Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced GLO™, a portable GPS and GLONASS receiver that brings Garmin’s industry-leading GPS technology to mobile devices.
“As the first wireless GPS receiver with the ability to receive signals from both the United States’ GPS satellite network and Russia’s GLONASS satellite network, GLO provides the most comprehensive satellite coverage available,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales, “Whether you’re driving through an urban canyon or flying an airplane at any altitude, GLO ensures that your mobile device maintains a strong, reliable GPS signal.”
While using GPS and GLONASS satellites together, time taken by the receiver to “lock on” to a position is (on average) approximately 20% faster than using GPS alone. Furthermore, using both GPS and GLONASS, the receiver has access to 24 more satellites than using GPS alone. This is particularly helpful for users who need reliable satellite navigation in challenging environments such as deep canyons or urban environments where a large portion of the sky is blocked by solid objects.
GLO wirelessly connects to Apple® and Android™ devices via Bluetooth. It offers a 12 hour battery life and a position update rate of up to 10 times per second (update rate may be limited by the host device). This is 10 times faster than the internal GPS receivers of most mobile devices.
For pilots, an exclusive GLO for Aviation package is available, which comes with a mount, power cable and a free six-month trial of Garmin Pilot, Garmin’s aviation navigation app for Apple and Android mobile devices, available in the App Store? and Google Play.
“GLO will be especially popular with pilots. Mobile applications such as Garmin Pilot™ have further advanced the use of iPads® and other smart devices as navigation tools in the cockpit. But because the internal GPS receivers in these devices are not optimized for use in flight, the GPS signal can be less accurate and slow to provide updates,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “GLO solves that problem by leveraging two independent satellite networks and Garmin’s industry-leading GPS technology to provide the most accurate and most frequent position updates available for a mobile device in the cockpit.”
GLO is expected to be available in August at a suggested retail price of $99. GLO for Aviation is available immediately at a suggested retail price of $129.
