Garmin zumo: the Ultimate in Motorcycle Navigation

Garmin has announced the debut of zūmo, designed from the ground-up to exceed the demands of motorcyclists of every stripe. The Garmin zūmo debut coincided with National Ride to Work Day and the unit will be unveiled this week at motorcycling’s premier racing event, the MotoGP U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California.
With a glove-friendly design featuring left-handed controls and oversized touchscreen buttons on a high-bright display, Bluetooth “hands-free-to-helmet” wireless technology capability, and a rugged, dependable locking mount, zūmo is at home on virtually any motorcycle or scooter.
“The Garmin zūmo is designed by motorcyclists for motorcyclists, so it naturally includes hardware and software features that make the device stand out from any other navigator on the market,” said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. “Garmin has long been known as a pioneer in satellite navigation in aircraft, boats, cars, so we’re proud to be able to offer a unit that stands up to the demands of motorcyclists and a motorcycle’s demanding environment.”
Zūmo boasts a 3.5-inch (diagonal) high-bright, sunlight readable touchscreen display, encased in a waterproof (IEC 529 IPX-7 standards) housing made of plastics that resist damage from fuel splashes and UV light. In addition to the touchscreen, zūmo has four dedicated left-handed buttons for quick input. Zūmo is equipped with a high-sensitivity GPS receiver, which acquires and maintains a GPS signal even in heavy foliage or “urban canyons” created by city skyscrapers. The navigator also features solid state memory, which mitigates the effects of vibration, shock, cold, heat – and displays and redraws maps faster. Zūmo is secured to the motorcycle with a locking mount that has waterproof power and data cable connections and is able to withstand the severe vibration environment commonly experienced in motorcycle riding. A rechargeable user-removable lithium-ion battery (three hour typical use) is integrated into zūmo for trip planning or use on foot.
Bluetooth capability makes it possible for riders to retrieve and dial numbers using a supported phone’s contact list or from the phone’s call history log. A user can also make calls from zūmo’s huge points of interest database that includes hotels, restaurants, stores, and much more. In addition, the Bluetooth connectivity also gives motorcyclists the ability to receive and place phone calls as well as receive turn-by-turn voice prompts wirelessly to Bluetooth enabled headsets or helmets. More than 200 Bluetooth phones are supported.
Zūmo features a 10-thousand point tracklog, allowing users to record even the longest of rides – and the included MapSource® DVD even lets motorcyclists relive a memorable tour on their home computer through the 3-D Google Earth interface. Riders can also plan upcoming trips on their computer, and swap routes and waypoints with other zūmo owners via the unit’s SD card slot.
Users can also access zūmo’s trip computer page for trip information like speed, heading, and a customizable fuel gauge that allows users to define their motorcycle’s maximum fuel range. When zūmo calculates that the motorcycle is low on fuel, it automatically reminds the rider and suggests a route to a nearby gas station. Zūmo even has a compass page and accepts electronic topo maps -- making it the ultimate off-road navigator. For those long trips, riders can stay entertained with zūmo’s built-in MP3 player.
Zūmo comes pre-loaded with full North American data, and includes millions of points of interest – places like hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and attractions. Full and partial European map versions are also available. Zūmo gives turn-by-turn directions via multiple language and gender voice guidance with spoken street names and either 3-D or 2-D maps. The map data is provided by NAVTEQ – a world leader in premium-quality mapping. The device also allows customers to load customized points of interest (POIs) such as safety cameras and school zones, and zumo is compatible with Garmin’s Tour Guide™ – a free utility that allows users to build and upload a database of POIs that are encoded with photos and MP3 files. For added versatility, zūmo is also compatible with Garmin Travel Guides™, and SaversGuide.
Real-time traffic is an option through either an FM RDS-TMC (Traffic Message Channel) traffic receiver or XM NavTraffic (U.S. only) receiver. When the optional traffic service is activated, zūmo calculates routes that navigate around traffic. Accidents, road construction, or other incidents affecting traffic are graphically represented as icons on the navigation map. Information relating to a traffic incident is also available including the precise location, lanes affected, and the predicted duration. Customers selecting the XM NavTraffic receiver can also access XM’s weather forecasts, current conditions, and county warnings as well as over 170 channels of XM Radio.
Riders can personalize zūmo to match their particular bike’s color scheme and attitude with custom caps. Silver and black caps come standard with the unit, and others are available on the Garmin website. Owners can also customize zūmo’s opening splashscreen to depict a one-of-a-kind photo with the help of the unit’s jpeg picture viewer. And because even the most dedicated rider sometimes travels by car, zūmo comes with an automotive mount and speaker – making the unit ideal for virtually any type of road trip. Zūmo is also equipped with Garmin Lock™, an anti-theft system that disables the unit until the owner types in a specific 4-digit PIN or takes the unit to a predetermined secure location

Lowrance Announces iWay 250c Automotive GPS

At a sport fishing show in Las Vegas—because, presumably, sport fisherman have to drive to new places just like everyone else—Lowrance Automotive took the wraps off its forthcoming iWay 250c automotive GPS unit. The 250c seems a lot like the existing iWay 250c, offering a 3.5-inch 320 by 240 16-bit touchscreen display with adjustable white LED lighting for viewing in the dark or direct sunlight.
The iWay 250c also comes pre-installed with detailed, turn-by-turn NAVTEQ maps for the U.S. and Canada. The iWay 250c guides drivers with both audio and visual cues (including auto-zooming and route recalculation after a missed turn), street address searching, and routing options which enable users to avoid toll roads, known construction projects, and even left-hand turns. (Left-hand turns not only take more time, they consume more gas: eventually, both commodities translate to real money.). The iWay 250c will also play your MP3s and display JPEG images—just in case, you know, that might be somehow useful.
(OK, confession time: a colleague actually uses a GPS device as backup storage for digital camera images while he's traveling.)
The important information about the iWay 250c may not be it's features, but its price: automotive GPS devices routinely sell for over $500, and frequently flirt with the $1,000 mark. Lowrance says the suggested price for the iWay 250c will be around $350 when they ship in the third quarter of 2006. Just be careful with any suction-based in-car mounting devices: they're illegal in some states!