GPS: The Friday Plunge

I don’t do much driving on a day-to-day basis, courtesy of a home-based office, but nonetheless I’ve been intrigued by the various GPS receivers (both factory-installed and aftermarket-upgraded) that I’ve seen in friends’ automobiles in recent months. Steve Leibson’s ongoing GPS coverage in his Leibson’s Law blog has also piqued my interest in the technology. And, as I mentioned back in early February, as of July 1 I’ll need to start using a headset or other hands-off device with my mobile phone in order to stay on the good side of the law.

So it was that, a few minutes ago, a Friday-only sale heads-up (the Dealnews RSS feed sure is tempting!) routed me to an irresistable Amazon.com bargain; Garmin’s Mobile 20 GPS for Smartphones (which includes Bluetooth hands-free calling functionality) at $69.99, 78% off the normal $249.99 selling price (and an even better deal when compared against the original $299.99 MSRP). The specs look good, and the reviews are acceptable albeit not stellar; they’re particularly positive after users installed a software patch that fixed a sound bug.

I’ll report back after I have a chance to use the gear; I’m glad I just bumped my T-Mobile Dash’s microSD card from 1 to 2 GBytes! And if anyone out there already owns this bad boy and feels compelled to share impressions, I welcome your thoughts. Show me the way, one might say…;-)

p.s…Speaking of Bluetooth-related one-day deals, the Motorola MiniBlue H9 micro-headset I reviewed in early February is on sale for $99.99 ($50 off) at Staples. Not a bad price, though I’ve seen it cheaper before.