Best sat nav devices
By James • May 11th, 2010 • Category: Buyer's Guide, Sat Navs
- Photo: TomTom
Sat nav devices are a dime a dozen now, with mobile phone OSes like Nokia and Google Android releasing their own satellite navigation apps. Still, for many people, though, dedicated sat nav devices are the way to go, so here are some of the best on the market as sorted by price, functionality and aesthetics.
TomTom Go 750 Live
This entry in TomTom’s sat nav devices is notable for its access to TomTom’s Live service, which gives users traffic updates in real-time, fuel prices and a handful of other features such as Bluetooth headsets for navigating hands-free. The drawbacks? It isn’t the cheapest sat nav around and the Live service has a monthly fee attached to it.
Garmin Nuvi 205W
This simple GPS device sneaks into our list for being incredibly simplistic, as well as very attractively priced. The Garmin Nuvi 205 goes the opposite direction of TomTom’s Go Live by costing less than £100 in most retailers, and harking back to the days of simple GPS functionality in a gorgeous, large, 4.3-inch display.
Magellan Maestro 4370
- Photo: Magellan
In the interest of keeping it brand neutral, one of Magellan’s sat nav devices (deservedly) sneaks onto this list, too. Though, when compared to Garmin and TomTom, Magellan is a fringe player in the sat nav market, the company has been sneakily adding great functionality to its GPS devices over time.
The Maestro 4370 also has a 4.3-inch touchscreen display, with their trademarked OneTouch interface so you can quickly access your favourite destinations. Directions, which are what matters most, are very accurate, though menu navigation is often times on the sluggish side. That complaint and choppy voice direction aside, this is a great sat nav device.
Whether its TomTom, Magellan, or Garmin, GPS devices have certainly come of age. The big question is how long, if at all, before the stand-alone GPS dies?
Tags for this article: GPS, sat nav devices, satellite navigation
