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Satellite navigation systems take a turn for the better
Steve Morgenstern
From the Print Edition:
Camilo Villegas, July/August 2006
(continued from page 2)
Cell-phones aren't the only handhelds that can be transformed into navigation systems—personal digital assistants can also be morphed effectively. The PDA offers a handsome LCD display, speedy microprocessor and decent memory capacity—add a GPS receiver and software and you're good to go. For this roundup, instead of assuming you own a PDA and want to enhance it, I went with a complete solution from well-known GPS maker Pharos. The Traveler GPS 525 ($550) is a full-fledged Windows Mobile PDA, meaning it's ready to handle personal info and documents imported from your PC, play music and video files, and even surf the Web using built-in wireless Wi-Fi networking. And stuffed inside the petite 4.4-ounce package is a full-fledged navigation system, with built-in GPS antenna. The 2.8-inch screen is crisp but fairly small (rotating to a horizontal view helped), and the speaker isn't very loud (a headset or output to your car stereo is highly recommended). On the other hand, all your contact information is automatically loaded onto the PDA when you synchronize it with your computer—getting directions to any of these folks is as simple as choosing one from a list. If you don't need a PDA, there are better navigation-only ways to spend your money. But if a handheld organizer makes sense in your busy life, the Traveler GPS 525's powerful PDA plus integrated navigation, without any bothersome add-on adapters, delivers a solid one-two combination.
The companies duking it out in the navigation arena aren't exactly household names. Pharos? Thales? TomTom? Sony noted the lack of 800-pound consumer electronics gorillas on the playing field and decided to plant its big feet with the Nav-U Personal Navigation System. You might imagine that Sony's entry would be festooned with multimedia frippery, but you'd be mistaken. In fact, the Nav-U is a straightforward, well-designed device at a reasonable price ($600). I was on my way out the door to an appointment at a corporate headquarters I'd never visited before when the Nav-U arrived. I quickly unboxed it, mounted it on my windshield, plugged in the cigarette lighter adapter and took the quick on-screen tutorial. Street maps for the entire mainland United States are preinstalled so within 15 minutes I was on my way. Turn-by-turn directions were spoken loudly and clearly using a well-designed two-way speaker system, though there was no text-to-speech system. The 3.5-inch touch-screen was bright and sharp, the controls logically configured and big enough to poke at effectively at highway speeds, though the inability to zoom in and out of the map was annoying. Weighing in at a suitcase-friendly 11 ounces, Sony's first foray into the nav world is an effective, if not particularly innovative solution.
Thales Navigation, the company that pioneered consumer navigation by developing the Hertz NeverLost system in 1995, offers a full range of GPS systems. I took a look at its new value-priced model, the Magellan RoadMate 3000T ($599). Similar in size and shape to the Nav-U, if less sleekly styled, the RoadMate also lacks text-to-speech capability, but does offer a worthwhile enhancement: in addition to providing right or left directions for the next turn, it tells you about the turn after that as well—very useful when trying to figure out which lane you should enter. The 3000T also features a photo viewer and a digital music player (there's an SD memory card slot for loading media files). Unfortunately, you can't play music and use the navigation system at the same time (the Garmin system reviewed below handles this better). Unlike most of the navigation units in this class, the Magellan uses physical buttons along the edges of the device to control many functions instead of asking you to poke repeatedly at a touch-screen. This works well in most cases, though the text-free icon labels on the front buttons can be confusing. The 3000T offers a huge points-of-interest database (over six million entries) and supports downloading of additional entries, a feature not available on the Sony model. You also have the option to upgrade to real-time traffic service with the $149 TrafficKit add-on.
Smaller and more powerful than the Nav-U or 3000T (albeit far more expensive, at $857), Garmin's nüvi 350 is one of my favorites. Yes, the name is a little odd (a lowercase "n" and an umlaut over the "u"—must have been a closeout at the silly names boutique), but the combination of portability, ease of use and worthwhile extra features leads me to forgive its creators. For starters, the nüvi measures just 3.87" x2.91"x0.87" and 5.1 ounces—small and flat enough to fit easily in a briefcase or even a jacket pocket, yet the bright, sharp 3.5-inch display (measured diagonally) is still big enough for easy reading. The on-screen menus are thoughtfully designed. Turn it on and three big buttons appear: where to?, view map and travel Kit. The first takes you to the navigation choices, with six million points of interest conveniently organized into icon-illustrated categories on multiple screens. Spoken instructions include text-to-speech capability, which worked well.
View map instantly shows your location and the surrounding map area, with streets neatly drawn and clearly labeled. And travel kit includes a host of interesting features. My favorite is an audio player that handles MP3 files and downloadable audiobooks from Audible.com (there's room for files in internal memory along with a slot for an SD memory expansion card). Playback pauses automatically when the navigation system needs to point you in the right direction, then picks right up where it left off—a fine alternative to balancing the volume of your car radio and your nav system. There's also a digital photo viewer, world clock, currency converter and calculator. And, for $75 each, you can purchase a digital language guide that displays and speaks common phrases in six tongues, or buy travel guides to popular European destinations. There is an optional traffic receiver, but it undermines the unit's portable appeal (it requires permanent installation, including tapping into the car's radio antenna).
Just a bit larger (5.5"x3"x1" and 6 ounces) and, at $650, about $200 cheaper than the Garmin, the Mio DigiWalker C310 offers solid navigation software (courtesy of Destinator, whose system also powers several cellphone solutions) plus two valuable "extras." First is MP3 playback, similar to the nüvi: load music files onto an SD memory card and play your tunes, automatically interrupted and restarted based on navigation prompts. You can also copy your Microsoft Outlook contacts to the device and use them as destination points for the nav software. The DigiWalker maps look fine, but turn-by-turn voice prompting is disappointing: there's no text-to-speech capability, and the cybernetic speaking voice is positively unpleasant. System response also felt a little sluggish while driving, acknowledging turns a beat or two late and letting me go a long way before realizing that I'd gone off-course and required a recalculated route. As a budget-priced solution, the Mio unit delivers all the basics: accurate navigation, five million points of interest in the database and easy-to-use controls, plus the spiffy iPod white styling that's invaded pretty much every digital product category. If I were spending this much, however, I'd probably pop for the extra money and vote nüvi.
Last but certainly not least is the TomTom 910 ($799), the most full-featured model I test-drove. It covers all the basic functions and often reveals a hole card that trumps the competition. The screen, for example, is a bright four-inch wide screen display, where others deliver narrower 3.5-inch rectangles. Preloaded maps include not just the U.S., but Canada and Europe too. The text-to-speech system does a nice job and there's a wide selection of speaking voices from which to choose (personally, I like having Kate's firm but somehow friendly British accent order me around town). The windshield mount is near-perfect, compact for easy portability and rock-solid when attached, and the included wireless remote eases tweaking of volume settings.
Then we get to the more surprising features. The TomTom connects wirelessly to a variety of Bluetooth-enabled cell phones (listed at tomtom.com/phones, though I found the system worked fine with the unlisted Cingular 2125). Once the GPS and phone meet, you can place and answer calls hands-free through the nav unit—you can even download all your contact numbers to the TomTom. The phone also lets you tap into an array of wireless services, including traffic information, weather reports, and safety camera warnings, and allows you to download additional maps and points of interest on the fly. And if on-the-go music and audiobooks sound good, you're in luck. The system's 20-gigabyte hard drive has plenty of room to store music, Audible.com audiobooks and digital photos. Add an optional $20 cable and you can hook the unit directly to your iPod, with the song and playlist names displayed on the TomTom screen for easy tune selection (and yes, the audio restarts and stops when the nav system wants your attention). The built-in speaker system offers only so-so audio quality, but a set of earbuds will solve the problem. Like Little Bo Peep's flock, we're all bound to get lost from time to time. Fortunately, armed with a powerful satellite navigation system, you can find your way home without sheepishly asking for directions.
Steve Morgenstern is a Cigar Aficionado contributing editor.
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