Panasonic CN-GP50N Strada

Author's product rating:   

Reliability	Excellent
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Look & Feel	Excellent
Battery life	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Large Screen, Easy to use, Clear Audio, Sleek design, Calcutate routes fast
Disadvantages:	No Case

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

First Impressions
When i first took the unit out of the box, the first thing i saw was the sat nav unit itself, which is always a good thing, as when you get a new 'toy' you just want to play with it straight away and not have to dig your way through manuals and accessories! Ok..ok not an important point but hey it impressed me!
I then proceeded to switch the unit on, from a cold start it took roughly 1 minute to boot up, which was good as i was itching to play. You do get a warning message each time you boot from a cold start, about not using the unit while driving blah blah... isnt that why they make it touch screen?

What you get in the box
Panasonic CN-GP50N Sat Nav
In Car Charger
USB lead (can also charge the unit)
Cable to secure your unit whilst in the car
Manual (In every langauge thinkable!)
Spare port covers (back of unit, where GPS arial, Traffic Master and other add-ons plug in)
In Car Holder

Main Menu
Quite simple really, the largest button is your navigation area, with two smaller buttons, settings and information. Navigating through the menu is nice and easy, not having read the intructions yet, i managed to find my way round quite quick. The screen can be quite sensitive sometimes, I didnt have to put any pressure on the screen for it to respond. Could be agood or bad thing i suppose, but more likely to be good while driving!

Signal
When booting from a cold start it took about 1-2 minutes to find a signal inside the house, after that it was fine, and never lost the signal, no matter where i went in the house. From a warm start, it took less than a minute to find a signal. I tried this on several occasions and each time was roughly the same. I couldnt get a signal at my works office though, but we do have protective film over our windows to block the sun, so that might be part of the reason.

Installing Speed Camera Updates
The speed camera database is not installed by default, but they are included on the CD that comes with the unit. I simply put the cd in my pc, and using Microsoft Sync, installed the updates no problem. After it finished installing, the unit rebooted. The speed camera updates are free with the Panasonic unit, including and future updates.

POI, Favourites, Address Finder
The address finder on the Panasonic uses the predictive search feature, so when you start to type your city/post code it will start to list results, predicting what you are looking for, quite handy for quickness. Same goes for favourintes, if you have lots of favourites and start typing the name of a favourite it will predict what you are looking for. The POI feature has lots...and i mean lots of places already installed by default, so you will have no problem finding a specific POI. Of course you will still want to add your own POI sometime, but as of yet, i've not found out if you can with the Panasonic.

Setting the Route
When you have a place you want to go, and selected your start and finish, the unit calculates the route to take, whether this is the fastest, shortest, avoiding motorways etc. It takes about 5-10secs to calculate the route, but i've not had routes longer than 20miles, so unsure of the speed for longer distances.

Off We Go
The intructions from the nice lady, are nice and clear, I dont think you can change the voice like on some sat navs, but I wasnt too bothered about that. You are told your directions in plenty of time, depending on the road length, sometimes 200yards before and sometimes half a mile. You are also told as you approach the turning/roundabout. The Sat Nav keeps to where you are on the road, and I havn't experienced late instructions yet.
When you reach a junction where you need to be in a specific lane, the lady will tell you which lane to go in, also i set it so it zoomed in to the junction so i could see as well.
You have the option to have a warning if you are over the speed limit, which you can set how much over in built up area's and rural area's. The only thing i will say is, the sat nav was about 3-4 mph below what speed i was actually doing, so i would set this to a low number if you are using this.

Car Holder
Included in the box is the car holder, which you can stick on the window like other sat navs, but also comes with a dash board sticker which you can use if you dont like having the sat nav on the window. I've only used the window sucker so far, so cant comment on the dash holder.
When placed in the holder, you can swivel the arm round and adjust the angle as you see fit, then lock its position when correct. The end of the holder is a ball type joint, so can be swiveled in all directions. The sucker for the window is ok, but i wouldnt say it was the best. I have had it lose its sucktion sometimes, while driving, whether this is because i havent stuck it hard enough or simply because it doesnt have a great suck i dont know.

Overall
Well overall i am pleased with the unit, and glad i got the Panaosnic, with the 5" screen it makes a difference. The screen is less cluttered and i find it easier to press which buttons i was supposed to press! I was slightly disappointed with the car holder, and the window suction as this could of been improved. Having the speed camera database has pleased me, as i was going to invest in a camera detector, which i dont need to now.
The price of £250 is quite steep, but if you have the budget i would recommend the unit. Now my girlfirend wants to borrow it!!!