Review: Magellan Maestro 4200 satellite navigation

Magellan's new range of satellite-navigation products is being sold on the line that they're the slimmest such devices around. We can believe that – the 4200 looks great, with unspoiled lines and a slimline design – but looks aren't everything.

The Maestro 4200 is otherwise relatively basic: it includes navigation, of course, with full postcode searching, and information on speed cameras. That's pretty much it, though. There's a 'Marco Polo' travel guide, but this only extends to major sights in capital cities – you need to pay to unlock the rest of it.

The unit can work in any region of Europe (but no more than one): at the beginning the user must select one (the UK and Ireland for us) and it's then locked in permanently, so get that wrong and you're in trouble.

Navigation was simple, and the touch-sensitive screen was responsive and fast. It was also pretty quick to calculate directions and to pick a new route when we had deviated. One good touch was that it was easy to set an itinerary - planning a week's driving in Cornwall, we were able to set all the places of interest along the way and have it figure out the route.

Annoyingly, it refused to give directions in yards, instead preferring to tell us to turn in "zero point six" miles, which isn't much use when you're trying to figure out which turning to take.

Although there's no Bluetooth connection for your phone, or traffic updates, there are speed camera warnings and the ability to set a route plan. The Magellan Maestro 4200 is certainly portable, and it does its job well, but some of its competitors include more features for a similar price.

Vista compatibility: Yes