settings.

The actual road navigation experience was excellent, as the Go 740 Live seemed to anticipate my needs and provide information such as advanced lane guidance before I needed it. User interface is second nature once you’ve used it for an hour or two, and the ”connected” features takes the PND experience to the next level. Needless to say, the pricing is in line with the features, but as someone’s grandfather used to say, “You get what you pay for.”

The TomTom Go 740 Live meets the criteria for a consumer mass market device for those road warriors who want more than a map and a scratchy voice that tells you your exit was missed and its now thinking about how to recover from the mess.