Binatone Carrera C350BT

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/handhelds/0,39030065,49298550,00.htm

Reviewed 15 August 2008

Reviewed by Brett James

When you're paying under £100 for a sat-nav system you have to expect some cut corners. For the most part, though, the Binatone Carrera C350BT does provide you with a respectable navigation solution, thanks primarily to an older NavNGo system. The inclusion of a Bluetooth receiver for the most part makes up for the lack of a traffic information option, but the C350BT does have a budget feel, more so than other products in the same price bracket. You can pick up the C350BT from Tesco for £99.99.

Positives
The C350BT features an antiglare 89mm (3.5-inch) touchscreen display housed in a light black shell. There's a menu button on the front for quick access to the customised start screen, which lets you access a picture viewer (there's no MP3/video player), settings, a handy Bluetooth hands-free option for mobile calls and the GPS software.

The GPS software itself utilises an older, 2006 version of NavNGo (better known for its Mio implementation) and while some may view this as a negative, it still provides plenty of functionality with a little perseverance.

Entering a postcode from the map view, for example, will allow you to pinpoint your destination by tapping on the screen. You can also enter GPS co-ordinates directly and add waypoints or your own custom points of interest and safety cameras (with several direction and camera types to pick from).

During testing, our location was picked up quickly and it could retain a strong signal lock throughout. Pressing the power button when the destination has been set will also bring up route-specific info.

You can perform a flyover before embarking on your route, or take advantage of the track log feature to record your trips for future playback.

Routes could be a touch more efficient, but due to the maps being held on its internal memory, both initial route and route recalculations are nippy.

The street names used on the maps are clear and the auto zoom function kept us on track without being a distraction.

Negatives
The C350BT does provide ample functions, but it doesn't have the most intuitive interface and at first will feel rather overwhelming as you work out what each menu option does.

While the Bluetooth hands-free option works well, we found that you could not call points of interest directly from the screen. We could not fully test the supposedly pre-installed safety camera database because it was not picking up established cameras along our test route.

Even though there's a 2007 UK/Ireland update on the device, the only current option for future upgrades is to purchase the European maps at £40 (which has updates every 6 months).

For navigation the Cockpit view has several icons positioned around the screen, alongside a non-removable bar down the left. This is bordering on overkill on the 89mm screen. You can, however, switch to the map view mode to navigate in full screen.

While the device is relatively stylish, its casing and cradle do feel a touch on the plastic side and reflect its budget nature -- though in fairness it did survive intact when we accidently dropped the unit on to concrete.

Despite the lack of TMC traffic information in the UK, it's frustrating that the software does support this function and the quick-start guide even shows TMC accessories being plugged into the unit.

Voice directions were basic, but loud enough. Unfortunately, in order to adjust the volume levels you'll have to traverse several screens to reach the setting.

Conclusion
While many budget devices hide their true identity, the C350BT does tend to show its true colours with its plastic feel and older software. For the most part, however, the C350BT provides ample navigation with relatively quick route calculations and its Bluetooth hands-free option does boost its value, despite its shortcomings. If you can learn to get along with the interface you will find a good enough product.

Edited by Nick Hide