NuLink! 2300 series: Garmin now lets you see what lies ahead

Garmin has finally found a ground breaking idea to bring it out from behind Tom Tom’s rather large shadow. Its next generation of Sat Nav’s, the NuLink! 2300 series incorporates PhotoLive pictures (via a subscription) from live traffic cameras along your selected route. The company has announced it is committed to giving drivers the very best traffic avoidance possible and this neat idea will certainly be a welcome addition.

The new system will have access to over 80 million traffic sources across Europe in its war on waiting, so as well as live traffic cameras we’ll receive information from radio travel reports, traffic hazard stories like road debris, Google local search and even en-route weather radar, airport arrivals and departures, fuel prices and even exchange rates.

In an excellent security move, Garmin has included a built in tracking system that can be activated by the owner’s instigation. The tracking can be monitored on the web, posted to social networking sites or to another 2300 unit and provides another level of enhanced safety that can be used in all kinds of situations.

The 2300 series is packed with new features that herald the next generation of portable satellite navigation. POI’s (Points of Interest) have been completely overhauled and combined with Google Local Search, and with Automatic Speech recognition technology you can give your unit a name and just wake it up by calling it out. Once it’s awake you can navigate through the menus by voice recognition making it truly hands free. Of course the knock on effect is the Bluetooth enabled advantage of dialling phone numbers through the voice recognition too. PhotoReal Junction View displays a digitised view of your approaching junction in a split screen view so you can be fully prepared for your next manoeuvre and you can save real money by following a proposed EcoRoute to reduce fuel consumption.

On the face of it, the 2300 series is a leap forward for Sat Navs, and we can only guess what Tom Tom will come up with in response.

The NuLink! 2,300 series £229