Review: Sony Nav-u NV-U50T sat-nav device

Sony isn’t necessarily the first name you associate with sat nav and, while the Nav-u NV-U50T might be a little cheaper than some of its competitors, it’s disappointing on several levels.

The Nav-u is the only model in our test not to feature a memory card slot of any kind. The device has 512MB of internal memory to which map data is loaded via USB, which seriously limits its expandability and flexibility.

Street-level maps for the UK, Ireland and northern France are included, but international travellers will need to shell out £120 extra for the whole of Europe, which reduces the NV-U50T’s value for money.

Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the NV-U50T is that it doesn’t support full UK postcode searches. This means that users will have to tap in partial postcodes, street names and house numbers, which can add a considerable amount of time to the route-planning process.

On top of that, the device failed to find one of our test addresses, suggesting that the map data might be out of date.

In fairness to Sony, the NV-U50T has been around for some time now and compares less favourably to newer models in the company’s range.

But the NV-U50T is not without its plus points. It comes with a lifetime’s worth of free traffic updates and a TMC receiver is built into the dashboard cradle. We found the dynamic re-routing feature was pretty dependable, too.

As you might expect from a company better known for its audio-visual electronics, the Nav-u’s sound and vision is of a notably high standard. Clear spoken directions are matched by a sharp, bright 3.5in LCD. A mains adapter is included and the NV-U50T’s battery is rechargeable. Its strangely bulbous shape, however, makes it an unlikely partner for a walkabout.

This article is part of a group test of 10 satellite-navigation devices
See also:
Introduction
Acer p610
Garmin Nuvi 310
Magellan Roadmate 3050T
Medion Gopal PNA465
Mio Digiwalker C510E
Navman N40i
Novogo S700
Tomtom One Europe
ViaMichelin X-950
A tables of features can be read via our pdf download above