ESCORT Radar, maker of the world’s best radar, laser and camera detectors, will be presenting at the ShowStoppers Digital Holidays Show in New York City, Times Square Millennium Hotel, September 16th. Along with the world’s best performing PASSPORT 9500ix GPS-enabled windshield mounted radar and laser detector and the new PASSPORT 9500ci Custom Installed radar and laser defense system, ESCORT will be promoting their new line of GPS Tracking devices, the Entourage CIS and Entourage PS GPS Location Awareness and Vehicle Security models.

“We have learned that media editors and producers are always looking for new ways to help their readers–at the ShowStoppers Digital Holidays show we will share with editors how they can help solve several of their readers’ pressing needs,” said Ron Gividen, ESCORT’s PR/Communications Manager. “We will be displaying the world’s best defense against being stopped, our industry leading detector models, and, we will be promoting our new personal and vehicle GPS security devices, the Entourage GPS security product line,” he added.

ESCORT Entourage Portable GPS Tracker

ESCORT will be promoting the world’s most effective personal and vehicle GPS security devices — the new Entourage PS (Personal Security) and CIS (Custom-Installed Security) models, powered by Blackline GPS. ESCORT entered into a strategic alliance with Blackline in March of this year, agreeing to market and sell ESCORT branded GPS-based vehicle tracking products. “This partnership between ESCORT and BLACKLINE to jointly market and provide best-of-breed consumer GPS products and services will leverage our combined retail channel influence and ongoing product achievements to deliver best-in-class vehicle safety and security to our loyal customers and new audiences all across North America,” said John Larson, President and CEO of ESCORT.

Driving Protected

On radar detection protection, ESCORT understands that the need for targeting awareness is more timely than ever before — with local economies and tax revenues down, ticketing is on the increase to help shore up budget shortfalls. “Every driver is aware of the increased numbers of speeding tickets being issued — ESCORT has the world’s best products to protect drivers from being targeted and ticketed,” said Gividen.

The World’s First Internet Ready, GPS─based Radar Detectors

ESCORT developed the world’s first internet ready, GPS based radar detectors–the PASSPORT 9500ix windshield mount model and the PASSPORT 9500ci custom-installed version. Both models established a new technology standard by introducing patented features including AutoLearn™ artificial intelligence. AutoLearn™ uses GPS technology to automatically eliminate false alerts by indexing their exact location and frequency. “This artificial intelligence makes the PASSPORT 9500 series radar detectors the most accurate and intelligent detectors on the road. You drive, they learn — end of story,” said Tim Coomer, ESCORT’s Vice-President of New Product Development.

Both the PASSPORT 9500ix and the 9500ci radar detectors address the single fastest growing threat drivers face today–the increasing numbers of fixed position speed and red light cameras. Both detectors meet this ever-increasing risk by incorporating the ESCORT Defender™ database, which identifies these threats well in advance. In addition, the Defender™ database includes the top speed traps throughout North America. “The Defender™ database can be easily updated through the detector’s USB-internet ready connector,” added Coomer.

Andrew Eisner, director of content at Retrevo says, “We’re not sure if there are more people feeling lost and looking for direction or they just want to own one of the hottest digital lifestyle gadgets, but Retrevo is seeing lots of interest in everything GPS from cheap GPS devices to high-end GPS devices. There are some great GPS values this holiday season.”

Hot GPS Features This Season

Avoiding traffic jams is top on every commuters list this year. Real time traffic information often requires an extra device to receive the data sent on FM, cellular, or satellite signals. You’ll also often have to pay a monthly, annual, or lifetime fee. MSN Direct, bundled with some units like the Garmin nuvi 680 is available for 120 cities and not only gives you traffic info but adds gas prices, weather, and movie times. Some GPS devices like the Navigon 7100 include free lifetime traffic.

Text-to-speech (TTS) lets the GPS device give you audible street names, directions, and points of interest (POI) information. This feature is sometimes called spoken street names and is pretty standard in most high-end devices. The Navigon 2100 is a new low price GPS device that offers TTS.

Great GPS Gift Ideas

The Garmin Forerunner 205 is a GPS device that you wear like a wristwatch. It tells you how far you ran and how long it took. Serious runners rave about this GPS device. You can buy the Garmin Forerunner 205 for around $180. The older Garmin Forerunner 201 which reviewers don’t like as much as the 205 can be purchased for around $120 or you can buy the higher end Garmin Forerunner 305 that adds a heart rate monitor for around $220.

The Garmin eTrex family that includes very small, portable, and waterproof handheld GPS devices make great companions for outdoor activities. They come with WAAS accuracy enhancement technology and run for many hours on AA batteries. The basic Garmin eTrex sells for around $100. The GARMIN ETREX LEGEND sells for under $200 and offers 36 hour battery life and a color display.

Black Friday Hot Sellers You Can Still Buy

Retrevo looked at what happened in the world of GPS devices on Black Friday and found there are still plenty of good values out there. Here are a few:

The TomTom One LE was a doorbuster at Best Buy for $119. It has a 3.5 inch display, Bluetooth, an SD card expansion slot, and comes with a windshield mount which are illegal in California and Minnesota. You can currently buy the TomTom One LE at Best Buy for $149.

The Navigon 2100 has an MSRP of $249 but they were gobbled up on Black Friday at Staples for $99. Staples had the Navigon 2100T the T is for traffic and was included in the price. You can currently purchase the 2100 now for a little over $200. The Navigon 2100 is part of a Navigon GPS family that just started selling in the U.S that includes The Navigon 2100, Navigon 5100, and Navigon 7100. The 2100 and 5100 have a 3.5 inch screen while the 7100 is a widescreen device. Traffic is included free in the 5100 and 7100. The 2100 gets good marks for industrial design and flash-like graphics but there are concerns about icon and font readability and data entry.

The Mio c230, featuring text to voice was on sale at Radio Shack for $149. You can get this basic 3.5 inch screen GPS that offers Text-to-Speech functionality and gets high marks for performance and ease of use for well under $200.