Over the past couple of years, the Nextar company has come up with a very wide range of portable consumer electronics, ranging from MP3 players to GPS navigation systems. And the second type of products is exactly what we'll talk about as follows, since the company has just unveiled two new models just in time for the Christmas shopping season, namely the Q4-01 and Q4-02 personal navigation devices.

The first model in the Q4 series is (obviously) the Q4-01, which has been fitted with a 4.3-inch, touchscreen TFT LCD display that can be used for viewing the navigation maps from NAVTEQ in 2D/3D/night modes, as well as the up to 1.6-million points of interest. However, one doesn't really have to watch the screen all the times, since the Q4-01 also provides voice-guided directions with turn-by-turn voice prompts via the built-in stereo speaker.

Plus, just like all of the other modern PNDs available on the market, the device also features a few interesting entertainment-related options, such as the possibility to listen to MP3s or view JPEG images. Other noteworthy specs are the SD card slot for additional memory, the built-in high-sensitive antenna, plus the fact that the device is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery.

The Q4-02 is built on the same platform as the Q4-01, but provides superior features. Thus, in addition to having maps for the 50 US states, it includes maps for Canada and Puerto Rico, all pre-loaded on one 4GB SD card. The Q4-02 also includes an extended six-million points of interest.

Both units are available from several retailers and sell for $299 (the Q4-01) and $399 (the Q4-02), respectively, the price difference between the two being rather high, given the fact that the two units are almost similar in pretty much every respect.


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