Excitement continues to build for this weekend's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event at the Kansas Speedway. It all started when NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver Jeff Green and his #66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet were here on Wednesday, and now we're counting down until Sunday's race. To help get you as psyched for the event as we are, Chet put together a short video recapping our NASCAR week. Hope you enjoy! We'll give you a full rundown of the race's results next week. Go Jeff Green!
Yep, it's a fact and we have video to prove it. The Goodyear Blimp uses guidance by Garmin. "The Spirit of Goodyear" Blimp is in KC this weekend for The NASCAR Yellow Transportation 300 and LifeLock 400 races at Kansas Speedway, and we were pleasantly surprised when we discovered a GPSMAP 496 on its panel. Guess that means NASCAR fans won't have to worry when a large ominous shadow passes over them on race day. The Blimp knows exactly where it's at and where it's going thanks to Garmin. Watch the video here.
Start your engines; it's time once again for your Friday NASCAR scoop! Although we've been talking quite a bit about the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event at the Kansas Speedway (a place near and dear to our hearts, and our office), this week, there's more NASCAR action to let you in on.
Before we jump ahead into what's happening this week, let me take a minute to spotlight a much-deserved top-ten finish from last week. That's right, Chad McCumbee and the #08 theGPSstore.com/Garmin team took home their first top-ten finish of the year at last weekend's NASCAR Craftsman truck series Vegas event. With the huge come back, Chad says he's excited about the rest of the year, and thinks he can have runs like his last one in the upcoming events! We congratulate Chad and team on their stellar performance and wish him best of luck when he hits the track again Oct. 6, at Talladega.
Now, if you're a Garmin Blog regular, you know that this weekend will top off NASCAR week here at Garmin. That's right, our very own sponsored driver, Jeff Green, has been gracing the Garmin campus and the surrounding cities with NASCAR events all week long. On Sunday, the Garmin crew (Chet and all) will be out at the Kansas Speedway to watch Jeff in action. Look for the #66 Best Buy/ Garmin car decked out in a Garmin blue paint design. If you're around, stop by and say hi. And stay tuned for our pictures from the pit, as we grab a front row seat in Kansas City. See you there, and good luck, Jeff!
I'm sure everyone in the Garmin blogosphere has been waiting with bated breath for another NBAA blog post. Well, the show was so busy that I didn't do a daily post like I originally planned, but never fear, I'm back with a wrap-up post.
The last day of NBAA was yesterday and it was another record breaking year. NBAA is the eighth largest trade show in the U.S. More than 1,100 exhibitors were showing off their wares and thousands of show-goers walked through the exhibition hall and the aircraft static display. The Garmin booth was busy from opening to close. Many people stopped by to learn more about our four NBAA announcements -- Garmin glass on the Caravan, PiperJet, TBM
850, and King Air 200 and B200. Because the G1000 is on so many different aircraft, attendees could demo the G1000 in our booth or at many OEM partners booths.
Those who weren't looking for the G1000 were often intrigued by other products in our booth. We had our whole aviation line-up, from the G600 and panel mounts to Pilot My-Cast by Garmin. We also included a few automotive products for good measure. After all, we don't want pilots to get lost on their way to the hangar!
So people have been asking why and how I did all of my long runs on a treadmill as I geared up for the Chicago Marathon. In the beginning, it was because we had a torrid August. In the end, it was because I don't think I have the attention span to run 21 miles on the darkened streets of KC (though my Forerunner 305's Virtual Partner can keep me company). Instead, I became the Ivan Drago of our gym, wired to the latest and greatest technology (and a jukebox the size of a postage stamp).
With the Forerunner 50 comfortably wrapped around my wrist, its heart-rate monitor maximizing my workout and the foot pod tracking my speed and distance, I had the best fitness gear available (thus guilting me into not stopping). The best part: The Forerunner 50 is scheduled to be available to the public for the first time at the Chicago Marathon.
We wrapped up a full day at Interbike by joining a crew from Cannondale and about 50 other mountain bike riders for a night ride at Blue Diamond Park west of Vegas. As they’ve been doing for demo rides all week, Cannondale hooks riders up with some of their best bikes and Garmin provides Edge units on several of the bikes. Follow the jump for more on the ride.
Put 20,000 people and 1,000 brands in one convention center and you’ve got Interbike, the largest cycling tradeshow in the U.S. The Garmin booth’s been teaming with folks bent on seeing our latest and greatest GPS-enabled bike computers, the Edge 605 and 705. Now with built-in mapping, turn-by-turn routing, and, on the 705 model, wireless unit-to-unit data transfer and power compatibility.
Some reps from SRM are here in our booth as well to demo their compatible power meters with the 705. Talk about giving your training the edge—power gives serious cyclists a true measure of performance regardless of factors affecting their ride, like wind speed and terrain. Edge 705 is the only bike computer to give cyclists GPS position data, heart rate, speed/cadence elevation and wireless power data all on a device about the size of a cell phone. What’s Peg’s power output? Check back later and find out.
Graced by perfect weather with "Garmin blue" skies, we can safely report to you that NASCAR Day at Garmin was everything we had hoped it'd be. Several hundred employees and curious onlookers converged on our parking lot to check out the #66 Best Buy/Garmin car, get an autograph from driver Jeff Green, and tour the cutting-edge electronics in the Best Buy Fun Zone. Even Garmin ambassador and all-around fun guy Chet got in on the act!
Garmin had a supply of over 700 die-cast cars that we offered to employees for 10 bucks a pop -- with all proceeds benefitting the United Way. We're proud to say they all sold out within just a couple of days, too.
Even if you weren't able to make the event today, you can see the #66 Garmin car charging hard for the checkered flag this Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway.
The Best Buy Fun Zone is in full swing at the Garmin campus. Jeff Green was here from 11:30 to 1:30 signing autographs and the rest of the event goes on until 3:00pm. The experience continues tomorrow at the Country Club Plaza. We'll have more details on that later. For now, here's some pics of the Fun Zone:
The Garmin campus in Olathe, Kansas plays host to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver Jeff Green and his #66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet today. Best Buy is already in the parking lot, setting up their Fun Zone, a tricked-out semi trailer that shows the latest in cool technology... including, of course, Garmin.
Later this morning and into the afternoon, Jeff and the #66 car will be on hand, and Jeff says he's excited to sign autographs and extoll the virtues of Garmin. “You always want to be associated with brands you believe in, and I can honestly say I’m a big fan of Garmin,” notes Jeff, who uses our stuff while driving and also while hunting.
It's all in advance of this Sunday's LifeLock 400 race at Kansas Speedway -- so if you're in the neighborhood today, stop by and wish Jeff good luck... and be sure to catch the race this weekend!
Today is the opening day of NBAA, and because there is so much going on, I'm going to keep this post short. Since we had so much fun yesterday with two G1000 announcements, we decided to do two more today. Piper and Socata both held press conferences this afternoon and announced that they have selected Garmin glass for their respective aircraft. The PiperJet is a clean-sheet light jet that is scheduled to be delivered in 2010. The Socata TBM 850 is the world's fastest single engine turboprop and is currently delivered with a Garmin GNS 530 avionics stack. More details to come later!
Gear up your engines; NASCAR is headed to town! The Kansas Speedway will play host to this weekend's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event, and the excitement around the city is already brewing up. To help him find his way around the Speedway track, the #66 car will sport a special silver and blue Garmin paint design this season's debut in Kansas. In anticipation for the Cup's arrival, Garmin and Best Buy will participate in the 2007 KC Speedweek celebration, presented by Yellow Transportation, on the Plaza on Thursday, from 4-9 p.m., with special appearances by #66 Best Buy /Garmin driver Jeff Green and #70 Radioactive Energy Drink / Yellow driver Johnny Sauter.
Speaking of Jeff Green, he'll also be stopping by the Garmin campus this week, too. The #66 Garmin and the #66 Best Buy cars will both be on hand for photos, along with the Best Buy Fun Zone trailer featuring state-of-the-art electronics - including Garmin products!
To celebrate our sponsorship with the #66 car and the Best Buy Racing program, we here at Blog Central want to let you in on all the fun! So, in the spirit of Race Week at Garmin, we're giving away two Garmin die-cast race cars autographed by Jeff Green, to two lucky race fans this week. Just send us your name, address, and phone number to garminblogs@garmin.com, and we'll select the winners at the end of the week. Good luck and stay tuned for more NASCAR Week fun!
It's the day before the doors open for the 60th annual National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Convention, and the fun has already begun. This year the show is in sunny Atlanta, Georgia, so I left my runway for the week to bring you the latest and greatest aviation news. You'll want to check back regularly because there are always lots of big announcements at this show, and so far, we have two of them.
Interbike, the largest cycling tradeshow in the states, kicks off today in Las Vegas with 2 days of rides and outdoor demos in Bootleg Canyon. Then it's 3 days of product show with 1,000 brands represented. We’ll be there, giving industry folks a peek at our recently announced Edge 605 and 705 bike computers. We took everything that was great about the Edge series and added mapping and turn-by-turn routing, plus, on the 705, power compatibility and wireless data transfer between units. At Interbike, Garmin is teaming up with Cannondale to offer demo rides — their latest and greatest bikes with our Edge devices. How’s that for a high-tech ride? Garmin's resident mountain biking expert and one of the engineers who works on the Edge series, Tom, will be there for a ride with a group of industry media reps. Follow the jump to read more on Tom’s racing background and what he does on the Edge team. And stay tuned this week for more highlights from Interbike.
Greetings one and all. I’m Dave and welcome to Docklines, our first blog column that will focus on things that we boaters find really interesting (no offense Peg, Chet, Jake, or Roger, but your blogs, are, well, kind of dry). Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be touching on all matters of our marine products and efforts, things like new product announcements, little known functions, new features, and cover various marine events both nationally and internationally.
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Last week there were two exciting events in the Garmin Marine world, the introduction of our newest radar scanner, the GMR-24, and the 2007 Newport International Boat Show in beautiful Newport, Rhode Island. The GMR-24 rounds out our radar line as the bigger “brother” to the acclaimed GMR-18. It offers the same 4kw power and digital processing that has allowed the GMR-18 to quickly become the benchmark for 18 inch radome scanners, but with a tighter beam width to better separate close targets for the most demanding of radome users.
The pictures you see on the blog here are from our booth at the Newport show, which is the kickoff for the fall boatshow season. Our new GPSMAP 5212 touchscreen unit was the hit of the show. Its combination of unparalleled ease of use, screen brightness, and BlueChart G2 Vision charting capabilities wowed the crowds at this beautiful and historic New England port of call. It’s push button “twin,” the GPSMAP 4212 was the focal point in the back left of the booth photo, as we were intently tracking Tropical Storm Humberto coming across the Gulf of Mexico and hit Houston, Texas via our live XM/WX Satellite Weather on Garmin’s Marine Network via our GDL 30A XM weather and audio receiver. The 4212 shares all the same attributes of the 5212, it is amazingly easy to use, has the brightest 12 inch screen on the market, and the G2 Vision cartography, it just uses a more “traditional” button control instead of the touch screen for user input.
The show was full of a wide variety Garmin rigged boats, from RibCraft, Maine Cat, and Holby using a wide assortment of our plotters, radars, sounders, and XM Weather overlay, while Protector Boats had their new 32ft RIB decked out with a TR-1 Autopilot.
Come see what you have been missing at Trawlerfest, Soloman’s Island, MD (September 27-29), and at both the US Sailboat (October 4-8) and US Powerboat (October 11-14) shows in picturesque Annapolis, Maryland. See you on the water!
Vroom, vroom! Make sure you tune in this Saturday and Sunday to catch Garmin sponsored NASCAR drivers tear up the tracks from coast to coast. First up is Chad McCumbee and the #08 theGPSStore.com / Garmin in the Craftsman Truck Series at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Smith's Las Vegas 350. After a long day at Loudon, the team brought home a disappointing 26th-place finish last weekend, but are optimistic for Vegas. "It just takes some time to work out the bugs," Chad says. "We have had some really good tests, and Vegas is the kind of place where the team and I will excel." Here's hoping Chad and team turn their luck around in Vegas!
Then on Sunday, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series heads to Delaware where drivers will take their second try at the Monster Mile of the Dover International Speedway. Driver Jeff Green and the #66 Comcast Haas CNC Racing team took home the 27th-place finish at last weekend's race, and Jeff says he's looking forward to this fun track. "I liked it better when they had asphalt down instead of concrete, but it's still a fun track," Jeff commented. With only nine more events to go, we wish Jeff and team the best of luck, too!
The GPSMagazine crew has done it again. They've prepared an extensive hands-on preview of the newly announced Edge 705. This breakthrough cycling wonder includes power compatibility and wireless unit-to-unit connectivity, and offers several innovative features. The GPSMag preview offers users a sneak peak, and covers every inch, angle, feature and version. "The Edge 705 is a powerful GPS that provides navigation, training, and cycling capabilities not found on other units." So if you're looking to beef up your Edge knowledge, or just interested in what's new, check out the entire preview... before you know it, you'll be training like a pro in no time!
Jake's Journal: Start me up, I'm ready to run down a dream
My thoughts: Dixie Chicks can be fun in the right environment, but I don’t see it motivating 45,000 people for 26.2 miles. I like the essence of Tom Petty’s title, but the tempo doesn’t quite fit the bill. “Start Me Up” is played at every Chiefs game … and every other event with a limited playlist. And “Let’s Get It Started” has the energy, but they wring it dry every time a politician tries to pump up a crowd. So go to the marathon's site, cast your vote and we’ll see who wins. Then stop by Garmin's store at 663 N. Michigan Ave. to try out all of our products, and we'll talk tunes.
But till then, tramps like us, baby, we were born to run.
If you like attending aviation conventions then the next two weeks are for you. If you are looking for a new business jet, the NBAA convention is the place where you can indulge your dreams. Next Tuesday, starts the 60th annual NBAA Convention in Atlanta, GA. Fast forward to the following week and you'll be able to see smaller aircraft at the AOPA Expo, which begins October 4. AOPA attendees will be basking in the beautiful fall colors of Hartford, CT. Garmin will be at both of these conventions answering all of your questions, and we will, of course, have all the Garmin Avionics on display.
The folks over at GPSTracklog.com just posted their extensive review of the Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. This eTrex hit the scene a few months ago, and has been making a big splash ever since. It's no surprise that this crew of course loved the high-sensitivity WAAS-enabled GPS receiver this Legend has. This ensures great satellite reception under heavy tree coverings and other situations where your device has a limited accessibility to the direct sky. Among the other highlights reviewed, was the button layout. When maneuvering the buttons, this reviewer ed called them, "incredibly intuitive." He also discusses ways to customize your Legend HCx, expand your memory, and travel tips and options. For everything eTrex check out the entire series, and lock onto the great outdoors!
As you might have read on Friday, a certain blog editor and a hunting buddy traveled to north central Kansas for the opening weekend of prairie chicken hunting. For the uninitiated, prairie chickens are the quintessential native upland game bird of the prairies. They roamed the central part of the United States long before the more gaudy, noisy, and ubiquitous pheasant was brought to our shores from China.
Prairie chickens inhabit vast expanses of rolling grasslands, mostly in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. As such, pursuing them requires a comfortable pair of hunting boots, rangy but disciplined bird dogs, and a healthy dose of optimism. This season, we carried the Astro GPS Dog Tracking System with us as well -- which proved itself invaluable in more than one way.
For the second time this season, the NASCAR NEXTEL Series heads to New Hampshire this weekend, and things are looking hopeful for Garmin sponsored #66 Best Buy Haas CNC Racing driver Jeff Green. Jeff's first time around the New Hampshire International "Magical Mile" track in early July marked his third sixth-place finish of the season. After last week's 33rd-place finish, Jeff and team are anxious to take home their fourth top-10 win. Jeff says the team is hoping to qualify better than they have in the past few COT races, and that the event should be a heck of a show! Tune in this Sunday for the SYLVANIA 300 to catch Jeff in action!
If Sunday isn't soon enough to feed your NASCAR hunger, tune in Saturday to see the #8 MRD theGPSstore.com/ Garmin driver Chad MuCumbee in the New Hampshire 200. Although Chad says this isn't his favorite track, he says he's optimistic about what this weekend will bring. "Hopefully we can have another solid weekend and get theGPSstore.com/Garmin Chevrolet up front this weekend." After last week's off week, the crew did several tests to get prepared for the upcoming stretch. "Everyone on the team is working really hard on getting these trucks to be top-five contenders," Chad says.
From everyone here at Team Garmin, we wish both NASCAR teams good luck at this weekend's events!
Flipping through my Oct. issue of Runner’s World, I got to the Rave Run photo essay and felt like I’d been there before. The scene: Discovery Park and the West Point Lighthouse overlooking Puget Sound near Seattle, Washington. Gorgeous trails winding through meadows, forest and beaches. Have I been there? Only in my dreams. But a crew of my Garmin coworkers took on Seattle recently to capture some striking film footage and still photography highlighting Garmin fitness and outdoor/rec products in action. Discovery Park was the setting for some scenes where a runner finds his stride with Forerunner. Wanna see the finished video, “Life has no limits?” Bring it on.
One of your friendly neighborhood blog editors had the chance to appear on the Fishing and Hunting Texas outdoor show. The show highlighted the many features of our new Astro GPS Dog Tracking System during a late season quail hunt in North Texas. Click here to see Astro in action.
This weekend marks the beginning of the prairie chicken hunting season here in Kansas. You can bet we'll be hitting the grasslands with dogs in tow -- and you can bet they'll all be outfitted with Astros. Stay tuned to this spot next week to see how the Astro performed. (but we're not sharing any of our secret spots with you!)
Jake's Journal: Mark your calendar for store event
So with shorter training runs should come shorter blog entries, I figure. But I wanted to make sure to let you know about a cool event coming up at the Garmin store in Chicago. On Saturday morning, Sept. 29, marathon mentor Mark Buciak will be offering last-minute tips for the next weekend's Chicago Marathon. The morning will begin at 8 a.m. with Garmin's weekly running club (everyone's invited every week) doing an 8-miler that will cover 2 miles of the actual marathon course. Click on the jump below for more details.
You don't have to be a professional cyclist to enjoy the many features of the Edge 305, and you don't have to be a world-class athlete to already have the Edge 705 on your wish list. And yet, having the chance to see these elite pros in action helps you appreciate the immense amount of data pulsing through a GPS-enabled computer the size of a cell phone.
Tuesday marked the start of the inaugural Tour of Missouri. More than 100 cyclists lined up in Kansas City's Country Club Plaza ready to span the state and challenge each other, and Garmin was there in several forms. In person, we were cheering on the athletes and meeting cycling enthusiasts from all parts of the globe. In spirit, we were on the bikes of cyclists and fans alike in the form of the Edge 305, poised to track and store fundamental data such as speed, time, distance, altitude and heart rate. Click here to track the Tour.
I have to say that the design and operating system changes on this new series of nüvis are very nice steps forward in the nüvi evolution. From the changes to the map screen to the new menu icons and structure and the new keyboard layouts to the "Where Am I?" functions, it is a very nice upgrade.
There is also the addition of two new features. The first is the routes menu where you can manipulate multi-point routes right from the device or manipulate routes uploaded from the computer. The second is dubbed the "Dude, where's my car?" feature by fellow blogger "Jake." It marks a location when you take the nüvi out of the cradle so when you're walking back to the car after a trip to the mall, it can locate your car for you if you can't remember where you parked. Two very useful functions, if you ask me.
I'll be going over all of those features and any others you wish to see in future installments of Chet's Corner. For now, here are some teaser screen shots!
I am sure many of you are aware of the multi-function display (MFD) trade-in we have going on where you can trade-in a MFD for a GMX 200 and get $4,000 off. If you’re still on the fence and need a good reason to take advantage of the trade-in, have I got a good one for you! Recently, the GMX200 was approved as a Class 3 EFB (Electronic Flight Bag). That means you can use the electronic charts as a replacement for paper charts. You can use the GMX 200 with 2.12 or later software for area, approach, and airport charts instead of the paper charts. If you ever wanted to go paperless this is a start in the right direction, so get off the fence and save a tree.
The 6-day, 600-mile Tour of Missouri kicks off today from Kansas City's Plaza District, heading north to Platte City and then back to KC. The big guns in cycling will be here — Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain and U.S. Professional Champ and third-place Tour de France finisher Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, Calif. Both race for top-ranked Discovery Channel Team. Teammate George Hincapie of Greenville, S.C., the 2006 U.S. Professional Champion, has been pegged as the overall race favorite, as the Tour's race profiles favor his strengths. Follow the jump for news on the pro mountain biking circuit: Julien Absalon, who trains and races with the Edge cycling computer, won the UCI World MTB Championships.
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Yep, it's a fact and we have video to prove it. The 
