Thales Navigation announced a number of new Magellan branded GPS devices for handheld and auto usage at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in early January. Among the more interesting new products on display were the RoadMate 800, the RoadMate 760 and the eXplorist XL.
The RoadMate 800 is Magellan’s new flagship auto GPS device. This portable vehicle navigation system comes fully loaded with features such as a 3.5†color, touch screen display, integrated battery power, a music player and photo viewer. It delivers three-dimensional map views and comes preloaded with maps for all U.S. 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Other notables include USB 2.0 connectivity, a smart feature to detour around traffic and a trip computer for reviewing mileage and travel time.
A step below the Magellan RoadMate 800 is the RoadMate 760. This portable vehicle navigation system offers an industry first text to speech option that announces street names for upcoming turns. Features of this model include a smart feature to detour around traffic and construction delays, multi-destination routing, nearly 7 million points of interest and a choice of 12 languages with male or female voices. It comes preloaded with the same maps as the RoadMate 800.
In the handheld category, Thales Navigation’s top level entry was the eXplorist XL. This device, designed for use in the outdoors, sports a 3.5†sunlight viewable, high contrast color TFT LCD screen. Preloaded goodies on this model include 30MB of internal memory plus a built-in SD card reader/writer, water resistance, WAAS-enabled, 3 meter accuracy, backlit keypad and joystick, geocaching software and a built-in map of major highways, parks, airports and waterways.
