When a company or person uses the same surname as mine I like to find out more about them. I came across Loving Outdoors while doing a Twitter search one day. (Surname = “Outdoors” obviously!) I’ve chatted on Twitter and on the “real” phone a few times and I like their vision. Their website is a great mix of outdoors products, personally produced product information (this is to be highly commended as they have obviously gone to a lot of trouble with product descriptions) and advice, as well as a wealth of “social outdoors stuff” including chat, events and info. I guess it’s kind of like my site except it’s run as a bigger, product-selling business.

Anyway, Loving Outdoors have asked if I’d like to offer readers a few special bonus deals on outdoor gear. Why not, if it could be of benefit to my readers – and I rate the products they’re offering?

The first Loving Outdoors + FionaOutdoors bonus outdoor gear deal is on Garmin products. Garmin GPS products are a favourite of mine for navigation, tracking and checking speed etc while out in the hills, walking, skiing, running or cycling. I’ve tried other similar products but alwasy come back to Garmin because it’s so consistently accurate. Checking out the wrists of most of my fellow tri club friend, runners and cyclists and I always spot a wealth of Garmin gadgetry.

Garmin are continually updating their products and now have a wide spectrum of gadget goodies from runner-specific products with additional heart rate monitors to hiker friendly Garmins offering all sorts of useful accessories, such as a three-axle compass.

The two products included in the LovingOutdoors + FionaOutdoors bonus deal are: the Garmin Oregon 450 and Garmin GPS Map 62s.

Here’s a bit about the products:

Both devices do pretty much the same thing, the only real difference being that one has buttons and the other has a touch screen. Both are at the cutting edge of GPS and come loaded with Wide Angle Augmented Satellite (WAAS) and Hotfix technology, which is handy. What this means in layman’s terms is that you can trek through the deepest valleys or thickest forest and the clever little machine on your bike handlebar or in your hand will know exactly where you are.

Both Garmins also come with a three-axis compass so, unlike old GPS devices, these ingenious little gadgets don’t need to be held flat to give you an accurate bearing. You could roly-poly, skydive or pogo-stick your way around the  Cairngorms and they’d still be able to give your position, altitude and bearing with pinpoint accuracy.

And it’s not just in the countryside that these smart gizmos excel. With the flick of a switch (a metaphorical one in the case of the touch screen 450) they transform into in-car GPS, both coming installed with vector road maps at no extra cost.

The extra icing on the cake of this deal is that Loving Outdoors bundle both GPS devices with full UK 1:50 topographic maps (worth £200), offer free delivery, 90-day zero-hassle returns and they are throwing in a free slip-case for all my FionaOutdoors readers.

To get the free case you just need to add Loving-FionaOutdoors in the COMMENTS section on the checkout. They will then include the free case with the order.

To take a closer look and to buy if you like what you see go to:

Garmin Oregon 450 GPS with full UK 1:50 maps (Bundle) – RRP £549.99 but at Loving Outdoors the discounted price is £399.10 (saving £150).

Garmin GPSMAP 62s Handheld GPS + 1:50 GB Discoverer FULL UK Map (Bundle) – RRP £549.99 but at Loving Outdoors the discounted price is £399.10 (saving £150).

People have always taken to the outdoors to “find themselves” – with Garmin GPS devices like these, it’s never been easier. Go on, you know you want to try…