Garmin Mobile 10 - Your Driver Pal – Off the Golf Course

- Someone once told me that Einstein didn’t know his own phone number. When asked, he’d say it’s in the phone book. Look it up. Apparently he wanted to keep his brain freed-up to think about more important things.

That anecdote came to mind when I was returning from playing golf over at Mare Island in Vallejo, California.

It was one of the routes I had taken when I was first testing out Garmin’s Mobile 10 GPS bundle with my Bluetooth-enabled Treo 700p. I was fascinated with the Mobile XT navigation software that came with it, so after being directed to the course, I used the “Where to” button on the screen to search for nearby coffee shops.

I found three worth checking out in Benicia and let the Garmin lady talk me through how to get there. And for fun, I switched it out so I had the equivalent of someone from the BBC guiding me (yes, Brit accent is an option). “Turn left. Turn right. Arriving at destination.”

It was “all-good.” I somehow trusted my Brit friend and even figured out how to program the software so that it would “bing” before announcing a direction. Before that, I kept wanting to say, “come again?” but knew she couldn’t hear me.

Overall, I was quite impressed. In fact, during my trial period, besides wanting commands repeated, the only thing that really frustrated me was power. Either the GPS 10x receiver would run out of juice or my Treo would. They seemed to take turns. I was perplexed with the GPS 10x receiver because it just came with just a car charger. When I asked the Garmin company rep, I was told that the receiver would work with a standard charger (mini-USB on the receiver side to regular-sized USB on the PC side)like the kind you get with a digital camera. Oh! Now you tell me. That certainly wasn’t obvious from the manual. After getting around that obstacle, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. That is, until I tried life without it.

Several weeks later, I was golfing with a friend at Mare Island and he suggested we get some coffee on the way home. No problem, I thought. There are a few really nice coffee places in Benicia. So he drove in that direction and asked me, “Which exit?” I sat there scratching my head. Where was my Brit friend when I needed her?

So we drove around Benicia for about 20 minutes looking for coffee, and finally settled for a Starbuck’s inside a supermarket (that one didn’t require a GPS to find). I guess I had gotten so used to being told by my Brit friend where to turn that I forgot the basics (for me, that’s remembering landmarks like a gas station on the corner or a church up the block). Yikes!

Worried, I pondered the dependency aspect of using a GPS. And that’s when I remembered the Einstein story. Oh yeah. This is a good thing – because now my brain is freed up. Okay, I feel better. Now where were we?

Garmin Mobile & Me

There are two things that make the Garmin Mobile 10 a winner. First, the portable GPS 10x receiver is sleek, compact and about 3/4 the size of a business card. It is roughly as thick as my Treo, and that’s with the handy removable clip attached. I liked how I had the option to wear it or clip it to the visor of the vehicle I was in (Note—great option for rental cars).

But the thing that won me over was the fantastic Mobile XT software. Garmin really thought of everything when they developed it. Plus, it was optimized to work with my Treo’s D-pad so I could easily navigate with one hand. Here are a few things I tried:

1. I selected the Bank/ATM option and received a list of nearby ATMs. It provided me with an option to “Spell.” And so I typed in Washington Mutual and hit “Done.” Low and behold, I received a listing of the ATMs near my house.

By the way, if you highlight one and hit the center of the D-Pad, it gives you the option of either Going to it (with detailed directions) via the Go! command. Or you can hit the Map option, to see where it is located. Or you can select Options, which allows you to save it, or send it to someone via a SMS text message.

2. This time, I hit (3) again for Food, Hotels…, then (6) for Recreation, then (2) for Golf Course. It immediately (like before I finished blinking) came back with a list of golf courses near my current location. If there was a particular course I wanted, I could spell it. So for fun, I tried that: I typed Delta (for Delta View), and in a flash, up it came. Now the cool thing here, is that the address and phone number pops up. So I can call them for a tee time by simply clicking on the phone symbol (remember – I can do all this with one hand).

3. So let’s back up and do an example related to the one I mentioned in the introduction. This time, I type in Mare Island. Instead of hitting Go! for detailed directions, I hit Map to see where it is located. Oh yeah! It’s in Vallejo off 80 and 37. So I back up and hit the Options button. This time, I want to know the weather so I can dress appropriately. Before 3 seconds are up, I see that Wednesday, they are expecting it to be 91 degrees. And if I play on Tuesday, it’ll be cloudy. I hit (2) to bring up the Tuesday details, and find out that the high will be 86 degrees. There’s a 7% chance of precipitation. And, if I want to play twilight, the sun sets at 7:38pm.

4. Finding a nearby gas station was a snap. Plus the Mobile XT will even let you comparison shop for the best prices. When I tested this, it was pretty accurate too.

All helpful… and all just a few clicks away. These examples merely scratch the surface of what the Mobile XT software can do.

Another Option – Earthcomber:
For those without a GPS receiver, but carrying a cell phone/smartphone with unlimited Web access, a great option is Earthcomber (www.mobile.earthcomber.com). It is really fast on the Sprint PCS network I was using. After using my browser to go to the mobile earthcomber URL, all I needed to do was orient it – tell it where I was (they call it Set Locaton). When I was given options: Spot Places, Spot People. I clicked on Places. When I scrolled down to option 12, Recreation & Sports, I clicked it. I had to scroll again to Option 12 to get to golf. Then it provided me with another numbered list of golf courses nearby. By scrolling down or hitting the number, I could bring up information. It provided address, phone number and some limited notes about the course. It also offered a numbered list: 1. Get Directions; 2. Show on Map; 3. Set Location Here.

So navigating with Earthcomber was pretty straightforward and if all you need is basic info. This is a very cost-effective option (Free).

Conclusion:

I’ll admit I was spoiled from my experience with Garmin’s Mobile 10 and Mobile XT software. It really comes down to how much you are willing to invest. The Garmin Mobile 10 costs around $200. In the box you get a GPS 10x receiver, the Garmin Mobile XT and nRoute navigation, software, a Lithium-ion battery, a belt clip, 12-volt adapter cable, and quick start guide. I think it is well worth the price and compared to other bundles out there, it is actually quite affordable.

I give it a near perfect 4.75 out of 5 Stars (that battery thing bugged me).