Which? Sat-nav must haves

British motorists have gone sat-nav bonkers. Which? aims to stop them getting led up the garden path by naming the best.

Satellite navigation devices (sat-navs) have taken Britain by storm. In the last two years, sales of portable sat-navs have increased fivefold and there are now more than four million systems in use on the UK’s roads.

As their popularity has increased, prices have tumbled. While early models cost £1,000 or more, basic models can now be found for less than £100 at supermarkets.

Which? has awarded six sat-nav systems Best Buy status. The best of the bunch was the Snooper Syrius UK & Ireland (90 per cent, £286), which experts thought had “everything a driver needs.” Testers were impressed by its accuracy, describing its handling of the tricky city route as “perfect”.

Close behind is TomTom’s mid-range Go 510 (89 per cent, £269). The impressive software lets drivers select a route according to a range of criteria, such as the quickest, the shortest or one that avoids toll roads.

Third place goes to the Garmin Nuvi (88 per cent, £190), which was simple to set up and “a doddle” to use. Searching for destinations was especially easy thanks to a seven-digit postcode search function.

Other Best Buys were the TomTom One UK (86 per cent, £180); TomTom Go 910 (86 per cent, £350) and the Road Angel Nav 6000 (81 per cent, £180).

Richard Headland, motoring editor, Which?, said: “Sat-navs often get a bad press for sending drivers the wrong way or down unsuitable roads, but our tests show that many of the newest portable sat-navs work very well. They’re also much cheaper to buy and easier to keep up to date than factory-fitted systems. If you want sat-nav in your car, make sure you go for one of our Best Buys.”