GPS

Fabien Pionneau
Updated: November 13, 2009

Product Surveys, Tests and Guides

If you can't find the right satnav for you here, go ahead and check the full range of tests in our GPS product survey.

Go straight to our pick of 2009

After all the innovations of 2008, 2009 marked a turning point in the life of the GPS. Current satnavs now offer truly impressive functionality and this has impacted directly on entry level pricing. Low-end models now have features that were only available at the top end a year or two ago and are well worth serious consideration.

Even more features?

If even low-end satnavs offer full navigation support, what’s left further up the range? In short: connectivity and services! Other than Bluetooth, FM transmitters and multimedia readers of all types, all typical of high-end GPS receivers, manufacturers are also now incorporating new features using Internet connectivity so users can get information in real time. This has brought improved traffic info, the supply of up to the minute road and speed camera information, address search with Google or Yell, fuel prices and so on. Navigation has been improved and there has been a real gain in rapidity.
Along with improved connectivity, we’re seeing more and more tourist services, with travel guides and numerous points of interest. Pedestrian mode has also become much more widely available.

What’s the future for satnavs?

This rash of new features is no accident. Not just a logical development in the world of the GPS, the thinking behind this new generation of satnav is clear: try to turn these products into indispensable travel assistance devices. Navigation alone is no longer enough. Satnav manufacturers are starting to suffer the effects of what is dangerous and inevitable competition: the mobile phone on one hand and navigation systems built into vehicles on the other.

The three main GPS players have all reacted differently. Garmin has chosen to orientate itself towards the conception of a hybrid GPS/satnav telephone, as with the Nüvifone (a partnership with Asus). TomTom doesn’t seem to be trying to react. It’s betting on more aggressive pricing and the sale of navigation software for the iPhone and Windows Mobile. Lastly, Mio is playing the design card and on an abundance of features on its new products. We'll have to wait to see which strategy is best.

Especially as one surprise player may unexpectedly start calling the shots: Google. Relatively quiet until now, the search engine giant has just announced the release of its own GPS navigation software, Google Maps Navigation. The software is entirely free and has the sort of functionality that will put the fear into the highest-end satnavs! It uses the immense database built up for Google Maps. The only trade off is the display of ads during navigation. Designed for phones based on Android 2.0 and maybe shortly the iPhone as well, we’ll have to wait and see how effective the system is before we jump to any conclusions.

Satnavs are, for now, much more effective and reliable than any of the mobile phone solutions. They remain a useful device with a number of advantages. There will be a few generations more before we see the end of them.

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Top functionality, the most features.

TomTom GO 750 LIVE

This is TomTom’s most recent model. It has all the features of the (physically identical) TomTom GO 740 LIVE and adds real-time services for mobile speed cameras in partnerhips with European leader, Coyote, as well as fuel prices. A green route feature has also been added to select the most economical routes in terms of fuel. It also has Map Share, IQ Routes HD Traffic, numerous POIs, Google local search, voice synthesis and recognition and Bluetooth. Quite simply, the best.

Best value
TomTom One IQ Routes

Stylish and full of features
Mio Moov Spirit Flat

GPS on your phone
iPhone, Windows Mobile & Android

Take the Go series models and remove their LIVE functionality and you get the TomTom One IQ Routes, which is more than sufficient if all you want are the navigation features.

Very full functionality on this one. Simple and easy to use. Good competition for the TomToms.

What about using your telephone equipped with a GPS chip instead? The iPhone is currently the most popular with solutions available from Navigon, CoPilot and TomTom. Watch out however for signal issues and missing features.

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