Choosing the right direction: satellite navigation reviews

Portable satellite navigation systems are becoming increasingly popular and more affordable. Here we take a look at the different kinds of systems available, how they work and what you need to bear in mind when you’re buying. We’ll highlight the advantages and drawbacks of the different types, give you an idea of how much to pay for them and pick out some of the choice devices available.

There are three main categories. First, there are the dedicated devices, often called transferable systems. Their primary function is navigation, although they are increasingly coming with extra features like hard drives for storing your music.

Then there are the systems that use a PDA (personal digital assistant) to show you around the world. They can be a more cost-effective option than a transferable device, and retain all the other functionality of a PDA.

Finally, you can turn a Smartphone into the smallest in-car navigation system. Again, they can be cost effective and are by far the most portable of the options.

With any of these systems, it’s important to bear in mind that many cars nowadays come with a heated windscreen, with fine elements that thaw ice in the winter, or heat-reflective glass to keep the cabin cool in summer. These can hamper the satellite signals from reaching your device. If this is the case you’ll have to fit an external antenna.

Many include Traffic Message Channel (TMC). In most of Europe this information on traffic levels, accidents and roadworks is broadcast free to be picked up by compatible devices, which can then reroute you around delays. In the UK, this is licensed to a private company.

Producers of many systems have licensing agreements which means you won’t ever have to pay, but with others there could be subscription charges, perhaps after an initial free period.

The same is true for systems that contain locations of speed cameras and give you warnings as you approach. When you get your system it could come loaded with thousands of camera locations, but you might only get downloadable updates for free for a limited period.

Incidentally, while GPS-based speed camera detecting equipment is to remain legal in the UK, laser or radar-based systems will be banned by the road safety bill when it comes into law later this year.

Every device we highlight here will come with street detail maps of the UK, which means it can direct you from door-to-door. Some have main road mapping for Europe, which can bring you to a town, but can’t direct you around it, while the more expensive have the most detailed street-level mapping across Europe, Canada and the US. You can buy additional maps on a memory card, but these can cost up to £100, so it may make sense to invest in a more expensive system to start with.

Remember that you really don’t need to pay the full recommended retail prices for any of the systems here. A quick search on the internet at sites as familiar as Amazon.co.uk show there are easy savings to be had.

Transferable systems

Transferable systems have a built-in receiver for satellite signals and don’t rely on any other devices to work, which means they can often be the easiest to take from car to car.

Generally speaking, they’re also the simplest systems to get going, too. Pull it out of the box, switch it on, follow the set-up guide and you should be up and running within a few minutes.

Screens are often larger than other PDA or mobile set ups, while built-in loudspeakers mean you’ll be able to hear the directions it’s giving above the noise of your car and other traffic.

Prices start at less than £200, but costs quickly rise as added functionality is included.

Another drawback for these systems is their size. While they are light and portable enough for you to continue using as you walk along, they can be bulky and take up space in your briefcase.

Some of the more expensive systems come with hard-drives for storing data on, like music files and photographs, while others double as cameras.

Many can also connect with compatible Bluetooth mobile phones for safer, hands-free calls when you’re on the go.

PDAs

Unless you’ve got a recent PDA that has a satellite receiver built in, you’ll need to hook your organiser up to the stars. It’s relatively easy to turn your PDA into a satellite navigation system, too, with a host of bundles that provide you with everything you need.

An external antenna, often called a trailing lead or GPS mouse, plugs in and does the trick. There are also plenty of car mounting kits for PDAs that have an antenna built in, and these can help to reduce the number of wires trailing around the cabin.

This solution does tie the sat nav capability to your car a little, unless you fancy reinstalling mounting equipment, but you can, of course, still take your PDA with you.

The antenna mounts can also have an added loudspeaker, so if your PDA is on the quiet side they’re worth considering too.

If your PDA is Bluetooth-enabled you can connect to similarly enabled antenna wirelessly. While this frees you of a cable in your car, your sat nav capability is still tied to your car.

Be aware that not every GPS-enabled PDA comes with mapping and navigation software included in the price – the Mio P350, for example – but there are several packages available.

Smartphones

For the ultimate in compactness, you can transform your Smartphone into a back-seat driver with a map.

As with PDAs, you’ll either need one of the handful of phones that have a GPS antenna built in, or you could purchase an external one, or buy a mounting kit that’s equipped with one.

Then you just put on the software, load up the maps and you are ready to go.

Smartphones obviously have the smallest screens and other controls, so they can be fiddly to operate on the go. Be particularly careful when using one of these at the wheel of a car, and take a look at the sections on safety.

For a non-GPS Smartphone or PDA try receivers like TomTom’s Bluetooth GPS for £85, or i-mate’s PPC/PDA2 at £125, which combines receiver, car mount and charger in one. You can find maps and software from Route 66, TomTom’s Navigator 5, Destinator and CoPilot Live 6.

Alternative panels

Portable satellite navigation systems work in the same way as any that are hard-wired into a car.

The satellites that are used to locate your exact location are all run by the US military. A few years ago the US dialled-down scrambling levels on satellite signals, which it still uses to send your sat nav haywire as you approach one of its military bases.

It made domestic systems that used the signals more accurate, but also highlights how the US could, if it wanted, completely scramble signals and render every non-military, or non-US-approved, device completely useless.

That could be the reason why the European Union is getting busy with a programme of satellite launches that will provide a rival commercial operation. The £3bn Galileo project is running a little over budget at the moment – by nearly £300m so far – but the schedule is to have the satellites in operation by 2010.

Security concerns

Sales of portable sat nav systems have rocketed, but thefts of the devices have, unfortunately, followed suit. The key lesson here is to take your sat nav system with you once you have arrived at your destination – it’s portable, after all. At an absolute minimum you should store it out of sight, but even then it only takes a matter of seconds to get into most cars, so don’t think it’s secure.

While you’re in your car, deter opportunist thieves by locking your doors as you travel – many systems are being stolen in traffic or at traffic lights. Aside from choosing a car that comes with laminated glass, there’s little you can do to thwart determined criminals that are willing to smash their way in as you sit at the lights.

If the worst should come to the worst, try to keep calm and hand over anything they want. Insurance companies hand out cheques, not medals.

Safety first

It’s important that you familiarise yourself with the controls of your new system before you set off. Being distracted by a new toy when you should be concentrating on driving is not ideal. Even when you do know your system like the back of your hand, fiddle with it as little as possible while you’re driving.

It’s also worth considering where you put your new system, so that it doesn’t obscure your view out of the car. The safest bet is to position it on the dash out of the ‘swept’ area of the windscreen where the wipers clean.

All is not lost if that’s not possible, however. Edict 30 of the Construction and Use Regulations of 1986 says that: “All glass or other transparent material shall be maintained in such condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver.”

Rather predictably, the regulation doesn’t exactly detail what obscure the vision means. Tax disc holders and sun visors can take up more windscreen space than a compact portable satellite navigation unit, and we don’t hear of any complaints about them.

So, stick the system out of the way and you’ll probably be all right, sucker it in front of your face and you’re likely to be on thin ice.

THE REVIEWS

GPS-READY SMARTPHONE
Mio A701 £380
A nifty all-in-one design with a 2.7-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth and the ubiquitous camera.
Also consider
HP iPAQ hw6515 Mobile Messenger: £360

GPS-READY PDA
Navman PiN 570 £210
A PDA that can navigate you on foot as well as in your car. As with any system like this, battery power can be quickly drained, but it comes with a mounting kit for your car where it can be recarged. Street-level UK mapping is included.
Also consider
Mio P350: £180
Fujitsu Siemens LOOX N520250: £245
Garmin iQue 3200: £380

£400-500
TomTom Go 910 £450
A 20Gb hard drive means this TomTom can do some fairly eye-catching back flips. You can download your music collection to it and listen through the built-in MP3 player, just don’t necessarily expect the same music quality as your car stereo. You can expect door-to-door navigation, not only across the UK and Europe, but in the US and Canada, too.
Also consider
Garmin Nuvi 360: £425
Navman iCN 750 Europe: £450

£300-400
Navman iCN 720 £340
One for the gadget fans, this Navman has a built-in camera, so you can take pictures of destinations. Their location is then automatically stored so you can touch a photograph and be provided with directions to it. There’s also free updates to a speed camera database.
Also consider
TomTom GO 510: £320
Garmin Nuvi 310: £314
Garmin Nuvi 350: £350
Mio 710: £336
TomTom GO 710: £399

£200-300
Mio C510E £250
As well as the 3.5-inch touchscreen and Bluetooth connectivity you’d expect in this price band, the Mio has a relatively slim-line design and a few tricks up its sleeve. You get main road mapping across Europe, although still not street-level detail, and a year’s subscription to a speed camera database. Like most other systems in this price bracket, you can also connect another external antenna to pick up TMC information.
Also consider
TomTom One: £280
Garmin Nuvi 300: £250
Garmin StreetPilot C310: £220

Peter Lawson is deputy editor of What Car? web and digital