GPS With Satellite Imagery, Weather and XM Radio
Written by Chad on November 21st, 2007Ok, I have a new item on my Christmas Wish List.. the Bushnell ONIX400.
This is Bushnell’s latest GPS product in their line and offers some interesting features such as Trueview Navigation, Satellite Imagery, SafeTrack and XM Weather / XM Radio.
The XM features aside, I would like it just for the imagery overlay as well as the satellite imagery, that combination would really nice with navigating unknown areas.
The price is a little steep though, average price is $500 right now.
ONIX400’s Main Menu
Trueview Navigation, screen layering
Layering a satallite image, aerial photo, or topographic map and all navigational aids on a single screen.
Satellite Imagery
This is the first handheld GPS that downloads, displays and georeferences satellite images and aerial photography for navigation.
You won’t find this technology anywhere else. Our site is the only source for satellite photography for your Bushnell GPS. This ensures every image available for download is the highest quality and is compatible with your unit. No surprises.
Now, what I am wondering is if I would be able to use my own imagery that I can get through WorldWind. Would be nice to not have to pay for every image i would want to download and use.
XM Weather and XM Radio
The ONIX400 is also the first GPS unit with XM Weather subscriptions and XM Radio subscriptions. $9.95/mo for weather, $12.95/month for radio or $16.95/mo for both. I can’t really see the point of the radio. But the weather can be very useful though at a monthly rate, unless you are using it almost daily it can be a costly feature.
The most important feature though of this: Threatening Weather Notifications – for near term (1/2 hour) Warnings and Watches are also included as part of the service.
XM Weather display
XMRadio display
SafeTrack
It looks like SafeTrack is a nice power saving feature. It is a sleep mode that will make the GPS unit last 25-30 hours on one set of batteries.
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The big drawback of this unit is that the only images you can download to it are the ones you buy from Bushnell (until and unless somebody reverse-engineers their image format).
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Yep, that is how they will keep making money on the unit. But all the GPS makers are like that if you want to update or add maps, you have to buy from them.
Pricing isn’t too bad, $1 for one image, $20 for 25 images and $79/year for unlimited. Question is, how large of an area does the image cover? If it is a small area covered, bad deal for you.. good for them.
But, you only need one.. find out what file format it is and save your own data in that format and use it. I need one to give it a try.. anyone feeling generous?
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