Santa Clara, Calif. — Magellan is launching one of the lowest-priced portable GPS devices from a leading vendor in a new line of three models shipping now.
The series includes a leader model RoadMate 1340 with a 3.5-inch screen and text-to-speech pronunciation of street names. Suggested retail is $179.
Garmin, TomTom and Navigon comparable base models carry suggested retails of $199.
In its first release of a new portable GPS line since it was purchased by Mitac, the parent of Mio, Magellan also includes lane assistance in its top two models and includes a searchable AAA TourBook database in all models.
Other features include text to speech and maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
The series comes in a 4.7-inch version on the RoadMate 1470, at $299, and a 4.3-inch version in the RoadMate 1440, at $249.
All models offer a OneTouch feature that lets users store their preferred banks, coffee shops, restaurants, etc., and then users can press a single button to access the closest location with one click.
The searchable AAA TourBook listings lets users find AAA-rated restaurants, lodging, etc., and AAA-approved auto-repair shops.
