CES 2008: Magellan Rolls Out Plethora of GPS Navigation Devices

Although this year's CES was mostly about high-end AV equipment, plasmas, LCDs, next-gen DVD formats and so on, there are also some other families of CE devices it's important to look into. And one such family is that of GPS-enabled personal navigation devices where Magellan has made quite a good impression, rolling out an impressive number of new units, including quite a few that provide among the most advanced features available in this particular field.

The flagship model announced at this year's CES is the Maestro Elite 5340+GRPS, which combines the power of GPS with that of Google Local Search. However, I won't go into any details regarding this particular model, as it was the subject of a separate article, which you can check out here.

Furthermore, as the company informs us, the Maestro Elite family of units, which also includes the compact 3.5-inch Maestro Elite 3270, feature the industry's first seamless touch-panel that integrates the newest display technology for the most responsive screen on the market and an elegant, high-tech look. Magellan also claims to be the first GPS manufacturer to eliminate the plastic bezel-housing common to portable navigation device, the result being an edge-to-edge, completely flat touch display that gives the Maestro Elite 3270 a seamless surface with sensitivity and performance supposed to be superior to any of Magellan's previous offerings.

The Maestro Elite products also feature 3-D rendered landmarks and buildings, Magellan's live traffic service and predictive traffic data, 6 million POIs, AAA TourBook and Roadside Assistance details and advanced voice command functionality.

Another major announcement from Magellan refers to the new Maestro 5310, which was developed to better meet the needs of a fast-growing segment of consumers, Baby Boomers, who are seeking larger-sized displays and easy-to-use electronics. With its 5-inch WQVGA full-color display and ultra-thin industrial design, the Maestro 5310 increases Magellan's easy-to-use classic menu interface, images and maps by 35 percent for better readability and increased safety on the roads.

As the company's statement reads, the Maestro 5310 includes 6 million searchable POIs, preloaded maps of the 50 United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, the proprietary Say Where text-to-speech technology that announces street names, as well as integrated live traffic with free 3-month subscription to Magellan's real-time traffic service and integrated AAA TourBook guide travel information. The device will be available in Q1 2008 and will retail for $699.

However, the company's new offerings also include several entry-level models from the RoadMate family. Thus, the new RoadMate 1400 series features a large, widescreen, 4.3-inch anti-glare touch screen and a simple, intuitive user interface, as well as a newly designed easy to view menu and map screens that incorporate easy to identify, stylish icons and graphics that are clear and crisp to the user.

The base model, the RoadMate 1400, comes preloaded with Navteq road maps of the Continental United States, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, plus 1.3 million essential points of interest, such as gas stations, ATMs, and airports with contact details such as location, phone number and travel distance (MSRP $299).

The RoadMate 1412 adds maps for Canada and Alaska, text-to-speech announcements of street names as well as more than 6 million POIs, including retail, dining, health service and other local business information (MSRP $349).

The RoadMate 1430 has the same features as the RoadMate 1412 and adds a fully-integrated live traffic feature that uses real-time traffic update information to display traffic incidents along the driver's route, suggests alternative routes when "fastest time" to destination is selected, and recalculates the expected arrival time based on the monitored traffic, the company providing a free three-month subscription to Magellan Traffic Service with every purchase (MSRP $399).

The RoadMate 1200 series features a compact-sized 3.5-inch anti-glare touch screen and mirrors the features of the RoadMate 1400 series, within an even smaller pocket-sized form factor. The RoadMate 1200 is complemented by the new RoadMate 1212 and RoadMate 1230 (with integrated traffic), which are being premiered at CES (MSRPs: RoadMate 1200 $229, RoadMate 1212 $299, RoadMate 1230 $329).

We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .