NaviGadget

Cobra revealed their new and more affordable GPS navigation system Nav One 2100 last week at CES 2007. The new Nav One 2100 was announced a few days before the show but we had no image back then.

The unit comes with a 3.5-inch screen with optional traffic reports, and is expected to be priced at $350. The 2100 will also offer an SD memory card expansion slot and millions of points of interests.

The Nav One 2100 will be available in stores in May of 2007. The optional real-time traffic feature is $100 with an annual traffic service subscription fee of $60 a year.

Cobra is usually only known for its huge Nav 4500 GPS navigation system. But trust us, they do make other things as well. Take the Cobra 1080DLX GPS receiver. The Cobra 1080DLX measuring only 6.1″ x 2.8″ x 1.3″ is not a navigation system but it comes pre-programmed with U.S. Highways, U.S. and Canadian state/province borders, and major cities worldwide. So if somebody drops you off in the middle of nowhere you can at least figure out which direction to walk. It is mostly designed for hikers and other who spend a lot of time in the wilderness. It lets you create up to 50 routes with up to 20 points each and it can store up to 500 waypoints with names and symbols it even automatically tracks your travel with up to 2,000 log points.

The onboard memory is only 4MB but you also get an 32MB SD card expansion through which you can download street level maps onto your 1080DLX.

In addition to telling you where you are Cobra GPS 1080DLX also features an altimeter, compass and a clock.

You can purchase the 1080 DLX through Amazon for about $300 when it becomes available again.

Today we are looking at one of the high-end all-in-one GPS units. The Cobra 4000 and 4500 are the same units, but the 4500, which is being reviewed here, has real time traffic. Common street prices are $599/$799 (4000/45000).

The 4500 is a large unit that has a full 5 inch touchscreen. To give you some idea of its size here is a shot of the unit next to my Cingular 8125 phone. The unit uses a SiRF chipset, but not SiRFIII. I found reception good, but it did loose lock several times in New York City and I would recommend an external or reradiating antenna if you are in a difficult reception situation. It comes with TeleAtlas maps of the United States and Canada and 7.6 million Points of Interest. It is a 12 volt unit and, unfortunately, does not have a battery. An AC power adapter is available as an optional accessory. It should be included, in my opinion, especially at this price. Also available as accessories are a carrying case and an external antenna. The unit comes with a suction cup mount which is strong and has withstood winter cold and spring heat. The traffic receiver is an extra piece and is velcroed onto the mount. Not a very neat installation, unfortunately. Cobra could have done better here. The traffic receiver also comes with an external antenna which is really two wires and suction cups that attach to the front windshield. You can see the receiver and extra antenna in the shot above. In my area of New Jersey the extra antenna is necessary, but it might not be for you. The unit does not do pictures or play mp3s.
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Speaking of Cobra NavOne series, another product that is recent from Cobra is the NavOne 2750. Doing a side-by-side comparison you see that it costs $100 more than the NavOne 2500 because the screen is 5.2″ compared to the 3.5″ on the 2500. The smaller of the two is the 2500 and even features memory expansion slot and 3D maps.

* Portable Vehicle Navigation System: Take from vehicle to vehicle; just plug in and go
* Automatic Route Navigation: With turn by turn directions and clear voice guidance to an address or Points-of-Interest.
* Over 2 million Points-of-Interest: Includes banks, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and many more. P.O.I. search using business phone numbers.
* Automatic Re-routing: If gone off course or detouring.
* iA.S.A.P.™ (Intelligent Accelerated Satellite Acquisition Protocol) Technology: Technology for faster acquisition and uninterrupted satellite signal reception in urban canyons and dense foliage, using state-of-the-art GPS Engine.
* North American Street Level Detail Map: Complete mapping for the United States and Canada on board the automotive grade Hard Disk Drive - all unlocked and ready to use.
* Easy Map Access: No need to load CDs or download map from PCs.
* 5.2 Inch High Resolution, Ultra Bright Colour Display: For easy view, night and day
* Automatic Brightness Control: Using Photo Sensor, adjusts the display for easy viewing - day or night.
* Backlit, Intuitive Functional Soft Keys: For easy access to specific functions in any given mode.
* Trip Data: Includes odometers, trip timers, speedometers and more.
* Trip Planner: Allows you to pre-program up to 10 destinations in each plan. (5 total plans)
* Trail Mode: Allows you to go off-roading and mark your favorite waypoints for future return.
* SmartPower™: Shuts off power to the unit when the ignition is turned off.
* Compass: Shows 8 cardinal points.
* Navigation Text/Voice Language in Unit: English, Spanish, and French
* Acquisition Time: Approximately 8 sec. (hot), Approximately 38 sec. (warm), Approximately 45 sec. (cold)
* Update Rate: 1/sec
* Velocity Accuracy: 0.1 meter/sec
* Dynamics: Performs to specifications to 4 g’s
* Antenna: Built-in patch antenna
* Temperature Range: Operating: 32f to 146f (0c to 80c)
* Storing: -40f to 176f (-40c to 80c)
* Warranty: 1 year limited warranty

Cobra is coming out with a new navigation system device; namely the NavOne 2500. Compared to the NavOne 4500 this one is a little smaller in size but can compete with the 4500 functionality wise. This site plans to sell the NavOne 2500 starting this August for $700. Here are some of the specs:

* Portable Vehicle Navigation System: Take from vehicle to vehicle; just plug in and go
* Automatic Route Navigation: With turn-by-turn directions and clear voice guidance to addresses or Points-of-Interest
* SD Expansion Slot: for optional Premium Travel content data cards and wireless connectivity for Cobra accessories
* 3.5” Touchscreen High Resolution, Ultra-Bright Color Display: Large and bright, for easy view, night and day
* Millions of Points-of-Interest (P.O.I.): Includes banks, hotels, restaurants, gas stations attractions and many more
* Automatic Re-routing: Includes detour and “via” capabilities
* iA.S.A.P.™ (Intelligent Accelerated Satellite Acquisition Protocol): Technology for faster acquisition and uninterrupted satellite signal reception in urban canyons and dense foliage, using state-of-the-art GPS Engine
* North America Street Level Detail Map: 48 contiguous United States plus Hawaii and Canada all unlocked and ready to use
* Easy Map Access: No need to load CDs or download map from PCs
* Trip Data: Includes odometer, trip timers, speedometers and more
* Trail Capture: Allows you to go off-roading and record your trail
* SmartPower™: Shuts off power to the unit when the ignition is turned off
* Navigation Text/Voice Languages in Unit: English, Spanish and French
* Warranty: One (1) Year Limited Warranty

Talk about seeing the big picture. Cobra Electronics’ NavOne 4500 portable GPS navigation system ($929.95 direct) sports a 5-inch, 320–by-240 pixel touch screen that makes it a lot easier to see your desired route at a glance. The device includes a matchbook-size FM-based traffic receiver that (with a subscription to Clear Channel’s traffic data) lets you get live traffic reports for your area, potentially helping you to detour around delays. Unfortunately the NavOne 4500’s routing performance and its lack of routing options are disappointing.

The 4500 (also known as the GPSM 4500) has five dedicated buttons along the right-hand side of the screen. The top button is the power switch, which doubles as a brightness control. The center button will cause the 4500 to repeat the last instruction, and the bottom button takes you to the main menu. The two buttons surrounding the Speak button are for volume up and volume down. The hard drive on the 4500 comes with street-level maps preloaded for all 48 contiguous U.S. states plus Alaska, Hawaii, and Canada.

The 4500 comes with a suction-cup windshield mount and a traffic receiver that attaches to the mount with Velcro. Setup is quite simple: You just mount the bracket to the windshield, plug in the power adapter, attach the 4500 to the bracket, and power up. You may then select English, French, or Spanish for your voice-prompted directions. It gives those directions in a natural-sounding recorded voice, but only for numbered streets and highways. Unlike the Garmin 2720 and 2730, the 4500 does not support text-to-speech conversion (this allows a GPS to pronounce the full name of streets as part of its voice-prompted directions). read the full review