Car navigation systems are becoming standard fittings in luxury cars and are a popular after-market addition to the dashboard of many standard and off-road vehicles. With many models now available on the market, it pays to compare feature sets carefully.

Display

Unfortunately the image quality of car navigation systems is sadly lacking and for no good reason. At best, most look like a cheap game screen.

Considering online maps such as those found on Google and Yahoo do not require a lot of processing power to render, we can see there is room for rapid improvement here.

User Interface

A large safety and convenience feature is how easy the unit is to interact with. Many new higher end products such as the Garmin 2720 have text-to-speech ability. Check that the voice used is not irritating, and whether there are options of voice personalities. It's amazing how many users turn audible alerts off because of an irritating voice tone.

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CD / DVD Drive

Most in-car navigation systems operate using a combination of DVD maps and GPS updates. Earlier models contained only a CD drive, and this may have been the reason behind the poor resolution maps. With todays models sporting a much improved DVD drive, the maps are of high-resolution.

Portability

Some models of car navigation systems are designed to fit neatly into the dash. Others are dash mounted with permanent fittings, whilst others fit snugly into cradles, which provide for out of vehicle use. This is especially useful for off-road vehicle users.

For those navigation systems that are portable, check how they connect to both the car and the car AV and power systems. Look for good quality cradles and output jacks to plug neatly into CD/DVD receivers rather than suction cups and ugly wires that plug into the cigarette lighter.

Better still, portable Bluetooth GPS receivers are available and may also extend the option to using a PDA navigation program to give even more functional flexibility. With a little bit of bolt and tackle the PDA is easily adapted to become the vehicle's GPS receiver using a hot-pluggable slot in the dash, that serves a bit like a server hard drive to automatically connect with the PDA.

With PDA OS, GPS and Telecom standards still a bit wobbly, take care that all systems are compatible. Long may open-source reign!

System Programming

Check each system for:

Ease of inputing destination and enroute waypoint address locations.
The number of locations that can be stored for future re-use
State the car must be in to enter data
Cancelling and beginning another route.
Ability to transfer data using a phone call to your cellphone when leaving the car [Requires Bluetooth]

NOTE: Most production vehicle systems require the car to be stationary to enter new destination addresses. This is a good driver-safety feature but is frustrating if one has passengers capable of acting as navigator programmers. Others will allow en-route programming once the Indemnity Statement has been accepted. Portable systems do not have this lock system.

I would suspect that this feature is more about car manufacturers managing their liability insurance premiums. And with USA litigation laws, I don’t blame them. Maybe a good in-between solution would be to have some sort of passenger detection system that unlocks the system. This same logic is already installed in cars to enable the passenger-side air bag.

Screen Alerts

Different systems have different alerting functions.

Car Start – bit like starting up your PC to sound effects, some car navigation systems have an annoying screen that pops up whenever the car is started to remind the driver that using any part of this car's onscreen interface while driving is dangerous. Worse still, the driver has to click an ‘I Agree’ button.

En-Route Alerts – enroute alerts include a range of things such as: intersection turning points, points of interest, nearest category locations etc

Traffic Alerts – if a Traffic program is included, this subscription supplied alerts of traffic build ups or delays en-route, and will map an alternate route to avoid delays and rush hour traffic.

Program Updates

Some car navigation systems, such as the Acura system require you to take it into a dealer and pay additional fees to get system upgrades.

Fortunately, other more advanced thinking manufacturers such as Magellan provide system updates by attaching the system to a computer with a DVD drive and uploading the software.

Search Features

Points of Interest – some car navigation systems, such as Acura, incorporate points of interest system

Category Locations – standard types of locations such ATM, gas station, hardware store, etc are programmed into the system and can be displayed as an option.

Breadcrumb Paths - marking paths previously travelled when the street is not on the map. In maps of large cities, some suburban subdivisions and smaller roads are not on the map, so when you drive onto an un-chartered street, the map places dots along the path to indicate where the road would have been displayed, if included.

User Preferences

If you have multiple users and uses for your navigation system, having the ability to set user preferences is very useful. The Magellan portable navigation system has the ability to set preferences for 3 separate users and is extremely useful when travelling away from home. Pack it in the bag and plug into the rental car.

Overall, car navigation systems offer a range of individual features so it pays to compare closely and align with your particular needs.

Popular Brands Of Car Navigation Systems

In-Vehicle GPS Navigatio Systems

Garmin Vehicle Navigation System – a clear leader in consumer reviews
Navman Vehicle Navigation System – a newer entrant, giving Magellan a run for second slot
Lowrance iWAY Navigation System - leader of the midrange pricing bracket
Tom Tom Vehicle Navigation System
Pharos Drive Navigation System
JVC In-Car Navigation System

Portable GPS Car Navigation Systems

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Car Navigation Systems