Review: Viamichelin X930 sat nav device

Viamichelin’s X930 runs the Navigation 3 software and the installed map data includes tourist information from Michelin’s Green Guide, which is likely to be more useful to families than to professional drivers.

The front panel provides volume controls to the left of the screen, with buttons at the right to access the main menu, call up the history of destinations, view GPS status and navigate to a POI.

Navigation was reasonable, with good lane directions most of the time, though a lack of clarity at one junction resulted in us being sent into a tunnel instead of around it.

Re-routing is something the Viamichelin software seems pretty good at, and it manages very quickly, without nagging exhortations to turn round.

While most of the interface is simple enough to use with your fingers, we did find some annoyances. Chiefly, if you go into any of the menus while navigating, it’s fiddly to get back to where you were, unless you use the History button and then reselect your destination from the list.

And pressing Exit from the main menu – which you might think would take you to the map – results in the screen being switched off, so you need to press the power button again.

There’s also support for partial postcodes, but if a long road appears in two different postcodes, you’ll only be able to find it in one of them.

And, though it’s better than some of the other systems and adequate at lower speeds, the volume still isn’t good enough in a fast-moving car.

Overall, this is a reasonable package, with extensive POI information that may appeal to leisure travellers, but it lacks panache and it’s outclassed by some of the other products.

This article is part of a group test of satellite navigation systems. Others are:
Intro and Editor's choice
Blue Media BM6380GPS
Evesham Nav-Cam 7000
Garmin Street Pilot i3
Magellan Roadmate 300
Medion Go Pal PNA350
Mio 268+
Navman ICN520
Novogo A30
Tom Tom One
Viamichelin X930
Top-of-the-range options
The choice between all-in-ones or PDA add-ons
Europe's GPS constellation

See also:

Review: Viamichelin X930 sat nav device

A great range of POIs, but there are some interface quirks  11 Apr 2006

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