Blaupunkt TravelPilot Lucca 3.5 (to be 'round' or not to be 'round')

The Germans invented the limited access highway...the Autobahn (a.k.a. the interstate to us in the U.S.). They arguably make the most refined automobiles available anywhere mainly to deal with the speeds at which they are driven. Point being they take their driving pretty seriously. Plus, they’re German; they’re kind of serious all around. So who better than Blaupunkt Travelpilot to tell you how to get where you are going and how fast you should drive to get there.

Blaupunkt TravelPilot Lucca 3.5 Edition GPS is no square. Why did they go round? Well…not being present at the design meeting, one can only speculate, but my opinion is the round design serves to better mesh with the round display features that are present on most cars like the speedometer or tachometer. Also, in the crowded GPS market it stands out, on several blogs people are talking and debating about why it’s round. Simply put, in terms of free press this is a stroke of genius. The practicality of this round design is questionable. It needlessly takes up space.

Enough with the fluff let's get to the nuts and blots of the device. Its specs aren’t groundbreaking 400 MHz processor, 64MB SDRAM, 3.5in screen, 1GB on board memory that is expandable through MMC/SD/SDHC card slot 256MB - 4GB. It has preloaded in the flash memory all major European roads and detailed maps of UK/Ireland. There are some more impressive things about the Blaupunkt. You can use the card slot to play music or view pictures while still getting guided navigation. The device comes with a DVD loaded with detailed maps of 21 European countries (most of the time you have to pay separately for this information). It is also touted for being forgiving to bad spellers when typing in a destination.

The Blaupunkt TravelPilot Lucca 3.5 (round) Edition is a square in the sense that it doesn’t like speeders. It knows the speed limit and will warn you audibly and visually when you foot gets too heavy. One would assume this has got to be an optional feature. It uses TMS for live traffic rerouting even if you’re not using the GPS to calculate your route. So as Blaupunkt points out, “Rest assured: the round TravelPilot will always keep you on the straight and narrow.”

For drooling purposes only not available in the US…yet. We’ll keep you updated.

..Via..Navigadget