GPS Nüvi Blog
Featuring news, stories, and popular sales and auctions
News about Garmin the company, its Nüvi GPS line specifically, and general GPS-related stories of interest from around the world. Also featured are special items taken from our sales listings that have generated significant interest on eBay.
Squidoo lens clarifies complicated Nuvi features structure
There is a new lens on Squidoo.com that is the best place we’ve seen to easily discern what Nuvi model has what features.
Squidoo is a website that allows anyone to create a page about any topic, adding text “modules”. It’s perfect for something like this - Garmin currently sells 20 models of Nuvi, all with slightly differing features. It can be very time-consuming to sort through it all, but you can do it in 3-4 minutes on this Squidoo lens.
If you want to know more about how to choose a Nuvi GPS, check it out. It really does simplify it and make it easy.
Garmin’s high-concept Super Bowl commercial another dud
SPOILER If you are so gullible as to actually anticipate Super Bowl commercials like the advertising industry wants you to, don’t read this post because it gives away the super secret surprise ending to Garmin’s 2008 ad.
Garmin paid an estimated $2.7 million dollars to run an ad during the second quarter of the 2008 Super Bowl. Garmin also bought an ad in 2007, which didn’t make much sense but seemed to get the company noticed. Garmin’s GPSs accounted for 45% of the market over Christmas 2007.
The ad
A car speeds through France, on its way from Paris to the countryside. It is difficult to tell who is driving the car - at first maybe nobody, then apparently a diminutive person. The car is led, of course, by its Garmin GPS device.
Arriving at a battlefield, the driver finally steps out and shows himself to the viewer: it’s Napoleon, and he slides his GPS into his coat, ending up in his famous hand-in-coat pose. The commercial then implies that Napoleon was so short, he could use a small, cute pony for battle rather than a horse. Dénouement, and fade to black.
What does it mean?
We’re not sure. Garmin is of the same historical importance as Napoleon Bonaparte, maybe? And it’s always an arresting idea to take a random swipe at short people (just ask Randy Newman).
All in all, it seems like a long way to go and a lot of money to spend for a remarkably ho-hum concept. One can imagine the boardroom meeting at Garmin’s advertising agency:
Ad Rep #1: Let’s make it so Garmin seems hugely important in the world, even historical.
Ad Rep #2: OK. How about Garmin in a famous point in history? Like Boudica in her chariot getting lost and having to consult her Nuvi.
Ad Rep #1: Not bad, maybe too obscure though. How about the Statue of Liberty using a Nuvi to orient herself so she can face the right direction?
Ad Rep #2: I don’t know, makes it seem like America itself relies on GPS. Which is true, but distasteful for us to gloat about on TV.
Ad Rep #1: [snaps fingers] You know what’s hot these days? Napoleon Bonaparte. Every time you turn on MTV or go to the mall, people are Napoleon this and Napoleon that.
Ad Rep #2: Hey, you’re right! We could tap into that. Who exactly was he though?
Ad Rep #1: Let’s see… Napoleon… hmm… well, he’s an ice cream flavor, right?
Ad Rep #2: Yeah…
Ad Rep #1: I wonder which came first?
Ad Rep #2: It’s like the chicken and the egg.
Ad Rep #1: Oh! Napoleon’s famous for sticking his hand between his coat buttons.
Ad Rep #2: Hmm… how can we incorporate that into a television ad?
[silence]
Ad Rep #1: I’ve got it! Ask yourself, why is Napoleon putting his hand in his coat?
Ad Rep #2: He’s got gas? An itch?
Ad Rep #1: No! He’s putting his Nuvi away for later! Imagine: he secrets the GPS in his inner shirt pocket, and just as he is doing that the camera catches him and we have the famous pose… and a Garmin GPS!
Ad Rep #2: Genius! This idea is certainly worth nearly $3,000,000. We’ll make that back in no time with exposure of this caliber!
And so it goes. The ad may be severely lacking in concept, but if delusional ad reps can convince themselves it’s a good idea, that’s what it’s gonna be on Super Bowl Sunday. I think I’ll skip the commercials this year, thanks.
Next for GPS: social networking
The popularity of personal location devices, led by Garmin and followed by dozens of other companies, and the growing reach of social networking sites like Digg may soon be merged as new technology seeks to integrate multiple features into smaller (and more powerful) devices.
Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Fark, Reddit, del.icio.us, Facebook, and the internet’s other social networking sites serve mainly to spread news and gossip to niche audiences, as well as to connect people with common interests. In the future, this concept will be used for more explicit and immediate commercial purposes, possibly even relying on the public to do the work (like they do now on Digg and other sites).
A few years ago, GPS devices just told you where you were on a crude little screen. Then maps were added, and this was quickly (and inevitably) followed by extensive listings of gas stations, restaurants, malls, and all the other institutions that keep well-heeled urban areas chugging along.
It is obvious that this will soon become a standard, unremarkable part of driving (or just being - GPS has already begun its metamorphosis from an automotive device to a personal one, like a cell phone). And to keep things interesting, you will be able to use your GPS to contact friends, share info about meeting places for lunch or shopping, and trade opinions and votes for various stores. Over time, people will gravitate towards those merchants who garner the most votes. Other merchants will go out of business.
Like Digg’s egalitarian system where votes send popular web pages to the top of the heap, so personal GPS devices in the near future will take the leap beyond reflecting what exists towards influencing what succeeds.
And who knows? Maybe social networking by GPS will even give some smaller shops the exposure they need to, if not conquer the Wal-Marts of the world, at least coexist peacefully with them.
Live Garmin Nuvi GPS price comparisons now available on GPSnuvi.com
On January 28, 2008, GPSnuvi.com has added a constantly-updated text box on every single Garmin Nuvi model page, reflecting the latest pricing information of that model from dozens of vendors on the internet and allowing users to easily see where the best deals are.
This example graphic shows info for the Garmin Nuvi 260, reflecting January 28 information.
As of now, three prices are displayed:
• Garmin’s suggested retail price.
• The average price of (usually) 20 vendors chosen for closest relevancy by Google’s Checkout service. This offers an accurate reflection of what people are paying through various popular websites. This price will fluctuate as vendors come and go from Google’s relevancy algorithm, and as prices and deals wax and wane. The constant updates assure that this price is up-to-the-minute, a vital statistic on the internet.
• The average price of all the currently available units for that Nuvi model on eBay. This price is restricted to items with a “Buy It Now” price (i.e., a set price for which you can buy the item right now without waiting for the auction to finish). This restriction is intended to keep these comparisons apples-apples (only Nuvis that are buyable right now), but if a shopper can wait a few days for an auction to end, he or she can usually get the GPS even cheaper by poking through the listings. There is a limit of 100 listings from which to take the eBay average price. (In the example above, 18 relevant eBay auctions were found, a good comparison to the 20 Google vendors.)
The GPSnuvi.com “Price Trends” text box was designed to be easily read at a glance, giving a quick idea of the savings available wherever that may be. (Actually, it wasn’t originally intended to be a tool for eBay promotion per se, but the consistently huge price difference in eBay and regular internet vendors [in favor of eBay] is hard not to notice. It won’t always necessarily be that way though; if the non-eBay average is lower than eBay, the text box will reflect that too.)
The pricing information is automatically gathered and calculated once an hour, all the time.
To see the price trend information for any particular Garmin Nuvi model, click the corresponding menu item on the left.
BMW to include Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS in Series 1 and 3 cars
BMW has announced that for its Series 1 and Series 3 (pictured) cars, they will soon include a Garmin Nuvi 360 GPS navigation device.
The Nuvi 360, which features Bluetooth capability, an mp3 player, pre-loaded maps of the fifty United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, as well as Garmin’s longest-lasting battery (up to 8 hours), is a good choice despite the fact that it is far from Garmin’s top of the line.
Best of all, the GPS will feature a custom dock on the dashboard of the BMW and will be powered behind the scenes through this mount, so extra wires won’t be necessary.
It is unclear whether the dock will be able to accommodate a different Garmin GPS should the driver decide to upgrade in the future, though presumably it could also be fit with a Nuvi 370, which features maps of Europe as well as North America, for those who need it.
For in-depth specs and features of the Garmin Nuvi 360 click here.