New Magellan GPS Cart Plotters from Thales Navigation Take
Advantage of Most Advanced Marine Cartography
Now Available in Europe,
with North America Availability in Early 2003, FX324 MAP, FX324
MAP Color Are First to Use New Navionics-based Seamless
Cartography
Thales (TAL-less)
Navigation, a leading global provider of GPS solutions including
the Magellan® brand consumer product line and Thales Navigation
professional GPS products, announced today the introduction of two
feature-packed GPS chart plotters with the most up-to-date,
detailed marine cartography available. The Magellan FX324 MAP™ and
FX324 MAP Color plotters are designed to use new Magellan MapSend®
BlueNav™, the new generation of charts derived from Navionics®
marine charts that provide seamless cartography with superior
clarity. The new fixed-mount FX324 MAP series proves you can get
professional-grade navigation and electronic charting capabilities
even if you don’t have a big boat — or a big budget.
Sold
separately, the exclusive MapSend BlueNav charts deliver larger,
more detailed coverage areas through preloaded Secure Digital (SD)
memory cards.
This line of marine charts
is designed not only for the new Magellan GPS chart plotters, but
also for SporTrak™ Pro, Meridian® Marine, Meridian Gold, Meridian
Platinum and the brand new Meridian Color handheld receivers.
A result of the successful
integration of Magellan and MLR innovation and technology
expertise, the Magellan FX324 MAP and FX324 MAP Color come
preloaded with worldwide base maps of coastlines and tidal
function/water level information for hundreds of worldwide ports.
Charts can be used with receivers in two ways: For receivers that
feature a Secure Digital Card (SD Card) reader, MapSend BlueNav
Charts are available through preloaded SD Cards. For receivers
that do not feature an SD Card reader, charts can be downloaded
through Magellan’s "Choose and Load" feature. Users can select a
chart from the MapSend BlueNav CD-ROM and load it directly onto
their handheld receiver via a serial port connection. Different
regions of the same Europe or North America map can be downloaded
separately – all from the same software program.
"With the introduction of
the FX324 MAP, FX324 MAP Color and Magellan MapSend BlueNav
charting software, we’ve renewed our commitment to provide serious
mariners with easy-to-use, full-featured GPS chart plotters, and
at a very competitive price," said Lonnie Arima, Thales Navigation
Vice President of Consumer Sales and Marketing.
The FX324 MAP delivers a
five-inch, backlit, 1/4-VGA (320 X 240 pixels) monochrome LCD
display with four levels of gray scale. The FX324 MAP Color offers
the same high resolution in an advanced 16-color TFT screen to
provide vibrant color charting and navigation data on the
five-inch display.
Engineered for performance
in harsh marine environments, the chart plotters have a waterproof
case that houses a 12-parallel-channel GPS receiver and an
internal Quadrifilar Helix antenna for superior satellite
reception in open-boat installations. An external high-performance
antenna is also provided for installation on enclosed boats. In
addition, the WAAS and EGNOS-enabled receiver provides up to
one-meter accuracy — a major advantage when navigating a hazardous
channel or setting up on a small wreck for a day of fishing or
diving.
A backlit, alphanumeric
keypad and cursor key provide exclusive Direct Access technology
for fast access to all GPS settings, navigation functions and
plotter features —including pop-up windows for waypoint and
navigation aids Series provides the boater with a wealth of
information, including position, speed over ground, course over
ground, range & bearing, time to go, velocity to destination,
estimated time of arrival, cross track error and more. It can
store up to 1000\ waypoints, 30 routes of up to 50 waypoints each
and six tracks of 1000 routes. Users can also create their own
waypoints and routes by using the cursor directly on the chart.
All of this chart information can then be downloaded onto SD
Cards.
For dealer locations and
information on these and other Magellan GPS navigation devices,
visit www.magellangps.com
.
About Thales Navigation
Thales Navigation is one of the world’s leading developers and
manufacturers of positioning, navigation and guidance equipment
with global operations. Thales Navigation markets its Magellan and
MLR brand GPS solutions in the consumer electronics, recreation,
and automotive markets, and its GPS and GNSS professional products
in the survey, GIS/Mapping, and OEM markets. Through its joint
venture with Hertz, Thales Navigation has developed the Hertz
NeverLost® vehicle navigation system. Thales Navigation’s key
innovations include the first U.S. commercial hand-held GPS
receiver for positioning and navigation, and the first handheld
GPS with industry standard Secure Digital Memory Card
capabilities.
Thales Navigation,
headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. with European headquarters in
Carquefou, France, is a subsidiary of Thales, a leading
professional electronics company headquartered in Paris, France,
with activities in aerospace, defense and information technology
and services. For more information, visit
www.thalesnavigation.com
.
