The long and winding road from A to B

With satellite navigation devices becoming more accurate and accessible, Sunil Peck and Paul Carter set out to give two of the top models a test-drive – one on foot and one by car

Device: TomTom One XL Europe
Starting point: Home, East Finchley, London N2
Target: Esporta Health Club, Friern Barnet, London N11
Mode of travel: Car
Distance: 3.2 miles
Time taken: 20 minutes
Score: Nine out of ten

While Sunil was off tackling the buses and backstreets of the People’s Republic of Islington, I opted for the (relative) sanctuary of the car, relying on a TomTom One XL Europe to navigate me through the nightmare of north London’s roads.

First impressions of the unit are good. The XL has an extra large, 4.3” display, and is operated entirely by touch apart from the power button on the top.

It found satellites relatively quickly, taking roughly 30 seconds to lock on.

My biggest apprehension was the touchscreen. I’ve had mixed success with touchscreen devices in the past, as some are too sensitive, making them virtually unusable for someone like me without digits.

Thankfully, there were no such problems with the TomTom. The onscreen keyboard responded very well, and picked up the intended letters pretty accurately. There were a couple of times where I had to go back and try again, but that is to be expected.

Out on the road, the unit is very simple to follow, giving clear, loud instructions. The on-screen maps are in colourful high contrast, making them viewable very easily at a glance, and potentially usable even without sound.

The biggest issue I had was with the physical placement of the unit in the car. The suction bracket refused to stick to my dashboard, so had to be attached to the windscreen, to the right of my steering wheel. As I drive with my right arm in a cup socket, this meant I was unable to operate the TomTom at all once I was driving.

Fortunately, this didn’t prove to be a major issue, as it automatically recalculates the route should you make a wrong turn or take an alternative route to that suggested, so you shouldn’t have to access the unit unless you need any of the extra features.

At one point I deliberately tried to confuse it by taking a wrong turn into a residential area, but it quickly recalculated, before finally losing patience and telling me to turn around.

The TomTom One XL Europe is one of the better satellite navigation systems I have used, and handled pretty much everything I could throw at it on a relatively short journey.

It is quick, simple to use, and works straight out of the box. There are cheaper options available, and it may not be worth the extra money for full European mapping, but if you use the car regularly and have difficulty with regular maps, it is well worth a second look.

*TomTom One XL Europe is available from most good high-street electrical and motoring retailers, with an RRP of £199. For more information, visit www.tomtomonexl.co.uk



Device: Wayfinder Access
Starting point: Disability Now offices, Market Road, London N7
Target: Masala Zone restaurant, Upper Street, London N7
Mode of travel: Bus and on foot
Distance: 1.6 miles
Time taken: 40 minutes
Score: Eight out of ten

I try to avoid travelling by bus because I can never tell where I am and there are hardly ever announcements telling me where my stop is. But I was so impressed with the audible information Wayfinder Access gave me when I tested it on the bus, that I'm seriously tempted to try using buses from now on.

The application installs onto any mobile phone which runs the Symbian operating system, and works in conjunction with text-to-speech software like Talks and Mobile Speak. Installation is a breeze, although you need to establish a Bluetooth connection between your phone and a small GPS receiver which enables satellites to track your location.

My past experience of using phone-based GPS products in built-up areas is that receivers can struggle to receive a satellite signal. But receivers must have improved, because the signal didn't drop once.

The interface for searching and setting destinations on the phone is easy to use. Once en route, Wayfinder Access announces the distance to the next turning and which direction to take. On the bus, I used the joystick on my phone to flip between screens and peruse information like nearby shops and bars and the names of roads coming up.

When I got off the bus, I knew I was a five minute walk and a couple of streets away from the restaurant. But 15 minutes later I was lost. Wayfinder Access had not uttered a word for a while and after poking around in the menus I discovered the voice guidance had become muted. Once I'd reactivated it, I found the restaurant without a hitch. But it did take me a while to adjust to the software's inability to calculate distances to turnings to the nearest metre. It would announce a turning was 25 metres ahead, when actually it was only 5 or 10 metres away. On this occasion, there were no other side streets nearby, so I did not find myself walking down the wrong street.

It's also worth bearing in mind that using Wayfinder Access leaves your phone's battery flat after a couple of hours and you incur charges when the programme goes online to download map data and plot routes.

Wayfinder Access is a helpful mobility aid and easy to use. I also like the fact that, unlike a lot of adaptive software which is self-contained, it runs on a mobile phone so, apart from the small GPS receiver, you don't have to carry any extra pieces of hardware.

*Wayfinder Access is available from www.talknav.com or tel: 0844 412 1062. A GPS receiver costs £56.95 and the software costs £259.99