Announcement: The new 2017 Garmin Drive Series

Today Garmin is happy to introduce an exciting update to the Garmin Drive product line – easy-to-use portable navigation devices (PNDs) that now offer free live services, providing the freshest, most updated content with industry-leading driver alerts to increase situational awareness and encourage safer driving. The announcement reaffirms the company’s commitment to refine and modernize PNDs with enhancements to its four innovative models: Garmin Drive, Garmin DriveSmart, Garmin DriveAssist, and Garmin DriveLuxe. The entry-level Garmin Drive 51/61 offers versatile driver alerts, while the Garmin DriveSmart 51/61 adds smart connected features. Customers looking to record their drive can step up to the camera-assisted Garmin DriveAssist 51, and users favoring style can choose the premium Garmin DriveLuxe 51 with a sleek metal design. The 2017 Garmin Drive product line is being showcased in the Garmin booth (South Hall #35711) at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 5-8.

“Thanks to the enhanced feature set of our 2017 Drive navigators, it’s easy to see how consumers can benefit and rely on them every time they step in their vehicles,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of worldwide sales. “Free live parking and traffic, plus new travel information lets drivers enjoy the actual ride and save precious time when heading to work, driving on family road trips, or running errands.”

Like its predecessors, the new Garmin Drive car gps navigators equally boast a number of driver alerts. This includes warnings for upcoming sharp curves, railroad or animal crossings, alerts for users driving the wrong-way on a one-way street and more. Drivers also receive alerts for red light cameras, speed cameras and more. Garmin Real Directions simplifies navigation by guiding drivers using recognizable landmarks, buildings and traffic lights. In addition, the all-new Watch Link feature adds navigation to a driver’s wrist. Each navigator in the 2017 product line may be paired with a Connect IQ-compatible Garmin smartwatch, such as the new fēnix5 (sold separately), to provide helpful compass guidance from a parked vehicle to a destination and back to the parked vehicle again.

The entry-level Garmin Drive 51/61 adds free real-time services, such as live traffic, for select models when wirelessly paired with a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone. After pairing to a smartphone, drivers can also enjoy live parking information from Parkopedia, the world’s leading parking service provider. Parkopedia conveniently provides pricing and availability trends for on-street public parking as drivers approach a destination. Other real-time services such as LiveTrack allow drivers to share their location with friends – a useful feature to track family members or loved ones during a road trip. What’s more, every road trip will benefit from the new preloaded TripAdvisor data that comes with all 2017 Drive models. Drivers can see ratings for popular travel points of interest, such as hotels, restaurants and attractions.

The Garmin DriveSmart 51/61 boasts all of the features from the entry-level Garmin Drive models, and adds built-in Wi-Fi for easier-than-ever map and software updates when connected to a Wi-Fi home network. Customers can choose from a 5-inch model or the new 6.95-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen that offers an impressive high-resolution, easy-to-read display. Keeping drivers connected is an essential asset of the Garmin DriveSmart series and is done through hands-free Bluetooth^® calling, voice-activated navigation, and smartphone pairing to receive text messages and app alerts right on the navigation display.

Garmin DriveAssist 51 builds on the Garmin DriveSmart feature set and adds a built-in dash cam with audio recording to continually record and save video footage on impact with the included microSD card. The integrated camera enhances advanced driver awareness alerts such as Forward Collision and Lane Departure Warnings. To take some of the guesswork out of navigating to new address locations, Garmin Real Vision shows a live camera view on the display with an arrow pointing out the specific destination. The “Go” Alert notifies distracted drivers when standstill traffic ahead of their vehicle begins to move. Garmin DriveAssist has the added benefit of being a personal companion if users encounter an incident during a drive. This model can send an automatic text to a friend and provide them with the vehicle’s location. Additionally, the navigator’s Travelapse feature can turn long hours of driving footage into a short video recap of the adventure. By downloading the free Garmin VIRB app, drivers can create Travelapse videos and share them on social media.

The stylish Garmin DriveLuxe 51 is a premium navigator that includes the full feature set offered in the Garmin DriveSmart series, framed into a beautiful and sleek metal design. This refined navigator is secured with a powered magnetic mount to easily stow and go.

The Garmin Drive lineup has models with various map regions, display sizes, and navigation features. Suggested retail prices range from $149.99 to $329.99. The Garmin Drive product line is expected to be available in February of 2017. For more information, visit garmin.com/drive.

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