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Satellite navigation is finding its way into all kinds of devices these days, from PDAs to mobile phones.
Magellan’s Roadmate 800 comes at it from the other way round. It’s a dedicated sat nav device that just happens to have a bunch of multimedia functions built into it.
The Roadmate 800 looks very similar to Magellan’s previous systems – a chunky grey slab with a large (3.5in) colour touch-screen on the left and a series of buttons arranged in a circle on the right.
The difference with this particular Roadmate is that it has its own hard drive. We’ve seen hard disk-based GPS devices before, but this piece of kit has a whole 20GB - 5GB of which is available to store pictures or music.
Media can be transferred via USB and a rechargeable battery allows you to remove the unit from its in-car mount and effectively use it as a portable jukebox and digital photo album.
As such it works pretty well, although audio performance is not spectacular.
Elsewhere, the software navigation itself is quick and easy to use, the display is clear and the speaker provides good audio for voice commands. Magellan has made a few tweaks to its software, including a useful 3D bird’s eye map view.
Other neat touches include automatic night mode when low levels of natural light are detected, and an automatic volume increase to compensate for engine noise at speeds over 70mph.
Detailed maps of 27 European countries are pre-loaded on the disk. North America is on there too, but needs to be unlocked for an additional fee. It also has over a million points of interest pre loaded.
The multimedia feature is a thoughtful addition, but not necessarily a deal breaker. Besides, the sort of gadget fan who would fork out £600 for a satellite navigation device will almost certainly already have something like a photo Ipod at his or her disposal.
See also:
Multiple navigation modes, but some annoying niggles hold it back 03 Feb 2006
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