The most popular car GPS navigators - see comparison
GPS navigation is a very useful accessory in a car. We checked which devices are the most popular. We also advise you on what to look for when choosing a GPS.
In addition to the device itself, the set of maps that is sold with navigation is also important. The key is their timeliness, accuracy (how reproducible the road network in a given area is), and the ability to update. There are cards on the market for which the coverage of the EU countries is 90 percent. You can also buy navigation with maps and their lifetime (usually every six months) update.
However, if your device has a card reader, you can easily install cards other than those supplied with the device on it (or rather on a memory card). However, it is worth checking if the software provided by the manufacturer allows navigation. In most cases, this is not a problem.
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According to drivers, the AutoMapa software works well on Polish roads. On the other hand, when driving in other European countries, it is worth using the maps provided by TeleAtlas (used by Mio and TomTom among others) and Navteq (used by AutoMapa, for example).
Our expert - Dariusz Nowak from GSM Serwis from Tri-City - advises what to consider when choosing a GPS device so that it can handle, among other things, with fast route planning:
– First, let's think about what size we need a navigation screen. There are many devices on the market with a screen size of 4 or 4,3 inches that have a lot of features, but then they may turn out to be almost useless, because they simply cannot be seen on a small display. Therefore, the minimum screen size is 5 inches. If we travel a lot or, for example, go hiking in the mountains in winter, and in the summer to the south of Europe, we should choose navigation with a large RAM, at least 128 MB. This will allow you to work effectively with maps of large areas and numerous add-ons. Here it is necessary to mention the processor: the higher the power, the better, and a minimum of 400 MHz. The number of channels that navigation can use to connect to satellites is very important. Currently, navigation can switch between a maximum of 12 satellites. You also need to pay attention to the so-called cold start, i.e. the speed of connection to satellites since the navigation was turned on. And then we can look at individual navigation features and additional features such as an mp3 player, video or photo viewer.
When developing the material, we took advantage of the www.web-news.pl website, which, based on data from the Skąpiec.pl price comparison system, prepared a rating of the most popular car GPS navigators in November.
1. Goclever NAVIO 500 Poland
GPS navigation with 256 inch LCD screen. It has 3351MB of ROM and a micro SD and micro SDHC card reader. Built-in processor Mediatek 468 with a frequency of XNUMX MHz. Navigation is equipped with a music and video player, photo viewer. Includes detailed map of Poland.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: ViaGPS
Navigation Features: Lane Assist, XNUMXD Map Display, Speed Limit Info, Speed Camera Info, Best Route, Find Points of Interest (POI), Alternate Route Calculation, Pedestrian Mode, Short/Fast Route, Save Speed & Time driving, home function
Additional features: Music player, Video player, Photo viewer, Speakerphone
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage media: internal memory, microSD memory card, microSDHC memory card
Media capacity: 64 MB
Sources of information: GPS
Processor: Mediatek 3351
Operating system: Windows CE 5.0 Core, GeoPix
Price: minimum PLN 212,59; maximum PLN 563,02
2. Lark Freebird 50
Portable navigation system with a five-inch touch screen. Equipped with a microSD card reader, FM transmitter and USB connector. Includes detailed map of Poland.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: LarkMap
Navigation features: automatic recalculation, 100 POIs, 2.2 million POIs, 500 km of roads, full street network in all cities and selected towns, 000D map display
Additional features: music player, video player, text viewer, photo viewer
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage medium: internal memory, microSD memory card
Media capacity: 128MB RAM, 2GB
Information sources: built-in GPS, 20 channels
Connectors: USB, headphones
Others: FM transmitter, built-in 1.5W speaker, operating system: WIN CE 6.0, Mstar 400MHz processor.
Price: minimum PLN 187,51; maximum PLN 448,51
See also: Cb radio in mobile - an overview of mobile applications for drivers
3. TomTom VIA 125 IQ Routes Europe
Via 125 EU portable navigation system with 5" touchscreen, Bluetooth hands-free, USB connection, TomTom Map Share and IQ Routes. The product comes with a 2-year subscription to the map update service.
Map area: Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Gibraltar, Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany, Monaco, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Vatican City, Hungary , UK, Italy, Norway, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Spain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia
Map provider: TeleAtlas
Navigation Features: Lane Assist, Speed Camera Information
Additional features: speakerphone
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage medium: internal memory
Media capacity: 4 GB
Sources of information: GPS
bluetooth: good
Connectors: USB
Price: minimum PLN 364.17; maximum PLN 799.03
4. Blanket GPS710
Portable navigation is equipped with a seven-inch LCD touch screen. It has 4 MB of internal RAM and 4 GB of Flash memory, a microSD card reader, a USB connector and a 1.5 W speaker. Contains a detailed map of Poland from MapaMap in the TOP version. It plays video and audio files and includes an image and text viewer. Navigation is equipped with MStar 550 MHz processor.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider MapaMap
Additional features: video player, music player, text viewer, photo viewer
Others: MapaMap in the TOP version
Screen diagonal: 7 inches
Storage medium: internal memory, micro SD memory card
Media Capacity: 64MB RAM, 4GB Flash
Connectors: USB
Other: MStar 550 MHz processor
Price: minimum PLN 294,52; maximum PLN 419
See also: Free GPS navigation for your phone - not only Google and Android
5. Lark FreeBird 43
Portable navigation system with 4.3-inch touch screen. Equipped with SD card reader, USB connector and headphone output. Includes detailed map of Poland.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: Copernicus, LarkMap
Navigation functions: automatic calculation of a new route after leaving the mapped route, search by POI, shortest route, fastest route, walking route, bearing route, off-road route, route recording while driving (GPS track) with the possibility of finding it
Additional Features: Music Player, Text Viewer, Photo Viewer, PDF Reader, Video Player
Screen diagonal: 4.3 inches
Storage medium: internal memory, SD memory card, MMC memory card
Media capacity: 64 MB SDRAM, 1 GB
Information sources: 20 channels
Connectors: USB, headphones
Other: Mstar 400 CPU, WIN CE 5.0 operating system
Price: minimum PLN 162,1; maximum PLN 927,54
6. Mio Spirit 680 Europe
Portable GPS system with a five-inch touch screen. Equipped with 2 GB internal memory, Samsung 6443 - 400 MHz processor, microSD card reader and USB connector. It has a built-in 720 mAh Li-Ion battery. Navigation includes maps of Europe.
Area covered by the map: Europe
Map provider: TeleAtlas
Navigation Features: Fastest Route, Shortest Route, Economy Route, Easiest Route, Parking Assistant, Pedestrian Mode, Lane Assist, Find Points of Interest (POI), Speed Camera Information
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage medium: internal memory, microSD memory card
Media capacity: 128MB SD RAM, 2GB
Sources of information: SiRF Star III with SiRFInstantFixII, 20 channels
Connectors: USB
Inside: Samsung 6443 processor - 400 MHz
Price: minimum PLN 419,05; maximum PLN 580,3
7. Navroad Auro S Road Map of Poland
Car navigation is equipped with a five-inch TFT LCD touch screen and a mini USB connector. In addition, it has a built-in Bluetooth module and an unlocked operating system, ready to install other software. There is a detailed map of Poland.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: AutoMapa
Additional features: Games, Calendar, Calculator, Internet, Music player, Video player, Speakerphone, Internet browser
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage media: micro SD memory card, SDHC memory card, internal memory
Storage capacity: 128MB RAM, 2GB NAND FLASH
Sources of information: SiRF Atlas V with SiRFAlwaysFix technology, 64 channels
bluetooth: good
Connectors: miniUSB, headphones
Other: SiRF Atlas V 664 MHz processor, operating system: Windows CE 6.0, FM transmitter
Price: minimum PLN 455,76; maximum PLN 581,72
See also: Do you have a pirate map in GPS navigation? The police rarely check it.
8. Goclever NAVIO 500 Plus Poland
Portable navigation with a five-inch screen. It has 256 MB of ROM and a microSD and microSDHC card reader. Built-in processor Mediatek 3351 with a frequency of 468 MHz. Navigation is equipped with a music and video player, photo viewer, FM transmitter (76-108 MHz) and Bluetooth. Includes detailed map of Poland.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: ViaGPS
Navigation Features: Lane Keeping Assist, XNUMXD Map Display, Speed Limit Info, Speed Camera Info, Best Route, Find Map Objects (POI), Alternate Route Calculation, Pedestrian Mode, Short/Fast Route, Save Speed & Time driving, home function
Additional features: Music player, Video player, Photo viewer, Speakerphone
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage media: internal memory, micro SD memory card, micro SDHC memory card
Media capacity: 64MB, 256MB ROM
bluetooth: good
Other: Mediatek 3351 processor, 468 MHz frequency, Windows CE 5.0/6.0 operating system
Price: minimum PLN 205,76; maximum PLN 776,71
9. Blanket GPS510
Portable navigation system with a five-inch screen and a detailed map of Poland. Equipped with media player and microSD card reader.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: MapaMap
Navigation functions: XNUMXD map display
Additional features: media player, photo viewer
Screen diagonal: 5 inches
Storage medium: micro SD card, internal memory
Media capacity: 512 MB
Connectors: mini USB, headphones
Other: Windows CE 5.0 operating system
Price: minimum PLN 221,55; maximum PLN 279,37
10. TomTom XL2 IQ Routes Poland
Portable navigation system with 4.3-inch touch screen. It has a USB connector and a lithium-ion battery. Includes EasyPort mount and map of Poland.
Territory on the map: Poland.
Map provider: TeleAtlas
Navigation functions: Lane Keeping Assist, Compass Mode
Additional features: media player, photo viewer
Screen diagonal: 4,3 inches
Storage medium: internal memory
Media capacity: 1 GB
Connectors: mini USB, headphones
Price: minimum PLN 271,87; maximum PLN 417,15
Data source: www.web-news.pl and skapiec.pl
Wojciech Frölichowski
