The Navman PIN is a windows mobile based device and it looks much like the current crop of PDA's, that's hardly surprising considering that at its heart is a Intel PXA-255 300MHz processor with 64MB of internal RAM giving the PIN capabilities beyond navigation.

But you're looking for a Navigation aid first and foremost so lets stick with that for now, the unit is slightly smaller than the Dell Axim X30 we had on test and is built with the same quality and style as many of the leading PDA's' on the market. The difference is that this one has a in built GPS antenna which hides on the back of the unit and flips up into position, this patch GPS technology is lifted directly for the Navman iCN630 which is an £800+ unit!

 The Navman PIN runs the latest version of the SmartST™ V2 software that has been available as a hardware GPS receiver PDA combo since Jan 2004, this sits upon a windows mobile 2003 operating system and gives you the benefits of the MS mobile suite and a full blown PDA.

Driving the  SmartST V2 software was quite easy, finally the Navman interface has evolved to be useable if not quite up to the sublime efforts of Tom Tom, once you have got your first fix its easy enough to enter a 5 digit postcode enabling the SmartST system to plot your route. The PIN then starts its guidance with a combination of on screen prompts and audio guidance, the speaker in the unit provides a good audio level unlike some PDA's so the spoken instructions come across clearly and precisely. The graphics are a little washed out in terms of colour which may be a feature of the 3.5" Colour Transflective LCD Display, the user GUI has come on leaps and bound making it much easier to re route during a journey and to change views or even switch from day to night settings.

We do like the street naming on the Navman software, there is something reassuring about seeing the actual name on screen while at the highest detail level of the mapping system and the combination of this with the 3D view gives a nice perspective allowing some gauge of distance even without looking at the on screen countdown to your next turn.

A key feature of any system is the ability to re route, we can remember our first experience of the £2500 BMW system and a journey through north London, apart from using radio controls to try and enter the destination (the volume knob to be exact) it spent the best part of an hour trying to get us back on a route after a small detour. The Navman like the Tom Tom system has dynamic re routing and it almost expects you to take a wrong turn or have to avoid and accident or traffic, the speed of the re plotting is critical on the congested roads of the UK. Navman's PIN is excellent in this department and the switch to Teleatlas maps seems to have aided the quick re plot.

A small complaint is the layout of the bottom row of hardware buttons, they are quite small and yet are used to access some key features while on the move, we did manage to select the wrong function on a number of occasions. Plus the power button on the side of the unit is only inches away from the record button, we lost count of the number of times we thought we'd switched the PIN off only to find ourselves making an audio recording!

As a PDA the Navman PIN lacks some of the now common features like Bluetooth and WiFi, but it does have a USB 1.1 connection which can be used with the WM active sync to keep your PIN in sync with a desktop PC and MS outlook, this is great for storing addresses and phone numbers within the PIN.

The Pin is supplied with a 128mb storage card to hold the mapping data and a map of England and Wales takes about 98.1mb of space with Scotland adding another 12mb, you can add any of the 16 supported countries but you may need a bigger card if you want many maps loaded at once.

Also in the box is a car charging cable to keep you fully powered while on the move, a nice little pouch which has an extra bit of space of the PIN GPS antenna, manual and a windscreen mount.

The Navman PIN has been a bit of a surprise to us, we thought the change of mapping data would be a nail in the coffin but it seems to have made the Pin quicker and combined with some jumps in the user interface development it does at least play in the same league as Tom Tom. The fact that this is an all in one unit may swing it as a purchase for you and we have to admit its very neat, perhaps for overall functionality the new Tom Tom Go is worth the extra size but you wouldn't be disappointed if you spent you £380 on the Navman PIN GPS.

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[ Tom Tom Go Review ] [ Mitac Mio 168 GPS ] [ Trafficmaster YQ2 ] [ Wayfinder Mobile Navigator ] [ Navman PIN GPS ] [ Navman iCN630 ] [ Navigon PNA ] [ Globalsat GV-101 ] [ TrafficMaster SmartNav System ] [ Kane Car Pilot Plus ] [ Garmin 2610 Review ] [ Navman 4400 Bluetooth GPS receiver ] [ Garmin ique 3600 PDA ]