Advantages: An idea if you really don't know the area.
Disadvantages: Limited, outdated mapping, not so easy to use

...In our brand new Fiesta, delivered this month, the Blaupunkt TravelPilot comes fitted in a unit combined with the radio. To try this system out, over a period of three weeks, and a total of about 600 miles, entirely within my home county of West Yorkshire, i ran the TravelPilot alongside my own local knowledge of the area built up over 17 years of driving around the area. To enter a destination it is necessary to go through a menu and a series of entries not wholly unlike entering a text message on a mobile phone. There is a form of predictive texting, which can be quite useful. The problem I found, though, was that before I could find the way to, say, Huddersfield Police Station I needed to know what road it is in. There seems to be no provision for places like hospitals or police stations as destinations. Back to the Ato... Read review

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Advantages: Move Between Cars
Disadvantages: Can't really think of any

...Ok now this is a great unit. You’ll never get lost again with the Street Pilot III (SP3). You can type in a house number and road name and it’ll take you right to the door with visual and audio navigation. GPS navigation has never been so easy. Ok now there are two versions available the SP3 and the SP3 Deluxe package. I’ll only cover the Deluxe as that’s the one I know. This comes complete with a 128mb data card and the mapsource data cd rom with all the road level detail and unlock code for the whole of Europe (worth about £200 between them). You can get the unit for around the £650 mark at the moment, so it’s worth shopping round to get the right price. But make sure you get the Deluxe is my advice, that data card is very useful, London at full detail is about 8mb!! Ok so what do you get? The SP3 gps unit USB data card... Read review

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Advantages: *
Disadvantages: -

...HOW MANY TIMES A YEAR DO YOU TRAVEL? Travelling is my life. I started when I was 12 going, by train, for summer holidays to my uncle in Paris. And I repeated that trip every year till I got 18. At 20, in 1966, I was lucky enough to get a job with an important company in the United States of America. I moved there for job training and then I started my travel around the world. Today I make around 70 trips per year, mostly outside of Europe, staying away from home 300 days and taking more than 200 flights. This year I have already been twice in the States, four times in China, once in North Korea and in many other places within and outside Europe. Basically my trips are for business even if sometime I add one or two days for sightseeing when I go to a new destination. FOR HOW LONG DO YOU GO AWAY? Up to 25 years ago... Read review

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Advantages: A solid GPS receiver
Disadvantages: Maybe a little outdated now

...The Street Pilot III is one of Garmin's earlier in-car satellite navigation units. Since this they have given us the Street Pilot 2610, 2620, 2550 and 2650 - all with a few advantages. The SP3 Deluxe gives us the benefit of having all the European maps at street level come with it in the box! So it's great for people wanting to travel Europe. The Street Pilot offers all the usual features, voice prompts, automatic re-calculation of route, post code and point of interest look up. Although it is a little bulky compared to newer units such as the TomTom Go. Unfortunately it's not that easy to set up for some people. The maps have to be loaded on the 128Mb Garmin Memory card that comes with the unit using your home computer. This is done using the MapSource software included in the box. The areas of the map you want to install... Read review

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Advantages: Very Easy to install, use and great value for money
Disadvantages: If zoomed in & are on a roundabout arrow can be a little hard to read

...come up telling me exactly what the speed of the car was travelling at. Bearing in mind that this wasn’t attached to the car in anyway i was amazed. There a range of different view of maps that you view them in for example there’s Hawk eye- looking straight down, there is a 3D view which in my view was the best. You could zoom into the maps quite well. The only problem i had with the software was that at first when fully zoomed in the arrow was a little large and I took a few wrong turnings but i got to read the arrow better the more i used it. Upon start up there is an option for the maps to update themselves which is very helpful. A very important feature of the co-pilot is the live update feature that can be enabled, this means that if there has been an accident or roadworks then it will connect via GRPS and re-route you to the quickest... Read review

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Advantages: Build Quality, Light, Small
Disadvantages: None as yet

...INFO I have been involved with Toshiba laptops for a few years now. First in having one as a work laptop and secondly supporting them for other users. Toshiba have the ability to create a laptop that is rugged enough to withstand daily use whilst being designed well enough to fit the daily use it was intended for. The Portege R200 is no exception and is an exceptional laptop for the business traveller. Once given the go ahead to buy a couple of these I couldn't wait to ditch the Dell equivalents. COST I managed to secure 2 R200 laptops for a mere £1234 each excluding VAT from Inmac. I have however seen one on EBAY last week for £994. Now that's cheap. FIRST THOUGHTS When the first R200 arrived I couldn't believe the size of the box. It's so small you would think it had a couple of paperback novels in it and not a PC... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to use, does what it's suppsed to do!
Disadvantages: Satellite pairing takes ages, no mains charger!

...of the past, much like tv's. After extensive researching, price comparison and review reading, I came across the Garmin Nuvi 200w, and a sat nav system that seemed to impress greatly, so i decided to take the plunge and bought one. Much like many of the reviews I had read on the Nuvi 200w, my first impressions of it were very good. I bought the system off the Littlewoods website, as it had been reduced in a seasonal sale that they were having. This meant that the system was on offer for around £30 less than on any other reputable site that I could find it on. The product was well packaged, securely and compactly fitted to an inner cardboard shelf, that meant that the sat nav was unable to move or rattle within the box, therefor limiting the chance of damage during postal delivery to a minimum. Included in the box was the Nuvi 200w sat nav system... Read review

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Advantages: direct replacement for your old head unit..removable front panel,great sound quality.
Disadvantages: not portable..costs to refit in another car...not a D,I,Y job,...

...Well if you are,Maybe you should think about getting yourself a sat nav system for your car!! I have a stretched limousine company,which i have run for around 3 1/2 years now,anyway after some thought i took the plunge,and had sat nav systems fitted in them both..i was looking to help my drivers get to their destinations easy and quickly,with at the same time saving money on fuel bills when they did go wrong! After a look around, I went for the Blaupunkt Travel Pilot DXR52,In satin black(as it matched the limos interior) I found it a fair price,£750 fitted at the time...with all the features i was looking for..(not that i knew that much about them!) SATIN BLACK (ALSO IN SILVER) FM,MW,LW, WITH 30 PRESETS, PLAYS CD'S,CD ROM.. (SINGLE CD), AUTOSOUND (GALA), 4V FOUR CHANNEL PREAMP, FIXING CAGE, WITH RELEASE KEYS... Read review

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Advantages: my favourite subject, travel!
Disadvantages: none - so why am I still here?!

...Well as soon as I saw this latest challenge, the Mack had to do it! Anyone that knows me will know I love leaving Blighty and going to pastures new. So here goes with the questions! Q: How many times a year do you travel? Oh dear! Well a few. This year I’ve been abroad five times! But that’s a personal best. It’s usually two or three. Q: For how long do you go away? When I visit my best friend in Australia it has to be 3 weeks. This is always the longest trip I take though. For the USA it’s usually 2 weeks but I have been to Miami for four days before (never again!). I suffer really badly from jet lag so sometimes it’s not worth going away for just a few days, I spend the whole time feeling lousy! Q: Do you stay in your home country or do you go abroad? England? Err no thanks. I’m a long haul kinda gal... Read review

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Advantages: great student loan stretcher!
Disadvantages: too much choice

...Before being introduced to Pilot I could be considered quite a snobby shopper. When I went out shopping with friends I would look in certain shops that advertise a certain image whilst avoiding others because of a 'cheaper' image. I am ever grateful to a friend who recently dragged me into our local Pilot store. The first thing that I noticed is the huge range of clothes. There are so many styles to choose from, as well as mixing basic items with more seasonal fashion items. I often have trouble finding black trousers that i like, and when I do I usually have to live in them for fear of not finding another pair I like. In other shops as the fashion changes staple items like black trousers take on drastic changes like all of a sudden becoming flares, or low cut hipsters. In Pilot I was able to find a wide range of trousers... Read review

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