[Jon]

The $100 rebate on the GPSMap family of products ends Dec. 31, 2006. Your purchase receipt needs to be dated by then to qualify.

The rebate is good on the 276c, 376c, 378 & 478 series of units. More information on it is available here.

They're coming out with a new GPSMap family of products in 2007 which will include the capability of overlaying the chart data with satellite imagery similar to the iWay 600c. I'm not sure if the rebate is to help clear the shelves of units that will be discontinued soon or not. What's noticably missing from the early product announcements is whether the units have any road-mapping capability.

Hopefully, this doesn't mean that they've drawn the line between auto and marine usage because these are the only units that currently have the capability to display the NexRad radar weather info. If so, that should increase the sales of the 376 and up.

 

[JimRo]

I am starting to wonder where this will all end. Pretty soon one will need a security clearence and entry into a mission control site just to use some of this stuff

 

[Ron Leonard]

Jon, any idea if the new GPSMap units will include mp3 capability or bluetooth?

 

[Jon]

When I talked to my sales rep, he said the units he saw were non-functional mockups. When I asked if they were going to include the automotive maps & routing functions he said that they (Garmin) never mentioned it. He didn't say anything about music capabilities, either.

There is a statement buried in the 'G2 Vision - Real Picture' product description that states: "Also included is City Navigator North America NT road data for navigation up to five miles inland."

We've got to remember that this is pretty early in the release cycle and as we saw with the Zumo, sometimes the early data is incomplete, or just plain wrong.

 

[FredGarvin]

They're coming out with a new GPSMap family of products in 2007 which will include the capability of overlaying the chart data with satellite imagery similar to the iWay 600c. I'm not sure if the rebate is to help clear the shelves of units that will be discontinued soon or not. What's noticably missing from the early product announcements is whether the units have any road-mapping capability.

Hopefully, this doesn't mean that they've drawn the line between auto and marine usage because these are the only units that currently have the capability to display the NexRad radar weather info. If so, that should increase the sales of the 376 and up.

Well, crap - I too hope Garmin is not moving towards eliminating the 376 et al product line. When I heard about the $100 rebates I figured they would be announcing new stuff so I decided to wait on purchasing one ...only I figured it also meant "bigger and better" along with fixing the screen problems others here have experienced. The 376, etc products are exactly what I want in GPS functionality (particularly NexRad), I just didn't want the screen problems I've seen here.

Now it appears I may have to go with one of the existing products, screen problems and all - plus now I've missed out on the fricken rebate! I hope they release more info soon on the new models so I can determine which way I need to go.

 

[Jon]

Unfortunately, the info they've published so far doesn't help us and we probably won't be able to substantiate anything until they're formally released and the manuals and actual units are made available.

I would be more optimistic if they had already stated 'automotive routing support' instead of burying the 'automotive navigation up to five miles inland' deep in the map info description...

 

[Toyo]

Fred, There is not a big crowd of people that have screen problems. Besides, Garmin has the best support in the business if a problem were to arise.

 

[FredGarvin]

Fred, There is not a big crowd of people that have screen problems. Besides, Garmin has the best support in the business if a problem were to arise.

Well then, maybe I should go ahead with 376c etc., although now I'm pissed I missed the $100 rebate.