November 29, 1999

Garmin® NavTalk® Offers a Low-Cost Vehicle and Personal Tracking System

OLATHE, Kan. – Garmin International, the innovative electronics manufacturer who successfully merged navigation and communications capabilities to create the NavTalk -- a combination GPS (Global Positioning System) and cellular telephone -- announces two new personal and fleet tracking services that will help locate NavTalk users via the computer. Both services display a NavTalk user's location on a detailed street map.

Main Course Technologies offers a way to track an unlimited number of NavTalks through the Internet. For a $12.50 monthly service charge, you can query the position of a NavTalk user up to 25 times per month. Higher usage rate plans are also available. Anyone who has access to the Internet and the consent of a NavTalk user can track that phone wherever analog cellular service is available. Since the mapping database resides on an Internet server, the user is assured that he will always have access to the most current map data whenever it is updated. Tracking a NavTalk via the Internet also allows multiple parties in different locations to track the same person or vehicle without complicated installations of additional hardware or software.

Fugawi sells its NavTalk tracking software for $195. When used with a Diamond Supra Express external modem, PC users can track up to three NavTalk users from their computers. The software also allows the NavTalk user to send his position to the dispatcher. There are no additional per call charges since the user owns the software and modem. This application is ideal for single-site dispatchers with heavy use tracking needs. Fugawi also offers a fleet-tracking version of their software that allows an unlimited number of vehicles to be tracked.

In addition to the tracking services offered through Main Course Technologies and Fugawi, the NavTalk continues to offer the optional First Assist(TM) one-button emergency activation plan through ATX Technologies (formerly Protection One). NavTalk owners who subscribe to the service can press the "nine" key on their unit when they are in distress, and their exact location will be transmitted to a First Assist response center. From there, a dispatcher can send help to that location immediately.

"No other portable cellular telephone on the market can transmit your physical location," said Dan Bartel, director of recreational and mobile electronics sales, Garmin International. "Many installed GPS tracking devices still cost more than $500 in small quantities and require the purchase of proprietary software packages that can cost up to $3000. Now you can get the same features from the NavTalk at a much lower price."

The NavTalk contains the same great GPS features that have made Garmin navigation and communication electronics so popular. In addition to a database of more than 57,000 towns and cities, the NavTalk has a built-in basemap of millions of miles of interstates, state highways and local roads for the United States, Canada and South America. Interstate exit listings of popular services such as restaurants, hotels and service stations are also included. Additional data such as residential streets, worldwide cities and highways and topographic information can be downloaded from Garmin's exclusive line of MapSource® CD-ROMs.

Cellular features include a 100 name and number phone book, the ability to store up to 20 numeric pages and a one-button speed dial with automatic redial for up to nine numbers. The phone will also withstand immersion in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. Among the NavTalk's unique features is the ability for two NavTalk users to send or query each other's location and see it on an electronic map.

"When you consider that most installed GPS tracking devices don't give the driver any navigation information or even the ability to make a phone call, the NavTalk adds up to a real bargain," said Bartel. "When you throw in the fact that the driver can take the phone with him and summon help in an emergency, the NavTalk proves to be an even better value."

The NavTalk is currently available at a suggested retail price of $425.

For more information on Main Course Technologies, please call (213) 438-0352 or visit their web site at http://www.mctworldwide.com.
For more information on Fugawi, please call (416) 920-0447 or visit their web site at http://www.fugawi.com.