Garmin Blog

The Garmin Squirrel Takes a Bow

It's Christmas Day! We've spent the past several weeks telling you a little about the characters in our holiday commercials. One of the most memorable characters received a special recognition a few weeks ago, and we thought it was appropriate to save the story until today. The extremely talented squirrel that plays an A-style mandolin in our commercials has been invited to be an honorary member of a Mandolin Orchestra in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Neither we nor the squirrel were expecting this honor, but he has humbly accepted and is speechless that his talent has been recognized.

Now that the holidays are coming to an end, you won't see the squirrel on TV much longer, but you can always catch his talent on our site.

Gear review: Garmin's marine autopilot

If the cold winter weather has got you day dreaming about spring, you might have already started thinking about what electronic upgrades and additions to add to your boat when the weather turns. One upgrade that's certain to be on a lot of boater's minds is an autopilot. So the guys over at Marine Electronics Reviews have been busy installing and testing Garmin's GHP 10 Autopilot with its patented Shadow Drive technology and have recently posted their two-part review where they discuss installation and operation, including slow speed trolling, as well as navigating to waypoints and along routes. They hooked up the GHP 10 to a GPSMAP 5212 touchscreen plotter via the NMEA 2000 network, and reported "rock solid course tracking." Especially for a long-haul excursion, they said their "crew was impressed and very happy they didn't have to steer manually for hours a day." Check out the full review and see for yourself how the GHP 10 is reliable, easy to use, and there when you need it.

Team Garmin announces 2010 roster

Christian Vande Velde, Dan Martin and David Zabriskie Extend Contracts with Top American Team

Boulder, CO – December 24, 2009 – Slipstream Sports LLC and its chief venture, Team Garmin-Transitions, is once again poised for a big year. Coming off the 2009 Tour de France, where the team placed second overall with two riders in the top 10, along with three stage victories at the Vuelta and success at the Tour of Britain and the Sun Tour, the team has officially unveiled its 2010 roster. Team Garmin-Transitions features 10 Americans among a total of 27 riders from nine different countries. Christian Vande Velde, 8th overall in the 2009 Tour de France, David Zabriskie, U.S. Time Trial Champion and sprint sensation Tyler Farrar will return to the squad along with stars Dan Martin, Ryder Hesjedal and David Millar.

New additions include Jack Bobridge, Australia’s U23 Road Race and Time Trial Champion, Johan Van Summeren, two-time top ten finisher of Paris Roubaix, and expert lead-out man Robbie Hunter.

Vande Velde, Martin and Zabriskie have all renewed contracts with the team that will extend through 2012, 2012 and 2013, respectively.

“I’ve come an long way with Team Garmin-Transitions in a short time,” said Vande Velde. “I’m incredibly proud of what I’ve done as part of this team and I’m excited to see what the next three years have to hold.”

“The progress we have made together in the past two seasons shows what a perfect environment Garmin-Transitions is for a young rider,” said Martin. “I’m really excited to have the chance to continue to improve, grow and have fun in what is the perfect team for me.”

“It’s a beautiful thing,” added Zabriskie. “To commit for four years myself, and to have the team commit to me is something really special.”

A complete roster follows:

Jack Bobridge, AUS
Kirk Carlson, USA
Steven Cozza, USA
Tom Danielson, USA
Julian Dean, NZ
Timmy Duggan, USA
Tyler Farrar, USA
Ryder Hesjedal, CAN
Robbie Hunter, SA
Fredrik Kessiakoff, SWE
Michele Kreder, NED
Trent Lowe, AUS
Dan Martin, IRE
Martijn Maaskant, NED
Christian Meier, CAN
Cameron Meyer, AUS
Travis Meyer, AUS
David Millar, GB
Danny Pate, USA
Thomas Peterson, USA
Peter Stetina, USA
Svein Tuft, CAN
Johan Van Summeren, BEL
Ricardo van der Velde, NED
Christian Vande Velde, USA
Matt Wilson, AUS
David Zabriskie, USA

“We’re poised well for 2010. Our roster is strong and versatile with some of the world’s best riders returning to us, and the addition of others,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports management company. “This year we will look to build on Tyler’s success by adding lead-out guys, we’ve added climbers to help Christian in the mountains and we’ve rounded out our Classics team. With Christian, Dan and David signing on for the next few years, we’ve built a foundation that we will be able to enhance in years to come. Looking ahead to 2010, we expect to be competitive throughout the year.”

Team Garmin-Transitions will compete in a full slate of international races throughout the spring and summer, kicking off with the Tour Down Under in January 2010.

In "grueling" conditions, Garmin handheld "continues to perform flawlessly"

People love to tell us how well their Garmin handhelds have handled the world's worst conditions. So we had to share this email from Dwight from Hillsboro, Oregon. Dwight enjoys pushing himself to the limits - and he always has his Garmin along for the ride. Enjoy excerpts from Dwight's note, and we look forward to hearing more of your adventures!

Just want to say thanks for designing an excellent product. My GPSMap 60CSx has been subjected to grueling conditions over the last few years, and continues to perform flawlessly. As you move forward in your development plans, please keep the excellent attributes of this unit.

Has been fully submerged in the Yellowstone river for over 8 hours.
Has been torn from the handlebars of my dirt bike.
Has been thousands of miles absorbing the shock from the front of my bike in extreme dust, mud, and rain of Oregon.

And the little unit just finished nearly 1000 miles in Baja strapped to the handlebars of a dirt bike. Not once has it ever failed to perform. Kudos, Kudos, Kudos. And here is the kicker... I'm 53 years old.

The Yeti Voice has Arrived

When we first started offering downloadable voices, lots of people contacted us with specific requests. But one group really made a lot of noise – so to speak – about wanting a special voice they could call their own. And that group was a large consortium of Yetis. Yes, Yetis. Now, I don’t know about you, but it’s rather hard to say ‘no’ to someone (or something) as intimidating as a Yeti. If you didn’t already know, when one Yeti wants something, they all want it. We heard from Yetis across the country. They wanted a voice of their own to lead them on their journeys. And they made good points. Yetis do travel quite a bit. And they’re always looking to avoid traffic for fear of being spotted in the wild. So a nüvi makes a lot of sense for the Yeti on the go. Of course, not very many people in the office are fluent in Yeti. Fortunately, we were able to set up a recording session with the Yeti we worked with on our holiday commercial. He stopped by for a quick meeting and the voice was ready to go a few days later. Admittedly, no one knows what he’s saying – but he promised us that his Yeti friends would surely understand him. And since we’re offering this voice up to Yetis, we thought we’d share it with all of you, too. So stop by the Garmin Voice page and download our free Yeti voice. We can’t promise you that you’ll understand all of it (or any of it), but it’s sure to make for a much more amusing ride this holiday season!

Caddy Confidential: 12,000+ Preloaded Courses - Hello Canada!

There are few bright spots for diehard golfers as we slog through the long, dark days of winter, but today is as bright and sunny as a summer day in Mississauga.

As part of our most recent course update, we're proud to announce that 800+ Canadian courses are part of the now 12,000 strong course map list for the Approach G5. So feel free to fire up your USB cable and download the new courses here. If you need a refresher on exactly how to add courses to your Approach, my friend and fellow blogger Jake walks you through the steps here.

We're working hard to boost the number of courses the Approach offers, so don't be shy - drop us a line here if you have a course you'd like us to add.

As always, keep checking back in with your humble caddy down at the shack. We'll be updating you on all things Approach from the New Year festivities until we're hacking away in the summer sun. And from all us caddies working on the Approach, have a great holiday season and a happy New Year!

Victor's Vectors: A Holiday Letter

When Garmin announces a new system, I can’t help but feel that we have just announced the birth of a new child. And this time of year as I get Christmas letters from friends and family, it makes me reflect on what a Garmin letter would look like and how we would summarize the year. Just like any proud parent, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the products the aviation team has innovated, certified and delivered in 2009. I would also like to pass on the news of the first delivery of a Cessna SkyCatcher with Garmin’s G300 installed. Also, the Phenom 300 has received FAA certification and it includes Prodigy avionics, which is a state of the art avionics package based on the G1000 and tailored to the Phenom. From Victor and Garmin's aviation department, Merry Christmas!

GDU 370 and GDU 375 avionics for light sport retrofit and experimental aircraft
G1000 STC for the King Air 200 and B200
G1000 certified for the Piper Meridian
EASA ETSO for the G600 PFD and MFD retrofit cockpit
FAA’s first AML-STC for GPS/WAAS Avionics on Helicopters
G500 announced for Part 23 Class I/II aircraft and certified for nearly 600 aircraft makes and models
GTS 800 TAS and TCAS I traffic series announced and certified
G3X cockpit for experimental and light sport aircraft
GAD 43 autopilot interface, removes iron gyros and high maintenance costs.
G600 upgrades add synthetic vision and autopilot interface
Delivery of the 100,000th GNS 400/500 series product
G1000 retrofit program for Cessna CitationJet
G3000 integrated flightdeck brings touchscreen and widescreens to the cockpit
aera touchscreen portable series goes from roadway to runway

Team Garmin: Summerhill scores title, Hesjedal sweeps honors, fans meet faves

Team Garmin fans are having their holiday wishes answered - whether they asked for another national championship, the chance to meet the world's top cyclists, or a little argyle fun in their stocking.

Danny Summerhill, one of many bright young stars in the Garmin cycling family after taking silver at the 2007 junior world cyclocross championships, tore through a muddy course earlier this month in Bend, Oregon, to win the U23 national cyclocross title. Danny, who greeted fans at Garmin's Interbike booth this fall, followed up his national championship ride with another U23 title at the Lichtervelde cyclocross last Saturday in Belgium, finishing third overall in the elite race. Meanwhile, Garmin's Ryder Hesjedal swept two prestigious Canadian cycling honors when he was selected top Canadian Cyclist of 2009 as well as the entire decade.

With Danny's win fresh in the minds of Oregon fans, American sprinting sensation Tyler Farrar was able to meet many of the cycling faithful at Portland's River City Bicycles. Tyler, a product of the Pacific Northwest, gave his supporters in the area even more reasons to cheer for him - or in the case of the Oregonian's Heidi Swift, "Seven Reasons to Love Tyler Farrar." The next argyle armada autograph session takes place at 5 p.m. on Dec. 29 in Garmin's store on Michigan Avenue, where team leader Christian Vande Velde is eager to meet his hometown fans.

If you missed Tyler and can't make it to Michigan Avenue, you can still celebrate the season in style, thanks to Team Garmin's online store. Get the same gear you see in races - including a shot at the actual bikes used in competition - and watch for special deals on argyle apparel. No matter how or where you cheer, Team Garmin appreciates your support and wishes you all happy holidays and a wonderful 2010!

eTrex in the line of duty in Afghanistan

We are grateful to hear from customers around the world who put their faith in Garmin products to help them get from here to there, whether it be locations around town, a business trip in a new city or on military missions in the most dangerous city in the world. Today, we received this correspondence from a local serviceman who’s on his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan.

I am currently working on a Counter Insurgency and Stabilization project here in Kandahar, Afghanistan and my team was in need of getting accurate MGRS grids to pass along to the military units in the area. I told one of my engineers to go to the local market and get me prices on eight Garmin GPS. He came back with eight brand new Garmin eTrex. I hired eight new employees whose job is to travel in very "interesting" areas of Afghanistan and get grids so we can track and control the projects we have started. In just two short months, we have been able to start more than 46 projects that employ almost 5,000 young men across Kandahar Province. Over the next eight months, we will conduct more than 300 projects and thanks to Garmin, I will know exactly where they are, even if I never physically visit the site. We are building many reservoirs, canals and gravel roads, so it is essential that we can accurately track the start and end points of these projects.

I want to make sure you know that you have a loyal customer here in Afghanistan. In case of emergency, I personally wear my Forerunner 305 on all my missions. It is always good here in Afghanistan to have your GPS coordinates at a moment’s notice.

A.W.

Garmin Connect: Outdoor, handheld and GPX support

As noted in last week's blog post, Garmin Connect now supports most of the Garmin product line with the addition of support for outdoor and handheld devices. With the December 2, 2009 release, manual uploads of GPX files are also supported. With this latest update, Garmin Connect is your one-stop site for uploading, storing, searching and analyzing your activity data. For those customers with outdoor and handheld devices who are new to Garmin Connect, you can check out the upload instructions and processes for the USB uploads here. Instructions for manual uploads of GPX files can be found here.