A slight change this month for our navigation review, instead of maps and GPS units we look at a vehicle navigation unit. This is intended more for finding your way around on road rather than off but works fine for exploring back roads and can be a boon even around big cities that you think you know.
Navman is well known for its navigation systems, being the first local supplier and also by virtue of being a home grown operation even if the ownership has now moved offshore and Navman now sells its products worldwide. The iCN 720 is their latest model and its biggest claim to fame is the Navpix system which is definitely quite nifty. The iCN 720 has an inbuilt camera (1.3 mega pixel) with which you can take a picture of a specific location, the GPS coordinates are automatically stored with the pic allowing you to navigate back to that point by selecting the photo and clicking on Goto no more remembering cryptic shortened names. During the test this proved to be the quickest and easiest way to use the unit (with the draw back being you have to go there first using another selection method to take the picture). The pictures can also be downloaded to a computer via USB cable if you want to use them as a straight photo, even better Navman have a Navpix website where you can download pictures of locations with co-ordinates to your Navman unit or upload your own pictures for others to share (for instance the Skytower and Civic Theatre are both featured on the Navpix site). The unit can also store favourite locations by name rather than picture (ie the same as waypoints in a GPS) or you can do a search by town or street name, this is quick and simple with a good sized virtual on screen keyboard and touch sensitive screen, the screen is big enough that you can use a finger to pick out the letters making entering names quick and easy. When searching for a place or street the nearest matches come up until after typing enough letters you can select the correct option without finishing all the letters. There is also an extensive list of points of interest that can be searched generally or by category. These include shops, petrol stations, car parks, police stations and many more. There are even specific buttons on the front of the unit to show a list of parking areas and petrol stations, petrol station logos show up on the map as well. Other buttons include menu, go to selection and map.
The unit is in fact a GPS receiver and works on the same basis as the GPS units four wheelers are familiar with, the difference is that it is used to show the position on a road map and cannot do the usual general GPS functions such as breadcrumb trail or providing NZ Map grid co-ordinates. Once you head off road the map becomes plain beige with an instruction to go to the nearest road fine if you know where it is!
Around Auckland the unit was great if you were heading for an area where you didnt know specific streets, the map is detailed and shows street names and features. Once you have set the point you want to go to it shows your route in green, has a visual turn indicator in the top left corner and also gives voice instructions of when and where to turn. If you decide you know better or miss turn it quickly recalculates the route, generally avoiding the dreaded do a U Turn instruction. You can also set the level of preference for using or not using motorways and for shortest or quickest route. We did manage to catch it out a couple of times, in one case it was just that we knew a better way we would have got there following the instructions but in the second it was definitely trying to send us off in the wrong direction.
The unit mounts onto the windscreen via a big suction cup, this held well but the ball joint on the bracket couldnt be tightened enough to keep the unit steady, it kept moving down during journeys needing regular repositioning which was somewhat annoying
Overall we found the unit to be very convenient, it would be even more so if you regularly travelled to areas you didnt know so well. The iCN720 retails for around $1200..:
