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RogerS's Avatar
RogerS is offline RogerS
2007-12-17 , 17:53
Posts: 772 | Thanked: 183 times | Joined on Jul 2005 @ Montclair, NJ (NYC suburbs)
#1
Over at SiliconValley.com, Dean Takahashi points out that GPS devices topped electronic sales on Black Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving:
Two years ago, the devices that get their location fixes from global positioning system (GPS) satellites cost $1,000. But the cheapest ones now have broken the $100 barrier and many are now competing on a variety of features. GPS devices were the No. 1 electronic purchase on Black Friday, up sixfold over last year in unit sales. The average price was $189.
Another indicator of how useful people find location info, and another point underscoring Nokia's logic of incorporating GPS into the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet.
Read the full article.
 
gemniii42 is offline gemniii42
2007-12-17 , 18:33
Posts: 833 | Thanked: 124 times | Joined on Nov 2007 @ Based in the USA
#2
This is due to the convergence of low cost chips, relatively simple design, and dropping price of LCD's, RAM, etc. Also the $$ are going to be in subscription services, like razorblades for razors.
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jsgarvin is offline jsgarvin
2007-12-22 , 16:27
Posts: 18 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on Dec 2007 @ Missoula, MT
#3
Two years ago, the devices that get their location fixes from global positioning system (GPS) satellites cost $1,000.
Umm.. sorry but that's a load of crap. I bought my first Garmin Etrex 5 years ago for..... $100. The prices of the higher end models have certainly come down, and the overall quality of the $100 models has improved a bit, but GPS's did *not* just "break the $100 barrier" and to find a time when the cheapest were a $1000 I think you'll need to go back at least 10-15 years.

Can you tell I hate "reporters" that just make up stuff up rather than doing their job and finding out the facts first?
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Hedgecore is offline Hedgecore
2007-12-22 , 18:29
Posts: 1,361 | Thanked: 115 times | Joined on Oct 2005 @ Toronto, Ontario, Canada
#4
How long until Americans freak out saying they can't drive 45 miles without their absolutely necessary GPS unit? (C'mon, it happened with cell phones).
 
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YoDude is offline YoDude
2007-12-22 , 18:56
Posts: 2,869 | Thanked: 1,784 times | Joined on Feb 2007 @ Po' Bo'. PA
#5
Originally Posted by gemniii42 View Post
This is due to the convergence of low cost chips, relatively simple design, and dropping price of LCD's, RAM, etc. Also the $$ are going to be in subscription services, like razorblades for razors.
Sirfstar III and other improved chips did the trick.

Previously you could spend upward to $1500 for a device but still have to wait like a schmuck and waive it around for 3 to 5 minutes to get a position. They were also no good in city "canyons" where people needed them most.
Not to mention these older "portable devices" were huge and heavy to accommodate batteries that would give them decent usability.

(This was more than 2 years ago though. 2 to 3 years ago you could get your GPS location from a $100 Nextel cell phone. )

$100 to $150 is about the right price point. Wayfinders upgrade, although priced right, I suspect will have to include features on par with these low cost units in order to compete. Currently it does not. Some of these units features far exceed Wayfinders.

Originally Posted by Me View Post
...

Having been a Navicore/Wayfinder user since the begining on the N800 >>http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ead.php?t=6380

I have favorably reviewed and used the product since >>http://my.opera.com/yodude/blog/2007...e-screen-shots

So... while waiting for this "Wayfinder" upgrade I was hoping this app would have improved. It has not.

IMHO, a better alternative to purchasing the "Wayfinder" app for either the N800 or the N810 @ $129 for 36 months would be to purchase a stand alone car navigator for the same or less..

>> https://shop.wayfinder.com/productgr...id=81&catid=15

VS.

>> $129.00 or $99.00

You will get the features you want, quicker GPS fix, and although they are smaller screen sizes than the N800/10's, they actually show about the same size map when in the navigation mode.



VS.



No one has been a bigger fan of the Navicore/Wayfinder app than me on this site. However, if the tablets are to be a consumer device then IMHO, consumers should vote with their $$$'s and purchase alternatives until someone produces an app that utilizes the tablets full potential.

Wayfinder could have been so much more than this sophomoric effort that they have presented us.
Last edited by YoDude; 2007-12-22 at 19:08.
 
sevo is offline sevo
2007-12-22 , 19:56
Posts: 190 | Thanked: 21 times | Joined on Sep 2006
#6
Originally Posted by YoDude View Post
Previously you could spend upward to $1500 for a device but still have to wait like a schmuck and waive it around for 3 to 5 minutes to get a position. They were also no good in city "canyons" where people needed them most.
Not to mention these older "portable devices" were huge and heavy to accommodate batteries that would give them decent usability.
It was not quite as bad - in 96, when I got my first GPS, I spent $300 for a 280g device that went through 4xAA NiCd in four hours, would refuse to work in urban canyons (indeed any street with more than four-floor buildings) or underneath a tree, and had a four line text display and direction indicator with an arrow moving in 15 degree increments. TTFF was painfully slow - 8-15 minutes, but once it got going and had lots of clear sky above it, it was quite as good and reliable as my current SIRFIII mouse.
 
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barry99705 is offline barry99705
2007-12-22 , 20:43
Posts: 641 | Thanked: 27 times | Joined on Apr 2007
#7
My wife just bought me a Garmin street pilot for the trip. After hearing me complain about the crap map program that comes with the 2008 os. I don't really need a moving map, but it could come in handy. 3700 miles has a lot of room for closed roads, especially this time of year. My first gps was a Garmin eTrex, the little yellow one, it was around $200 at the time. I've upgraded to a Legend since then. Pretty bullet proof little gps's. I had a Magellan for about a week, it didn't want to work with my Powerbook for moving maps, so I took it back. That was years ago though.
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Last edited by barry99705; 2007-12-22 at 20:45.
 
wv9k's Avatar
wv9k is offline wv9k
2007-12-22 , 20:43
Posts: 145 | Thanked: 20 times | Joined on Dec 2007 @ Seattle, WA USA
#8
I still have a Garmin GPSMAP76CS and it is hard to beat for the features, but it does indeed have all the problems noted so far to one degree or another.

I purchased one of the 737 BT GPSs (about 1/4 the price I paid for the Garmin used) and it is a stellar little device. FAST and works places where the Garmin just quits.

I tried that map program that came on the n800 and thought it really rather absymal. $150 for it? You have GOT to be kidding.

Was about to decide that I had wasted $50 on the 737 and tried the maemo mapper out of desperation. Sure seems to be a LONG way ahead of the map program (demo) that was included.

Both of them seem to be missing a lot of the features I use on the Garmin though.

Not sure I am going to let the Garmin go anytime soon :-/.
Last edited by wv9k; 2007-12-22 at 20:45. Reason: Poor choice of words :-).
 
YoDude's Avatar
YoDude is offline YoDude
2007-12-22 , 22:41
Posts: 2,869 | Thanked: 1,784 times | Joined on Feb 2007 @ Po' Bo'. PA
#9
Originally Posted by sevo View Post
It was not quite as bad - in 96, when I got my first GPS, I spent $300 for a 280g device that went through 4xAA NiCd in four hours, would refuse to work in urban canyons (indeed any street with more than four-floor buildings) or underneath a tree, and had a four line text display and direction indicator with an arrow moving in 15 degree increments. TTFF was painfully slow - 8-15 minutes, but once it got going and had lots of clear sky above it, it was quite as good and reliable as my current SIRFIII mouse.
I also think the US government had some say on what technology would be available to consumers. IDKFS


I didn't mean that $1500 was entry level back then. I meant that no matter how much you spent, you waited...

The technological improvement is what brought the customers back, not so much price. Price is coming down because of demand, competition, and the economy of scales I would think.
 
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barry99705 is offline barry99705
2007-12-23 , 01:14
Posts: 641 | Thanked: 27 times | Joined on Apr 2007
#10
Originally Posted by YoDude View Post
I also think the US government had some say on what technology would be available to consumers. IDKFS


I didn't mean that $1500 was entry level back then. I meant that no matter how much you spent, you waited...

The technological improvement is what brought the customers back, not so much price. Price is coming down because of demand, competition, and the economy of scales I would think.
Yea, I think they took off the offset to non-military devices after the first Gulf War. I think before then you couldn't get any better than around 30 feet or so, without specialized equipment. Now we can regularly get sub-foot accuracy. Not that you really need that in an everyday hand held gps. If you can't find it with 10 foot accuracy, you ain't gonna find it. The technology has also gotten smaller. You almost can't buy a cell phone without a gps in it. We've seen bluetooth gps devices on key chains.
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