CES 2018

Awesome! I am not going but I'm interested in what relevant things come out of it (A new GPS unit from Garmin is relevant, a self driving car that will come out in 10 years that costs $100k I couldn't care less about)

Not going, but every now and again some nifty stuff is released there. Anxious to see.

Looking forward to seeing what, if anything, new units Garmin is putting out.

Please let us know if you found new while attending the show.

I go to CES each and some years are better than others but this year was the worst in regards to Automotive products for Garmin. Even GPS head units by Pioneer and Kenwood were disappointing as well. Nothing new released. I was not interested in the Alexa device or Fenix watches. Just wanted to see some updates to the Drive series and there were none. The rep who I know at the show did say there were new models coming out within 3-6 months but were not ready for release by show time. I asked if it will be a drastic overhaul or just a few feature upgrades. He said just some feature updates. So…nothing really to report in regards to the automotive line. Maybe next year…☹

Thanks for the info.

Maybe not any significant changes, but at least there are some "minor" updates.

Problem with Garmin is that they "add" one thing, but then remove something at the same time.

Thanks for the information and the disappointing news.
With technology constantly changing, people using phones instead of GPS's
I think Garmin's days will no longer be in demand as far as Automotive devices go.

For whatever it's worth, Garmin has something of a history of announcing certain products at events other than CES. For example, marine products can be announced at certain boat shows. Aviation products at at airshows.

With regards to Garmin automotive products, I think they have just as often been announced on their own without regards to say a Detroit Auto Show. That's not to say that they wouldn't/won't have a presence there, but rather their announcements simply don't always correspond with large trade shows.

I follow a few other trade shows on line. For example, the Shot Show is coming up and many manufacturers live and die by that show. Others, not so much.

Mobile World Congress is a matter of weeks away. Many smartphones will be announced there, but some, by design, do there own events.

I am also an amateur radio operator. Dayton is the big event and many things get announced there. However, some get announced on their own schedule.

Sorry to hear that there aren't any major gps improvements. I'd figure the lack of improvements would mean lower prices on the horizon.

I used to go to CES every year when living in Las Vegas. Lots of fun spending hours walking the floors checking out the new gadgets. I'm not in the market for a new GPS anyway now, so the news about nothing really being new isn't exactly heartbreaking.

I guess we will see what happens in the next 3-6 months!

So here we are six months past the show and nothing new for Auto's. Not sure what's going on with Garmin but it appeared that something was going to be released since the price on the auto navigators temporarily dropped but they have returned to their original price. Guess they're still holding off?!?!?

I commented about this in a different thread, but another indication that something is odd with Garmin automotive device new model releases is that they have designated their top-of-the-line DriveLuxe 51 LMT-S as a "Previous Model" with no replacement for it in sight. The DriveLuxe 51 seems to be sold out everywhere I look, and I have never seen a refurbished offering for this model. The older DriveLuxe 50 LMTHD models still seem to be available both new and refurbished, but it also appears that availability of that model is declining.

Odd indeed.

I think that the reality is that it's a tough market for them. You have everyone using their free phone GPS (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, etc) and then new cars come with fancy infotainment centers which often include GPS.

The people who still use GPS are kind of "fringe" now.

They have a good product but the free competitors are just more appealing to the mass audience.

A really good example of their advantage is last week when I needed to return a car to the airport. The rental car location was in an odd place in relation to the main terminal. I selected: "Where to?", and then "transit", and then "Airport" and found the airport and under that listing was several things with one of them being "Rental Car" and then the individual car rental companies. I was able to go straight to the item I wanted just by doing natural things.

You can't do that with free GPSes. You just go to the airport OR you try to find the rental location near the airport which can be cumbersome.

Still, most people will pick the free maps every time.

Yeah, I was wondering what happened to DriveLuxe vs. DriveSmart (I believe it's called). Why they would drop that one is strange. Again the guy at the booth said they weren't ready to release it back in January but there's obviously something else is going on (or not going on for that matter).

Garmin, phone, and built-in; I would buy a Garmin and use it over the other two. The Garmin provides superior direction and traffic advice when I'm on the road. The in-dash unit; not so much. I have XM traffic on my in car unit but when I get about 40 miles outside of Cincinnati, all traffic info goes away. It is very effective inside a metropolitan area, but doesn't work real well out in the rural areas. Just because of this, I will not be renewing my XM subscription when it comes due next year. On to cellphone coverage: I use a service with limited data. When you use Google maps, Apple maps, or any other map app (with the exception of Here, if you have it downloaded on your phone), the data use can add up fairly quickly. Also, if you are in an area that doesn't have coverage you are out of luck. Not so with using a Garmin. No matter where you are, you will have gps coverage. Going through Montana a few back, I was without cell coverage throughout the majority of the state. However, I always had gps coverage and knew exactly where I was with my Garmin.

I go over year and the first booth I hit, you guessed it, Garmin and lately have not been impressed with the latest units.

Great let us in on what you come up on.

I have a feeling they are just going to let this year slide and wait until the next show. IDK...but it's definitely outside the window of when they said they were going to release new products.