Well, at least tough enough that you won’t have to worry about being lost after hiking through a rainstorm. All three new units are IPX-7 certified, which means they can survive being dipped in up to 3.3 feet (1 meter) of water for 30 minutes, and come with a rubber-coated frame that gives it shock protection.

All three units feature a 3-inch color touchscreen, a 3.2-megapixel cam with autofocus that supports geotagging, geocaching, and a 15-hour battery. For travelers, they all come preloaded with a World Edition map that comes with full road info for the US, Canada, Western Europe and Australia, main roads for the rest of the world, as well as water features, urban and rural land use, and a realistic shaded relief background.

The $550 eXplorist 710 is the top-end model that comes with a 3-axis compass and barometric altimeter sensors, plus Magellan’s Summit Series USA Topographic Mapping and City Series features that offer high-detail maps and turn-by-turn routing.

The eXplorist 610 drops the City Series feature from the spec sheet for $450, while the eXplorist 510 serves as the most basic of the three, dropping the Summit Series, City Series, and 3-axis compass features for $350.

Only one voice, Darth Vader, is available for download right now for $13, but the other voices should be ready within the next few months. C-3PO’s voice will be available in June, Yoda from July, and Han Solo from August. While samples for the other voices aren’t available yet, Darth Vader’s clips might be the best you can get. We’re not so sure if we want to hear Yoda’s “Turn left, you will” that much, although C-3PO’s voice guides might fit nicely with the whole GPS voice guides theme.

TomTom also hosts other free Star Wars stuff to further geek out your GPS device with, including start-up screens, sounds and car icons.

Hilarious behind-the-scenes video of Darth Vader in the studio (from TomTom):

SatNav company Garmin has just announced the slim new nüvi 3700 personal navigator, highlighted by a new design that looks more iPod touch than personal navigation device. It’s still built to be used on the road, packaged with a dashboard mount, but the slim new frame that features a 4.3-inch screen easily fits in your hand or pocket in case you want to hoof it.

The nüvi 3700 line comes in three “trim levels” that includes the entry-level 3750T, the mid-range 3760T, and the top-end 3790T—all of which pack in the basic navigation apps and tech inside a frame that measures less than 9mms thick. The 3750T starts at $350 and features the basics for navigation, including lane assists, turn by turn directions and cityXplorer maps for navigating the metropolis on foot (or by public transportation). The kit also features ecoRoute that tracks fuel usage and computes the best gas-saving route, and the company’s nüRoute Tech that “learns” traffic trends and predicts your ETA depending on the day and time of your travel.

The 3760T adds Bluetooth connectivity for making hands-free calls and free live traffic updates to the 3750T’s feature set for $400. The top-tier 3790T further adds full 3D building and terrain views, and speech recognition to give it voice commands—awesome tech to help you keep your hands on the wheel.

This little bit of useful technology (for dog-lovers, at least) comes by way of Retrieva, who makes the world’s first tracking and anti-theft dog collar, and ViewRanger, who develops GPS mapping software. It’s a pretty simple partnership that ties the two services together, allowing you to track your Retrieva collar-wearing dog using ViewRanger’s app installed on your Symbian-based smartphone.

The Retrieva-ViewRanger dog-finding solution isn’t really new, although they did announce an update that adds some new features to the service. The firmware update includes a new feature that let’s you predict where your dog may be headed, plus a feature that adds global map coverage and improved feedback from the collar’s status, including the battery’s state.

The Retrieva dog collar itself is a rugged device that uses three wireless tracking technologies (GPS, GSM, and RF) that allow you to trace your dog’s whereabouts from anywhere in the world, and a feature that alerts you via SMS whenever your dog wanders out of a predetermined area. The integrated battery is listed to last for a week between charges, and comes with a personal panic button that you can use to alert family and friends if you feel threatened while outside walking with your dog, and it just so happens that your dog isn’t a Rottweiler or Doberman.

The kit that includes the collar and tracking software can be bought from Retrieva’s website for £200 (around $300) plus a monthly £10 communication bill. The software currently supports a lot of Symbian smartphone models from Nokia, Samsung, LG, Panasonic and Sony Ericsson, although ViewRanger is working to release versions for the iPhone and smartphones running Android.

We’re not really sure if the tablet boom can be attributed to Apple’s iPad, but here’s another touchscreen device that comes with enough portable functions to make for an alternative. GPS-maker Mio has just unveiled the Moov V780, a slim 7-inch device that’s not just a navigator.

Slim multifunction tablet that plays multimedia, browses the net, and comes with GPS navigation? It might sound familiar, but this kit also comes with a keyboard. Take that, Apple!

Actually, it’s still primarily a navigator, but Mio packed in a number of other functions to turn this portable into something they’re labeling as an “ideal personal travel assistant.” Naturally, entertainment is a good add-on, and this device delivers by not only coming with the ability to play the usual photos, music and videos, the V870 can play movies in high-def 720p. As for the other parts of the multimedia pie, the photo viewer supports multitouch gestures (flicks and pinches), while the music player’s spiffy interface allows for track sorting and album cover previews. And in case you don’t have anything loaded, this thing also comes with an integrated DVB-T receiver that’ll allow you to tune into available TV signals.

Aside from GPS, the device also comes with the usual (or at least the expected) set of connectivity options that include Wi-fi b/g, plus 3G/ WiMAX in case you can’t find a hotspot. The connections allow it to browse the net using the touchscreen, watch videos on YouTube, and will let you work on-the-go with support for a number of webmail systems. For navigation (which is what Mio is most known for), the V780 runs Mio’s Spirit Navigation software that does trip planning and route mapping with voice guided assistance.

Mio hasn’t announced pricing or availability, and it could get rough if (or when) Mio tries to release it in the iPad’s turf. We’ll give it this though: at least the package comes with a case and keyboard.

In a sea of iPhones and Android-based devices, here’s a smartphone with a different twist: Garmin-Asus officially announced the partnership’s latest handheld, the M10, a full-featured Windows Mobile-based smartphone that comes with Garmin’s satellite navigation services.

Now, this isn’t your garden-variety smartphone that just happens to come equipped with GPS; it’s a full-featured SatNav device—the kind that Garmin built their brand on. Technically called a location-based smartphone (or LBS), this device will come with a full suite of location-based services, including maps and routes, turn-by-turn directions, and a search engine that lets you find people, addresses, businesses, and other general points of interest.

For the times when you really don’t have to go anywhere, it’s still a full-featured smartphone though. Running on Windows Mobile’s new version (v6.5.3, codenamed Maldives), the M10 will sport a large 3.5-inch TFT touchscreen. The system runs on a 600MHz processor, 512MBs of memory, 4GBs of internal storage (plus a microSD card slot for expansion), and a 5-megapixel camera. Aside from GPS, the phone will also come with 3G, Wi-fi, and Bluetooth connectivity.

It’s already up for pre-order in Asus’ native Taiwan for the equivalent of $430, but everyone else should be able to see it when Mobile World Congress 2010 kicks off next month.

The updated version of the software makes use of Nokia’s acquisition of NAVTEQ, who takes care of the maps and 3D landmarks in supported areas. Travelers, adventurers, and people who just have the time to “get lost” can also access Lonely Planet and Michelin guides if they need recommendations on where to go and what to do in a new place. Further improvements include a one-click menu that needs just “one click” to calculate the best routes to take to a destination.

The new version of Ovi Maps is now available to download, and currently supports ten phones, including the X6, N97 mini, E72, E55, E52, 6730 classic, 6710 Navigator, the 5800XM, 5800 Navigation Edition, and 5230 XM.

It does have a text-to-speech feature that allows it to send voice guided directions to the rider’s helmet wirelessly through a Bluetooth headset, so that should be pretty safe. Since it’ll be exposed to the elements along with the rider, the kit also features a rugged, waterproof body that’s resistant to fuel sprays and UV rays. Travel-friendly software comes with the package, including a lane-assist feature for city slickers and off-road navigation for weekend warriors. If you’re planning a trip with other riders, the 220 also has tools that allow users to set and share planned routes and destinations through a microSD card slot, and a function that allows you to review your trips on Google Earth.

Maps for the US, Canada and Puerto Rico will also be included for $600. Exactly what you need if you’re planning a road trip from Canada to, well, Puerto Rico.

Pioneer’s new navigation system, the AVIC-X920BT, comes with the usual (albeit high-end) features that include a touchscreen interface and speech recognition, plus a handful of entertainment features—like DVD playback and Internet Radio connectivity to make for a sweet, complete in-car kit.

The X920BT comes with a 6.1-inch touchscreen with an interface designed for quick, easy navigation (as it should be. You don’t really want to dig through a whole mess of menus while driving, right?) that’s made even more driver-friendly with the addition of speech recognition.

Now for the good parts: In-car entertainment. First off, the nav kit comes with a built-in optical drive that can play both CDs and DVDs that may or may not be healthy if you’re the one driving. It also comes with 2GBs of integrated memory for storage, plus a USB port that can be used for connecting other mobile devices. It’s pretty Apple-friendly too, with support for iPods and iPhones; an iTunes plug-in called MusicSphere gives it the capability to generate playlists based on track properties and what you listen to.

This kit comes with Internet radio, DVD and CD playback, plus support for iPods and iPhones.

For a bigger selection of audio entertainment, the nav kit also comes with support for Pandora’s free Internet Radio streaming service through a connected iPhone (with a Pandora app installed).

The AVIC-X920BT is expected to be released in April for $1,200.

Garmin will be ending the year with two new compact GPS mappers designed for rugged use. Tagged as the Oregon 450 and 450t, the two new GPS devices feature a 3-inch touchscreen display that’s listed to be able to display clear, high color, high-res images under direct sunlight, and a shell that’s built to withstand the elements and rough handling.

Both navigators feature user-selectable dashboards that allow for a customized interface using the touchscreen. For helping users find their way around, both devices also come with a 3-axis electronic compass, a barometric altimeter, and built-in basemaps with shaded relief.

The two devices are basically identical, although the 450t adds preloaded street maps for $100 more. Both come with a number of software apps and features for travelers and backpackers, including a hunt/fish calendar, sun and moon info, tide tables, area calculation, Custom points of interest, and a function that lets users transfer and share data wirelessly with similar devices. Both also pack in 850MB of internal memory, plus a microSD slot for storage expansion.

The Oregon 450 is available for $400, while the 450t costs $500.