 The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is almost upon us! To keep us entertained until the doors open, the judges have announced their Best Innovation Awards. The companies winning awards for innovation for the GPS category are Recon Instruments, Nike, DeLorme and Garmin. While the latter two names are well-known, Recon Instruments and Nike are relatively new as GPS brands. Magellan was also acknowledged for it's traffic wakeup feature, however the Roadmate 3065 Commuter is not the first in-vehicle GPS to offer this service.
Taking first prize was the Transcend Snow Goggles by Recon Instruments, which provide GPS data on a head mounted digital display. These goggles use Twitter to share run information including speed and vertical ascent and decent. Alternately the data can be downloaded to compare with previous trips or with data collected by friends. DeLorme's honorable mention was no surprise; last year they were building hype about their new PN60W with SPOT communicator and the all-new Canadian topographic coverage. One reason that DeLorme was not a huge name in Canada was due to the lack of detailed mapping. The PN60W is unique as it comes with both Canada and US topo maps. The Garmin nuvi 3790T was unusually absent for the #1 spot this year. It did come in as an honorable mention though. The 3790T created a storm of interest when it was released early 2010, with it's super-slim design reminiscent of the Apple iPhones. Add in voice recognition and a crystal-clear multi-touch screen and you have one feature-rich device. Overall GPS did very well, scooping up commendations left, right and center. As the show progresses GPS City will be posting other new and intriguing GPS products.
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