Battery up to 8 hours, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, includes a 12V car charger.

Colors Black plastic case with a silver plastic border around the color LCD display screen.

Description A street map based GPS that was custom designed for use in an automobile.

Made In China

Made Of Plastic

Manufacturer-Distributor Garmin

Retail Price $349.99 U.S.

Sizes Display: 2.8” W x 2.1” H (3.5” diagonal ), 320 x 240 pixels; Unit dimensions: 4.4” W x 3.2” H x 2.8” D

Warranty This Garmin product is warranted to be free from defects in material or workmanship for one year from the date of purchase. Within this period, Garmin will at its sole option repair or replace any components that fail in normal use. Such repairs or replacement will be made at no charge to the customer for parts or labor, provided that the customer shall be responsible for any transportation cost. This warranty does not cover failures due to abuse, misuse, accident, or unauthorized alteration or repairs.”

Weight 9.45 ounces

Type Of Product Automotive GPS

Features Pre-programmed with City Select® NT, providing street-level detail and addresses, plus listings of nearest restaurants, hotels, ATMs, etc., in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. It had a receiver WAAS-enabled 12 parallel channel GPS, a display: 2.8” W x 2.1” H (3.5” diagonal), 320 x 240 pixels; QVGA transflective TFT with 16-bit color; 64K colors; bright white LED backlight and touch screen, available with maps of Europe, fingertip touch screen interface, look up addresses and points of interest, 2D or 3D map perspective, upload custom POIs, including alerts for speed zones and safety cams, SD memory card expansion slot , StreetPilot Asian Americas in 5 Asian languages (Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, or Taiwanese). Screen-width scale 640 feet to 4,000 miles.

Navigation features: Routes automatically calculated with turn-by-turn instructions; custom road preference allows user to prioritize choice of back roads or major highways; automatic off-route recalc shows how to get back on track if the user misses a turn or exit. Trip computer with Resettable odometer, timers, average and maximum speeds. Acquisition times: Warm: Approximately 15 seconds, Cold: Approximately 45 seconds, AutoLocate®: Approximately 2 minutes . Update rate 1/second, continuous.

GPS accuracy: Position: < 15 meters (49 feet), 95% typical, Velocity: 0.05 meter/sec steady state. GPS (WAAS) accuracy: Position: < 3 meters, 95% typical, Velocity: 0.05 meter/sec steady state. Interface USB 2.0 full-speed. Antenna is a Built-in patch; MCX-type connector for optional external GPS antenna connection. Data storage is indefinite; no memory battery required. Temperature range: 32°F to 140°F (0°C to 60°C).

Other The C330 package included: a StreetPilot c330, Preloaded City Navigator NT North America or Europe (full coverage), SD memory card slot, Vehicle suction cup mount with 12-volt adapter, PC/USB interface cable, Quick reference guide.

Country(S) Tested U.S.A.

Date Of Review Dec 2006

Number Of Days Tested 30

Reviewers Article by Chester Godsy

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression We wanted to be able to listen to music or audio books on our car stereo speakers when traveling with our iPod. This was possible with the Airplay, a tiny FM transmitter. It transmitted our iPod music on the FM channel of our choice allowing us to listen to music on our car FM stereo player.

We started by attaching the Airplay device to the top of our standard 20GB iPod player. No batteries are required to operate the Airplay because it uses power from the iPod. We then pressed the buttons to select a frequency, and started listening to music on our FM radio within minutes of getting the Airplay. The Airplay has its own small backlit LCD readout that allowed us to see which frequency we had selected.

There are other options for playing an iPod on car stereos like using cassette tape adapters. The advantage with the Airplay with the FM antenna is that it is likely to work on most rentals cars. A cassette tape player adapter will only work in cars with a cassette player and most rental cars have no cassette player.

If we used the Airplay in a single metro area we did not have to change the frequency. On long road trips we had to change the frequency several times because we would move into the range of a radio station that happened to be on the same channel as our iPod. This might seem like a disadvantage when compared to a cassette player adapter. Since it was easy to re-tune to a new station with the Airplay, we found this to be no problem.

This device was easy to use because it has a display for the FM frequency, and separate buttons to set the frequency. The display is backlit, a feature we found convenient at night; although those of us with poor eyesight would have preferred a larger display. Another advantage we liked was the possibility of retuning frequencies without stopping or interrupting the iPod player. Compared with other iPod FM devices using frequency switches (and often limited frequency options), or iPod software interfaces, the Airplay was definitely the way to go for us.

In addition to using the Airplay with a car stereo system, we have used it with a bedside clock radio and on a standard FM stereo system. We recommended the Airplay to our friends who want to listen to their iPod on their FM radios in their cars or at home. This is a great solution for travelers who want to listen to their iPods on the car stereo in rental cars.

Colors White with blue LCD display

Made In Designed in Florida made in China

Made Of Plastic

Manufacturer-Distributor XtremeMac located in south Florida Operating Temperature -10 deg C to 50 deg C < 65% RH

Retail Price $39.95

Sizes 1.3” L x 0.54” W x 1.02” H

Type Of Product iPod accessory

Warranty 90 day limited warranty

Weight 1.1 Ounce

Features Compatible with iPod and Mini-iPod; backlit LCD readout; frequency change buttons (up or down); runs off iPod Power and has a compact size.

No batteries, software or installation were required.

Country Tested U.S.A.

Date Of Review April 2005

Number Of Days Tested 30

Reviewers Article by Chester Godsy

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression We chose I/O Magic’s Digital Photo Library to backup our digital camera pictures on location while traveling. When our digital camera flash memory cards filled up, we made backups (copies) of our photos with the Digital Photo Library. When we cleared our flash memory cards (deleted all the pictures on them) we were able to take additional pictures.

Our Photo Library, a portable palm sized device with rechargeable batteries, came with a 20 GB hard drive and a built in 6-in-1 card reader. On our trip we were able to backup around 7000 medium and high-resolution images on the Photo Library with some room to spare. Using 512 MB compact flash memory cards, we could reuse our flash memory cards approximately 40 times before running out of space to store the images on the Digital Photo Library.

The Digital Photo Library was easy for us to use: we would insert the compact flash memory card into the slot, press one button to turn on the unit, and press another button to start the backup process. The lights would flash showing that the unit was busy making backups. Our 512 MB compact flash memory cards took around 10 minutes to backup. The manufacturer indicated a speed of about 3.5 minutes per 128 MB. When the backup was complete, the Photo Library powered down after a couple of minutes of inactivity so we didn’t have to worry about draining the batteries further. We liked being able to press the backup button to start the backup process; and then walk away from it to do other things while it was busy making the backup.

When we returned home from our trip, we plugged one end of our USB cable into our computer and the other end into the “Digital Photo Library.” This allowed us to transfer all of our digital camera pictures onto our computer by copying and pasting our picture folders through a Microsoft Windows Explorer window.

We carried the Digital Photo Library for 30 days on a trip to Africa . We put the Photo Library in our carry on luggage and sent it through airport security scanners. We checked it into bush plane luggage compartments. We carried it in bumpy safari vehicles without any troubles. One precaution we took with the Photo Library was to use it only when fully stopped in a vehicle or in our hotel room after a day of photo shooting. We did this because the device uses a hard drive internally to store the images on (a spinning electromechanical device), which may be sensitive to bumping or shaking when backing up pictures.

While in Africa we were able to recharge it by using power adapter plugs. The unit power adapter was good from 120-240 VAC @ 50-60 Hz and drew low enough power that it even worked in remote facilities with restricted low power requirements. We found having rechargeable batteries to be a big plus on long trips. Since we returned home from our extended trip, we have taken the Digital Photo Library on subsequent shorter day and weekend trips. During those trips we took enough pictures to need backups on the Photo Library to clear out the flash memory cards; this allowed us to take more pictures. We were pleased with the Digital Photo Library and plan to take it on future trips.

Colors silver and dark grey

Size: (L x W x H) 3.0 x 7.5 x 2.5 cm (5.12 x 2.95 x 0.98 inch)

Download Interface USB 1.1

Download Speed up to 480 kBps (3.84 MBps )

File System Support Standard FAT 12/16/32

Hard Disk Size 20 GB, 2.5 Inch

Humidity 90% RH (relative humidity)

Manufacturer-Distributor I/O Magic Corporation

Operating Systems Supported Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS

Operating Temperature 0 deg C to 70 deg C

Package Contents 20 GB Hard Drive with built in 6 in 1 card reader, power adapter, USB cable, user’s manual, installation driver CD, leather case.

Retail Price $199

Supply Voltage 9v to 18 V, comes with Power Adapter that plugs into 120-240 VAC 50-60Hz

Supports Memory Card Interfaces Compact FlashTM Card type I/ type II (CF), Smart MediaTM Card (SM), Memory Stick(MS), Secure Digital card(SD), MultiMedia Card(MMC), IBM MicroDrive

System Requirements Pentium II 400 Mhz Computer, one USB 1.1 port, CD-ROM Drive from driver installation, 32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended)

Type Of Product Backup storage device for digital cameras

Warranty 1 year limited warranty

Weight 10.1 ounces

Features 20 GB 2.5” hard drive, backups files using USB interface, or card interfaces, Rechargeable batteries came with AC/DC adapter, 128 MB flash transfers in 3.5 minutes, LED indicators showed the status while operating, ran for 2.5 hours on one charge, palm sized device, and easy to use.

Country(S) Tested Botswana , South Africa , U.S.A. and Zambia

Date Of Review March 2005

Number Of Days Tested 300

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression We looked at a number of options before settling on the Lingo Ten Language Talking Translator. Though we could understand many words in writing and we could understand parts of a conversation when native speakers addressed us, we struggled to express ourselves properly in a foreign language.

One reason was theconcern that our sentence construction, grammar and pronunciation mightbe wrong and others would not be able to understand us.

We loved the ability the Talking Translator provided us to communicate with others in their own language in writing or verbally. Though the sound could have been better (the small speaker and electronic recording sometimes made it difficult to understand the exact words) the ability to select a phrase that was automatically translated and available to be played when trying to communicate with others was empowering. We plan to take the Talking Translator on future trips.

Batteries Two AAA batteries (included)

Color Steel gray

Made In Manufactured in Japan , assembled in China

Manufacturer Lingo Corporation ( New York , Hong Kong )

Retail Price $199

Size 4-3/8 x 2-7/8 x ¾”

Type Of Product Electronic translator with a talking feature

Warranty 12 months from the date of purchase

Weight 5 oz

Features More than 200,000 words, 23,000 useful phrases, world time in 200 cities, eight currency conversions, eight metric conversions, euro converter, 12 digit calculator, 32k databank, backlit display, leather case and ear buds included.

Country(S) Tested U.S.A. and Holland

Date Of Review February 2005

Number Of Days Tested Two weeks

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression We looked high and low for an all-in-one phone, MP3 player, organizer, GPS and could not find one we liked. Instead we decided to throw caution to the wind and splurge for the new 40 GB iPod (before they marked it down) music player. Our first Apple purchase, it was heavier than it looked but oh so classy and practical. We can carry music choices for two or more travelers (up to 10,000 songs) and still have room left over to pick up additional tunes during our trips. Though we battled to figure out the exact measure of the battery charge, overall it seemed to hold its charge for a week or longer and play for hours before needing a recharge.

The iPod was heavily dependent on access to a computer with a high speed Internet connection. Without them our ability to obtain information on new music was hampered and we were unable to purchase new music at the Apple iTunes online store. Without access to our computer, all we had was the iPod as it was. We were unable to easily change configurations, load new music and adjust our playlists. Also, troubleshooting and FAQ (frequently asked questions) could only be accessed online unless you traveled with the User’s Guide. When our computer hard disk failed and had to be replaced we made an annoying discovery when we reloaded the files we had backed up: We had lost all our play lists, which we had spent a couple of hours creating.

We love taking the iPod with us in the car (we purchased the special cables to connect to the car’s audio system), to work out, and when we travel near or far. Plugged in to noise reduction headphones it can make a long flight feel shorter and an airport layover more pleasant. It also provides us access to music we like played in any order we choose instead of the airlines’ limited selections played according to a preprogrammed sequence. When we are away in an exotic location, playing familiar music or an audio book on the iPod could alleviate boredom and help us reconnect with familiar sounds and rhythms. During a trip, it was also fun to add foreign music to our collection, by copying new music onto our computer and from there to the iPod.

Battery An internal non-removable battery requiring three hours to charge fully and one hour to fast charge with an 80 percent capacity. It could be charged by connecting it to a computer’s 6-pin FireWire port or directly to a power outlet. Though it could handle voltages from 110 to 240, when traveling internationally we had to make sure to take an adequate converter plug.

Included iPod, dock, remote, carrying case, earphones, FireWire cable, 6-pin-to-pin FireWire adapter, AC adapter and iTunes music management software.

List Price $499 (now $399)

Made In Designed in California and assembled in China

Manufacturer-Distributor : Apple Computer, Inc.

Mc Requirements Macintosh computer with FireWire port; MacOS X v101.5 or later

Pc Requirements PC with FireWire or USB 2.0 port or FireWire or USB 2.0 card; Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later or Windows XP Home or Professional

Play Time Eight (8) hours

Release Date September 2003

Size 2.4” wide by 4.1” long by .73” thick

Type Of Product Audio player

Warranty One year

Weight : 6.2 ounces

Features Storage for up to 10,000 songs or 40 GB of music. Synchronized music and playlists automatically with Mac or PC. Touch wheel and buttons allowed one-handed navigation It included a 2-inch (diagonal) gray sc ale LCD with LED backlight. Computer connectivity was through FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 through dock connector. Capable of playing MP3, WAV, Audible and AAC formats (Mac and PC). Also played AIFF (Mac only). Skip protection for a maximum of 25 minutes.

Online Music Purchases We purchased music from the Apple iTunes online store with ease. It was marvelous being able to hear a 10 second snippet of the song before buying it. The difficulty was when there was more than one choice of the same song. They all sounded more or less the same during the short play time available and there was no de sc ription or explanation beyond the artist’s name, song title and album.

Once we signed up and identified a song, the purchase was simple and speedy. One minute we had confirmed the order; the next minute the song was in our music library. It was a bit annoying to find out you could only burn each song seven times. When searching for music, we found limited international options though there were plenty of the mainstream chart songs and albums.

Other The iPod 40G offered additional features beyond music playing such as alarm clock, address book (since there was no way to secure the iPod in case it was stolen we preferred not to install any confidential information). It was also possible to store text notes, record voice memos (using an optional microphone), store digital photos (using an optional photo card reader) and play games.

We found the individual song iTunes options excellent when we only wanted to purchase one song from a particular artist. When we want an entire album, we like purchasing the CD’s of our choice and loading our song selections onto the iPod. This means we purchase high quality CD’s (the iPod’s sound quality is lower than that of a regular CD player) that have a long shelf life and are not tied at the hip to our computer. Also, if we purchase music through the Apple iTunes online store, there are restrictions on the number of times we can burn it onto a CD for our own use. Chances are we won’t burn our CD’s. It’s nice to know we can if we want to.

Amount Of Time Tested Eight months

Countries Tested U.S. and France

Date Of Last Review January2005

Service In the U.S. 1-800-275-2273 and “1” toll free in the U.S. or www.apple.com/support

Would You Purchase-Use This Product Again? Yes

Overall Impression After flying for two days from the U.S. through Europe, we were tired and jet lagged. The last thing we wanted to do was drive around a strange city famous for its high crime rate, in an unfamiliar car (and on the opposite side of the road). Everything worked out like a charm thanks in great part to our newest travel technology, the iQue 3600 from Garmin. Before leaving the U.S. we purchased the City Select South Africa software. It allowed us to navigate accurately and easily through South Africa’s two major cities, Cape Town and Johannesburg, their environs and the Kruger Park in the North.

The iQue’s voice instructions were excellent and simple to follow with commands like “in five hundred meters, turn right” or “off course,” when we took a wrong turn. Even night driving was a breeze. It took a little getting used to the distances and the imagery on the IQue screen. In the case of City Select South Africa, we found that only urban areas were well mapped. Whenever we strayed from the cities, the detail in our maps faded, but waypoints and major roads were still a confidence builder. For us, the ideal combination was to have one person drive while the other focused on the iQue commands and images.

A dashboard antenna, purchased separately, allowed us to hold the iQue comfortably on our laps while navigating and driving around. A cigarette lighter charger fueled the iQue so we didn’t have to worry about batteries running out (this was also where the external speaker for the navigation was located). Battery life and power consumption when running the GPS were issues for us in remote parts of the bush. If the iQue ran completely empty of power, all the information in its memory would be lost and have to be reloaded from the laptop. We brought the Laplink USB cable which was invaluable for charging and synchronizing with the laptop.

The iQue’s organizer software was practical and efficient, allowing us to store and manipulate contact information and keep it synchronized with Microsoft Outlook. Documents to Go allowed us to view and manipulate Word and graphic files. The full color screen offered a high resolution and plenty of details for our purposes. We found the 3600 an ideal travel tool, especially in far away and unfamiliar places. It was fun to be able to mark waypoints across remote Botswana and determine our position and altitude. We look forward to continuing to use the iQue organizer and its integrated navigation functions in the future at home and for trips.

Applications PowerOne Personal Calculator and trial editions of: Astraware Game Pack, Documents to Go, DataViz Mail, Palm Reader, StarCaddy, Vindigo, WorldMate. We upgraded Documents to Go to take advantage of its capabilities to handle many tyupes of Microsoft Office documents.

Battery Internal Lithium-ion battery. A cradle was included to charge the iQue

Display : 2.16″ x 3.24″ (54 x 81 mm), 320 x 480-pixel, high-resolution color with virtual Graffiti™ area

Included Autopack with iQue 3600, USB recharging cradle, black protective cover, A/C power adaptor, Palm Desktop set up CD, two map installation CD’s, Map Source unlock code sheet, two Graffiti stickers, Quick Reference Guide, and Set Up Guide The package included a 256 Mb Secure Digital (SD) card to hold additional maps and documents, larger SD cards were available.

List Price Garmin: $643 and City Select South Africa: $233

Manufacturer-Distributor: Garmin

Release Date August 2003

Size 2.8″W x 5″H x .8″D (72 x 128 x 20.3 mm)

Support Though we had some trouble with the website using the mapping software unlock codes, but technical support responded quickly with an easy workaround. There was furthertroubleshooting information on the Garmin website

Technology And Built-In Devices Global Positioning System, GPS, antenna, display, speaker, microphone, touch screen, Palm OS 5.0, memory: RAM– 32 MB, processor– Motorola 150 MHz, input device: stylus, touch-screen, scroll button, wireless: IrDA

Type Of Product Palm Hanheld Organizer with GPS (global positioning system) integrated capabilities as well as U.S and South Africa map software

Warranty One year from date of purchase with an original or copy of the purchase receipt from the retailer where purchased. An online auction purchase confirmation was not acceptable for warranty purposes. Garmin had the option to use rebuilt (or new) parts when repairing a product under warranty at their sole discretion. It was unclear whether the owner would be notified which type of parts were used following a warranty repair. Owners wishing to have their products repaired under the warranty were required to mail them to Garmin directly and pay for the cost of mailing. Out-of-warranty unit owners would be subject to a minimum $150 repair fee and the cost of shipping.

Weight 5.7 oz

Features : 200 MHz processor, Palm OS 5.2.1, integrated Que technology , with Garmin GPS and mapping software, flip-up integrated GPS patch antenna speaker for voice guidance commands, MP3 player, message playback, built-in 32 MB of memory useful to download map data, and ARM 9 processor. There was an integrated SD card slot to provide additional non-volatile memory.

City Select South Africa integrated trip and waypoint management functions, detailed maps of select cities and towns in South Africa, map detail included motorways, national and regional thoroughfares and local roads with attributes such as turn restrictions, speed categories, displayed points of interest such as food and drink, lodging, gas stations, and hospitals, automatically created point-to-point routes in MapSource.

Other We loaded the worldwide base map, which provided major political boundaries, rivers and large highways. We were able to load the entire South Africa City Select and the U.S. maps around Florida into a 256 Mb SD card. A much larger card would be required to load all of the U.S.

Countries Tested : U.S.A., Botswana , South Africa and Zambia

Date Of Review November 2004

Number Of Days Tested Six months

Would You Use This Product Again? Yes