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Sat nav comes to a big screen near you
It is no longer enough for a satellite-navigation device to get a person from A to B, it must now also look good and make a statement when placed in the front of a car.
Some sat navs do this by coming in a variety of colours, others offer the ability to display pictures from a memory card, and then there are some, like the Mio Digiwalker C320, which make their mark just by looking slick.
The Mio C320 is a sleek-looking, black unit that houses a clear and bright 4.3in touch-sensitive widescreen. The screen can be split into two, giving users the option to have the route displayed on one side while viewing speed, time, points of interest or route information on the other. It's something that may come in handy for those who don’t want to have to navigate out of the journey planner to view those details.
The C320 uses a fast and accurate GPS receiver, which can pick up satellite signals at a decent rate, but since this chip is common among navigation units nowadays, we didn’t notice much of a difference when we turned the device on.
Once it has found a signal and the driver or passenger has entered the destination, the C320 will bring up a good range of route-planning options, including bypassing major roads, or taking scenic routes. There is a handy name-and-number section, when looking for points of interest, which displays the contact details of restaurants and other places in the area.
It calculated journey times and mileage fairly accurately, although it felt at some points like the device believed we were driving a tractor – for instance, calculating that a one-mile journey would take 20 minutes.
Unlike some other GPS devices, the C320 only comes with one choice of voice, which is only good news for those who like listening to posh male butlers. Nevertheless, the voice is clear and the directions comprehensive, pointing out things like mini roundabouts in plenty of time. It doesn't come with any kind of traffic or speed camera information, which is a disappointment in a relatively expensive device, but the extended journey planning features and the device's good looks go some way to making up for this.
Vista compatible: N/A
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MIO C320
It DOES come with a database of the locations speed cameras. So far it has not missed permanent one, and gives warning of sites where mobile cameras are located - which can be annoying as there are many and very few are actually used frquently. My experience is route calcuation is fairly quick, and I have switched to "request recalucation" for when I drift off route. The maps, despite being updated every 3 months or so, have a several roads/junctions missing which shouldn't be as they've been in places for over two years. A few motorway/dual carriageway intersections are mis-read, often where a "right turn" is made by exiting by a reverse curve to the left. Many of the speed limits are incorrect, (e.g. 40 instead of 30) rendering the speeding system warning more or less useless. The MIO website can be temperamental, especially the MioSync speed camera update. Most things can be found on the site, but it can take a lot of searching, and the support for latest version of MioMapp (3.3) is conspicuous by its absence. The e-mail help service is mostly a set of standard replies, with the least helpfyl reply being phone the helpline 0905 4640010 which is a cheap rate international number at 35p per min. I'm still working out how to add another voice besides Thomas, who is actually very good! Otherwise the basic C320 is just fine.
Posted by BigJohnD, 30 Aug 2007