AvMap-Geosat-5-BLU-e Review

At the highest end of the price market it seems that what you are paying for here is a very long name and a very big unit. This is a heavy and cumbersome device weighing in at nearly 400 grams. It is 140 mm wide, 100 mm high and a whopping 35 mm thick. For that you get a 5 inch screen with a lot of buttons on the side.

What you get for your money straight out of the box is the unit itself, a windscreen holder, cables for audio and video with an SD memory card, a USB cable for downloads of software updates and Points of Interest (POI) and a car cigarette lighter power cable. Bear in mind that 400 grams is a lot of weight to hang on a windscreen and vibrations will likely be an issue.

The AvMap Geosat 5 BLU software is TMC ready, but the hardware does not come as standard which for the price tag on this unit is a surprise. Navigation is by way of the industry standard SiRF star III GPS receiver with 20 channels and maps are provided by Tele Atlas Cartography. 32 European maps are preloaded on the 2 GB SD card, from Liechtenstein to Lithuania Poland to Portugal, and not forgetting the UK of course. There are also nearly 2 million POIs included.

The unit does come with Bluetooth connectivity and the manufacturers have made a selling point of explaining how this is important for people who want to stay connected with the outside world. Remember however that making phone calls can still be illegal in some countries, hands free or not.

Like the RAC 220 which also has a 5 inch screen, it must be noted that instead of making everything clear to view, it may well turn into a distraction with your eyes being drawn away from the road ahead. The size of the display is supposed to be a safety feature but sports bars are renowned for disrupted conversations as your eyes are pulled away to the TV screen in the corner. Having said that the screen is very easy to view, albeit at the expense of the road, and the system responds quickly to input.

The display area is so huge by portable GPS standards that it almost has to be useful for something other than car navigation. AvMap suggest you should take advantage of the large screen to watch movies and photographs. They have made it possible for both Audio and Video input so that the unit can be connected to a DVD player, a digital camera or a laptop. Of course this is all after you have reached your destination if you have nothing better to do. Unless you intend spending the night in the car it would make more sense to dispense with this kind of added feature and just watch a DVD in the comfort of your home or hotel!