On February 4th, 2008, it was announced that WeatherBug was to be the weather data provider for the Magellan Maestro(TM) Elite 5340+GPRS. The Elite will provide its users with access to live weather conditions. This will include up-to-the-second weather conditions, including road conditions, surfaces and of course - visibility.

Hasn’t weather always been an option with GPS units?

Assuming you were able to locate a decent GPS that provided such a thing previous to the Maestro(TM) Elite, the data available was slim pickings and the best you could hope for was hourly updates. Think this does not matter and hourly is good enough? Ask any professional truck driver which they’d rather have - up to the second weather or a “rough guesstimate” thanks to now dated information. The answer is fairly obvious.

With WeatherBug Professional being offered with the Magellan Maestro(TM) Elite 5340+GPRS, the problem of timely accuracy has since been rendered a moot point.

Why weather on the road matters?

Just as WeatherBug mobile offerings protect you when you are on the go, having access to live weather conditions on your GPS system can spell out a best course of action should there be a storm front coming it or perhaps, simply icy conditions that are just now starting to form up as you enter another region of the US by car.

Having access to accurate weather information can mean the following to a long distance driver:

• Decide whether to drive through the night or pull into a motel should conditions become too dangerous for nighttime driving.
• Heading up into the mountains can often mean more severe weather than initially anticipated from the weather report seen that morning. Having live access to weather changes can be critical. Especially with snow, wind and ice.
• And finally, knowing what the current road conditions are like. Just because you have a temperature gauge on that pick-up truck of yours does not mean that you actually have a clear picture of the current road conditions and if things are about to take a sudden change for the worst.

There is really no doubt about it. This deal between WeatherBug and Magellan is at its core, fantastic news for North American drivers.