Sat Nav Units
One the previous page we discussed the best satnav, however there are others that we really liked and thought would make fantastic model, however they were not quite as good. Here we have sat nav reviews for the major sat nav’s on the market.
Below and on the following pages you will find our best sat nav and our sat nav reviews. In order to decide which is the best satnav firstly we created a massive list of every GPS unit from every brand that we could find on the market right now from Top UK electronics websites, shops and magazines. We then reduced this list down by taking off any models that were not still in production.
After creating our shortlist of every Sat Nav that is still in production we started our reviews by reading as many websites, magazines, customer review site as we could possibly find. We were specifically looking for sat nav reviews using either electronics professionals or user ratings as these will give us the best reviews that we can possibly find
After reducing our long list down to a small list of 20 Sat Nav’s we began real life testing of these units either by borrowing, stealing units from friends or buying units that we could not get hold of any other way. We compared the units on a range of different metrics to create our review and decide our best and worst Sat Nav.
The Metrics We Used For Comparison
- Screen Size
- Screen Clarity
- Screen Images
- Processor Speed
- Menu Systems
- Signal Lag
- Interface
- Traffic Alerts
- Sat Nav Mount
- Points of Interest Database
- Ease of Directions
- Extra Features – Voice Command, Bluetooth,
The Brands
We compared as many GPS brands are we possibly could find, however the same Sat Nav Units kept coming up in our favourite list and these were the top 2 Sat Nav Brands – TomTom and Garmin. The Garmin 2597LMT is a fantastic model that we highly recommend, but if you need cheaper unit, then we would highly recommend that you look at the Garmin 2595LMT which is basically exactly the same as the 2597, however it’s a slightly older model and thus is half the price.
The Garmin Nuvi 2595LMT has the same 5-inch touch screen display as is in its newer brother, however whilst the screen clarity is good, its not perfect and is not as clear especially in direct sunlight. The interface and menu system is very similar and is very easy to use meaning that you can quickly enter a destination using the keyboard and the touch screen and allow the device to calculate a route for you. Again, you have free life time map updates, meaning that you will always have up to date maps, and free traffic updates meaning that your route will be calculated by taking into account any on-going traffic jams.
Directions are in the form of spoken turn-by-turn directions and images and whilst the unit does come with a dual orientation screen, given the screen clarity is not perfect, its much easier to use it as one big screen rather than two small ones. The animated photos work really well, especially in complex junctions where the brightly colored arrows indicate which lane you’re meant to be in to take the right exit.
With this model, Garmin decided to go crazy with the features and not only does it come with some of the usual features such as a massive points of interest database with millions of cash machines, petrol stations and resturants, but it also come with a few odd features such as petrol price alerts and speed camera alerts. Whilst there is voice control, it does not work all that well (at least for me it does not work) and there is no Bluetooth so you cannot connect your smartphone to your sat nav.