Navman have always liked to tinker with their GPS systems trying out new features above the basic A to B navigation. We tested the iCN320 which was the first unit to do away with the real time map in favour of static junction maps and a smaller screen, this didn’t quite work and while the static junction map remains in many Navman units most now have a 3D scrolling map once more. The latest innovation is Nav Pix, which allows you to select a destination by picture.

This feature had been resident in Navmans top end devices but now it is available in the Navman N20 making it more accessible to the average SatNav buyer along with a number of extra features and a supposedly improved navigation engine. After unpacking the N20 we noted that the unit did not come with a mains charger (unlike older Navmans) instead it comes with a car charger and a USB lead, which can be used to power up from a PC. The N20 is much slimmer than pervious units at only 22mm and the build quality is a bit less cheap plastic and a bit higher quality plastic!

The supplied windscreen mounting system is the latest of Navmans quick release mounts, which are ideal for removing your valuable GPS unit when leaving the car, combine this is the small size of the N20 and there is no excuse for leaving it on display. Power is handled by the supplied 12 volt cigarette lighter chord or from the internal battery which is good for just under 5 hours of runtime.

A 3.5” screen makes for a good user interface and it is recessed slightly from the outer edge of the device helping keep it free from scathes when placed in a bag. Alongside the right-hand edge of the screen are 4 navigation keys allowing quick access to commonly used features although the screen itself is touch sensitive and offers a quick and well designed GUI. Navman seem to have concentrated more on usability with this N20 and even the keypads presented are well spaced making it easier to type with your finger without hitting the wrong key.

More on those side buttons later, we start our review with a few basic navigation tests based on a full address entry and a 8 digit postcode, both routes took in a mixture of A and B roads plus some little unclassified lanes and a chunk of either dual carriageway or motorway driving. Sitting in the office car park we waited for the first GPS lock which we can happily report wasn’t long enough to allow the frost to clear from the cars windscreen due mostly to the SiRFstarIII™ chipset and good internal antenna.

As we set off along the first b road the N20’s screen leapt into life with a very smooth 3D render of the landscape and a highly accurate one down to 5 meters if you have enough satellites locked on. The display showed we consistently had at least 5 during the whole of journey 1 to Loughton on the border of East London and Essex. Navman have continued to improve the on screen display, which has evolved from a rather low rent experience to being on a par with the class leading TomTom interface. Alongside the scrolling map and backup next turn arrows there is also a clear spoken guidance, which is well timed to give you enough warning of needing to do something. The smaller case does seem to put a limit on the size of speaker used and we did find that the Navmans audio level wasn’t quite enough if you have the radio up at anything more than modest levels or perhaps a very noisy car. However it is far louder than PDA based systems and some of the cheaper all in one units we have reviewed.

Arriving at our destination via a sensible route the N20 had done a credible job, but nothing more than the cheaper F20 that we reviewed a few weeks ago. So on our second journey we decided to use the extras that define the price difference, namely the Nav ix system which is the most obvious item.

Navman realise that we all cope better with images than remembering long addresses or numbers, so the principle of navigating to an image is a sound one. The standard implementation is to push the “Go” button to the right of the screen and select the option to navigate via picture. You then get a series of thumbnails of your saved or downloaded locations to which you can navigate. NavPix stores the location of each image with the actual picture file which means it remembers where it was taken and can direct you back there, they can also be saved on a PC or even sent to another Navman user (via a PC).

It all sounds great but the killer part of the application hasn’t made it from the more expensive systems, namely the built in camera. On the more expensive models you can take a snap using a built in camera and store the GPS location at the same time building your own library of locations. The Navman N20 doesn’t have a camera and so you can’t do this, instead you can only download other Nav Pix from the supplied CD or online sources, something you have to use a PC and the USB connection to do. Something that requires planning way ahead of the journey (a bit like downloading a map from the AA website!). As such this rather ruins the whole idea for us and made the NavPix a little blot on extra rather than a main feature.

You can add a T1 travel pack to the N20 which a bit like the TomTom RDS / TMC unit enables you to pick up the subscription free traffic data broadcast around the UK on silent FM channels. The data isn’t the most accurate but it is a very useful addition (albeit an optional one), sadly the unit costs near on £70 and is a bit of a brick compared to the slim line N20. What we did note is that a number of our old gripes about Navman have been consigned to history. The N20 comes with an in journey menu which allows you to avoid part of the route or to divert around a lockage or accident. When combined with the “back on track” algorithm it makes for a far more responsive and less annoying navigation experience.

Our next journey proved this as we decided that we knew better than the N20’s original route to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and opted for the A10 rather than the M25, which has a junction closed at present. Normally we’d have had a fight with the older Navman units before they gave up and submitted to our greater wisdom. Not this new unit, it activated back on track and soon realised we were heading for the A10 and re routed using this road updating the arrival time and other on screen data.

As we headed towards our destination (Marks and Spencers) the little petrol warning light on the dash illuminated indicating that the gas guzzler needed a top up. Time we though to use the girly petrol button, which lives next to he girly parking button. A simple press of the icon led the N20 to plot a waypoint to the nearest petrol POI (point of interest) a map which seemed to include most of the major brands but not the supermarket station we were close too! Instead it guided us to a Shell station where we duly filled up, after which the device continued our route back to M&S.

The POI database can also be loaded with other landmarks or groups of locations, the most interesting being the Speed Camera database, which would have been very handy on our return journey through North London.

Navman sell the N20 with UK maps pre loaded onto the SD card and supply a mapping data CD with more Tele Atlas 2006 maps which can be downloaded onto the card. However it best to purchase a second SD card and load the extra maps onto this than try and cherry pick them and shove them onto the supplied storage. When you consider that most of Europe at street level is on this CD and that when we pushed them over onto a card we didn’t need an unlock key or code it makes that overall price seem very reasonable.

The Teleatlas maps are the most up to date currently available and seemed to have incorporated a few new road schemes we knew of, although give it 6 months and there will be newer routes not in this release.

Over the course of the next few journeys on our normal routes the N20 proved to be both reliable and easy to live with. The screen managed to cope with varying degrees of ambient light and the night mode makes nocturnal journeys much easier without illuminating the entire cabin. We never had the courage to use the parking button but presume it works in the same way as the petrol feature, the speed camera database once loaded worked well with a loud and visual warning ahead of the camera location removing the need for other GPS systems like Road Angel.

For the princely sum of £215 the Navman N20 straddles the mid point of SatNav systems offering basic A to B navigation reliably and then layers on some useful extras to warrant the additional cash. The access to additional European maps puts it on a par with the TomTom One and the lack of a traffic input for the TomTom One gives the Navman N20 the edge (just). If you are looking for simple navigation then consider the F20 and save some cash, if you could use the extras then the N20 could be worth it, sadly the NavPix is next to useless due to the lack of built in camera and this tipped the balance for us in favour of the cheaper F20.

Published - 28/12/2007

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