Those of you who use GPS devices for everyday travel already know how they can help you save time and cut fuel costs. But have you thought about how a GPS device can help you when you are on the clock?

If you have the sort of job that requires frequent travel, you may want to consider getting a GPS device to assist you on the job.  What kind of job would you have to have in order to benefit from a GPS device? Really, a GPS device is of great assistance for any kind of job that requires travel. Still, there are some very specific professions where a GPS device is especially useful.

People who are involved in sales would find that using a GPS device might make travel a lot smoother. Even if you tend to frequent clients in the same area and know the route, a GPS device can still help you avoid unexpected traffic tie-ups.

A real estate agent could certainly use GPS as they are traveling to different properties. If you are a real estate agent who takes clients to visit various sites, you’ll want to transport them with as little fuss as possible. You wouldn’t want to waste time getting lost or have a client seeing you lose your cool.

Business travelers who often spend time in unfamiliar cities would also benefit from using a GPS device. A portable device could go with you into rental cars or in your pocket as you travel on foot.

Visit the Action GPS website to learn more about how a GPS device can make your workday more efficient.

The cool new Garmin Nuvi 260W Widescreen Automotive GPS Navigation System w/ TTS has arrived on the scene just in time to help you arrive at all of your summertime destinations. With the Garmin Nuvi 260W, you can get there when you want, how you want.

The Nuvi 260W comes preloaded with City Navigator NT. Not only will it direct you to your destination in the U.S., it can also keep you on track in Canada and Puerto Rico. When you opt for the real-time traffic updates, you’ll not only get accurate directions, you’ll also be able to plan for the unexpected.

Speaking of planning, the Nuvi 260W gives you different options for route calculation: shortest time, shortest distance, least use of freeways, most use of freeways, and avoid toll roads. That is the great thing about this product–it is not one size fits all. It does not just spit out cookie-cutter directions. You can customize it to fit your needs and travel plans.

Although the Nuvi 260W has a wide screen to make viewing easier, it also talks so that you can keep your eyes on the road ahead. The powerful built-in speaker will announce streets and exits. The text-to-speech feature means that these commands are comprehensive. The Nuvi 260W tells you to turn right on Main Street instead of telling you to turn right in 500 feet. This eliminated guesswork and confusion as you drive.

Like many other Garmin products, the Nuvi 260W comes with a great assortment of travel tools such as a travel clock, currency converter, anti-theft feature, calculator and more.

Check out the Garmin Nuvi 260W and other new arrivals at the Action GPS website.

Choosing a new GPS just got a little easier. Like many people, I’m a careful shopper. I spend hours checking out products from different vendors, reading Consumer Reports, pouring over product reviews, evaluating features, and charting the pros and cons of my top choices. When I buy, I like to get the biggest bang for my buck!

ActionGPS made buying my latest GPS unit a breeze. ActionGPS carries all the big names in portable and handheld GPS units: Garmin, Mio Tech and TomTom. You can search for products by manufacturer or type: automotive, outdoor, fitness, marine, motorcycle, recreational, geocaching, etc. But my favorite feature is the instant product comparison (click the link to view a comparison of two of our hot new arrivals).

Here’s how to make your own product comparison on ActionGPS:

• On the homepage of our website, click on one of the categories in the right-hand column.
• Read the summaries that accompany each product and click the item to peruse the details, specs and reviews.
• Once you’ve decided on your top contenders, check the box next to each item you want to compare.
• Click the orange oval “compare selected” button under the category title at the top of the item list.
• ActionGPS pulls up a nifty chart that compares all the major features, including price.
• Place your order.

It’s that easy. ActionGPS takes the guess work out of shopping for a new GPS. Visit the ActionGPS website and try it for yourself.

Various television shows have given cars their own personalities. In the days of black-and-white television, there was a show called “My Mother the Car.” This show was before my time, so I cannot say I really understand the mother as car concept.But there was one show during my time with a talking car that seemed way ahead of its time. That show was called Knight Rider. In the show, David Hasselhoff played Michael Knight, a 1980s version of a knight in shining armor who fought crime. His sidekick on that show was not a person, but KITT, a car that spoke and drove itself around. At that time, I was amazed that this car was able to do so much.

Twenty years later the average person can drive a car that speaks. Our cars don’t drive us around, but with GPS navigation, they certainly can point us in the right direction.

Mio will soon introduce a new GPS navigation device called the Knight Rider. This all-star GPS device will come complete with KITT’s voice, LED lights and a sleek black visage to remind you of Knight Rider. The cost estimates for this fun new GPS device are in the $270-$300 range.

We’ve gone from giving cars on tv their own personalities to personalizing our GPS devices based on fictional machines from television shows. Who knows what’s next?

Perhaps you are not excited by the thought of having KITT tell you which way to go. That is okay. Action GPS has other Mio GPS devices to choose from. And we promise that none of them will be like driving around with your mother.

It’s bad enough to pay $8 for a movie ticket and then be forced to sit through 15 minutes of commercial drivel before they screen the first trailer, but commercials in my own personal car? That’s outrageous! Unfortunately, that’s how Detroit car manufacturers say they’ll pay for all the cool, new telematics planned for future cars. As Sarah Webster of the Detroit Free Press so succinctly put it: “Advertisers will provide the gas on this information Superhighway.”

The OnStar-type system that powers the unlock button if you lock your keys in the car “might be courtesy of Red Bull,” explained Velle Kolde, Microsoft Auto senior product manager. All the features now found on OnStar and Ford’s Sync wireless communications and entertainment technologies — and more still in development — could come with a sponsor. Imagine your GPS system announcing a right turn onto Main Street “where you can get a mouth-watering Big Mac in .3 miles.” Map-tied advertising is expected to pay the hefty price tag of all those cool, new tech features.

“Nobody wants another bill,” Panasonic’s Hakan Kostepen pointed out at a recent telematics conference. Everyone wants the cool features OnStar offers, but few want to pay the monthly subscription fee. OnStar services start at $18.95 a month. Ford Sync’s flat fee of $395 is an even bigger hurdle for car buyers. Who wants to shell out for another pricey package on top of the cost of a new car? In an industry survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, only 37% of 16- to 24-year old drivers said they’d be willing to pay for installed consumer electronics in their car and then not more than $270. Older drivers were generally willing to pay more for in-car electronics, but fewer said they’d even consider having them installed if they had to pay for them.

Detroit sees commercial advertising as the obvious way to defray the cost of new tech features. In the car of the not so distant future, you might be able to download movies for the rugrats from Netflix, book an oil change courtesy of Pennzoil or schedule that 5,000 tune up care of your local Ford dealer. I can’t think of a better reason to go with a portable GPS navigation system — all the cool tech features you want AND NO COMMERCIALS!

On this blog we discuss GPS devices and technology, but today we are going to get into a little psychology.

Over the weekend, I came across an article in an online magazine where the writer declared that real men don’t use GPS devices. He’d much rather exercise what he referred to as his “motoring talent and navigational mastery” than rely on assistance from a GPS device.

The writer was in a foreign country and before the trip a friend had advised him to forego renting a car in favor of taking a cab. Of course the wounded the writer’s manly pride. He decided that this affront had to be answered by not only renting a car, but by being determined to travel on his own without the assistance of the GPS devices he had been relying on previously.

While he decided not to admit he needed help from a GPS navigational device, he did concede that things got “dicey” and that he couldn’t seem to find his way from the airport.

This doesn’t have to be you. GPS devices do not exist to sap away anyone’s pride. Instead, they are tools. If you drive around on the highways and byways and survive, you are high skilled. There is nothing wrong with using a tool to make this activity even more seamless.

Anyone can wander around spending precious time and gas because they feel it will injure their pride to get a little assistance from a GPS device. It is much braver to admit that you need help and go ahead and get that GPS device. A model like the TomTom Go 910 GPS speaks many languages and provides door-to-door navigation for the U.S., Canada, and Europe. When you decide to take that all-important first step, Action GPS will be there for you. We have an wide selection of GPS devices with all kinds of cool features, none of which will be an affront to your pride.

GPS devices are like modern-day compasses. I imagine that the explorers from days of old were glad for their compasses, but if they could have had a GPS device, who knows what would have happened?

A compass can give you a general sense of direction, but a GPS navigation device can help you arrive at a specific destination .I admit, my own sense of direction is not that great. When people tell me that something is “due East” or suggest that I “keep heading North,” I have no idea what they mean. Rather than wandering around hoping to find my way, I decided I’d do much better to get a little help.

That is one of the reasons I am interested in the Garmin Nuvi 750 Widescreen GPS Automotive Navigation System. It has an array of great features. One of these is the route planning feature that lets a drive save 10 routes. You would think I’d have some trips memorized by now, but I don’t. So the Garmin Nuvi 750 can help take the guesswork out of the making my way to places that are familiar. There is so much to think about that I don’t quite memorize the directions to places I visit frequently, but not everyday.

And since I am rather busy, I like that it comes right out of the box preloaded with City Navigator NT. I won’t have to spend a lot of time configuring it or getting it ready. It will be ready to go when I am. And it will take me a lot further than a compass will.

Satirist Stephen Colbert is the proud owner of a new GPS unit. The well-known pundit pleaded with viewers of the Colbert Report, asking for a GPS to help him find his way. “I don’t need a GPS to find the truth, but I would like a free GPS,” he said at the beginning of a recent show. A generous fan answered his prayers. “Ask and you shall receive,” his publicist told an Associated Press reporter with a shrug.

On the wall of Colbert’s New York office is a huge map of the U.S. fashioned from used state license plates. As the unfailingly suit-clad Colbert rockets across the country in search of his next report from bizarro land, a GPS will certainly come in handy. It may not help Colbert discover the truth about the absurdities that confound our nation, but his new GPS will certainly put him in a position to report them.

Colbert may be able to wish himself a slick new GPS but the rest of us will have to buy one. Fortunately, ActionGPS makes answering your prayers affordable. We offer GPS units in every shape and size from the slick new Garmin Nuvi 750 Widescreen GPS Automotive Navigation System to the Garmin Etrex Legend CX Hand Held Outdoor Color GPS and everything imaginable in between. And since, unlike Comedy Central star Colbert, you don’t have a Fairy Godmother waiting to fulfill your every wish, ActionGPS offers high quality GPS products to fit every budget. You can save big bucks on our factory refurbished units which all come with full manufacturer warranties.

“The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.”

Maybe you remember that quote from “Steel Magnolias.” Or perhaps you don’t, but either way you have to agree that it is a rather amusing sentiment. And there is something to it.

We are not animals, but it is a jungle out there and finding your way through it requires assistance…assistance like the kind that a GPS navigation unit can provide. Despite your best instincts, sometimes you really are not sure of which way to go. Even with your keen senses, you have gotten off course. This is why you brought in a GPS to act as a guide. But of course you don’t want your GPS to be naked. It needs company! The kind of company that will keep it in high style and you on the right path.

This is why Action GPS sells a menagerie of accessories to make sure that your GPS unit gets you where you want to go.

Here are some of the accessories that will separate your GPS from the pack:

Garmin GTM 10 FM TMC Traffic Receiver Module
Find out what is on the horizon

Garmin 12 Volt Vehicle Power Cable
Keep your GPS charged while you are on the go

Garmin USB Data Cable
Get connected and share information with your PC

Garmin Nuvi A/C Home Charger with UK & Euro Adapters
Keep your GPS charged up at home and abroad

Garmin Nuvi Leather Carrying Case
To keep it all together

I wonder where Maxwell Smart would have kept his GPS unit if they’d been around back when he and Agent 99 fought the KAOS bad guys back in the ’60s? Perhaps in his other shoe? Or maybe in a super flat screen on the end of his tie? If he had a GPS, he wouldn’t be wasting time trading banalities at a bakery counter with an over-the-hill KAOS honey. He’d just follow his GPS to the KAOS hot cache and save the day. Of course, audiences of the new Get Smart movie would lose a hilarious exchange of double entendres, and a classic bit of Hollywood repartee would be forever lost in the Cone of Silence. Who wants that?

The scenario of Max fumbling with a GPS isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. With GPS technology getting smaller, cheaper and better, it’s one of several computerized tracking and listening devices changing the world of private investigation, the day side of the shady spy world. They may not be fighting KAOS agents, but PIs are using GPS devices to ferret out the bad guys. Fort Lauderdale PI Jim Bender uses a matchbox size GPS device to stake out cheating husbands without leaving his office. He recently used the same technology to track down thieves who were stealing fuel from a major oil company’s big rigs, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Stakeouts that used to take hundreds of man-hours are now accomplished with a GPS device affixed to a wheel well, says Bender.

“Anybody can be a spy now,” says Todd Myers, president of Computer Sights, a Florida surveillance supply store. All you need to channel your inner Maxwell Smart is an internet connection, a GPS device and a few other nifty gadgets, and basic human curiosity. Agent 99 would be so proud!

Last month, Consumer Search included Garmin products among their top choices for Handheld GPs units. Among those chosen were the Garmin GPSMap 60Csx and the Garmin Forerunner 305.

Evaluating handheld GPS units is not the same as looking at GPS units for use in cars.
The Consumer Search report reviewed handheld GPS units that were manufactured to be used mainly out of doors. These units have smaller screens and are generally lighter than GPS navigation units made for use while driving. They also tend to have longer battery life than automotive GPS units and are made to withstand outdoor elements like wind and rain.
The Garmin GPS Map 60Csx was named “Best-value handheld GPS” for its continuity in performance. More of their reviewers picked it than any other handheld GPS. This unit is an upgrade on the previous models in the series and it gets satellite information faster. You can use it to get location information in hard-to-reach locations like dense foliage or canyons.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 was honored as the best fitness watch with GPS. This fitness GPS can be a great asset for your exercise regimen since it let you compete against previous workouts by comparing your pace and hear rate. Even if you don’t want to compete against yourself, you can still track your performance over time to see how you have improved. Data from each workout is stored in the Forerunner 305’s memory.

These and other top-rated Garmin products are available through the Action GPS website. Stop by today and take a look at your next handheld GPS unit.

Earlier this week I saw an ABC News report on GPS navigation devices. Since everything needs a “hook” to reel you in, this report started out with a statement that was so interesting, I had to take the bait: GPS devices can help you find cheap gas.

That’s right. For a mere $15 a year, TomTom will let you connect to an online service that will tell you were the cheapest gas. As you probably already know, a GPS navigation device can point you to the nearest gas station. That is good, but the added benefit of having your GPS device point you to the cheapest gas station is priceless.

There was a time when you simply traveled the highway looking at signs for the next rest stop so you could get gas. But now we are all trying to find gas that won’t break the bank. Unless we are about to run out of gas, we will continue until we find something even one penny cheaper. When you in your hometown, it is not that hard because you know where to look. And you know that you won’t be traveling so far that you’ll run out of gas before you find a station with a price you are willing to pay. If you’re on a road trip in unfamiliar territory, how will you know where to find gas at the best price? You won’t, so getting a little help from TomTom could be a great benefit.

The reporters in the studio were looking at the TomTom One, saying that it is much cheaper if you buy it online. (They really said this, I am not making it up!)

A strange glitch in your GPS readings could be the result of a “space storm,” according to a recent report in ScienceDaily. Strange electrical activity in Earth’s upper atmosphere can sometimes interfere with GPS satellite signals, wreaking havoc with all manner of GPS devices from simple handhelds to the complex aeronautical systems used in airplanes.

While monitoring GPS satellite systems, scientists observed a disruption of GPS equipment by Earth’s aurora. Sometimes visible in the far northern and southern hemispheres as an undulating, pulsating ribbon of colorful light, Earth’s aurora is a manifestation of powerful ion storms occurring in the extreme reaches of our planet’s atmosphere. The aurora phenomenon and its deleterious effect on navigation systems have long perplexed scientists who are only now beginning to unravel the mysteries of this powerful force.

New research published in Space Weather, a publication of the American Geophysical Union, provides the first evidence that ion activity may be predictable. Monitoring of the ionosphere is allowing scientists to clarify and understand how disruptive electron clouds and other electrically charged particles affect GPS and other communication systems on Earth’s surface. Researchers soon hope to be able to accuately predict periods of reduced GPS reliability and accuracy on a regional basis. They’ve already had success forecasting GPS disturbances for marine users and are working to apply the same processes to land-based GPS systems. Weather reports of the future may not only track hurricanes and tornadoes but also ion storms in space!

There are some phrases that seem self-explanatory. You figure, you should know what they mean. Maybe you act like you know, but really are not sure.

For example, when you hear that a GPS device designed for fitness measures heart rate–what exactly does that mean? Your heart rate is the number of times you heart beats in one minute. This measurement is expressed as beats per minute or bpm.

It is very important to pay attention to your heart rate while you are exercising. The Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS Fitness Trainer with Heart Rate Monitor has a heart rate monitor that continuously tracks and records your heart rate so you can see whether you’re training too hard or not hard enough.  The Forerunner 301 has three separate sport modes for running, biking and another activity. Your heart rate can vary, so it is important to ask your doctor what is a normal heart rate for you during different activities.

The Forerunner 301 will display your current heart rate zone. This is a range of heart beats per minute that helps you gauge the intensity of your workout and train more effectively. This GPS device is so dynamic that it can learn about and adjust to you. After a few intense runs, Forerunner’s AutoLearn feature calculates your heart rate zones and automatically adjusts them as your fitness level improves.

The Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS Fitness Trainer with Heart Rate Monitor not only gets you where you’re going, it also lets you know if you should keep going.

Give your favorite grad a GPS automotive navigation system and watch his eyes pop! A GPS is a gift that tells your grad you know he’s going places, and you want to help him get there — and home again.

If your high school grad is off to college this fall, a GPS will help him find his way to campus without getting lost. He can use it to locate the bookstore to score that all-important mascot-emblazoned sweatshirt — and buy textbooks too, of course. With a GPS he can track down the local Target or Wal-Mart to stock up on supplies and study snacks. Pop the unit out of the car and he can stroll around town to get his bearings and still find his way back to his car when he forgets where he parked. A GPS will make it easy to figure out where things are on campus and get to know the surrounding area. And when the laundry basket is full, a GPS will help him find his way home for a weekend of mom’s home cooking.

College grads will be equally thrilled to receive a GPS nav system. A GPS will show them the way as they leave college and head out into the “real world.” With a GPS they’ll quickly learn their way around town. Restaurants, stores, stadiums, entertainment — a GPS system puts it all right at their finger tips. Whether your grad is apartment hunting, heading out for a new job or hooking up with new friends, a GPS will help him make it on his own. It’s the perfect travel accessory for business travel and vacations too, something your grad will appreciate for years to come. And even though your grad’s grown up and out on his own, you can still program in the route home. You can go home again with a GPS nav system!

At ActionGPS you’ll find GPS systems to fit every budget. There’s no reason to break the bank, particularly if you shop our factory refurbished units which come with a one-year guarantee. A refurbished Garmin Nuvi 250 is available for an incredibly reasonable $149.95, perfect for the high school grad. For the busy college grad, step up to the Garmin Nuvi 360 Bluetooth GPS (shown above).