Garmin Mobile XT 5 sat-nav software

This offering from Garmin has a wide range of supported platforms, adding Palm OS to the usual Windows Mobile and Symbian options.

The version we tested was a late beta of version 5, which should be on sale by the time you read this.

Considering this is a comparatively cheap sat nav, it’s pretty full of features, with a huge range of ways to find places, including intersections and POIs.

As well as basics such as the weather, there are online links that include things such as flight arrivals and departures at nearby airports. You can also call up Google Panoramio photos in the area and navigate to them.

When a search finds lots of items, each one in the list has a number, making it easy to select the right one, and the main screen – as on the company’s Nuvi range – is dominated by just two key options: ‘Where To’ and ‘View Map’.

Finding routes is easy, and directions are clear but the routing did seem a bit circuitous, and despite checking online for traffic information, sent us into a busy part of town, which could have been avoided.
Re-routing seemed sluggish, too, and we’d often moved on from a junction by the time a route had been worked out.

The display when driving is very clear and easy to follow, with speed limits clearly visible. There’s a good range of options for types of route, and even for roads that you want to avoid. And although it lacks features such as the Guides found on Nokia maps, it’s a comprehensive system at an attractive price – provided, that is, the final version performs faster than the beta we tested.

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