This top-level information includes daily highs and lows as well as an icon that shows sunny, partly cloudy, rain, and so forth. The weather feature of Garmin Online gives you, by default, current conditions as well as a five-day forecast for your current location. It also has the advantage (assuming that you have a GPS fix) of knowing where you are, so the data presented to you is relevant to your current location. The handy thing about Garmin Online Services is that it provides one-click access to all the information you want-weather, hotels, flights, gas pricing-without your having to go to different sites to get it. I didn't have mobile broadband access when I road-tested Mobile PC, but I was able to sample the services from the Internet connection in my office.
The only catch is that you need an Internet connection to access this information via Garmin Online's server. Services include weather information, hotel pricing from, flight status, and fuel prices. The new "Help" feature is a nice addition, but the really big news for Garmin Mobile PC is the addition of "Garmin Online" services.Ī subscription to Garmin Online services comes with the purchase of Mobile PC. Menu navigation is similar to that of other Garmin products, but with more screen real estate all of the icons for most submenus fit onto a single page. In addition to the "Tools" icon found on nüvis, there are also icons for "settings," "help," and Garmin Online. The opening menu has the familiar Garmin "Where To" and "Show Map" interface found on virtually all recent Garmin products and a GPS signal strength indicator. When you launch Mobile PC, the main menu looks very similar to that of the Garmin nüvi. If you are running the software-only version, you need an Internet connection, and you need to type in the serial number to activate it. If you have a GPS 20x receiver, no software activation is required. After the software is installed, plug in the GPS 20x receiver and the drivers install automatically. Just insert the Garmin DVD into your laptop and install the software. The bundle is a complete turnkey solution that will have you navigating with your laptop in just a few minutes. If you already have a USB or Bluetooth GPS receiver, the software version is all you will need the Mobile PC software includes drivers for most popular third-party GPS receivers.
Garmin offers both a software-only version of Mobile PC ($59.99 list) and a software/hardware bundle which includes Garmin's USB GPS 20x receiver ($99.99).