 Last week, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) took over Las Vegas, Nevada for four days. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the company that owns and operates CES, announced in a press release that this year's show posted record-breaking numbers. The largest show in CES history included more than 3,100 exhibitors, 153,000 attendees (34,000 international), and 20,000 launched products. However, despite the success in numbers, CES 2012 lacked a stand out product like past years. Where the 2011 CES was considered the year of tablets, this year didn't focus on one popular product but a variety including thinner TVs, 3D screens, and waterproof products. GPS City had team members at the show each day, checking out new products and seeing what was creating the most buzz among attendees. While our team checked out all the new products and exhibitions on display, the focus was on the GPS market. Here are some of the new or updated GPS products that made an impression on us: Garmin started the week off with three product announcements with the most popular products being the nuvi 3590LMT and Approach G6. The nuvi 3590LMT, a thin 5" display, is part of Garmin's 2012 nuvi line. The new nuvi includes photoLive traffic images that shows actual traffic camera images on your GPS. Additionally, the new Smartphone Link connects your Android phone to the nuvi 3590LMT using Bluetooth. The Garmin Approach G6 comes preloaded with over 25,000 worldwide courses in a slim and waterproof design, an upgrade over other golf GPS units. The highly anticipated fitness products, Vector and Forerunner 910XT, were also on display at Garmin's booth. Since the products are not expected until later this year, this was the first time many people were getting a close look at the products. Recon Instruments offered their improved GPS-enabled goggles. The googles' display tracks various features, including outside temperature, how much of the mountain you have covered during your runs, the highest point you have been all day, your current latitude and longitude location, how fast you are going, and more. The most impressive feature is the buddy tracker, which allows you to find your friends' location on the mountain. DeLorme had their inReach, both the Earthmate and Android smartphone versions, on display at their CES booth. After some discussion with one of their Quality Assurance team members, it was revealed the next direction of the inReach includes an iPhone version. Although the team member didn't provide a timeline, it shows that DeLorme is invested in growing the inReach line. For more inside information on CES 2012, check out GPS City's Facebook and Twitter pages. |
