Town And Country GPS Devices
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Written by Bradley S. Melara
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Monday, 09 March 2009 |
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GPS
HANDHELD GPS DEVICES fall loosely into two categories: those for street navigation and those for use where the pavement ends. Two recent examples of this Paris Hilton Grizzly Adams split are the stylish Pocket Loox N100 from Navigon (codeveloped with Fujitsu Siemens Computers) and DeLorme's rugged Earthmate GPS PN-20.
I tested a late preproduction version of the Loox. Not only can this 4-ounce unit accurately tell yon how to get from here to there, but it can simultaneously play digital music to enhance the journey; the occasional voice directions play over your music.
The Loox is pretty thin as a multimedia player, though. All of the media has to reside on the included 2GB miniSD Card, which holds 1.6GB of map data, too. Audio sounded fairly good through the included earbuds, but the audio controls were rudimentary. (My test unit lacked the ability to handle photos and videos.)
You get detailed street maps and points of interest for the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin islands. Based on the unit's performance in the San Francisco Bay Area, I'd say its points of interest are a bit thin.
The maps look great on the 2.8-inch, color touch screen. The Loox's main faults: The text is too small to read while driving, and the screen is difficult to read in bright light.
OLD-SCHOOL STYLE
DELORME'S EARTHMATE GPS PN-20 lacks svelte styling and multimedia entertainment features. This yellow brick is sturdily built, weighs 7 ounces, and is waterproof.
What separates the PN-20 from the crowd is its ability to store and display topographic, aerial, and satellite images--all of which you purchase and download (either to the 75MB of on-board memory or to an SD Card) from DeLorme. This feature is still more concept than practical application. I downloaded images--a cumbersome process--for Yosemite National Park and had difficulty picking out familiar features (like large, distinctive peaks) on the PN-20's 2.2-inch color screen. The USGS's Quad topographical maps that I downloaded to the device are far more useful on such a small screen.
The unit comes with top-level base maps offering world and U.S. coverage. You can download more-detailed maps via the included software.
The PN-20 is a fine navigation device. I found its color screen exceptionally easy to see in bright sun, and the display showed travel stats in large, readable text. The unit has all the features you would expect for use outdoors, including waypoint and track recording (for maintaining a log of where you've been), plus point-to-point navigation.
Would I use the PN-20 in wilderness areas without a paper topographical map? Not on my life--but it can make a nice complement to paper maps. Meanwhile, the Pocket Loox is cute and compact: but unless you need something that can slip into your pocket, you have better GPS options.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 09 March 2009 )
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Vehicle GPS Unit