There are all sorts of GPS enabled devices out there. And more and more, you’ll find great GPS capabilities built into the everyday devices we like to use such as smartphones and ipads. In particular, one type of GPS device that’s really handy is a GPS enabled homing device that makes it easy to find your way back to an existing location. One of the typical uses for these GPS homing devices is to find your way back to your car that you left in a parking lot.

How many times do you return to a public parking lot and can’t remember where you left your car? Wouldn’t it be great if you could just “push a button” and automatically be guided back to your car, exactly where you left it hours earlier? Well, that’s exactly how the Backtrack GPS Homing Device from Hammacher Schlemmer works.

GPS Homing Device technology continues to improve and this newest version of the GPS Homing Device from Hammacher Schlemmer is the simplest and easiest portable GPS locating device you’ll find anywhere.

The Backtrack GPS Homing Device is perfect for tacking down your car after shopping or finding your way back to your hotel after a full day of touring in an unfamiliar city. To identify the location you want to find your way back to, just push the button to mark your current location and the device will guide the way back when you’re ready to return.

The Backtrack GPS device is super small and compact, more than half the size of a normal cell phone. The lightweight portable device attaches easily to your keychain or you can just carry it in your pocket or in your purse without taking up any room at all.

Different than other GPS devices that can be much more complicated to operate, the Backtrack GPS Homing Device is as simple as it gets. This GPS device only has two buttons, one switching the compass mode, and the other button for registering up to three starting locations.

The Backtrack GPS Homing Device employs a GPS receiver chipset that enables a precise degree of accuracy and is able to pinpoint your starting location to within five yards. It works equally well in urban canyons or even heavily forested areas thanks to the superior “time to first fix” capability for locating and locking onto the GPS satellite signals.

Once you start approaching your starting location, it begins to display the distance in miles, kilometers, meters or yards. And the self-calibrating digital compass will display your heading in degrees indicating the direction you want to go with an easy-to-read pointing arrow.

A backlight button illuminates the display for easy viewing in low light conditions or at night. The device can also remember your waypoints when powered off so you don’t have to worry about losing your settings. And not to worry about the outside elements, the Backtrack GPS Homing Device is waterproof as well.

The Backtrack GPS Homing Device requires two AAA batteries. It’s 3 1/4 inches in length, 2 inches in width, 3/4 inches deep and weighs only 2 ounces. Never lose track of your car again and always find your way back easily with the convenient Backtrack GPS Homing Device.

Available: Hammacher

Price: $79.95

Any triathlon or multisport competitor would be familiar with the Garmin Forerunner series. Recently, Garmin introduced the new Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS Watch. It’s slimmer than the previous Forerunner 305 and Forerunner 310 XT and it’s equipped with new modes and features.

The Garmin Forerunner 910XT is basically a GPS watch. It’s programmed to record details such as your speed and time. The Forerunner 910XT will store the information and you can later upload it into the Garmin Connect. Once uploaded, you can use the Garmin Connect software to analyze the data from your workout. This software comes for free with the purchase of the watch.

One new feature of the Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS watch that the other models don’t have is the Run/Walk function. This function allows you to achieve a consistent pace and speed. The Garmin Forerunner 910XT also allows you to create alerts for time, distance, and calories.

For the cyclist, you will love the Forerunner 910XT with the ability to customize its settings for five different or separate bicycles. The Forerunner 910XT watch can be worn either on your wrist or on the bike mount quick-release system so that you can monitor your data easily.

Swimmers would appreciate the FR 910 XT because this model supports lap swimming. It can record speed and number of strokes a swimmer takes for each lap. The FR 910 XT can recognize several swimming styles such as the freestyle, butterfly, and combination. If you have your own style of swimming, the FR 910 XT will record it as Unknown.

For all active sports enthusiasts, you’ll appreciate the back light feature of the Garmin Forerunner 910XT. When activated, the screen will illuminate for 15 seconds and power down again. There is also a model equipped with a premium heart rate monitor to provide additional useful data for your workout and training.

Suggested retail is $399.99, available in stores Feb 2012. Place your order now at Amazon to reserve your Garmin Forerunner 910XT GPS Watch.

Available: Amazon

Price: $399.99

GPS gadgets are pretty cool. The dependable way it provides driving and navigation directions, no matter where you are is so reassuring. And many of the newer models have other cool features too. In fact, Tom Tom has just released its latest VIA series GPS devices, called the TomTom VIA 1435 Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigator,  into the market.

The TomTom VIA 1435 Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigator is a new new model in the VIA series. It is ultra slim in size but still wide enough to accommodate a 4.3 inch touchscreen. In an effort to solve mounting problems, this TomTom model also includes an EasyPort mount right on the device which allows users to attach it on the windshield or the dashboard. And with the help of a flip-screen feature you won’t have to worry about the orientation of the display.

Aside from the attractive physical features, the VIA 1435 Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigator also comes with several features that enable safe driving. With a built-in voice recognition control system and a Bluetooth hands-free calling feature, drivers can easily issue commands and make phone calls as they focus on the road. Better yet, the voice control system on the device also allows drivers to issue commands through natural speech.

The user interface is not only bright and clear, but also smart enough to recommend different routes for different time of the day, thus allowing drivers to plan and plot routes easily, and even attain accurate traffic speeds based on actual traffic condition and real-time traffic speeds.

If you have yet to get a GPS device for your car then this GPS navigation gadget should be on your shopping list. The TomTom VIA 1435 Portable Bluetooth GPS Navigator can definitely minimize the chances of going the wrong way and it can most definitely bring you to your destination faster without the anxiety and pressure of trying to navigate unfamiliar roads and destinations.

Available: Amazon

Price: $109.99

If you are interested in golf gadgets and more specifically GPS accessories, look no further than SkyKap.  SkyKap LLC are the leading innovators of golf GPS accessories with several products in the pipeline and patents currently pending.  The technology within their latest product utilises voice recognition linked with sophisticated GPS golf course mapping.   Specifically it is known as the SkyKap Advisor, a hands-free GPS system that is activated by voice recognition all built within the brim of a typical golf hat.

What sort of help can this be to golfers? Well the SkyKap Advisor can provide accurate responses to a golfer’s questions or commands, for example it may give distances to the green or hazards such as bunkers. This course data must be downloaded from the internet to the SkyKap via a computer and the supplied USB cable. If the data is not available, then information can be mapped on the day of playing and then uploaded to the database so other keen golfers can enjoy.

Retailing at only $300 from rangefinders.com, this gadget seems very useful and guaranteed to improve your round of golf. If you are still undecided, check out the youtube video if it in action:

With an estimated 100 million plus golf players worldwide it is not surprising that golf gadgets are being designed to try and help players improve their handicap (is that the right phrase?, please leave a comment and correct me if not).  Having played only a few rounds of golf before and swung a club at the driving range, my knowledge and ability to play golf leads a lot to be desired. However, I can spot a gadget that would help my game when I want to.

Today’s golf gadget is called Callaway upro mx, which is an improved golf GPS system from its original.  Let’s just explore the uses of the GPS for golf before going into the features.  Firstly using the GPS will allow an accurate determination of distances from current ball lay to the flag, from this data the correct club can be selected. Secondly, some holes may have hidden hazards that may not be seen from a current position, the GPS can help you identify these positions and avoid them. The benefits of the two features are that it reduces risk and guesswork from the player, leaving them to concentrate on just swinging the club.

The Callaway upro MX is really easy to use. Utilizing modern day technology the upro MX has a full color Multi-Gesture 2.2” Touch Screen display correlated to Optical Finger Navigation technology to easily navigate the menus and data contained within its memory. Specific data includes high resolution aerial images of golf courses only ever seen before on TV during official tournaments.

A further feature to this golf gadget which makes it a must for up and coming golfers is its pre-loaded extensive database of golf courses of which there is more than 25,000.

Check out the youtube video below:

[Source: Callaway]

After the launch of Bhuvan by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), the undeniable hierarchy of Google Earth can be put to the questions. ISRO is on the way to give a pretty fine competition to Google Earth. Bhuvan is a geoportal of ISRO and a satellite mapping tool launched about one and half years ago but the geoportal was facing few hurdles as Union Cabinet requires the approval of remote sensing data policy 2011 replacing the norms of 2001.

Bhuvan might reach the image resolution of up to 40 cm that is provided by Google Earth and offer the better image quality with clarity, after getting the approval of Union Cabinet. Bhuvan can produce the images up to 80 cm but it may not be available to the public domain because of the data policy norms.

Bhuvan is going to project the satellite images of the Indian Landscape within the resolution of 5.8 m – 55 m. It can allow the people to look many various places and cities of their choices from an angular view or perpendicular view.  The most important and best part of it is the 3D navigation of the places can be possible using Bhuvan.  Although the view of hotels and other business establishments night not be possible through Bhuvan that can be viewed as a drawback of it, since it is already present in Google Earth as well as the in-built weather application that is also not in Bhuvan.

However as Bhuvan is very new and lots of improvements are to be done and also it is not a runway success since it has poor image quality. But with the time, it can definitely beat the Google Earth once it is extended by the experts beyond the Indian political boundaries. Therefore, lets pray and hope for its faster approval.

This year’s winner in the “Best of Innovations” category at the 2010 International CES show was The Cell phone Watchdog. It’s definitely a gadget I will be purchasing as I can totally relate to the problem it attempts to prevent. Specifically, whenever I am going anywhere I always take my keys and my phone, however the amount of times I forget one or the other is unbelievable.

The Cell Phone Watchdog aims to prevent this by using wireless technology to sound an alarm when your cell phone and keys are more than 30 feet apart.  The technology being used is Bluetooth, when both the keys and cell phone are within 30 feet then the nothing happens, however separate the two more than 30 feet and the key ring comes alive by vibrating, beeping, and flashing its LED light. These signals act as a warning, i.e. you are about to leave one of them behind, however this still does not help you if you tend to forget both your keys and cell phone.

One extra feature of the Cell Phone Watchdog is that it doubles up as a panic alarm, simply use the settings and an autodialer can be initiated when the panic alarm is set off. Powered by Lithium-ion battery, the poker sized unit can last up to two hours talk time or three days of standby time.

Available: Hammacher

Price: $59.95

One has always been able to track someone running through a sensor in the shoe and an iPhone or iPad that can do the trick. However this latest gadget allows us to do away with the sensor.

With the Nike+ GPS app, the GPS device in your iPhone can now be used to follow the runner along the roads through a map, tracking his path, speed and timing. These can be recorded and you can compare it to your previous running timings and rhythm, as it can compare even sections of the race that are in progress.

If this doesn’t succeed in getting you out on the track with those shoes on, I don’t believe anything else will.

Available: iTunes

Price: $1.99

Who says life cannot be a fairy tale?

Here is an interesting gadget that helps you live that fairy tale life or a typical screen play from a clichéd romantic movie.

Boy and girl like each. One of them moves away. The other uses the Compass Phone to track down the lover.

Well… it’s not quite like this, but it could. This Compass Phone points towards the direction of the person you are trying to track through an in-built GPS receiver. This makes locating someone you are supposed to meet a whole lot easier.

I am only posting this gadget because I feel I could have done with it today when I was out shopping.  Have you ever been out to a large shopping complex and completely forgotten where you parked you car, then having to spend the next 20 minutes walking round (with your shopping bags) looking like a complete idiot? Well I have. This GPS tracking device could have saved me so much time and hassle.

Utilizing an advanced GPS receiver chipset which provides the high degree of accuracy required for GPS systems, the GPS navigation device is able to guide you to a predetermined location. On the face of the device is an easy to read digital compass directing you along with providing the distance to end point in yards, miles, meters or kilometers.

How could I use this? Well if I had parked my car I could have plotted the location and the GPS homing device would have shown me the way; OR I could have looked at the “memorize the car park number”.

Available: Hammacher

Price: $79.95