2007 SEMA - Navigating via Garmin GPS to the car

Much like the expansive halls at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show, innovation in electronic devices for cars seems to have no end. Take personal navigation devices (PNDs), for example. A new feature I saw on a Garmin unit this week might have saved me a lot of grief when I came to Las Vegas to attend the show last year.

Each time I have attended SEMA, I stayed in a hotel that contained a very large casino. No surprise, this is Vegas after all... I have stayed at three different hotels, and the casino in each one is hard to find your way around in. The directional signs are vague and sometimes hard to find, and the incessant ding-ding-ding chatter from the slot machines adds to the confusion. Most people I know who have been here have had the same experience, and share the opinion that the casino owners don't particularly want you to find your way out too quickly. They would prefer that you stay and gamble a while longer.

Last year when I came to SEMA I rented a car and parked it in a huge multi-level hotel parking garage. When I returned to retrieve the car, I couldn't find it. I have had trouble finding cars in parking lots in the past, but nothing like this, and I couldn't blame it on vague signs. The sections of the parking lot were clearly marked. I finally called security and told the officer who came to help me that I thought my car had been stolen. He listened to my story then went off on his bicycle in search of my car, which he found, to my great relief and embarrassment.

If I had had a Garmin nuvi 700 series PND, and it worked as claimed (even in a parking garage), I would have been spared my frustrating experience last year. I looked at a Garmin nuvi model 760 this week at SEMA. It hit the stores this month and retails for $800. The 760 keeps track of you and your car. All you have to do is tap "Where Am I?" to find the closest hospitals, police stations, gas stations, nearest address and intersection, and your exact latitude and longitude coordinates. Best of all in my case, the nuvi 760 even remembers where you parked. It automatically marks your position when you remove it from the windshield mount, so you can navigate with the 760 on foot and find your way back to your car.

This clever feature among the many that the latest PNDs offer. Given all the innovative gadgets for cars we saw at SEMA, it is easy to understand why electronics is by far the fastest growing segment of the auto aftermarket industry. Now, where did I park?

—Bob Huerster

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Comments

[Chung Lam]

If the special value-add features are listed and compared side by side among the various brands of Navigation Systems, it will help consumers make decision of which model to buy. Conusmer reports may do it in the rating using features, and just the ease of use in the categories.