Group test: Satellite-navigation devices

What on earth did we do before in-car satellite navigation (sat nav)? Did we simply drive around in an aimless fog until we eventually reached our destinations? Or did we ensure that we always travelled with an expert from Ordnance Survey permanently strapped into our passenger seat to feed us directions?

Whatever the case, sat-nav products are flying off the shelves at an astonishing rate. Despite a rather disingenuous recent Which? report that suggested we might all be better off sticking with an old-fashioned road atlas, sat-nav devices are currently being bought at roughly double the rate they were in 2005, while manufacturers churn out new models with similar enthusiasm.

Sat nav is available in a number of different forms, such as software for PDAs and mobile phone add-ons, but it’s the dedicated all-in-one standalone device that accounts for the majority of sales, which is why we’ve rounded up 10 of the very latest models to compare them for their range of features, accuracy, value for money and general usability.

All these devices are intended for mainly in-car use (rather than the handheld variety) and come as DIY kits that you can install (and remove) yourself without having to refit the entire interior of your vehicle. We also settled on a ceiling of £300, although within that prices fall as low as £199. So read on to find out which models allowed us to travel in comfort and style and which ones drove us round the twist.

This article is part of a group test of 10 satellite-navigation devices
See also:
Introduction
Acer p610
Garmin Nuvi 310
Magellan Roadmate 3050T
Medion Gopal PNA465
Mio Digiwalker C510E
Navman N40i
Novogo S700
Sony Nav-u NV-U50T
Tomtom One Europe
ViaMichelin X-950
A tables of features can be read via our pdf download above
Editor's Choice is on the next page

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