Garmin nuvi 1200 and nuvi 1300 Series

Garmin nuvi 1200 and nuvi 1300 series portable gps navigators will be released later this year, according to an announcement issued this week. The new slim, pocket sized nuvi models are expected to start shipping in June.

These latest Garmin nuvi offerings will be value-priced, starting around $200, and will offer a broad mix of quality features. The initial marketing is focused on establishing the nuvi 1200s and 1300s as lightweight, pedestrian-friendly traveling companions—although they can serve as portable automotive gps navigators as well.

The nuvi 1200 series consists of the base model 1200, the 1250, and the 1260T. The nuvi 1300 series has four entries, the 1300, 1350, 1370T and 1390T. One of the main selling points of all the new releases seems to be their trim design—they’re 25 percent thinner than previous nuvis. (The company calls them “ultra-thin”). The nuvi 1200s measure 3.7 by 2.9 inches, which certainly qualifies them as pocket-sized. The 1300s are the widescreen versions, 4.8 by 2.9 inches with a 4.3-inch screen.

Another highlighted feature of the new Garmins is their Public Transit mode functionality, offered in conjunction with Garmin’s other new project, Garmin CityXplorer (aka City Explorer) map content. CityXplorer downloads for individual cities will be coming soon, providing route and timetable information for public transit—subways, buses, etc. The full extent of CityXplorer coverage is not yet known, but downloads will be offered for “select tourist destinations” in North America and Europe.

All of the 1200 and 1300 series nuvis have a simple interface that greets the user with two options: “where to?” and “view map”. Routes are guided by voice-prompted directions with spoken street names—a nice feature in the $200 price range and an improvement over other comparably-priced nuvis like the 205 and 255.

Another selling point is that latest nuvis come with Garmin’s new ecoRoute feature pre-installed. I haven’t seen this in action yet. Yet another Garmin product that cannot be the first word in a sentence without being misspelled, ecoRoute comes as a free download for 205 and 705 series nuvis as well. It basically provides a “less fuel” option when selecting routing. Not sure how useful this really this, although it does also apparently provide some nice tracking of your miles traveled and fuel economy per trip.

Basic GPS map and poi packages are included with expanded preinstalled coverage in the higher end units. The nuvi 1200 and 1300 come with CityNavigator (aka City Navigator) maps for the lower 48 states, while the nuvi 1250, 1260T, 1350, and 1390T carry the CityNavigator North America GPS map package. The nuvi 1370T comes with preloaded CityNavigator street maps for both North America and Europe. For all of these units the new Garmin nuMaps Lifetime GPS update program can be purchased separately. (NuMaps Lifetime provides up to four GPS map updates per year for the life of the GPS unit.)

In addition to expanded map coverage, stepping up through the price brackets provides a typical set of expanded features. The 1260T for example, priced around $300, adds Bluetooth and lifetime FM traffic updates. All of the 1300 series nuvis feature FM lifetime traffic, with the 1370T and 1390T adding Bluetooth capability.

Garmin does like to issue lots and lots of GPS models with very similar features. Whether or not the nuvi 1200s and 1300s catch on as something new may depend largely on how successful or popular their “Public Transit mode” and CityXplorer features prove to be.

Update: These units are now on the market and have already come down significantly in price!

Free Shipping is offered on all of the Garmin nuvi 1200, 1250 and 1260T GPS systems listed below. These are mostly new units, with some refurbished and used as well--check the listings for a great deal.

Free Shipping is offered on all of the Garmin nuvi 1300, 1350, 1370t and 1390t GPS systems listed below. These are mostly new units, with some refurbished and used as well--check the listings for a great deal.