Last month we gave our first impressions of the Navman S100.
We’ve now had a chance to road test this system so we’ve put together a short review of how we got on.
Navigation
As mentioned in our initial report, we found the new Glide Touch interface difficult to use. This continued to be the case during our road tests. For example when trying to input an address, button presses were frequently ignored, or the screen would try to scroll up or down when all we wanted to do was select an option from a list. This made the initial task of entering an address awkward.
We were also disappointed by the route selection. We use the same routes for all our sat nav reviews so we can form a benchmark and compare how each system performs. The main issue with the Navman S100 is that it focuses too much on motorways. In our tests this resulted in a route calculation over 40 miles longer than an equally fast alternative route chosen by other systems we’ve reviewed.
There are a number of routing profiles you can choose from to try and overcome these issues, but they are buried away in the system and are not easy to find. To change the routing profile you need to input an address, tap GO and let the Navman S100 calculate a route, then select the Other Options screen and then select Route Type.
This seemed an odd place to put the routing profile options, it would have made more sense to allow a user to change the routing options from the main settings page, like seen in the photo below, which is more easily accessible.
Once we had figured out how to change the routing profiles we didn’t have much more success with the other profiles available. The only routing profile that resembled those of other sat nav systems we’ve reviewed was the shortest route profile, but being a shortest route profile it navigated us through all the back roads and housing estates and was not very practical. We’d like to see more intelligence built into the Navman route selection.
We were unable to get the route we wanted with any of the profile options we tried. With time and practice a user may be able to tweak these settings, such as setting the Navman to avoid motorways, but this is no good for those situations where you do want to use a motorway.
Out on the road the S100 looks OK, the maps are easy to read and the voice directions are easy to understand. We liked the text to speech (TTS) feature which means it will speak out the road names, for example “Turn left in 50 yards onto Main Street”. TTS is a feature appearing more frequently on sat nav systems today and was a welcome addition.
Another feature we liked is an option to warn you when driving over the speed limit for a given road. The first road we tested this on it got the speed wrong, thinking we were in a 30mph zone when in fact it was 40mph, but apart from that minor glitch it performed admirably elsewhere. We also liked how it not only sounds an audible warning, but also displays a sign post on the screen showing you the speed limit for the road you’re driving on.
The S100 supports average, fixed, mobile and red light cameras. In our tests we only had an opportunity to test fixed cameras, but it performed well, detecting all the cameras we came across.
Overall on the navigation side we thought there were some nice touches by Navman, but the poor route selection let it down.
Points of Interest (POI)
As on previous Navman systems we’ve reviewed we found the POI (Points of Interest) to be adequate but not as good as Garmin. The S100 for example was unable to detect any car parks at all in our local town.
The Navman S100 does allow you to search for POI online, but you cannot do this in your car, you can only search for POI on a home computer using NavDesk software from Navman. The ability to add custom POI via your computer is a useful feature, but many people will want to search for POI whilst driving in an unfamiliar town or city. In these situations you need to be able to connect to the internet via your mobile phone in real-time. Since the S100 does not support Bluetooth this is not an option.
Summary
The redesigned cradle is a welcome improvement over previous models, and the addition of features like Text to Speech (TTS) and visual speed warnings is good to see.
The Navman S100 though is let down by the new Glide Touch interface which we consider a gimmick more than a useful feature. It’s nice to see a manufacturer be progressive and try out new features like these, but in the real world it doesn’t really work. You will need the patience of a saint to use this device, otherwise you may end end up throwing it out the window or in the bin.
The choice of route selection in our tests was disappointing too.
This is not a system we can recommend buying in the present format. If Navman can fix the usability problems and improve the route selection then it may be worthy of a closer look, but for now we recommend you look elsewhere for a sat nav.
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9 responses so far ↓
1 Shalim // Jan 11, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Hi Dean,
I have been interested in the Navman S100 for some time. In the way it looks and on some features comparing to the Garmin. But the Navman was cheaper and it comes with a free 2009 map update if you buy and register your Navman within January.
And now that I have bought it, and after a little tip from a friend of mine, and reading your review after that just to make sure (little too late). I just don’t know what to do now!
It’s all true on what you’ve said. I have semi tested it at home, not on the road yet, but I will do, and when I entre my post code in it doesn’t seem to fine my address. It fines the street but doesn’t ask for the number and it fines other addresses with my pose code which I find it bizarre. The battery power is very poor last only one hour compare to the Garmin’s latest modal, five hours, so they say. The Glide Touch is not as good as it suppose to be, some time you need to press it hard to give the command. Which I think its goanna be annoying on the road. I don’t even know if it will re-route you if you take a wrong turn and re-calculate quickly. This is one of the main features that I need. I know Garmin has it, but it’s pricey. I need it to re-route me if there is traffic build up like the IQ. I know Tom Tom doses it. But don’t like the look of it.
I just hope the map update will solve the problem on the addresses and on the POI.
I just also bought a main charger and a leather case for the S100 (cheap, both for under £8 from Ebay). The sat nav was £175 from Dixons. But with those performances of the sat nav I just feel like throwing it in the bin.
I need a sat nav to do what its build for. To take me from A to B safely, quickly and with added features of speed limit and camera alert, re-route and on busy traffic, text and speak, lane assist and all other features that is useful to navigation. Don’t need things like hands free blue tooth, MP3 player and picture viewer.
If only I read the reviews of what I want to buy then I wouldn’t have made this mistake.
I hope you can help and guide me on what to do next. Thanks.
Regards
Shalim
2 Dean // Jan 12, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Hi Shalim,
The S100 will re-route you if you make a wrong turn. In my tests it repeatedly asked me to do a u-turn, but if you continue to drive in the same direction it will eventually re-route you.
The traffic (TMC) is an optional extra so I did not review that aspect of the device.
Personally the Garmin still wins over Navman, but the Garmin models with lane assist are very expensive at the moment.
3 Shalim Miah // Jan 15, 2009 at 12:30 am
Hi Dean,
Thank you for taking the time to read my comment.
I have two more questions to ask, 1. How do I set the Junction Views? I know I’ve turned it on but it doesn’t show when I’m viewing the demo. At first the speed alert was off so I turned it on then it came up on the demo. So I did the same for the junction view. But that did not come up on the demo when it was going along the motorway. 2. The TMC think, does it just tell you there’s traffic ahead or it also re-route you?
Thanks.
4 Dean // Jan 15, 2009 at 9:38 pm
It’s possible the junction views only appear on really complicated junctions rather than every one. You could try plotting a different route, maybe where two motorways join, and see if you have any more luck.
Navman traffic modules do provide an option to re-route you around traffic problems ahead, I didn’t test TMC on the Navman S100 but I would expect it to do the same.
5 Chris H // Feb 12, 2009 at 10:12 am
Try doing Waypoints on this device.
I have e-mailed Navman (and being from New Zealand you would think I could talk to someone in the same country — NOPE).
I had set a route to work, waypoints to two other destinations.. One waypoint less than 1Km from home, the other over a motorway harbour bridge and in the Central City, and the final destination in the South of the city (Auckland) – This Navman had me drive from home, over the bridge and motorway to the city waypoint, before re-routing me back almost home again to to the waypoint less than 1Km from home, and then taking me over *The Same* motorway and harbour bridge to take me to the end point of the journey.
No matter what route option I chose, it consistently made this route plan for me… and although it seems to have learnt not to do this, (unsure how that happened) when I added a 3rd waypoint to the mix, it did the same thing with that one.
Not good if you have no idea of the area you are driving in and want to go from A – E via B,C,D… it could take you from A – C back to B and then to D and finally to E — which could be miles out of your way.. and you might have no idea.
I love the look of the unit, and while you say making the changes on the road is hard, I have not really experienced that too much.. Generally because I have set it at home before I travel and once it’s calculated your route, I have never found any reason to modify it.. and once I have stopped I just enter it there.
I would bin it, but it was a gift, and I don’t have the heart to do this.
I have noticed that sometimes it will ask you to do a U-Turn if you do not listen to it, and other times it will not and will just re-calc your journey fairly quickly.
Being a New Zealander I decided to support a New Zealand company and buy a Navman… but with the lack of local support, and this, my next unit will NOT be one… unless they can resolve these mapping / routing options.
6 Mio Moov Spirit V735 GPS TV Review // Aug 26, 2009 at 5:33 pm
[...] user interface looks very similar to the Navman S100. This is not surprising since Mio now own [...]
7 Errol Macdonald // Sep 1, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Hello Dean
Your observations in respect of the model S100 T would be appreciated but only take up your time if no improvements have been incorporated which would adress current concise review.
Regards E H Macdonald
8 billy // Nov 13, 2009 at 8:17 am
hello dean
my navman s100 cant get a gps fixed for the last two days why?
9 Dean // Nov 13, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Hi Billy,
Try leaving the S100 out in the open for 30 minutes and see if it can get a connection, if not then do a factory reset.
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