Wither Garmin

[ChuckTin]

I'm wondering if Garmin will bring out anything new for the Handheld market segment. Lots of room for improvement on their part but the only thing I've seen, the eTrek35, strikes me as being more of a place holder than a new unit.

Any thoughts?

[Boyd]

My thought is that nobody here knows what Garmin is planning. I wonder if they even know what they're doing. They have some interesting new products, like the BabyCam, BarkLimiter and SmartScale.  I remember when they used to make GPS devices...

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod521255.html
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-trail/pet-obedience/barklimiter-deluxe/prod133653.html
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod530464.html

They seem to have shifted focus to wearables and fitness devices, I guess that's where the money is now. I've had my Montana 600 for three or four years now and haven't seen anything better from them. They recently updated the Montana with GLONASS and a different screen. The only user report I've seen was pretty negative, stating that the screen was harder to read and that the device crashed repeatedly so he returned it.

The Monterra was an interesting idea, but very buggy and overpriced with a screen of much lower resolution than you'd expect on an Android device. If they ever updated it with a better screen and more reasonable price, I might be interested.

But most likely, I have already purchased my last Garmin device. A waterproof battery case for a smartphone is starting to look like a better deal.

[Seldom]

But most likely, I have already purchased my last Garmin device. A waterproof battery case for a smartphone is starting to look like a better deal.

Feelin' a bit morbid myself...Can you recommend any iPhone 6 cases?

[Boyd]

I spent a bit of time googling different options a few months ago, but don't have any real insights. Currently using an iPhone 5s myself but there may be a 6s plus in my future. It's a bit frustrating however, because my favorite app is OruxMaps and it only runs on Android. I have an Android tablet, but not willing to make the switch on my phone. Galileo on iOS isn't too bad though.

[Seldom]

Looks like Costco has the 64s for $180 between now and Christmas Eve.

[Seldom]

Boyd, I downloaded a free (OSM) copy of Galileo to my iPhone 6.  The quality of the data for Utah is much lower than the quality of the OSM data for my area (gravel roads shown as paved and vice versa, some roads broken) , and way lower than Big Desert Southwest.  Also I didn't see any way of adding home compiled map files of any type.  Did I miss something there?

[Boyd]

Not interested in the OSM maps or other things that were offered with the app, so I have no opinion on their quality. I have only used it with my own raster imagery. IIRC, the pro version has all the features enabled for 5 days at no cost, and you need to purchase after that, but it's pretty cheap. I think the pro version is required if you want to use your own maps, so you may have downloaded the wrong thing.

I also liked the CompeGPS TwoNav app on iOS, but I don't think there's any free trial of the pro version. It's not expensive though. And the same company, CompeGPS makes a desktop app for both MacOSX and Windows that lets you send maps to the phone and do a bunch of other things. I believe I posted about this before here.

I've been trying to finish a couple complex Garmin maps for awhile, so I'm a little hazy on the finer points of iOS and Android apps at the moment. But my technique for creating maps for all of them involved the use of Mobile Atlas Creator (MOBAC) which is a open source Java application for both Macs and Windows. It can export raster imagery in the correct format for just about every smartphone app.

To get my own maps into MOBAC, I setup a local WMS server using the open source GeoServer program. This is also a Java application that runs on both Macs and Windows. The nice thing about this approach is that you can use different maps for each zoom level. I created a workflow to make separate raster based maps for each zoom level, with appropriate font sizes and line thicknesses to make them more readable.

I hope to circle back around to working with these apps later this winter, after I finish my Garmin projects.

[Boyd]

Can you recommend any iPhone 6 cases?

Got my 6s Plus at Best Buy today along with a Thule waterproof case. After messing around with the case for awhile, I ended up returning it. I had trouble getting it to completely snap closed with the phone inside, and it also took a lot of effort to remove from the case to the point I was concerned about bending the phone.

I ended up with an Otterbox Defender which isn't waterproof but is $20 cheaper and a lot easier to take on and off. The 6s+ is so big, I don't think I will want it in the case all the time. The Otterbox also includes a belt clip/holder.

Loaded some maps I made earlier into the TwoNav app and am exporting a version of my topo from MOBAC for Galileo right now, will see how they work. The screen on this big phone is really great.

Here's an iOS app that looks very interesting, not quite ready to drop $100 on it just yet.. but I'm thinking about it. Would be cool to be able to actually make maps on the phone. http://garafa.com/wordpress/all-apps/gis-pro

I suppose we're really really off-topic for a thread about Garmin, maybe we should start a separate iOS thread?

[Boyd]

I suppose we're really really off-topic for a thread about Garmin, maybe we should start a separate iOS thread?

I have started a new thread on iOS map making here: http://forums.gpsfiledepot.com/index.php?topic=4043.0

[ChuckTin]

For some reason Taptalk and this forum stopped well together. I had to sign out and sign back in.
Anyway - I'm guessing, but strongly believe, that Garmin is not putting any more $ or effort into the personal GPSr market. The profit volume just isn't there. Would be nice if they'd release an Android app that I can use. The equivalent of a GPSMAP 64S on a phablet screen would be nice, Gaia is about as close as I can get. If wishes were fishes I suppose ...

[Red90]

Anyway - I'm guessing, but strongly believe, that Garmin is not putting any more $ or effort into the personal GPSr market. The profit volume just isn't there.

Really, there is no basis for that argument.  They just came out with the two new etrex models which replace the old etrex and the Dakota and they updated the Montana.  This is normally what they do, release a new model each year.

[ChuckTin]

Looked at those 2. Pata toes,  pa tah toes. Now show me a new chassis with bigger screen and update the firmware ... that's new.

[Boyd]

Yes, those new models are more like incremental upgrades. The eTrex touch might be thought of as a new Dakota, the eTrex X series is very similar to the previous ones and the new Montana just adds GLONASS and some software features from the Oregon.

Nothing wrong with that, but not much to get excited about either. The Monterra was the last innovative product and by all reports, it's been a flop.

The equivalent of a GPSMAP 64S on a phablet screen would be nice

I hoped for something like this for years, but finally gave up. It would be nice if they just offered a Garmin outdoor app - they already have it on the Monterra. I don't see that happening though, then there really wouldn't be any reason to buy their hardware.

[ChuckTin]

Agree