GPS City (GPS City.com (http://www.gpscity.com/)) has officially begun taking the first pre-orders for the much-speculated Garmin Dakota 10 and Dakota 20 series.
The Garmin Dakota series was made official by Garmin Intl on Friday, June 26th, and the units will begin shipping in July to customers who place their pre-orders with GPS City. The Dakota
series will combine many of the powerful tools of Garmin'ss eTrex series with the touch-screen technology of the newer Oregon line, albeit on a slightly smaller screen.
The Dakota 10 will feature a glove-friendly 2.6-in color touchscreen and weigh 6.75 ounces, and will last approximately 20 hours on a single set of batteries. No slouch in the memory
department, the Dakota has 850 MB of internal memory that will store 50 routes, 2,000 geocaches, and 1000 waypoints. By upgrading to the Dakota 20, users will additionally find a 3-axis
tilt-compensated compass, a barometric altimeter, wireless connectivity, and a microSD card slot.
With prices starting in the $200-range, the unit will find itself in competing with the best-selling Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx and 76CSx units, although many believe it is poised to take over
for the aging-but-versatile eTrex lineup. It'ss exciting to see Garmin bringing the technology they'sve advanced so well in the Oregon to a new more affordable price point, remarked
Brenton Wingard, vice president of GPS City. Dan Bartel, vice president of global sales for Garmin agreed, adding, As families and friends explore the outdoors, Dakota helps keep their
adventures affordable and enjoyable.
Pre-orders are being accepted now at www.gpscity.com and www.gpscity.ca, and the units are expected to be released
in July.