GPS,
Dual Electronics announces XGPS300 navigation cradle for iPod touch
By Donald Melanson 
posted Nov 10th 2009 2:01PM
posted Nov 10th 2009 2:01PM
[Thanks, Ryan]
GPS,
posted Nov 10th 2009 2:01PM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
InB4 Google maps navigation
Apple overprices their computers, and now anyone who sells an Apple supporting product overprices their products too? Sucks for Mac ppl...
LOL, you can get a sick 3.5" Nuvi for $99. You can find clearance TomToms for $50!
silly sheep!
Well its not a bad option for iPod Touch users... I suppose.
NOPE....Not a bad option at all.
But....C'mon......$179 ??
And then there's that Dual stigma. Always known primarily as a turntable
manufacturer. Once LP's dissappeared, they began making real cheap
electronics and knock-off's.
Dual is one of those Wal-Mart brands thats claims high retail prices just so they are always on "sale" - this won't go for more than $99.
No thanks. $179.99 when my Android device will probably get 2.0 and free navigation? I'll just use my iPod touch for music, games, and web browsing over wifi, thank you very much.
fa..... ail..
Crap, you can get a dedicated GPS that plays music through SD card for what? $99
This crap rewuires you to dish out $179 + another $149+ for a crap iPod touch. talk about assiness.
I think I am going to go into the recycling of iCrap docks. When Apple goes out of style my business will boom.
@name
I agree that its costly but can you tell me which $99 GPS device plays music off sd cards? also who is making 64gb memory cards?
@rtakesh most megallon or whatever shitbox $70 ones play mp3 off sd cards.
if you already own a Touch, this isnt such a bad deal. it is a 3.5 inch GPS unit with multitouch, 32gb of storage, does data over wifi, plays games, videos, and music and looks nice. it does TTS has all your contacts and everything all built in for integration with the map. it is bright enough to use in daylight and it actually has another purpose when it gets detached from the window. (does anyone actually listen to music over their Nuvi??)
now, ive never really used tomtom or garmin except at demo kiosks. their maps look like they are drawn in crayon and the screens vary in brightness from model to model. i do want to get my wife a GPS unit for the car (she gets lost), but while the screens are bigger, they dont have any special functionality beyond being a GPS unit and one that looks as nice as a Touch definitely costs more than $99. in fact, Name, to paraphrase Jules from Pulp Fiction "i double dog dare you to find me a nice, bright, widescreen GPS unit with TTS for $99.
The one I have says Mio on it.
and it plays music from SD cards...
And at leat Ican leave mine in the car in the heat of summer and the dead of winder without any worries..
I dont have to baby the stupid Apple thing
You Apple drones sicken me..
You know this is a crap product.
hey Donald,
Can you fix the link to gadgetreview? It currently goes to the product page and not GR.
Sorry about that. Fixed.
About that android thing, does nobody at all care that google will be tracking you 24/7 AND see all your emails AND what you browse and and and?
Nobody at all care about privacy?
space for engadget's favorite soundeffect: ♫-d.r.o.i.d-♫
Because I am so sure Google is interested in watching you drive thru Wendys and lookup porn. They will have 1 man per person monitoring everything they do.
Regardless ANY service provider for ANY electronic device can track what you are doing and looking at.
First of all, they CANNOT see all your emails and what you browse and all that.
Second, what are you doing that you don't want Google to know where you are at all times? What are they going to do with that information?
If you don't like the technology, don't use it.
Do you have something to hide?
Are you doing something illegal?
There are so many entitities logging your life one way or another everyday. Cell Phone providers, ISP, your bank, etc.
Want privacy move to a empty island and get rid of any technological device or service.
AND you can disable that. When my droid first came up, that was the first thing it asked. I said no. Problem solved. Plus, my gps is off most of the time anyway unless I'm actually using it.
Besides, how is this different than Google storing your search history and preferences?
@Wwhat, do you hide your money under a mattress? Do you use payphones as your primary method of communcation? I take it you must have a diesel generator powering your home, which is no doubt a small cabin in an isolated region of the Appalachians, where you are feverishly typing out your comments on a computer you cobbled together out of PCBs and chewing gum.
Unless you maintain your own email server on your own personal ISP and you run a GPS device that operates on your own personal satellite network AND you've developed your own personal search engine, someone SOMEWHERE is going to have an idea of what you're doing.
My life is BORING. If some Google employee wants to read through my search history to put themselves to sleep at night, I can live with that. I'm sure you're not that interesting that the dynamic duo of Brin and Page is perusing your inbox to glean details of your fascinating exploits.
@idrumgood You sound like one of those nuts that think that the NSA spying on citizens, or the (un)Patriot Act were good things. Giving up freedom of any kind is never good, because you never get it back. Android having the "ability" to monitor your phone activity is a big deal, as it is on any phone, or PC. The "what are you afraid of" argument is pure bullshit.
Yes I do avoid cellphones with on name subscriptions, I do assemble my own computers, I do buy HD's with cash (MS actually gathers people's HD serial numbers, they've admitted it, making you uniquely identifiable), and yes I do have things to hide and do lost of illegal stuff, in fact I don't think any man woman or child, even toddlers, can get through a day without breaking some law, seriously have you any idea how many idiotic rules there are? and how idiotic they are? And how many are based on unreasonable insane things like religion for instance? Or some personal beef of some people in power, or with money?
Not that I'm not using lots of traceable stuff, and not that I'm not sometimes overdoing my search for privacy, but the thing with google is that they are 1 company that gets to know everything.
And about those sites, I have add-ons in firefox to block certain scripts and it has a popup and almost every damn site, internationally too, including BBC news for example, and government sites, has a google (or subsidiary) tracking script and/or cookie.
As for mail, 75% of the people have gmail, and the rest communicates with people that have gmail, so yeah google has access to a bulk of people's mail and knows where you surf, it's the all being in one single DB that's a bit scary.
And I was asking not telling, I just find it curious that there's zero concern with some people, I'm not expecting everybody to be equally concerned about privacy, but to have zero concern seems a bit.. well, to me at least - deranged
And you can't buy a real GPS unit for $180 ?
This leaves your iPod/Phone free to play tunes .. the one thing they do reasonably well.
Nope at that price its full of FAIL
how is it that these damn cradles are costing more than some of the cheaper full on units? i'd like to get a cradle for my iphone, to keep it up on the windshield (the GPS gets kind of shitty reception, so i need it as close to the window as possible, also looking down on the seat at my iphone isnt the safest way to get around. all in all, i'd say i regret the purchase of iphone GPS, too expensive if you want an entire package considering that its pretty much just software at this point...
go google! (i'll be buying one of your phones next!)
I just bought an iPhone cradle for 2 cents on eBay ($6.99 shipping of course). You would still need to buy a cradle for your Google phone so I'm not sure what your point is.
Interesting. Now, if other software can be supported by that Dual Electronics hardware, then this can be a cheap way to test which GPS software you can commit to.
I had a DUAL head-unit for my car once. the specs on it were fantastic: it was a mechless unit with a USB, Aux, and SD card support. It sucked though, functioned terribly. I will never trust DUAL for anything ever again.
Is this the same DUAL company that sells car stereos primarily at Wal-Mart? Is it like the old Pyle and Audiovox equipment?
You bought a Wal mart discount brand of electronics and expected performance?
AHAHAH
oh man, thats what that 90 days return policy if for.
YO DUAL 'tRONICS, I'M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU. I'M GONNA LET YOU FINISH, BUT ANDROID 2.0 WITH FREE TURN BY TURN NAV IS THE BEST OF ALL TIME!
Would you please finish changing my oil so I can leave your Jiffy Lube instead of using your Droid to respond to blogs!
The problem with these is they are the same pirce as a standalone unit. So why not get the stand alone unit instead?
Why would ANYONE ....ANYONE ever want to spend $179.99 for a NAV device? ever,,,
Why?
DUAL FAIL
because we want a more reliable device. I use all of the advanced functionality in my Garmin. I'm also a pilot and buying one of their new crossover units for $800.
there have been a few companies that were working on these and have petered out
I kind of liked the G-fi at least it had cross platform support. not sure if it is actually in production or not personally i would welcome any gps solution for mobile devices without it built in but i have yet to see one make it to store shelv
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-19167_1-10139558-100.html
But does it allow audio be to sent over USB as well?
Is it me, or does this thing look to take up FOURTY PERCENT of the windshield.......
well for some of us that go to the boonies and offroad the programs in the smartphones are usually useless because there is no cell coverage. This solution along with 100 dollar less GPS units work when we are out in the country.
WORLD'S FIRST NAVIGATION SOLUTION FOR IPOD TOUCH NOW AVAILABLE!
Navmii, the world's first turn-by-turn navigation app for the iPod touch has been approved by Apple and is NOW AVAILABLE for download on the iTunes App Store. This first version contains UK maps, with US maps coming in the next couple of weeks and the rest of Europe coming shortly after. When paired with a G-Fi, the world's first mobile network / GPS router, Navmii brings voice guided navigation to the iPod touch and classic iPhone, as well as the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Please visit www.g-fi.com for more info, images, and press release. please contact us at press@posimotion.com to request samples for review of both Navmii and G-Fi.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/navmii-uk/id337101583?mt=8
http://www.g-fi.com
http://www.posimotion.com
Does I qualify as a car nut if I recognized that the dashboard used in the picture is from an 02-06 Lexus ES?
OMG, he's about to hit a giant floating iPhone. Brake!!
The first time I ever jailbroke my iPod touch was to install RoqyBT, which allows me to use a bluetooth GPS (that only cost me $30). It's been working great, and beats the hell out of this.
Isn't it possible the attach 3G internet this way to an iPod Touch?
@(Unverified)
MiFi w/ iPod touch works well, assuming you don't mind the monthly charges and carrying a second device.
I’m still waiting for Apple to allow more bluetooth profile functionality so I can use a bluetooth enabled gps unit with the onboard software. These units are far more accurate then the embedded chip.
@(Unverified)
That would be nice.
I'm thinking the Dual cradle could turn the iPod touch into a worthy Geocaching device so long as the accuracy is decent. The apps seem to be there. iPhone GPS accuracy seems suspect, yet it's still a great tool for Geocaching. Would like to see the price a tad lower, but what else is new. The free Nav and windshield mount would be a bonus.
Now Dual, today is the last day of November, and I can't find it for sale on Amazon.