May 7th, 2009
Garmin adds built-in digital camera to waterproof GPS units
Forget about cameras with built-in GPS–Garmin has just announced two new handheld GPS units with built-in digital cameras: the Garmin Oregon 500 and 500t (which is essentially the same unit preloaded with 100K U.S. topographic maps for $100 more). While the 3.2-megapixel built-in camera isn’t going to replace your dSLR just quite yet, consider how much you can do with a 2-megapixel iPhone snapshot and you’ll start to see the value here.
As you’d expect, the Garmin Oregon 500 is capable of creating geotagged images on the fly. In fact, it automatically geotags all the photos you shoot, allowing you to easily navigate back to locations in any of your images in the future. The unit is waterproof and rugged, and includes a built-in 3-axis tilt-compensated compass, so you don’t have to start moving for it to determine which way you are pointed (which is one of the things that drives me crazy about both my portable GPS device and my iPhone). And anyone who has ever tried to use an iPhone in cold weather will appreciate the Oregon 500’s “glove-friendly” 3-inch touchscreen. There’s even a built-in barometric altimeter that tracks changes in pressure to determine your precise altitude.
Available immediately, the Oregon 550 and 550t sell for $499.99 and $599.99 respectively and come with 850MB of internal memory, as well as a microSD card slot for expansion (or even viewing pictures from other devices).
Janice Chen has been covering technology for almost two decades. She got her hands on a Nikon Coolpix 900 back in 1998 and has been a digital camera enthusiast ever since. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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