Review: Medion GoPal PNA 515 satellite navigation

The Medion GoPal PNA 515 GPS is the company’s top of the range satellite navigation device, and we gave it the ultimate of tests – could it get us from our house in the UK to the bottom of Croatia, and then later back up the other side of the country.

The device comes with Bluetooth to synch with your phone to make and receive hands-free calls, the now obligatory mp3 player built in, TMC traffic routing, and an extensive set of points on interest to accompany its integrated Navteq maps that cover 31 European countries, principalities and city states on a 1GB SD card.

It’s pretty easy to use from the moment it is picked up. Its functions and features are with a few exceptions intuitive, and it has four key buttons on its casing controlling volume, power and Bluetooth.

We used the Medion GoPal PNA 515 over 2,500 miles in eight countries. And bar a few incorrect instructions, the device gave clear directions and gave plenty of warning whenever you needed to change roads.

On motorways we were told between one and two kilometres notice, and then again at the point of change. And every time, it was spot on. It also tells you the speed limit on most roads, and you can set it to warn you once you hit a certain speed over that limit.

Once out of the Eurotunnel (one of the few addresses we struggled to get it to find) it directed us directly to our hotel in Germany, via France, Belgium and Holland.

Our only complaint was the hotel name and the GoPal listing were slightly different, which necessitated a regional search for all hotels, rather than being able to just enter its name.

In some countries we found the maps were not as complete. In Croatia, for instance, several of the towns visited were not listed. However, once reached it did have most of the streets on it.

You can name and save your location, which proved handy in these instances. But if you scroll to an unnamed town or area on the GoPal’s map that you want to visit, it won’t save it or offer directions from your current position - even though you can see the roads on its map.

Clearly the Navteq maps need updating, and Medion should warn owners that in some countries, the maps are not complete.

Overall, this was a good GPS. Most users will never drive outside of the UK, for which its routing was generally excellent.

For those that want a GPS to cover west or east European roads, this is a great device. Testimony to its instructions is that in over 2,500 miles of driving, there were no arguments about directions.

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