Customize your GPS for Halloween

Garmin brings the boo! to GPS with a bundle of animated icons and a creepy voice available for download. Whether you are looking to get in the Halloween spirit, or want to instill a gothic flair to your road tripping, these add-ons can bring some crypt keeper personality to your portable GPS unit.

The Boo! Bundle has six fright night animations that can be used to temporarily, or permanently, replace your Garmin Nuvi’s standard car icon. Choose from a costume ghost, Frankenstein creature, skeleton hand, and hearse—shown here in a simulated screen. A candy corn reminds us of the burrito highlighted in a previous post, and the flying broom could appeal to wicked witch and Harry Potter fans, alike.

For those looking for a real creepfest, Garmin has a new co-pilot for download, Dr. Nightmare. This ghoul can provide the typical voice prompts, bringing mausoleum atmosphere (complete with reverb) to the drive. Once downloaded for free, Dr. Nightmare becomes another language choice and can be easily turned off, should he wear out his welcome. Voice compatible units: Nuvi 200-series, 205-series, 500-series, 700-series, 705-series, 800-series, and 5000.

Voices were once the exclusive domain for TomTom products. Now, Garmin users can enjoy customizing their units from the growing collection of vehicle icons, and we hope there are more voices to choose from in the future.

These new treats can bring some dashtop entertainment, but do be especially careful driving Halloween night.

—Jeff Bartlett

For more information on portable GPS navigation systems, see our Ratings and buying advice and watch our video guide. Discuss GPS devices in the forums.

Comments

[melville248]

Does anyone else worry that all this could be distracting to a driver? I think on Halloween you need to be especially careful driving.