Garmin ecoRoute currently not available for Asian version of Nuvi 255w

Garmin ecoRoute is a new feature for their GPS navigators which is made freely available to compatible units via the WebUpdater service.

This feature allows users to find more fuel efficient routes when navigating and even track their fuel usage. With ecoRoute, you may be able to save petrol and money by adopting smarter driving habits and finding more fuel-efficient routes.

After ecoRoute is successfully installed, a new Route Preference called "Less Fuel" will be added to the GPS unit. There will also be Fuel Report which tracks fuel usage over time, and Mileage Report which monitors mileage and fuel usage on a per-trip basis.




ecoRoute is available for US version of nuvi 255w. However, an email from Garmin Support confirmed that it is currently not available for Asian version of nuvi 255w, which includes the Sing/Mal version, Taiwan version, India version, etc.

For Asian version of Garmin GPS, currently only Nuvi 765 and Nuvi 1460 are ecoRoute supported.

Let's hope that it will eventually be made available to our Nuvi 255w in the near future.

Do not keep your money in your bank savings account

Do you know how much interest you will get if you keep your money in your bank savings account today?

Here are some of the interest information obtained from the banks' website as of September 2009:

• Public Bank Savelink - 0% for balance <= RM10,000
• Maybank Kawanku - 0% for balance <= RM10,000
• CIMB Regular Savings - 0.05% for balance <= RM25,000
• Hong Leong Savings - 0.10% for balance <= RM10,000
• RHB Passbook - 0% for balance <= RM10,000
• EON Bank Savings - 0.10% for balance <= RM5,000
• Alliance Bank Savings - 0.10% for balance <= RM5,000
• HSBC Premier or PowerVantage - 0% for balance <= RM10,000
• OCBC Premier - 0% for balance <= RM10,000
  

This indicates that you will get 0% interest or very close to that by keeping your money in your bank savings account.

Most banks also have Basic Savings Account which provides a better 0.25% interest for balance <= RM50,000. However, most of them also charge RM8 to the basic savings account annually.

If you still insist to keep your money in a savings account, perhaps you should keep in this Basic Savings Account.

So, it is wiser to keep a minimal amount of money in your savings account, just good enough for day-to-day regular spending. You should have your credit card, short term (<= 3 months) fixed deposit or volatile investment ready for emergency spending.

Then what to do with your money if not keeping in the savings account? Here are some of the better places to park your money:

• Clearing debts
• Flexible Homeloan account
• Investment
• Business
  
• Fixed deposit
• Insurance
• Precious metals/stones
• Valuable collectibles
• etc.

MalFreeMaps moving forward with improved free map

The mapper community supported Malaysia & ASEAN Free Maps Project (MalFreeMaps) releases a new version of free map covering Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei for Garmin GPS every Monday morning without failure.

Today (14 Sept 2009) they've gone to another milestone by releasing an improved version of map with a new versioning scheme, also with new coverage to Indonesia.

The new version is called MFM-Garmin 090914 with the following additional features from the previous version:

• Link to NavNet map in Kalimantan
• Coverage of Southern Thailand (coming soon)
• Optional Chinese POI
• Improved SG Postal Code & Address map with instant search result
• New POI icons
  
• New POI categories with custom icons (coming soon)
• New MFM map generator with option to generate either Full or Lite version
• Topo contours are added into Full-version map
• New multi-language installer
• No more error when uploading map through Mapsource

Click here for more information and download of the free MFM-Garmin 090914 map.