Navigon 7100

The Navigon 7100 is equipped with a SiRFstarIII GPS chip and all maps of the United States and Canada are preloaded on the included SD card. As with most GPS devices, you can enter a location by specific address, point of interest, recent destination, user-defined home, and so forth. The 7100 can calculate routes in one of four ways--fast, optimum, short, or scenic--and gives you the option to allow or avoid highways and toll roads. There are also pedestrian, bicycle, and motorcycle route options, and our favorite, slow-car mode. Other standard navigation features include automatic route recalculation, multistop trips, simulated demos, speed alerts, and, of course, text- and voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, including text-to-speech functionality for specific street names.

You can view maps in 2D or 3D mode, and with day or night colors. The map screen shows you plenty of data, such as the name of the street you're on, distance to next turn, estimated time of arrival, remaining distance, a compass, signal strength, and more. You can always choose to hide some of these elements via the Settings menu, since the screen can get pretty overwhelming with all the data and points of interest.

Speaking of which, like other Navigon products, such as the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket LOOX N100, the Navigon 7100 has a comprehensive POI database that includes branded icons for major corporations (e.g., McDonald's, Chevron, Shell). In addition, you can now search for POI by Zagat Survey ratings and reviews. It's available for hotels, night life, attractions, golf courses, and restaurants, and once you've selected your category, you can refine your search even more by top service, best buy, and so forth. Tapping the information icon on a business listing will then bring up specific ratings and reviews. The Zagat Survey data is particularly useful when you're in a new town and need recommendations of where to eat or go out. Overall, we found the database to be fairly up-to-date, though not perfect.

The Navigon 7100 also includes several other helpful and beneficial navigation features. First, it has an integrated traffic receiver so you get subscription-free traffic updates. You'll see a little exclamation point on your map screen and by tapping it, it will bring up a list of congested areas. You can select a specific incident and get more details on the problem. The system has the ability to plot an alternate course, as well. To make for the smoothest ride possible, there's also a lane assistant function that will recommend the optimal lane for your route. Last but not least, in complicated intersections, such as major highway exchanges, the Navigon 5100 will present you with a 3D image of the road. For example, you will get a semirealistic view of what the road looks like ahead of you, including road signs, so you're not completely confused as to what exit to take.

One additional feature the 7100 has over the Navigon 5100 is integrated Bluetooth, so you can pair with a compatible Bluetooth-enabled cell phone and use it as a hands-free speaker system. Once paired with your handset, you can make calls using the system's onscreen dial pad or if there's a number associated with a POI, you can dial out directly. Unfortunately, however, you can't transfer your phone's contact list or call history.