The Garmin Drive navigators arrive with simplified, road trip-ready features for 2019
Garmin today announced a pivotal upgrade to the Garmin Drive™ product line with a new wave of portable navigation devices (PNDs) designed to simplify the driving experience for road trips and daily commutes alike. The revamped navigators include four easy-to-use models with 5.0, 5.5, or 6.95-inch display sizes. By focusing on features that matter most, Garmin Drive customers can benefit from high-resolution edge-to-edge displays, easy-to-follow maps with 3D buildings and terrain1, and valuable travel information to assist on road trips. The road trip-ready Garmin Drive lineup will incorporate the vast database of notable sites from leading media brand HISTORYÒ for the first time, a U.S. National Parks directory, and TripAdvisorÒ traveler ratings. The 2019 Garmin Drive series is being showcased in the Garmin booth (30342) at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 8-11.
“With the 2019 Drive series, customers have the ultimate road trip solution that leaves the guesswork at home thanks to features like HISTORY and the National Parks directory,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin worldwide vice president of consumer sales. “Now you can rely on the navigators to guide you inside National Parks or even point out noteworthy sites along a road trip to make your travels more interesting without any painstaking research ahead of time.”
In addition to the extensive database from HISTORY, the new Garmin Drive navigators offer a robust feature set of road trip-ready options that include a directory of U.S. National Parks to enhance navigation within America’s wealth of recreational venues by locating visitor centers, picnic areas, campgrounds, trailheads and more. Families or individuals alike can use the navigators to easily explore parks and avoid complications if cell phone service connectivity is limited within National Parks. TripAdvisor traveler ratings are also available to help drivers discover highly-rated places offering the most convenient lodging or favorite local diners, and the FoursquareÒ Places Database provides travelers with easy access to millions of new and popular points of interest.
The new navigators are complimented with intuitive menus that feature voice-activated navigation1 to help drivers keep their hands on the steering wheel, and built-in Wi-FiÒ that allows select models1 to perform simple map and software updates without relying on a computer. Helpful driver alerts, like school zone warnings, can potentially increase situational awareness and encourage safer driving.
With Garmin Real Directions™, users can focus on the drive without the stress as the GPS easily guides them using recognizable landmarks, buildings and traffic lights. Thanks to the included receiver cable on most of the models, Garmin Traffic2 is available without the need of a smartphone. Additionally, all of the Garmin Drive models are equipped with map updates for either North America or the U.S. and Canada.
Furthermore, the Garmin DriveSmart 55 and 65 are compatible with the new Garmin Drive™ app. Once the app is downloaded, the navigators can wirelessly connect with the driver’s smartphone via BluetoothÒ to help simplify the drive. Drivers will benefit from smart notifications3, live traffic3, live parking3 details, and photoLive traffic3 cameras that allow drivers to look up live photos from more than 10,000 traffic cameras to oversee traffic and weather conditions.
The new 2019 Garmin Drive lineup includes the Garmin Drive 52 with or without traffic, the Garmin DriveSmart 55 with traffic, and the Garmin DriveSmart 65 with traffic. The navigators are expected to be available this month with suggested retail prices ranging from $149.99-$269.99.
