Goodkap Coyote Europe

Little known in the GPS world, Goodkap is a French company that has decided to launch itself in the satnav market. To hollow itself out a niche among the major players such as TomTom, Mio and Garmin, Goodkap has decided to bring out just the one model stuffed with functionality.

Hardware: compact and with most of the features, it does however lack wireless

Very light and compact at just 14 mm thick, the Goodkap GPS looks a lot like the latest Garmins and Mios. Its 4.3 inch screen offers a comfortable display in spite of a slightly glossy coating (less than on the Mio Moov Spirit Flat however). It slips into your pocket, which means you can easily take it with you when you leave your vehicle.

European maps are included in the 2 GB internal memory. A Micro-SD memory card slot allows you to add photos, music and video.

As soon as you turn it on, audio player and photo and video viewing modes are available. There's a headphones jack. No FM transmitter however, or Bluetooth. So you can forget about hands-free calls and music on the car radio, unless you have a jack in your vehicle.

The suction mount is solid and practical but also large. It'll stay in the vehicle and is attached directly to the cigarette lighter, which is more practical than linking directly to the satnav.

Hardware: a lot of menus

This GPS is responsive in spite of taking a while to start up (2 stages). So you'll probably want to leave it on standby.

There are plenty of menus - they sometimes go a bit deep in spite of clear icons. The arrows for changing menus are however too small. You have to slide your finger starting above the arrow, moving it to the outside while pressing on the icon. Not so practical unless you have small fingers and are very precise - you often press off to one side. Thankfully, navigation is pretty rapid.

There are numerous navigation interface icons to the left and right of the screen. Again, they're quite small and you have to be careful you don't press to one side. Among others, you'll find the icon for fixed or mobile speed cameras.
Route guidance: a clear voice and thorough display, lots of paid options

Reception is average in spite of a very common GPS chip that's known to work well. Several times we were wrongly directed to the side of the road. Once the signal stabilised however, the navigation was very clear with an effective synthetic voice that means you don't need to look at the screen much.
The route to be taken is in green. We would have preferred a little more contrast with the other routes, so as to get the right one first time if necessary. Unfortunately there's no traffic lane support. This makes driving on motorways and large busy junctions more difficult.

You can access road traffic information via the mobile phone network (GPRS). This feature is effective and recalculates a new itinerary in case of traffic jams. Unfortunately you have to pay for this, as you do for many of the features on this model.

One of the strong points is speed camera alerts which are updated almost in real-time. Other users can let you know where cameras are and Goodkap has had the good sense to tell you if someone ahead is taking the same route. This feature should therefore let you know if there's a fixed or mobile camera coming up, so you can avoid any unpleasant fines. To let others know about cameras, you just have to press on a small icon on the right of the screen and indicate where it is.



There are some basic free services: a Goodkap hostess is available to help you with any features of the GPS you're having problems with and subscription to services. Car parking features are free as is legal and breakdown assistance in the first year.

Information on fuel pricing in your vicinity or on your route is an optional extra. This is useful if you want to avoid paying over the odds if a cheaper service station is within a couple of miles. A useful service then but expensive. It will be most worthwhile for those who spend a lot of time in their cars.

There's also a very well thought out car sharing service. This means you can pick up passengers on your route and reduce costs and pollution.

There are numerous other services to help you out in the case of breakdowns or accidents (legal assistance). You can also pay for concierge services to programme your stay, including the route to the restaurant, going via the hotel if necessary.