Which Sat Nav overview report

[Reidy10_0]

As competition hots up, the price of sat navs comes down – our Best Buys start from around £180.

Our Best Buy sat navs are easy to set up and use, and will get you to your destination efficiently with the minimum of fuss. They offer a variety of handy features such as traffic management, Pin security, European mapping and even a detailed restaurant guide.

The ones that failed to make the grade weren’t necessarily disasters at guiding the way, but some were quite difficult to use, while others had significant weaknesses such as giving inaccurate directions in built-up areas.

None of the the integrated or phone-based sat navs scored highly enough to be Best Buys. Use the 'compare products' section to find the right system for your needs.





Best Buys TomTom GO 520
Price: £250
Score: 73%
Type: Portable
This great-performing Best Buy sat nav from TomTom works well, with easy installation and programming, clear audio guidance and the ability to tackle giving 2 or more instructions in quick succession.

Visual clarity is aided by the wide screen, with 16:9 aspect ratio, and the map zooms in to show the detail of on junctions as you approach.


Garmin Nuvi 660FM
Price: £300
Score: 72%
Type: Portable
The Nuvi 660FM is easy to set up and use, with clear prompts and graphics, although it struggles in built-up areas.

This model comes with European mapping and traffic management as standard. It’s easy to install and a touch-sensitive screen makes initial programming and changing routes easy. It comes with a bracket to mount it on the dashboard if you prefer this from the screen-mounting option.


Garmin Nuvi 610T Regional
Price: £230
Score: 71%
Type: Portable
This model shares many similar features and functions with the Nuvi 660FM, like the large screen, clear visuals and PIN security. It’s easy to install and easy to programme. Changing routes is no problem either.

It did well in London, finding all the inner city destinations, and overall it did better in the city than its sister model, but it was sometimes slow to give instructions and the screen map display was slightly behind actual position of the car.


Mio DigiWalker C520t with MioMap v.3.3
Price: £267
Score: 71%
Type: Portable
Great for re-routing to avoid traffic jams, the DigiWalker C520t offers accurate route planning and good prompts, but changing routes mid-journey is a bit fiddly.

This model comes fully equipped with European mapping and traffic management control effective at re-routing to avoid those annoying jams. It re-calculated the routes several times on our city runs.


Sony NV-U82
Price: £250
Score: 71%
Type: Portable
Installing and programming this Best Buy Sony model is easy and it gives clear instructions. However, it can be tricky to change routes mid-journey.

The screen is large at 121mm, and it has a 16:9 aspect ratio – features which help make the visual prompts clearer and easier to understand. It also gives good clear audio instructions, although from time to time these are a little late for an effective response from the driver.


TomTom One Europe
Price: £180
Score: 70%
Type: Portable
This Best Buy from TomTom performs pretty competently across the board and is exceptional value for money. It doesn’t come with a large screen like some other Best Buys, but even so, its visual and audio advice are good.

TomTom One is the biggest selling model in the UK. As the name suggests, this derivative comes ready loaded with European mapping, for which many more expensive models ask extra.


Snooper S600 Syrius Plus
Price: £250
Score: 68%
Type: Portable
The S600 Syrius Plus is one of our Best Buy sat nav systems. Its accurate routes can be tinkered with easily, and its visual display is as good as any we’ve seen.

It comes with an SD memory card carrying detailed maps of the UK and Ireland. A further map of Western Europe is available for purchasing on a separate 2GB SD memory card.


ViaMichelin Navigation X-970T
Price: £180
Score: 68%
Type: Portable
As the Michelin name tag suggests, this sat nav comes loaded with information about the plush eateries listed in the guide of the same name. But it’s a fairly useful sat nav even if you aren’t seeking fine food.

It comes with European maps and traffic management to divert you away from the jams, and there’s speed camera data – which can be updated online free of charge.


Garmin Nuvi 760
Price: £249
Score: 67%
Type: Portable
The Best Buy Garmin Nuvi 760 plots an exceptionally accurate route and can guide you to within a few metres of your destination.

In emergencies, it can provide directions to the nearest hospital, A & E, and police or petrol station along with the necessary phone numbers. As well as being windscreen mountable, it can be fixed to the dashboard to bring it closer to the driver.


Garmin StreetPilot C510 Deluxe
Price: £180
Score: 67%
Type: Portable
The Best Buy StreetPilot C510 offers reasonable value for money. It manages to perform to a level worthy of a Best Buy, yet its price tag is among the lowest on test.

The screen is small but (as with all the Garmins), it’s a touch-screen, which has clear graphics and is user-friendly.

[Manx]

Season's greetings to you all!!

It appears by your posting that you probably know a d*mn sight more about sat nav systems than I !!

Do happen to know which is the best sat nav to go for when specifically wanting a North American mapping facility?

I've looked at at three - Garmin Nuvi 770, Tom Tom GO920 and the Tom Tom GO920T.
Looking for UK,Europe&USA mapping,Safety Camera alerts,TMC &Postcode entries.

Do you happen to know the difference between the GO920 and the GO920T.....the latter being quite a bit cheaper!??

A system less than £300 would be ideal!

Thanks in advance for your help

M

[kiwisr]

Garmin is huge in America (actually the world) and are easily the best. Partly because they use Navtech maps which have much better coverage of the US and partly because Garmins routing is far better than any of the others (for the US).

[1]

Manx said:

Do you happen to know the difference between the GO920 and the GO920T.....the latter being quite a bit cheaper!??

The "T" stands for traffic. You get an RDS receiver which updates the traffic data on your journey. I have heard very mixed reviews about it. I think the only reason it would be cheap is because they are promoting it at the moment.

[waremark]

Have just bought TT 920T after having Garmin 660 for a year. It had a couple of worthwhile extra features over the Garmin 770 - 'Enhanced Positioning Tech' to estimate your position when it loses sat signal for a few moments, voice destination entry, and a bluetooth remote so you can operate it with your hand on the steering wheel. All these features work well. In my first few days I have found the TT does a better job even than the already good Garmin at the key tasks of rapid destination entry, and clear guidance. As mentioned above, a key aspect is that the map keeps up to date a little better, and also the voice guidance is better timed and less ambiguous.

I have not tried either of the traffic info systems - you can get free traffic info using the TMC decoder, or better info with a subscription by Bluetooth from a GPRS phone.

From experience with the Garmin and a Merc, the quality of data from TMC providers in the UK is not good enough to make TMC traffic worthwhile - I have often been on a free flowing road which shows on the map in my Merc as stopped, and vice versa.

I cannot comment on the comparison between Garmin Navtech data and TT Teleatlas date for the US - I don't think there is anything to choose in the UK.

The 920 T as already mentioned is the 920 plus TMC decoder and so is the one to buy. Current mail order price is £300 - in my personal opinion the extra features and superior performance justify the extra over the Garmin 770.

[Manx]

Gentlemen, Thank you.
I really do appreciate the time you've taken to post your thoughts.
Seems like the TT GO920T just about edges it over the Garmin - both obviously very capable....
so the price definately comes into consideration.

My birthday coming up very very soon..... and my wife is treating me to a sat nav of my choice!

Thanks again - have a great New Year.

M