Garmin announces new 200, 600-series Nuvis

Garmin looks to trotted out Nuvis by the bucket load at CeBIT, announcing no less than a half dozen new models, as well as a new tool that'll let bosses keep tabs on their employees. Likely of most interest to those on this side of the Atlantic is the company's new 200-series Nuvis (pictured above), which now occupy the low-end of Garmin's Nuvi line. It comes in three different models models: the Nuvi 200, 250, and 270, each packing a 3.5-inch QVGA touchscreen and otherwise identical expect for the assortment of preloaded maps. Going for the basic Nuvi 200 will just give you coverage of the US, while the 250 adds maps of Canada, and the 270 goes all out with maps of more than 30 European countries. Rounding out the new Nuvis, Garmin's brought a bit more variety to its 600-series, adding the 600, 650, and 660FM models. Each boast 4.3-inch widescreen displays, with the 600 and 650 catering to North American and European drivers, respectively, and the 660FM (only available in Europe) adding an FM transmitter to the mix. Look for the whole lot of 'em to be available next month. Lastly, Garmin's also rolled out an app designed to work with its Mobile XT unit and GPS Buddy's products, which lets bosses take advantage of their employees' smartphones to monitor and direct them in real time -- no doubt set to prompt a rash of phones "forgotten" at the office.

Read - Garmin Nuvi 200-series
Read - Garmin Nuvi 600-series
Read - Garmin Mobile XT and GPS Buddy

[julz @ Mar 15th 2007 3:41PM]

Where is the bloody Mac software that was promised a year and half ago!

[V @ Mar 15th 2007 4:20PM]

garmin's nuvi line is so large and confusing now! how does this compare to the current nuvi 300 series? and to the tomtom one, which is now $299 MSRP?

[Dave Zatz @ Mar 15th 2007 4:36PM]

I agree... there are so many models now. A nice web comparison by Garmin would be useful, or some sort of web widget to walk me through a series of questions which then recommends the appropriate model.

I've been searching online and I haven't discovered if the low-end 200 series offer text-to-speech... could be a deal breaker. (I don't TomTom One has it...?)

[Marc @ Mar 16th 2007 11:30PM]

i work for garmin and i totally agree with you that this makes things way too complicated. but to ease some of the problem. the entire 200 line does not comes with TTS or text to speech. thats what the three series offers, and then the big difference is the 6 series big screen. anything ending in a 70 is trans-Atlantic meaning it has north American and European maps included, anything with an 80 has just north American maps but comes with msn direct. anything that ends with a 60 offers bluetooth, and finally anything that ends in a 50 is just a base model.

and here is the product comparison page so that you can put all the models your wanting the specs on up against each other.
http://www.garmin.com/automotive/compare.jsp

[Kev50027 @ Mar 15th 2007 4:54PM]

I never understood having a widescreen on a GPS. Seriously, if you want any non-standard aspect ratio, it would be in the portrait fasion, so you can see far ahead of where you are. When I'm driving along the highway, I don't care what sideroads are nearby, I care about being able to see which exit I'm taking next.

[Landor @ Mar 15th 2007 6:01PM]

Kev, you have a valid point about wide screen monitors. However, I am impressed by the sample screen image: the elevated perspective view enlarges the immediate driving area yet retains a view of the diatant streets. Nicely done.

[pikkoz @ Apr 2nd 2007 11:50AM]

The 660FM is just the plain 660 american version that had the FM-transmitting capabilities from the start,they just have disabled it for the european market only, because,hey, we will ever be delighted to buy another more expensive device with "new" capabilities....

Thats also a shame that the map rendering is still ugly and with funky color when pratically every other interface in the market have a better rendering.
Hey Garmin ,wake up!

[Aldo @ Jan 22nd 2008 7:53PM]

What do you think about Garmin Nuvi 660 (http://www.highspeedsat.com/nuvi660.htm)? I am planning to buy it this spring? Does it worth money?

[gatorguy @ Mar 15th 2008 1:30PM]

Pikkoz, do you think the broken jaggy edges of the TomTom lines and fonts are MORE appealing?

[gatorguy @ Mar 17th 2008 7:15AM]

Pikkoz, do you think the broken jaggy edges of the TomTom lines and fonts are MORE appealing?