August 1st 2008

It’s summer time and rather than spending time abroad, more people are choosing to save money and holiday in the UK. But during the summer get-away, Britain’s roads will become more congested - so knowing exactly how to get from A to B will be essential to save time and petrol.

In preparation, consumer review site Reevoo.com has analysed 5,539 genuine reviews of over 130 sat nav devices to find out which ones reviewers recommend.

Reviews from shoppers revealed almost a clean sweep for TomTom devices with the TomTom One GB V3 the most highly rated. The only other brand to get into the top five was the Garmin Nuvi 760T, in third place.

Top five satellite navigation systems – for the full list of scores see Reevoo’s blog Decide What to Buy

1.     TomTom One GB V3 - £95

2.     TomTom ONE XL – £169

3.     Garmin Nuvi 760T - £210

4.     TomTom One Explore - £110

5.     TomTom ONE WE - £116

Reviewers, who had all bought the products from Reevoo’s retail partners, rated TomTom systems highly for their ease of use and value for money. One reviewer commented that their TomTom was “Intuitive to operate, easy to reconfigure the various options and pretty much idiot proof”. The TomTom One GB V3 and the TomTom ONE XL were the top performers in the ease of use category - both scoring 9.2/10. The Garmin was close behind with 9.1/10.

For value for money, the TomTom devices excelled with ratings between 9.0 and 9.2/10. However, shoppers did mention that a stronger suction cup and a mains charger in the box would have been welcome additions.

The Garmin, which is the most expensive system on the list, was praised for its accuracy and clear display. Among the reviews was “the traffic capability is brilliant and has already saved me from sitting in queues for a couple of hours”. It was rated 9.0/10 for accuracy, which beat all of the TomToms in the top five. However, consumers would have liked the system to have an external volume control, rather than having to access it via the menus.

The full list of scores and categories can be found on Reevoo’s blog Decide What to Buy.

Reevoo collects reviews from shoppers after they have bought a product from one of its retail partners. These reviews are then published on Reevoo’s website and on partner websites.

Reevoo has over 50 retail partners including Woolworths, Currys, Dixons and the Carphone Warehouse.