Magellan Announces New Car GPS Unit

The new Magellan RoadMate 860T, priced at $799, provides real-time traffic conditions in major metropolitan areas as well as reading street names to you as you drive.

Thales, through their Magellan Consumer GPS brand, yesterday announced a new portable vehicle GPS navigation system with provides real-time traffic capabilities and text-to-speech street name driving directions. The new Magellan RoadMate 860T is priced at $799 and will be available in May.

The Magellan RoadMate 860T, said Thales, can, in major metropolitan areas, receive live traffic updates notifying drivers of possible road problems. It will also offer a detour option for drivers when faster alternatives are available. The other major feature of this new GPS device, known as SayWhere, is a text to speech function which speaks the street name for upcoming maneuvers.

Other features of the RoadMate 860T include a 20GB hard drive with comes pre-loaded with street level maps of the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, the ability to use 10GB of the hard drive for the storage and playback of music and digital photos, a 3.5