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Garmin is a global company that specialises in Global Positioning Systems (GPS). Garmin, founded by Gary Burrell and Dr Min Kao, is a world leader in navigation and communication devices. GPS is a navigation system based on a network of 27 satellites (24 are in function and 3 are for back up) that were placed into the orbit by the United States Department of Defense. GPS was originally devised for military purposes but was applied to products used by civilians in the 1980s. GPS works non-stop all year in all weather conditions. Today, GPS has applications in the aviation, automotive, marine, recreation, electronics and fitness industries. All Garmin devices are equipped with innovative features and are designed to be easy to use.

Garmin launched its first product, the GPS 100 (a dash mounted marine receiver), at the 1990 International Marine Technology Exposition in Chicago. This was followed by a handheld GPS receiver that was used during the 1991 Gulf War and was followed by a series of personal GPS products such as the Forerunner and the Garmin Foretrex. The Forerunner and Gamin Foretex have two-dimensional tracking and are aimed at recreational runners, day hikers, off-road mountain bikers and sailboat racers. Since then, Garmin have launched the IQue line of integrated PDA-GPS receivers, the StreetPilot in-car navigation series of compact GPS devices, the e-Trex series and the portable automotive GPS Nüvi series.

Garmin also offer specialised aviation GPS systems, which include features such as integrated cockpits, panel mount displays, multi-function displays (MFD) and transponders.

Garmin also manufacture a variety of personal GPS solutions. There are high performance, easy-to-use GPS navigation solutions for mobile phones, smart phones, laptops and PDAs that provide the user with easy access to a variety of information while on the move.

If you are sailing, Garmin offers highly accurate chart plotters and sonar radars for locating fish, marine handhelds that float on water, radomes and open array radars, reliable and easy-to-use autopilots, as well as marine networking devices that combine sonar, radar and weather features.

Top of the range Garmin products include the Colorado and Nüvi series of GPS devices. The Colorado series is an upgrade from the GPSMAP 60CSx. These portable handhelds come preloaded with different maps and also have the capacity for expandable memory.

There is a Garmin Nüvi available for all uses. Across the series, from the basic Nüvi 200 to the Nüvi 5000 for truckers, Nüvi products include essential features such as basic directions, an integrated traffic receiver, text to speech directions, FM transmitter, MP3 player, voice recognition, Bluetooth and travel guides.