Products

By Simon McBride

25th August 2007

It wears a Ferrari badge, but unlike the Italian brand’s cars, this sat-nav won’t get you to your destination any quicker! Don’t let that put you off, though – with the famous name strapped across the top, the Becker system oozes cool.

The Traffic Assist Pro Ferrari is a bit on the large size for a portable navigation device, but the benefit is a large and clear four-inch touchscreen. Fire it up and a smart display of a Ferrari dash illuminates the screen. Menus are clear and easy to use, and while some of them can be a bit slow to scroll through, the display picks up most inputs quickly. We found setting des­tinations a breeze, and the predictive soft­ware ‘guesses’ locations as you type.

Navigation was good over our test route. When we tried to confuse the system, the software redirected us fast, giving a sensible alternative. Maps for 37 countries are included, and it highlights petrol stations, airports and hotels. But some sub-menus are fiddly with navigation in progress, and the instructions weren’t much help.

The Traffic Assist Pro has an MP3 player with 64Mb of memory, plus a digital photo viewer. And as the battery is rechargeable, you can set it up when it’s not plugged in.