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Dec 06/Jan 07
Navigation nirvana (satnav evaluations)
Satnav occupies that intriguing middle ground between consumer must-have and business boon. Everyone wants it, but how do you work out the best business proposition from among all the units on offer? Robin Meczes takes seven leading contenders for a spin. Did you decide to pop a portable satellite navigation system into somebody's Xmas stocking this year? Or are your thinking of splashing out for yourself? Perhaps more to the point, have you realised that you could improve the productivity of your drivers by providing satnav units for them? Imagine a world where they never need to ask directions again, or stop to consult a map. Appealing, isn't it? Whatever your objective, don't flash your credit cash until you've read on. Satnav units may have come a long way in the last few years, but some have come further than others. So how do you know which ones will put you on the fast track to driving heaven?
To find out, m.logistics tested seven of the current crop on the market. The manufacturers involved were invited to provide the best possible unit for under £600 (ex-VAT). All units were tested on a multi-point, 32-mile route around Surrey and, where mapping was available, on a similar 25-mile round journey around northern France. Unless otherwise stated, you can take it as read that all the test units provided sensible routes from A to B (with both quickest and shortest options), gave decent screen and voice instructions, and were in the right ballpark on journey time predictions. You can also assume that, with the exception of one or two minor roads and some recent changes to road layouts, their mapping was largely accurate. All of the units also provided both 2D and 3D views with automatic zooming according to road speed. Unless otherwise stated, all units used an internal rechargeable battery. Most units allow you to specify your vehicle type and do base route calculations on this - generally calculating around an hour's difference between cars and trucks on our sample route from Sutton to Norwich, for example. But do bear in mind that mapping is only just being developed that takes true account of width/height/weight and other restrictions in the real world. You have been warned! Sony nav-u NV-U70
Solidly built unit with decent quality mounting arrangement. High-quality, 8.9cm touch screen was easy to read in all lights and included useful auto-dimmer for hours of darkness. Voice instructions (one female voice only) were clear. Map detail was good - though street names were only available on the map in 2D view. Easy access to a good range of pre-loaded points of interest including restaurants, parking, fuel stations, hotels and medical centres. On the downside, this unit was heavier and bulkier than some and was one of two that suffered noticeably from vibration on less-than-perfect road surfaces, wobbling to a point where reading the screen could be a bit of a challenge. It also told us to bear right on one occasion when we actually needed to bear left (the screen showed things correctly though). Finally, having calculated any given route, the Sony would only reveal the total distance to be travelled and ETA once we had started to move - a bit odd. Overall, the Sony is a good quality unit at a decent price, however. Though it had fewer extras than many of the others on test, our unit was also provided with a very welcome TMS traffic information facility which worked well. It only forced itself upon us when it had to, and provided a useful addition to the unit's capabilities.
Navman iCN 530
The iCN 530 was the fastest to calculate a sample route from London to Norwich and also had good quality, 9.1cm screen, decent mapping, a choice of male or female voices and a good selection of points of interest, with two push-buttons on the front to find the nearest parking and fuelling points speedily. Map views include 2D, 3D, turn-by-turn with map and a listing of turns without any map. We could only get the 2D map to point north, however, rather than "following" our vehicle. ETA, remaining duration, current speed, current time, heading, distance to next turn and total distance remaining were all easily accessed, and an auto-dimmer facility is included for night driving. The Navman came with small telescopic aluminium stylus which was useful for address entry as the software keys are quite small. We got some annoying vibration rattle from the unit on some road surfaces at times. Also we couldn't find any way to select different vehicle types. The unit does come with an overspeed facility, however, that warns you if you exceed a pre-set maximum speed. Unfortunately the audible chime it does so with is extremely grating. Our unit was also supplied with a small remote to control volume, zoom, cursor keys and map views (though it didn't appear to respond to volume inputs) as well as a small and useful carry case for the screen.
Garmin nüvi 350
The nüvi was good quality, lightweight and solid as a rock in use. The user interface was excellent, with large on-screen buttons, easy destination entry and clear, uncluttered screens throughout. Audible instructions were delivered with two UK voices (male and female) and it was the only unit to tell us the names of the streets we were turning into (though in an anglicised way that would torture foreign language speakers using it abroad). The 9cm screen was good quality and the nüvi was one of the very few on test to show street names in 3D mode. Calculations were quick and there was an excellent range of pre-programmed points of interest. There's no facility to pre-define areas to avoid, but there is a detour facility if you find your immediate route ahead unpalatable. Selecting different vehicles seemed to make very little difference to calculations - only two minutes' difference from Sutton to Norwich between standard car and truck, in fact. There was also no software provided, though you can just copy the whole unit's data to your hard disk as a backup when you get it and EU maps were pre-installed. The nüvi's many extras included a currency converter, measurements converter, calculator, world clock, audible book player, MP3 player and JPEG viewer. The unit comes with a spare 420Mb of memory onboard to store pics and music, and you can obviously add further memory cards. It also came with a useful screen cover.
Siemens VDO MS 2100 TMC
The MS 2100 TMC had a decent 8.9cm screen and a good solid feel to it. In use it wasn't bad, although a bit slow to recalculate when we left the recommended route, and the menu system, too, seemed sluggish, though easy to use. The unit had no option to avoid toll roads (including the LCC), however, and could only cope with national, rather than international, journeys in one go. In addition to fastest and shortest routes, the Siemens unit also calculates the most economical, though how it does so we're not quite sure - it seemed to make no difference to the predicted journey time or mileage to Norwich. The unit came with a choice of male/female voices and five preset volume settings, the first two of which were barely audible. We were also somewhat unimpressed with the map installer software, which took 40 mins to install itself to our hard disk (taking up a hefty 4.5Gb) only to provide just one option on the Windows Program menu - to uninstall. Extras included TMC capability (though we hardly got any traffic alerts from it), MP3 player and JPEG viewer. We were also supplied with an optional remote control for the steering wheel, but this didn't fit our (standard) Peugeot wheel well and, after leaving it unused for 2-3 weeks we found the lithium battery in it had apparently died.
Blaupunkt TravelPilot Lucca
The Blaupunkt felt cheaper than most of the others. The unit was bigger than its 8.9cm screen really demanded, though the screen itself was fine and featured a useful night mode display option. A very long mounting arm made it tricky to locate at a comfortable distance and also allowed a lot of vibration when driving. Entering destinations, however, was easy, it wasn't too slow to calculate routes and gave clear and timely instructions, though you're limited to a single female voice and the speaker was a bit tinny. There was a good selection of points of interest and easy access to ETA, speed and distance remaining. No street names are shown on the map in 3D mode; conversely a useful feature that shows you local speed limit is only available in 3D mode. The unit's speed limit database isn't always spot-on either, getting the local limit wrong in at least one instance. The unit does take vehicle types into account but calculated our London-Norwich sample journey at 6hrs, 35 mins in a caravan compared with under three hours by standard car: surely some mistake, as that averages out at just 21mph! The interface was difficult in places, too: during navigation, dragging our finger across the map sometimes moved the map and sometimes called up a sub-menu and we could never quite tell which it would be. The Blaupunkt was also often slow to refresh maps, especially at street level.
1 Since this test was completed Blaupunkt has stopped selling the Lucca and now only sell the Lucca MP3 - an identical unit but with MP3 playback and JPEG viewing capability - for the same price. Blackspot Road Angel Navigator 6000
Combining navigation and speed camera warnings in the lowest cost unit of the bunch, the Road Angel Navigator 6000 is of high build quality with a decent 8.9cm screen and a good mounting bracket. The operating interface was initially confusing and the touch screen was a little slow to respond at times. Data entry was easy though, even if it was quite slow to work out routes. There's no pre-set "avoid area" feature, but you can specify short (3 mile) detours. Navigation instructions are supplied via one female voice with a male counterpart providing other alerts (speed cameras, school zones and accident blackspots). Both were very clear. The safety alerts, however, were accompanied by a very jarring chime. A huge number of points of interest were included and the unit was one of the few to provide street names on the 3D map. There's also a decent night mode display and an overspeed warning facility. The unit came with a cheap 7cm plastic stylus that was too short for comfortable use. Fortunately, you don't really need it. Also included are a basic JPEG viewer and MP3 player. They worked fine, but the unit didn't include a headphone socket, strangely. We had some volume problems too - some of the system noises came out inexplicably much louder than others at times. These foibles aside, however, an excellent package at an excellent price.
Camos Car-A-Van CN-770
An impressive unit on paper, with a 17.9cm screen and the ability to take DVD player/reversing camera inputs. In reality, though, a disappointment. The Camos is too big to carry with you comfortably when you leave your vehicle and in any case is designed to be mounted with nuts and bolts, though there is also a traditional windscreen sucker cup attachment. There's no built-in battery, either, so it always requires vehicle power. The screen seemed quite low resolution, did not respond well to touch commands (often misinterpreting) and stubbornly refused to let us adjust its brightness (a point proudly confirmed by the manual!). The interface was also irritating in places, with two separate volume controls in the software (only one of which affected navigation command volume) and a tendency to slip into German - which even happened during screen calibration, which we'd hoped might sort out the poor touchscreen response. It also invited us to hit an "Escape" button to cancel recalibration without actually providing the button on screen. There was also mention in places of a stylus, but none was supplied. In attempting to navigate, we found destination entry frustrating thanks to the poor touchscreen response. When we did finally get there, the navigation was fine, though the single female voice sounded awful through the poor-quality speaker, with marked distortion even at 20 per cent of maximum volume. There was a reasonable selection of points of interest and an overspeed warning, which worked when the unit knew the local speed limit. That only seemed to be on motorways in the UK, however. To add to our woes, we were unable to mate the unit successfully with the optional reversing camera supplied, and attempting this seems to have killed the Camos off completely - it wouldn't respond at all from then on.
Our verdictWith the exception of the Camos, none of the units in our test was really disappointing, but in the end, there were two that stood head and shoulders above the rest. For being the most desirable, function-rich and easiest to use (despite a relatively high price tag) our overall "best buy" award goes to the Garmin nüvi 350. Also highly commendable and a great buy for those with slightly tighter purse-strings was the Road Angel Navigator 6000, which, given that it provides a very decent quality package at a quite excellent price, runs away with our "best budget buy" award.
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