Today Garmin indeed announced the birth of the Garmin Nuvi 885T gps receiver. Unlike it’s predecessor the Nuvi 880, the Nuvi 885T packs everyone’s favorite feature, speech recognition, and adds Garmin’s lane assist to make the Nuvi 885T into one powerful, portable navigator. With the push-to-talk wireless remote, drivers speak words or phrases that correspond with the buttons on the touchscreen display, and Nuvi is there to listen every step of the way. New to the Garmin Nuvi 8XX series, the 885T also offers lane assist with junction view – giving drivers a clear picture of the road ahead. With lane assist, drivers will no longer have to speculate which turn lane to be in – the Nuvi 885T will highlight the proper lane for navigation.
Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced the nüvi 885T, adding lane assist with junction view as well as dynamic content from MSN Direct to a portable and powerful voice-activated navigator. The nüvi 885T was announced in conjunction with the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and will be on display at the Garmin booth (South Hall 4, #35832).
“Combining two of Garmin’s most popular features – speech recognition and lane assist with junction view – the nüvi 885T lets drivers keep both hands on the wheel and takes the guesswork out of navigation,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “And with enhanced MSN Direct services, the nüvi 885T provides much-needed travel information like traffic updates, flight status, Doppler radar, gas prices, news and business headlines and a wireless ’send to GPS’ capability.”
For a clear picture of the road ahead, the nüvi 885T features lane assist with junction view that details upcoming maneuvers and specific driving directions, including road sign detail and arrows indicating the proper lane for navigation. At any time, drivers can also speak the phrase, “where am I?” and their device will display its exact latitude and longitude coordinates, closest hospitals, police stations, gas stations and nearest address and intersection. Drivers can also associate their favorite images with saved locations using Garmin Connect Photos – where users can choose from millions of geo-located photos provided by Google’s Panoramio photo sharing community.
Critically acclaimed for its accuracy and clarity, Garmin’s speech recognition technology has set the industry standard and is considered the ultimate safety and convenience feature. After mounting a push-to-talk wireless remote to their steering wheel, users can effortlessly program the nüvi by speaking words that correspond to the buttons on the touchscreen display. Drivers can keep their eyes on the road – almost any common task can be performed without ever touching the unit. Speech recognition is available for American English, British English, European French, European Spanish, German, Italian and Netherlands Dutch languages.
Drivers will also benefit from receiving next-generation dynamic content from the MSN Direct network that’s faster than before:
- Flight status: check the status of an arriving or departing flight before pulling into the terminal.
- Advanced weather: displays Doppler weather maps and other current weather conditions (including high/low/current temperatures, chances of precipitation, humidity, pressure, wind and weather alerts), as well as three day weather forecasts.
- Traffic conditions: receive up-to-date incident and flow information for most metropolitan areas across North America, and let nüvi select a route that avoids traffic accidents, road closures, and construction.
- Fuel prices: receive gas price data from more than 85,000 gas stations across the nation. Drivers will always know where to get the best prices – and save time and fuel by using the unit to navigate directly to the station of their choice.
- Enhanced movie listings: search for movies by title or by theater and receive show times, ’star’ ratings, genre, actors and more – and get driving directions to the theater.
- Local events: receive special notices on festivals, concerts and sporting events in your area, and navigate to them.
- News and Stocks: the latest news headlines and financial market updates are always at your fingertips.
- Send to GPS capability: plan trips and look up destinations from the convenience of your computer, via Windows Live Local, and then wirelessly send locations to your nüvi 885T.
Three months of free MSN Direct service is included with the purchase of the nüvi 885T. Owners can subscribe for $49.95 a year, or a one-time charge of $129.95, some restrictions apply. For more information on MSN Direct services and coverage areas, visit http://garmin.msndirect.com.
The nüvi 885T has Bluetooth wireless technology for hands-free calling when paired with compatible phones. These new premium navigators also boast an integrated FM wireless transmitter, allowing users to transmit turn-by-turn directions and street names, MP3s and audio books through their vehicle’s stereo. The nüvi 885T supports USB 2.0 High Speed, enabling the device to download music, photos and more within minutes. Like the rest of the nüvi 800 series, the nüvi 885T has front-firing speakers and a removable lithium-ion battery.
Garmin also offers the nüvi 855, which offers speech recognition and lane assist with junction view capabilities but without MSN Direct services or Bluetooth wireless technology. All other features are comparable to the nüvi 885T.
This powerful new navigator gives clear guidance on a 4.3″ color touchscreen display (480X272 pixels), and is preloaded with maps of the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. For faster satellite prediction, the nüvi 885T has Garmin’s HotFix™ feature which automatically calculates and stores critical satellite information. To give drivers the ultimate in awareness, these nüvis also display speed limits for highways and interstates.
The nüvi 855 has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $699.99 and the nüvi 885T has an MSRP of $799.99. Both are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2009. Additional information is available at www.garmin.com.
