Garmin isn't getting "eaten alive" by the smartphone market. Yes, Garmin, Navteq and others had market share eaten by navigation services on smartphones, however you are neglecting the fact a smart phone isn't a GPS. Try using a smartphone in a small airplane, boat, bicycle or while hiking. Garmin and crew are going nowhere, they may just lose the in-car navigation market to a certain extend. However, even that is a maybe/maybe not, because Garmin and all develop the navigation systems for stock cars. Plus, many older users will not buy a mount to put their tiny cellphone screen close enough to makeout, they'll use a giant in-car GPS system from one of the big manufacturers.
There is definitely no PR disaster. The site isn't knocking Garmin at all. In all actuality, the people creating the site do not seem disgruntled one bit. They seem proud of the work they did, they rep Garmin products and seem in good spirits. Sorry, but your analysis is way off.
Umm, I use my Nexus One while hiking all the time. I lose cell & data reception, but if I've already got Maps or Navigation open when I lose reception, it'll keep the map on screen.
Problem is your nexus one isn't ruggedized and has poor battery life in comparison, not to mention you can't swap out the batteries. For sure it works, but it's like commuting in a truck or taking a honda civic filled with tools to a construction site. Both of them work, but it's not the best tool for the job.
Also, if you have a large bike route, 50 miles or so, you have to cache a huge amount of tiles to see that route at any detail. Currently, Google Maps fails at consistently doing this even with expanded cache sizes.
There is definitely no PR disaster. The site isn't knocking Garmin at all. In all actuality, the people creating the site do not seem disgruntled one bit. They seem proud of the work they did, they rep Garmin products and seem in good spirits. Sorry, but your analysis is way off.