Cobra announces NAV ONE 5000 GPS unit

While it's not specially-designed for truckers like some of the company's other GPS units, Cobra's
just-announced NAVO ONE 5000 device certainly looks like it'll get the job done for the average driver quite nicely, even if it may not exactly stand out from the pack. This one's biggest selling point, it seems, is its "ground-breaking" OptiView ultra-bright, five-inch touch screen, which the company claims is easy to view even in "extreme lighting conditions." Otherwise, you'll get Cobra's usual speed and red light camera location alerts, a "My Favorite Brands" feature that'll let you know when your nearing one of over 800 well-known restaurant and retail chains, text-to-speech functionality, optional real-time traffic data, and built-in Bluetooth for handsfree calling, among other standard features. If that works for ya, you'll be able to get your hands one of these for $510, with a 15-month traffic service subscription setting you back another $160.

[mlody11 @ Jan 4th 2008 1:01PM]

Wow, I live 2 streets down from that Wendy's and 294 South as shown is my daily commute home! How awesome... must buy now. 1st post too...

[Chad @ Jan 4th 2008 1:32PM]

That's funny.....I work a mile East of of that McDonalds!

[FlyByWire @ Jan 4th 2008 7:09PM]

Chicago FTW

[michaelportent @ Jan 4th 2008 1:06PM]

Ya know, I appreciate the leaps in GPS navigational technologies that we've had, but for god's sake: Why in the hell can't anybody make a GPS Device with a pretty GUI? I find it slightly annoying that I can tell there's a Wendy's coming up at the next exit, but it looks like an pixelated pile of vomit on my display screen.

[Andrew @ Jan 4th 2008 2:13PM]

With the exception being "pixelized", that actually describes Wendy's pretty well.

[Jeff @ Jan 4th 2008 2:55PM]

The GUI's are leaps and bounds better than they were even a few years ago. I'm actually kind of kicking myself for buying what was a good deal on a refurb Magellan unit just a couple months ago because already there are units with prettier GUI's out there for about the same price. (My Magellan does have text to speech, which is nice and still rare in cheaper units.)

You have to remember that you're going to be viewing this from several feet away. Nothing looks pixelated from that distance. Even my ugly interface looks smooth, just ugly. There is only so much detail your eyes are capable of seeing.

It's just like the whole argument about whether or not you can see the difference between 720p and 1080p on a 42" TV from 7 feet away. Same concept. Your eyes have a limit to what they can resolve. You see all these blown up closeups of GPS units here on Engadget, but that's not how you actually use them in real life.

[Jeff @ Jan 4th 2008 2:57PM]

Actually, re-reading your comment it sounds like you do own a GPS unit. But I don't know how old it is, and I still think you're being thrown a bit by the way the pictures of the newer models look here.

[Anton @ Jan 4th 2008 1:21PM]

Whoopie do! Now we get to have ads in our GPS device.

[Jeebus @ Jan 4th 2008 1:26PM]

Pop quiz:
It's 8:20 in the morning, the guy is driving NW, yet he's facing the sun. On what continent is he driving?

[Anton @ Jan 4th 2008 1:30PM]

Mars

[Hoof Hearted @ Jan 4th 2008 2:02PM]

Australia.
Everything is backward down there (under) I hear.
Does kinda make you wonder about the reliability of this unit. Good eye though.

[Naegling @ Jan 4th 2008 1:40PM]

COBRA!!!!!!!!


Knowing is half the battle.

[Whingnut @ Jan 4th 2008 1:45PM]

Damn! How'd I miss Ikea again?

[MichaelLC @ Jan 4th 2008 3:09PM]

Go Chitown! Looks like there's a lot of other Chicagoians here.

Is Cobra's office in Chicago? Somone should tell GI Joe...

[will @ Jan 4th 2008 3:40PM]

today showcasing the drive north from chicago through skokie, weird. There's a great mediterranian restraunt called Pita Inn just east of there on dempster.
Really great food.
@Jeebus, somewhere in the artic circle i'm pretty sure you could pull that off, I'd look it up if your handle didn't suck.

[JoN JoN @ Jan 4th 2008 3:46PM]

Ahhh...ill stick to my Tom Tom for my money !!!!

[Me Me Me @ Jan 4th 2008 5:37PM]

My Cousin, who worked at Motorola as an engineer for almost 20 years, left to go work for Cobra about 2 years ago, on thier new GPS division. So to answer a previous post, the units are engineered in Chicago, they are probably produced in China or Korea. Anyway, getting to the point of my post, my Cousin and the rest of the Cobra GPS Department was let go a couple of weeks ago. I am guessing that they saw a market that is oversaturated with devices being made by everyone under the sun and needed a write-off for 2007. Just food for thought, this will probably be the last Cobra GPS device we will ever see unless they start rebranding someone elses product like everyone else does.

[Wwhat @ Jan 4th 2008 6:37PM]

Funny how you never see the real display on those pictures of GPS devices, it's always the sticker they put on it, or a photoshop.

[mark lee @ Jan 4th 2008 7:45PM]

Hmm... Let me see if I can play Nintendo DS games on this thing...

[Victor J Velasco III @ Feb 6th 2008 12:49AM]

Its funny doesn't this thing look like a giant TomTom One GPS unit lol.

[NAV ONE 5000 OWNER @ Mar 1st 2008 6:07AM]

WELL am mad !!!!!!! I have one ..it has to be updated and the usb does not work ..when i 1st got it.. well it failed crashed on me i called them and they told me to update it i said ok after 3weeks and i got home and plug in the usb and the ac plug .the usb on the $450 paper weight said sorry usb dont work. it has got me lost.. keeps going back to where you went off route (sorry cop said i cant go that way) besides that it works well if you can put up with that LOL

[Another 5000 Owner @ Dec 4th 2008 8:22AM]

I have tried several other GPS units, and I must say this unit has the absolute WORST routing of any GPS I have seen. Besides picking the worst routes, it constantly keeps telling me to return to the Interstate highway that I am currently driving on. It also just told me to make a U-turn, 1 block before arriving at my destination.