13/02/2006

Indago

Clothed in uncluttered brushed metal, the Snooper Indago is leagues ahead in the looks department and is the Bang & Olufsen of SatNav.

It's intuitive and compact, the anti-glare touch-screen is near perfect and you won't get lost in the menu or on the road. You can drag the map and full postcode recognition saves time at the start of every journey compared to every other system's partial postcode or street entry protocol.

It doesn't have European mapping yet, but the local information is unbelievably deep, even pointing the way to the nearest winery.

Add to that large-print directions, near faultless Navteq mapping, 2D or 3D views, a crisp male or female voice, Snooper's market-leading GPS-based speed limit displays and unmissable fixed camera warnings, with updates via subscription, make this the money-no-object winner.

Still, just look at it! You want one, don't you

Price: £349.95
Value for money: 8/10
Usability: 10/10
Accuracy: 10/10
Construction: 10
Looks: 10/10
Features: 8/10

And the winner is....

For anyone used to sitting lost, desperately looking for the road in a dog-eared atlas, any one of these systems will rock your world. They cost less than seven tanks of petrol, which we have all wasted looking for mystery locations, and will save hours of your life in real terms and years in stress.

For pure quality, the Navman and Indago sit head and shoulders above the rest, as they should for the price. If you're splashing out it should come down to which you hate more: traffic jams or speed cameras.

Cars and image have become intrinsically linked, though - if they weren't we'd all drive Skodas and BMW, Mercedes and Audi would all be out of business. But we don't and they're not.

My heart goes for the sleek, easy-to-use Indago.

So that's it, Indago wins, by a near-invisible, emotional margin.