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Trying hard to look as little like a Pocket PC as possible, the design of Medion’s Go Pal PNA350 is influenced by the original Tom Tom Go; it’s like a miniature version of the first-generation Imac computer, with an SD slot, power and up/down buttons on the front. Everything else is done using the touchscreen.
The unit was supplied with a TMC (Traffic Message Channel) receiver that connects to the USB port and via a splitter to the power cable. TMC also requires an FM aerial wire so you can end up with quite a messy installation – and removing the Go Pal from the cradle tends to disconnect power and USB.
The supplied software is from Navigon and works well; thanks to the TMC receiver, it can automatically route you around traffic trouble spots and we found that aspect of the system was pretty much plug and play.
It was fairly simple to enter addresses, even with just partial postcode support, but the lack of a space on the on-screen numeric keypad makes that slightly fiddlier than it really needs to be.
With only the two buttons on the front, you need to use the touch-sensitive screen much of the time, and we felt the screen keyboard was a little too small without a stylus, which isn’t included.
In use Navigon software works well, but despite the boasts of its two speakers, the Medion just wasn’t loud enough for us to hear on a fast road with the radio on.
Without enough hardware buttons, it was also too easy to end up with the display showing the wrong thing until you tapped the right place on screen.
The inclusion of TMC means this is potentially better value than some of the alternatives, but a few more buttons would make Navigon easier to use – something you’ll find on the two other units that use this software.
This article is part of a group test of satellite navigation systems. Others
are:
Intro and Editor's
choice
Blue Media BM6380GPS
Evesham Nav-Cam 7000
Garmin Street Pilot i3
Magellan Roadmate 300
Medion Go Pal PNA350
Mio 268+
Navman ICN520
Novogo A30
Tom Tom One
Viamichelin X930
Top-of-the-range options
The
choice between all-in-ones or PDA add-ons
Europe's GPS constellation
This device has some good touches, but quiet sound lets it down 11 Apr 2006
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