Garmin GPS Guide for Beginners
Garmin manufactures vehicle, handheld, marine and aviation GPS navigation units that use global positioning system satellite signals to determine your exact location. The GPS unit must lock onto three satellites to find your latitude and longitude; four satellites are necessary to create a three-dimensional location that includes altitude.
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Vehicle
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The Garmin Nuvi navigation unit designed for your car provides precise directions to your destination and includes voice prompts, a list of upcoming turns and a highlighted map route. It uses detailed street maps and also tracks your current location.
Handheld
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Handheld navigation units, like the Garmin eTrex or Oregon, are used for outdoor adventures like camping, hiking, fishing, rafting, mountain climbing, hunting and geocaching. Most will save waypoints, or a specific location, and allow you to route back there any time. Many people use waypoints to find their campsite or a good fishing spot.
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Marine
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Garmin GPSMAP and Echo series are designed for marine use. They track location as well as provide information about the water, such as its depth. Some let you know if there are fish below you, and others alert you to bad weather.
Aviation
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Garmin's aviation GPS navigation devices, such as the Aera or GPSMAP series, can calculate a route, track where the plane has flown, show a realistic topography on the map view and provide databases of terrain, airports and flight information. Basemaps show coastlines, cities, highways, railroad tracks, rivers and lakes.
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References
- Photo Credit planetary satellites image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com
