Garmin's nüvi, $970 hand-held multi-function GPS
Garmin has been making hand-held GPS units for about as long as the category has existed, and has also made some useful multi-function handhelds like the Palm/Windows Mobile iQue. But with the nüvi, the company has staked out new territory, both in handheld GPS devices and in bad product naming. The 5.1 ounce, 3.87-inch x 2.91-inch x 0.87-inch nüvi includes full GPS functions (with voice prompts), a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, a nine-language translator, an Audible-capable audio player, travel guides, SD expansion, traffic alerts, and a completely gratuitous umlaut. It also comes preloaded with a set of maps specific to your region, with others available on SD cards. Nice package, though a hard drive would have made it even better (it has 700MB of internal storage for maps and other data). And at $969.22, it's easily more expensive than most other handheld or car-based GPS units. But Garmin's pitching this at the "sophisticated traveler" market, so price may be less important than the points you'll get for whipping this out over lunch at the Four Seasons.
[Thanks, Dave]
