Navman F20

I was given this satellite navigation system for Christmas so I don't know what it cost. It is really easy and intuitive to use and works really well.

The sat nav unit is quite small and subtle looking. It slots into a stand that attaches to the windscreen using a suction pad. You can put it in the centre of the windscreen or in the right hand corner. The stand attaches to the windscreen easily but is a bit fiddly to remove. It is powered via a lead that attaches to your car's cigarette lighter for charging. This charges it, so you don't have to use the lead all the time.

The Navman has a range of useful features including a choice of voices and languages, pre-programmed UK maps, ability to store your favourite destinations and your home, and various options such as avoiding motorways or toll roads, and shortest or quickest route. It also has pre-programmed "safety camera" locations and beeps once and shows an alert on the screen when you are approaching a camera. You can enter destinations using a variety of methods including postcode, town name, street name or place of interest. There are features to show you how to find the nearest car park or petrol station. You can also edit your preferences to display a variety of things on the map such as places to eat, airports, car parks or tourist attractions. There is a feature you can set to beep at you and display a warning whenever you exceed a certain speed (set at 70mph by default). You can decide whether the Navman will display everything in miles or kilometres.

The map is well designed and easy to read. As well as the verbal commands the map displays your route so you know exactly where to go. I haven't had it that long but it hasn't got me lost yet! The Navman automatically senses whether it is day or night and adjusts the map accordingly to make sure it is easy to read.

The most annoying software fault I have noticed is that the Navman beeps once and flashes whenever a speed camera is in the area, even if it is not on the road you are currently driving on. For example, if two roads run parallel to one another then it will inform you that there is a speed camera on the road that is parallel to yours, even though this is not at all relevant to you. Apart from that the whole thing is really well designed and easy to follow.

The main disadvantage with the Navman F20 is that there are many additional features you would have to pay for. You have to pay about £19 per year to download map updates from the internet. You have to pay for extra maps of other countries. To download anything you also have to pay for a lead to connect it to the computer. You also have to pay to update the "safety camera" locations. Some people think this is a bit stingy but to be honest I have found the features that it came pre-programmed with to be sufficient. Speed cameras don't change very often and no one updates the paper maps in their car every year, so why would you choose to pay £19 a year every year to keep your Navman map up to date? The only extra feature that I am tempted to buy is live traffic updates, which I think costs over £60 and tells you where traffic problems are and how to avoid them.

The Navman does not come with a case, so for the first few weeks we had to keep it save when not in use by putting it back in its packaging every time, which was a bit of a hassle. You can buy an official Navman F20 case for about £15, but this only holds the main unit and not the stand or power lead. Instead I bought a camera case that can hold all the parts, and this worked out much cheaper.