Have you taken advantage of the great Cyber Monday deals yet? If not, you’d better get busy because the clock is ticking. And while you’re surfing for the best deals, stop by our site and we’ll help you sharpen your Cyber Monday keyboard skills. If you’re really good at our Give-a-Garmin game, you’ll also have a chance to win 10 new Garmin GPS devices.

There are only four weeks left until Christmas and if you haven’t begun your shopping yet, it’s time to start. Don’t panic. We’re here to help. Every Wednesday between now and December 25, we’ll give you a few ideas for those you love who need a sense of direction — pilots, boaters, runners, cyclists, golfers, hikers, drivers, geocachers, cell phone users, and hunters, just to name a few. This week we’re focusing on those who love to be on the water.

If you’re looking for the ultimate gift to outfit the helm, give the gift of touchscreen and put put a GPSMAP 5215 under the tree. Any boater would love the true “big picture” navigation offered on the huge 15″ screen of this network plotter. This touchscreen MFD is sleek, super-bright and easy to use – the perfect gift for the boater who wants functionality at their fingertips. If space at the helm is an issue, the new GPSMAP 546 is a compact chartplotter, that packs a lot of punch.    

If the boater in your life already has a full electronics suite at the helm, we recommend the GPSMAP 640- a full-featured marine chartplotter and an on-the-road navigator that comes ready to go with preloaded BlueChart g2 data and City Navigator NT road maps for North America. This amphibian navigator is powerful and portable, and with 5.2-inch touchscreen display, your boater will always know the way whether they’re on land or at sea.

If it’s stocking stuffers you’re after, give your boater the gift of planning with our latest marine trip-planning software – HomePort. This PC application lets boaters plan and organize routes from the convenience of their computer and gives them the ability to view map details such as underwater hazards and hidden obstacles – a gift that even the most experienced navigator will appreciate!

For more information about Garmin’s marine product line, check out the Garmin Marine minisite, or you can always visit our Chicago Store, or marine dealer for closer look.

‘Tis the season to give. And what’s the one thing everyone wants? If you guessed “time” then you’re on the same page as this blogger. We don’t have a GPS device that can turn back the clock, but we do have several that will help you save minutes by routing you around traffic. NPR recently reviewed a nüvi 1390T with lifetime free traffic and compared it to a smartphone navigation app. According to them, “Friday night
I was driving home from the airport. Before I even realized there was a
traffic jam ahead, Garmin adjusted the route and suggested I stay to
the left and take a different freeway. A minute later I saw that my
normal route was totally backed up. This was an impressive time saver,
and completely automatic. It excels compared to Google Nav…”

When you’re looking at our automotive product line, make sure you consider products with a “T” (that stands for traffic), such as the nüvi 1260T, 1350T or 1490T. Each of these nüvis come with free, lifetime traffic with no monthly fees or maintenance costs. Traffic coverage is available in most major cities and this coverage map will show you if your stomping grounds are covered.

This note landed in our inbox last month. We waited to publish it because we had a good feeling about Gary, who shared the story of his steady improvement and credited his Garmin Forerunner. Here’s his note, with an update at the end.

I just started running in this spring. I ran one marathon in 2007 but did not know what I was doing. My friend suggested that I buy a Garmin Forerunner 205. I got one in April. I tacked on 900 hundred miles on the watch before I started having problems with it. I sent it back to Garmin and they sent me a new one 2 weeks before the Steamtown Marathon. I got the new watch 5 days before Steamtown, it worked awesome. It has worked awesome every since. I ran a 3:32:19 for Steamtown. It was a PR by 57 minutes. Amazing. I missed Boston by 12 minutes but on Sept 13, I qualified for NYC Marathon. I am doing Harrisburg Marathon on November 8th. I am going to see if I can make my goal time and PR again.

I really want to thank Garmin for giving me a new watch. It helped me mentally. I love my watch. It has taken my running to a different level. I was lost without it. I keep a blog of my running at sweat365.com. My name is Brooksrunner. Thanks again, Garmin

UPDATE: We kept an eye out for Gary at the Harrisburg Marathon, and we were thrilled with his results. You can read his in-depth race report, but we’ll spoil the ending by saying that Gary’s training with his Forerunner paid off with a new personal-best of 3:20:29 and a spot in the Boston Marathon. Congratulations, Gary, stop by our booth in April and say Hi!