Review: Panasonic Strada CN-GP50N

Excellent navigation and superb ease-of-use

The CN-GP50N is Panasonic’s first foray into the European sat-nav market.

It’s a sleek device that features an SD/MMC slot and a beefy internal speaker alongside a power switch on the exterior.

It started up quickly with a decent time to first fix of under two minutes and, thanks to the large controls and clear layout, navigation was straightforward.

We were impressed by its performance on the road. Panasonic manages to cram a huge amount of data onto the 5in display, including current speed and time to destination, the name of the current and next road, and distance to the next turning complete with a countdown bar to help pinpoint the right junction at busy interchanges.

You’ll also see a diagrammatical representation of the next turnoff along with a lane assistant view that prepares you for the subsequent instruction at places such as double roundabouts.

You’ll see road names and points of interest dotted around your position, and there are even 3D images of popular locations in major cities in Europe.

Despite all of this information, the map view is extremely clear and easy to read at a glance, mainly because of the clever semi-transparent nature of the information boxes that allow you to see through to the road layout underneath.

Additionally you’ll find speed camera alerts, full European map coverage and a voice recognition facility to allow the driver to vocally programme the details of a destination.

In terms of navigation then the CN-GP50N fares very well, but does let itself down a bit when it comes to extras. There’s built-in Bluetooth to pair with a phone and a photo viewer, but no MP3 player and a TMC unit must be picked up separately for traffic information.

Those looking for an all-in-one multimedia companion will need to look elsewhere, but in terms of pure navigation it excels.