Portable Sat-Nav Mega Test - PDA & MDA

With a huge choice of products and prices tumbling, a sat-nav unit will make a great Christmas gift. We name the best from 21

Auto Express Car Reviews

December 2005

When Santa calls this year, you can bet he'll be using sat-nav, rather than the stars, to find his way. Satellite navigation, particularly portable units, has been the big success story of 2005, with dozens of products finding their way to car accessory shops and tens of thousands flying off the shelves.

The speed of development has been rapid - indeed, so fierce has been the competition that none of the units we tested back in March (Issue 848) is still being produced!

You can now choose from standalone units, add-on kits for personal digital assistants (PDAs) or software for smart phones (MDAs). What's more, prices have tumbled from the near ΂£1,000 of a couple of years ago to well under ΂£200. Not quite as cheap as an atlas, but well within the range of most drivers.

So which is the way forward and which the backward step? We hit the road with 21 systems to see which is the best for motorists - and Santa.

Verdict

If money is tight, the Gar-min i3 or Navman iCN320 will do nicely. For more fre-quent use, it's a close thing, but Garmin's C310 edges it.
High-mileage motorists should opt for the Navman iCN550/TMC550, and while TomTom's Go 500 was great, it gave away £80 and lots of mapping to the Mio 269 Plus which takes premium honours. And if you prefer a PDA or smart phone, it has to be the Navman PIN 570.