Garmin Nuvi for Public Transportation
Garmin announced a new series of Nuvi models earlier today, the Nuvi 1200 and Nuvi 1300 series. These new models will appear on the “value” end of the lineup and come similarly equipped to the Nuvi 2×5 series of devices. A few small tweaks include a slimmer overall device and the lighter color. For what is included out of the box, that is about the only change.
Public Transit Routing
The real news here is that these devices will come with the ability to plan routes through various public transit systems… busses, metro, subway, etc. The bad news is that the maps necessary to route through those systems don’t come installed on the device– they are merely the models that will be compatible with the maps. The Garmin CityXplorer maps will cost about $10-$15 per city, and not available everywhere. The list of cities available is expected to be out by the end of June, as well as these devices, but there was no mention of when the CityXplorer maps themselves will become available.
It will be interesting to see how they deal with certain challenges of the pedestrian and mass transit environment. GPS signals are pretty much non-existent uderground, and without an electronic compass the speeds you travel on foot are often not fast enough for the GPS to get a good sense of direction. Garmin is smart however, and when they release a new product they almost always get it right, so until we get our hands on one we’ll assume they have thought through these scenarios.
nuvi 1300 $249.99
nuvi 1350 $299.99
nuvi 1350T $349.99
nuvi 1370T $449.99
nuvi 1390T $399.99
nuvi 1200 $199.99
nuvi 1250 $249.99
nuvi 1260T $299.99
