Satellite navigation is becoming the order of the day. AutoCar (Oct. ’08) tested three of the best GPS-based units (The Garmin Nuvi, the Blaupunkt Travel Pilot and the MapmyIndia Navigator) available in India.

The Nuvi has a really easy-to-use interface. The software is intuitive and you can scroll through all the functions quite easily. A comprehensive list of ‘points of interest’ helps one find information with a minimum of keystrokes and it’s travel kit can switch to different time zones, do currency conversions, basic language translations and even ‘talk’ to a stranger if you key in a sentence.

The downside, says AutoCar (Oct. ’08) is that the map does not take into account Mumbai’s many flyovers and misses turns as well. Also while it mounts easily onto the dashboard via a suction clamp, the suction cup itself is small thus leading to possible dislodging on bad roads. And priced at Rs.44,362 plus taxes it is expensive and not very accurate.

As far as real-time navigation goes, neither the Nuvi nor the MapmyIndia Navigator can hold a candle to the Blaupunkt. The distance and turn-prompts are accurate to the last millimetre and gives enough advance warning on which lane to stick to. It also has a useful ‘find near cursor’ function, which scans hospital and hotels in the neighbourhood, which is useful in new cities. So at Rs. 25,990 it is a tad pricey but a quality buy.

The only snag is a cluttered display and that you need to set the local time. Most GPS units tell the local time accurately but the Travel Pilot does not.

At Rs. 17,990, the MapmyIndia Navigator is the cheapest device available and is quite accurate too. But the software is confusing with a tedious touch screen interface and there’s no Bluetooth either. Also it asks too many questions and the graphics are amateurish in comparison to the other two tested, warns AutoCar (Oct. ’08). It works best if you throw in an area or street code, for it is very comprehensive, at least for Mumbai.