Garmin | Garage

Garmin Garage: Fun for the Fourth!

Garmin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:55:29 -0500

Getting ready to load up the Family Truckster and make your way to friends and family this holiday season? If so, we’ve got two new vehicle icons to help you celebrate in style. Stop by the Garmin Garage today before you hit the road. We've spent the last week getting Topper and Ol' Glory ready to go! They'll look great guiding you from picnic to party to fireworks show and back home again. So if you're traveling near or far, your nüvi will be packed with patriotic pride. Of course, Topper and Ol' Glory aren't the only vehicles you'll find. We've got many more - including last year's Fourth of July icons - Wingspan and Moonshot. Stop by and load up! From all of us in the Garmin Garage, have a safe and festive Fourth of July!

Garmin Garage: Father’s Day Special

Garmin — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:25:45 -0500

We’re just a day away from Father’s Day, so if you’re looking for some last-minute gift ideas (*cough* new nüvi *cough*), you’ve come to the right place. We were hard at work all week in the Garmin Garage to get our two new father friendly vehicle icons ready for you. Introducing Weekend Warrior and Windsor. Weekend Warrior is perfect for short trips around the town or around the yard. And Windsor works well with any special occasion. Besides, it wouldn't be Father's Day without the ol' "Get Dad a tie" joke! Either one would make the perfect addition to a gift for dad. And since they’re priced right (FREE!), you could download two for the price of none! How’s that for savings? Of course, fans of the Garmin Garage may also remember Big Daddy – our 2008 Father’s Day icon. So regardless of what you’re doing this weekend, plan a trip to the Garmin Garage and add a little character to your nüvi. Happy Father’s Day from all of us in the Garmin Garage!

Garmin Garage: It's Midnight

Garmin — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:13:09 -0500

Just in time for summer cruisin’ – Midnight has arrived in the Garmin Garage. This low-slung cruiser has style for miles. And the attitude to back it up. Midnight looks great in the Garmin Garage and it will look even better on your nüvi. Plan a new route to the Garmin Garage and grab Midnight before the sunsets.

Peg’s Posts: How to make mom’s day

Garmin — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:08:09 -0500

While perfumeries, patisseries and other retail niches are advertising the perfect gifts for mom, Peg’s been thinking of some unique ways to show mom she’s the best. And some won’t even cost you a dime. After all, she probably just wants you to spend time with her.

Adventure-seeking moms: Take her to find some cache … go geocaching. If you already own a GPS, that’s all the equipment you need. This high-tech version of a scavenger hunt can be played with just about any Garmin GPS—basic handhelds to nüvis to units like Oregon 400t with special geocaching features. Look up nearby geocache locations online and transfer the GPS coordinates to your unit, then head out to seek. As of today, there are 794, 655 active geocaches around the world. That oughta keep you and mom busy. If you’re caching with kids, be sure to bring swag to swap in the standard caches. Got piles of kids’ meal toys looking for a new home? Bring it.

Moms on the run: Find a new scenic trail or route that she’s never been on and take her for a run. To search for new routes in your area or a nearby town, go to our Garmin Connect site and click the “Explore” tab. Here, you can search from millions of activities uploaded by Garmin users around the world. Get detailed data on the route, including distance, mapping, elevation and more. There's even a map player feature to replay the activity. If you have a compatible Garmin fitness device (like Edge 705 or Forerunner 405), you can send the course file to your device. Just click the “send to device” button under the summary box.

Moms who like to accessorize: If she already owns a nüvi, take a trip to the Garmin Garage and download free vehicle icons to spiff up her ride. Or, download our free ecoRoute software (compatible with nüvi 2x5s, 7x5s, 1200 series and 1300 series) so she can find a more fuel-efficient route.

Tee-timing moms: Change her Approach to the game with our new touchscreen golf GPS. Approach measures shots, keeps score and comes with thousands of preloaded golf course maps.

Moms who can’t sit idle: Pull out all the stops and get mom a nüvi with subscription-free traffic alerts. nüvi tells her when there’s trouble long before she sees taillights and suggests a new route. Models like the nüvi 265T come with free traffic and are priced right around $200. And, if you hadn’t heard, a recent study by our friends at NAVTEQ found that German drivers using GPS saved an average of 1,500 miles a year, which equates to about $200. Mom can’t afford not to have a GPS, especially if she’s head chauffer!

Tell us how you showed mom she’s the best this year. Reply with your comments.

Garmin Garage: Download a lucky charm for holiday fun

Garmin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:01:44 -0500

There are two surefire ways to enjoy the luck of the Irish in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Your first option is to book a flight to Dublin and embrace the country's rich culture and tireless hospitality. Your second option is quicker, easier - and free! You can download Lucky, our four-leaf clover, as a vehicle icon for your nüvi. Scooter has been out in clover patches finding enough for everyone, but you'll still want to hurry and download today for the good fortune to be in full effect for the holiday. You don't need to live a charmed life to get your hands on Lucky. Just visit the Garmin Garage, follow a few easy steps and luck will be on your side (and your nüvi) in no time. To capture the full essence of the season, you'll want to go as green as possible. Let ecoRoute guide you with fuel-efficient navigation, available through - you guessed it - a free download at www.garmin.com/ecoroute.

Oh, but if you have your heart set on that trip to Dublin, don't forget to check out our European mapping options for your Garmin devices. Because even the lucky can get lost.

Garmin Garage: Nomad

Garmin — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:48:25 -0600

Get your motor runnin’. Head out on the highway. And let Nomad lead the way to two-wheeled fun. At least that’s how the song goes, right? Anyway - since we swung the shop doors open on the Garmin Garage, we’ve heard from motorcycle riders far and wide. Everyone has wanted a few more bikes in the line up and we finally had time to add one to the list. It’s a good thing, too. We’re quickly approaching riding season and with our recently launched zumo 660 available soon, we wanted to make sure Nomad was all polished up and ready to release into the wild. Of course, you don’t need to ride a motorcycle to download Nomad. In fact, you don’t even need to drive. All you need is a compatible nüvi, zumo, or Street Pilot and you’re ready to go. And if you think about it, this free vehicle download may be one of the easiest (and cheapest) bikes you can own. So grab Nomad today and feel the virtual wind in your face as you travel down the road in style. Stay safe out there and remember to keep the shiny side up!

Garmin Garage: Be Mine

Garmin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:13:45 -0600

Love is in the air around the Garmin Garage. Well, actually, it’s either love or exhaust fumes from Tiny. But at this point, it doesn’t make too much of a difference – we’re mere hours away from Valentine’s Day and we thought we’d get our newest creation out the door for all of you last-minute Romeos and Juliets who are looking to put a little love in your nüvi - so to speak. So it’s with great pleasure that we introduce Be Mine to all of you. Swing by the Garmin Garage and grab Be Mine when you get a chance. It’s the perfect vehicle icon if you’re planning a trip to Lover’s Lane this weekend. Or any weekend for that matter. Have a great weekend everyone!

Garmin Garage: Putter

Garmin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:00:50 -0600

Fore! Here comes Putter rolling down the cart path at a spirited 7 mph! If you haven’t already heard, Garmin recently announced the Approach G5. This touchscreen handheld gives golfers an advantage by showing key course features such as distance to the center of the green and distance to fairways and hazards. So we figured it was time to get to work on a Garmin Garage vehicle that reflects our excitement for the Approach. And, after reviewing the submissions to the Parking Lot, it looks like a lot of golf fans had requested a cart as well. Since we’re all about efficiency, we figured we could knock out two birdies with one stone. (← please forgive the pun) So we got to work. Of course, with this project, we couldn’t confine ourselves to the Garmin Garage. We had to do a little R&D at the nearby course. As it turns out, the Approach can only improve our game. By leaps. And bounds. Which is a nice way of saying that no one in the Garmin Garage will be joining the Pro Tour any time soon. But regardless of our game, Putter is now ready for you to download. Stop by the Garmin Garage and grab Putter today before your next golf outing. It's better that we get Putter out of here sooner instead of later - before Scooter ends up crashing it into our CNC Machine. And be sure to stop by the Garmin Garage every now and then to check out our newest free vehicle icons for your nüvi or zumo!

Get Your Garmin Fix in 2009

Garmin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:33:04 -0600

Those of you who've followed our blog for some time may remember this post from the fall. But we've got lots of new readers joining us in the new year, so we thought we'd re-post this for everyone.

Around the Garmin blog, we’re always looking for ways to get our word out. In 2006, we tried skywriting our URL across the entire U.S. While we did enjoy limited success throughout parts of northern Montana, we didn’t get the results we were hoping for. In 2007, we thought we figured it out when we rented hundreds of Clown-a-grams® to blanket the states. Again – mixed results. But now we think we might be on to something. After a bit of coding and some switch flipping, we’re pleased to re-announce our ‘Subscribe Via Email’ option. Located in the upper left-hand corner of the blog, this new functionality will deliver a daily dose of blog posts directly to your inbox. It’s quick. It’s easy. And it’s a great way to stay-in-the-know about all things Garmin-related – whether it’s a contest, an event, a new product release, or just a chance to win some more of Jake's stuff. Not enough for you? Well, don't forget about Jake's Twitter account, too!

Of course, you can also subscribe to our RSS feed. And if you’re not sure what an RSS feed is, we’ve included a quick video below from the good people over at Google. You can subscribe to the entire blog – or just individual feeds listed in the ‘categories’ section on the left. So however you choose to subscribe – RSS or email – you’ll get the freshest content available! Sign up today and put the Internet to work for you!

Ask Garmin: Getting to know your gift

Garmin — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:33:25 -0600

Many of you followed the advice of our holiday commercials and chose to "Give-a Give-a Give-a-Garmin" to your loved ones this holiday season. And now a whole new generation of Garmin owners want to get acquainted with their nüvi or Astro or Forerunner or Edge or Oregon or GPSMap or Mobile software or ... well, we could go on for a while.

The easiest way to learn about your new Garmin is to turn it on, go outside so that it can find the satellites and then play around with it. But if you're stuck indoors (or at work) and you want to see your new GPS device in action, we have solutions on our Garmin Buzz page. There you can find the handiwork of our interactive team, who has created minisites and online demos to introduce you to the technology. The crown jewel of the Buzz page is the Land of Oregon minisite. This highly interactive - and addictive - minisite introduces you to the Oregon touchscreen handheld in ways no owner's manual or blog can. There are also specific product demos as well as informative minisites for our Marine Network, the G600 glass cockpit and Garmin Mobile solutions.

And if you're a visual learner and like to see the products come to life as you learn, check out our YouTube channel. You'll find several quick tutorials about various features of the Forerunner 405 fitness watch. You'll hear Team Garmin's pro cyclists talk about the Edge 705. And you'll see various nüvis showing what they have to offer in animated videos. And it's not just the latest and greatest getting all the attention. There's even a ton of information on Garmin's Buzz site for products that have been making names for themselves for some time now. And finally, make sure you stop by the Garmin Garage to customize your vehicle icon. New choices are constantly being added, and they're available as free downloads. Enjoy, and welcome to the family!