MAGELLAN ROADMATE SERIES REDEFINES PORTABLE VEHICLE NAVIGATION

Thales Navigation’s innovative new Magellan RoadMate 700, the first portable vehicle navigation device to deliver built-in nationwide map detail for seamless coast-to-coast routing, will make its CES debut this week at Booth #21834. The groundbreaking new Magellan RoadMate 700 and 500 both provide an advanced user interface for unrivaled ease of use; voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions; a color, touch-screen display; and WAAS capabilities to ensure the driver is always precisely guided. From the road warrior to the soccer mom to the vacation traveler and multi-car family – any driver can gain time-saving efficiency and peace of mind without purchasing a new GPS-equipped car.

‘Turn It On and Go’ is the promise on the box of the Magellan Roadmate 700, and it lives up to that user-friendly pledge, said Automobile Magazine’s Michael Austin. Maps of the whole United States are pre-loaded, so there's no tricky computer downloads. Inputs can be made using the arrow buttons or the color touchscreen. Route planning is so easy. You hardly need the built-in tutorial. The Magellan Roadmate is the easiest portable navigation system I've ever used, and it's even better than most OEM systems.

With the early response we’ve received to the Magellan RoadMate 700 and 500, we believe we’ve proven again that Thales Navigation is committed to making products that meet real customer needs and lead the way as GPS technology emerges in mass market solutions, said Dean Senner, CEO of Thales Navigation. The Magellan RoadMate series fuses new features with technologies we developed for Hertz NeverLost — a system that has safely guided millions of people to their destinations and become the most proven vehicle navigation system in the world.

The Magellan RoadMate 500 and 700 are the first cost-efficient, portable solutions to offer simple, yet fully featured street navigation for any driver of any car. Compact and lightweight, Magellan RoadMate sets up for use in minutes without professional installation and the added cost and time associated with it. In addition, a large high-resolution color touch screen, high-quality voice guidance prompts, and a wide array of mounting and faceplate options make the Magellan RoadMate series the new standard in portable car navigation.

The Magellan RoadMate 700’s internal hard drive is pre-loaded with the latest mapping data for the continental United States and major metropolitan areas of Canada so drivers can navigate seamlessly anywhere in the country. It provides fast, reliable guidance to nearly every address in the country, including two million points of interest, including restaurants, parks, gas stations, banks, schools and police stations.

The mid-level Magellan RoadMate 500 uses the same map data but with a compact flash memory card, which stores uploaded user-selected map areas from the supplied software.

Using the touch-screen or keypad, drivers can either enter a destination from the points of interest database, from their personal address book of up to 100 destinations, or as a street address. Both the Magellan RoadMate 700 and 500 offer users the choice of selecting a route dictated by the Shortest Time, Shortest Distance, Least Use of Freeways or Most Use of Freeways. In addition, the system automatically recalculates a route after a missed turn. Both systems display a clearly visible, full-color route on a moving map to show the driver’s progress. The route is also displayed as text directions and as a graphic showing one turn at a time. At all times, the convenient turn-by-turn, voice-prompted guidance minimizes the driver’s need to view the display. For more information, on the latest GPS News see car gps.

Author Notes:

Alexander Cornvell contributes and publishes news editorial to http://www.handheld-gps-reviews.com.  A wealth of information about Global Positioning Systems for commercial or personal use.