Navigon 70 Premium Live
A good sat-nav, but the price is just a touch too high
Price: £200 (£240 inc VAT)
Supplier: www.expansys.com
Maps: 2 years European updates, £13 (£16 inc VAT) with voucher
Performance: ★★★★
Features: ★★★★★
Value for money: ★★★
Overall: ★★★★
Navigon’s flagship sat-nav is one of three devices here with a 5in screen. That makes a real difference to ease of use, with onscreen buttons much bigger and easier to press, and maps and other elements easier to see.
The 70 Premium’s live services allow it to access TMC traffic information via its integrated GPRS radio, plus a host of other services. These include Google local search, mobile safety cameras, parking, weather and local events. The first 15 months are free, after which you pay £40 per year to renew the service.
The Google search works well, but traffic isn’t up to the standards of TomTom’s HD Traffic system. In our tests, we found the information wasn’t as accurate or detailed.
The Navigon is good at its other core tasks, though. Route calculation is fast, and route choice isn’t bad. It can’t match the satnavs equipped with IQ Routes, but it calculates three alternatives and includes traffic data for each one, so you can make an informed decision.
The 70 Premium Live’s speaker is the clearest here. Its maps, based on Navteq data, are fantastically detailed, and in major town centres, 3D representations of buildings and landmarks appear as you drive around. More usefully, the lane assistance is the best we’ve seen, displaying a moving, enlarged animation of the road and where you should be on it.
The Navigon 70 Premium Live is a superb satnav, and an enjoyable one to use. However, at this price we’d expect its traffic-avoidance capabilities and route finding to match the TomTom, which unfortunately isn’t the case.
