Sat-navs tested: £150-£250 - 3rd: Panasonic Strada CN-GP50N

Panasonic Strada CN-GP50N

Best Price £249.99 (Play.com)
For Big screen, well designed maps and great spoken instructions.
Against Painfully slow through the menus and the screen isn't good at dealing with glare.
Verdict Highly desirable unit, but slow-witted software lets it down.

This system comes with a huge five-inch screen, Bluetooth connectivity, voice control, a photo viewer and detailed maps of 37 countries.

It wouldn't look out of place on the dash or windscreen (you can attach it to either) of even the most expensive cars, thanks to a classy design and fine build quality.

Like the Sony, the Panasonic could, and should, have been even better than it was.

Its vast display made following the excellent visual instructions easy, but the screen didn't display well in bright sunshine, and the maps were often a second or two behind the car's position.

That was frustrating in built-up areas, but not nearly as annoying as plodding through the painfully slow menu system, and waiting an age for the Strada to power up.

However, the spoken instructions were among the best in this test, and we appreciated the extra detail in the directions - such as 'bear left' as well as 'turn left'.

• See how all the systems fared by clicking here.

Sat-nav systems under £150
Sat-nav systems over £250