Garmin has launched a new range of automotive GPS devices to the local market, which boast new design features, and functionality.

According to Walter Mech, Sales and Marketing Director at Avnic Trading, apart from the new range being slimmer than previous models, the nüvi 1000 devices have been packed with new features.

The latest units offer bright sunlight-readable screens and text-to-speech voice navigation for every turn, which will not only tell you to “turn right” but also add the street name you’ll be turning into. For example: “In 100 metres, turn right into Main Road”.

The revamped user interface and operating system on the new series make utilising these devices even easier than before. With a new touch-and-slide menu option, users can now navigate menu options in a very similar manner to navigating a touch-screen phone, by dragging a finger across the screen to scroll up and down or left and right.

Garmin has also given users the ability to add additional information to the map data layout in wide screen models, such as elevation, estimated time of arrival and distance to destination.

Branded Points of Interest (POIs) mean that it is now easier for users to identify restaurants, hotels, shops and petrol stations on the map itself, and the introduction of photo navigation means that users can download geo-tagged photographs to their device and navigate by selecting a photograph as opposed to entering a POI name or address.

Garmin ecoRoute, which was previously only available on a limited number of devices, is now standard across the series and gives users the ability to measure their car’s carbon footprint and fuel efficiency, thereby giving them the choice to be more eco-friendly.

ecoRoute also gives users a “less fuel” option allowing them to navigate to a destination with greatest fuel efficiency, as well as providing detailed petrol usage reports that can easily be downloaded in Microsoft Excel format and incorporated into log books for tax purposes.