Garmin StreetPilot c510 Review

Right now, the UK seems to be completely overloaded with mid-range GPS navigators, many of which are lurking around the £200 mark. Garmin itself seems intent on flooding the market all by its lonesome with a line-up of some 20 different models of all shapes and sizes, prices and feature sets.

The StreetPilot c510 falls neatly into the mid-range bracket, providing basic stand-alone GPS navigation for the UK. The deluxe version adds a couple of niceties though - maps of Europe and traffic alerts.

Garmin ' s experience at making sat nav units is very much obvious, even in one of its lower end models. Compared to many other similarly priced sat navs, the interface and the speed at which it finds satellites, the clarity of on-screen instructions, and the icons and maps were all a cut well above the rest. A particular strength is just how easy it is to see exactly what you ' re meant to be doing, even if you are approaching a tricky junction.

Menu navigation and route planning using the touchscreen is similarly impressive and definitely suited to finger prodding instead of relying on a stylus for precision. Although you are absolutely not supposed to be fiddling with your StreetPilot while you ' re driving, I will add that should you fall prey to temptation, it is made somewhat easier by the great quality of the touchscreen.

Two other things immediately warmed me to the StreetPilot c510 as well. Firstly, the suction mount uses a unique ball shaped clip and is a whole lot easier to use than the other standard clip mechanism. If you sensibly choose not to display £200+ of easily thievable electronics in the front windscreen of your car, you ' ll find that this is a very sensible design decision.