Is There Any Point In Sat Nav Systems Any More?

Not so long ago, separate sat-nav systems were the car accessory. No longer did you have to thrust a tatty, potentially out-of-date road atlas in your passenger’s lap, or slap a post-it note on your dash with some vague directions scrawled down: instead, you just suckered a little box with a screen to your dashboard and getting lost became a thing of the past.

Over time they got slimmer, the screens bigger, the technology inside them more intelligent. But, demand for separate sat nav systems has dropped dramatically in recent years. The increasing prevalence of in-built, factory-fitted nav units is a factor, but arguably the biggest reason for the drop is Google Maps and other apps of that ilk. After all, what’s the point in spending over £100 on something your phone can give you for free?

With that in mind, it’s no surprise to see companies like TomTom forced to diversify with other products, such as the cleverly packaged Bandit action camera we’ve been testing (above). And along with the Bandit, the company sent over its new Go 61, giving us a chance to see if it’s still worth having a separate sat nav.

The first thing you notice is the screen size. At six inches across it’s larger than even the most obnoxiously large smart phones. It’s worth noting the touch screen isn’t quite as responsive as something like an iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S7, but all the menus and sub-menus are nice and easy to navigate. Easier to navigate than the latest systems from Garmin it’s important to note, and without the irritatingly cartoonish colour schemes they seem to be blighted with.

It strikes a good balance between giving you a reasonable amount of information without barking pointless, repetitive updates at you, and the map is always very easy to follow. It also seems to redirect you quicker than Google Maps and a lot of manufacturer-fit systems manage: if you’ve another route in mind, it’ll pick up on it quicker, rather than shouting at you to turn around for a few miles before working out what you’re up to.

The benefits of a unit like this over a smart phone go further than just screen size, too. The GPS system is better than a phone’s, so it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever have the signal drop. Frequent use of Google Maps is also going to use up a hell of a lot of data if you’re not on an unlimited plan. You will still use some data with the Go 61 if you want to tether it to your phone and get traffic information (there’s no embedded sim card card here), but we’re talking a few megabytes a month rather than hundreds.

The ‘Lifetime’ speed camera information is genuinely very useful and as a bonus can be updated for free - not that I ever speed, officer. Then of course there’s the whole power thing - trying to keep a phone topped up from a 12-volt car socket is never a fun experience when you’ve a navigation app annihilating the battery.

So, is all that enough to make one of these things worth buying? It’s not a simple yes or no - it depends entirely upon your circumstances. For the occasional use, it’s quite hard to justify a system like this - the sim-less Go 61 is more of an entry-level nav but it’s still £169.99. For a lot of people, Google Maps and other free apps will do the job just fine, and the benefits of a standalone system aren’t going to be enough to warrant the outlay.

However, if your own car doesn’t have in-built navigation - or you own a car with one that’s irritatingly useless - and you rack up a lot of miles going to unfamiliar destinations - there is something to be said for these things. You’ll soon find it’ll become a trusted travel companion. And if you are going to buy one, the TomTom Go 61 looks to be a damn good choice.