Stress less with effective navigation

Driving around South Africa's cities is a unique, and sometimes harrowing, experience. With the road works taking place on most major national roads and highways, the traffic congestion, and the sheer size of our cities, getting around is often stressful and time-consuming. For these reasons, European navigation specialist Navigon is every South African driver's best friend.

Navigon GPSes offer everything you would expect from navigation devices, but offer many unique additional features that make the lives of motorists easier and less stressful, including regular map updates, traffic information, and information on the areas being driven through.

With FreshMaps, Navigon GPS users have access to the very latest maps and information, and all local devices come preloaded with maps of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. Similarly, the RTS traffic updates provide motorists with real-time traffic updates, offering specific information such as how long delays are, which areas are congested and for what reason, and, of course, offering rerouting options.

Rather than charging users per update (most navigation companies release updates twice a year and charge hundreds of rand per update), Navigon offers 24 months of updates for $99. In addition, they have a promotion whereby users who purchase the 6300 receive an 80% discount on FreshMaps. This includes up-to-date street maps, so-called POIs (points of interest) and other important route information, such as speed limits, new roundabouts, or road-widening schemes.

Navigon uses this information for features such as Active Lane Assistant - developed by Navigon - or Speed Assistant.

“Every South African driver is aware that several thousand kilometres of road change every year. This means that drivers can easily find themselves going the wrong way, even in familiar surroundings, because they are not yet aware of the altered traffic routing. Even minor delays can have serious consequences for business travellers,” says Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of specialist distributor Phoenix Software.

“A navigation device provides the necessary degree of safety in this respect, but only if the maps are up to date. If the driver is to arrive on time, the navigation device has to know every change along the route and the maximum permitted speed along certain sections in order to suggest the best route. Regular map updates guarantee the best possible route guidance.”

Similarly, TMC traffic reporting shows drivers an alternative route when traffic congestion is announced, with an updated distance calculation and arrival time. This offers extremely intelligent circumnavigation of traffic jams by displaying alternative routes and information on the length and duration of the new route compared to the original route. It also allows drivers to decide whether a minor traffic jam might be the faster option after all. In the higher-end devices, the Spoken TMC is integrated, enabling customers to not only listen to street names, but even traffic announcements.

The Navigon GPS units offer many other industry-leading features, such as a one-click menu; Reality View Pro, which shows roads not as lines, but realistically, with asphalt and with road markings; Active Lane Assistant, which provides a realistic display of the actual course of the road, including curves in a dynamic travelling animation; MyBest POI, which ensures that users will always have their three favourite destinations in view; and Clever Parking, which helps drivers to find a parking spot by displaying nearby parking areas shortly before the destination is reached.

“All of this, and more, is wrapped up in a compact, hi-tech and extremely attractive package. And what makes it an even more appealing must-have navigation option is that these devices offer industry-leading features and benefits at a very reasonable price,” says Campbell-Young.

Phoenix Software's belief that these navigation devices are the best of breed, has resulted in a distribution agreement with Navigon. Phoenix Software will be providing leading retailers and their consumer with the GPSes from November 2010.

The company will be offering its customers four units. The N20 Easy 3.5-inch is the company's most basic device, but it offers a number of features you would expect to see in high-end devices, such as Clever Parking, a handy pedestrian mode and a MyRoutes feature, which customises route recommendations according to your driving habits. The N20 Easy will be available at an SRP of R949.99.

The N40 Easy sports a rather generous 4.3-inch wide-screen display and retails at a recommended R1 299.99. Above and beyond all the basic functionality you expect from a GPS, this unit features automatic display of personal POIs directly on the map, Reality View Pro, and allows users to save all journeys in a Log Book, and imported into Microsoft Excel.

The N4O Premium boasts all of these features as well a number of additional features, such as a Bluetooth hands-free kit 2.0 that makes it possible to connect two telephones at the same time so the driver can easily switch between private and work mobile phones, free TMC traffic information, and Navigon Last Mile, which enables safe guidance to the destination - including walking from the car to destination and back to the car again at the end. The N40 premium retails at an SRP of R1 999.99.

The top-of-the-range device, the N70 premium, boasts an extra-large 5.0-inch display in 16:9 format for optimal navigation. Beyond offering all of the same features as the other GPSes, it provides more safety and comfort as well as a better overview with a greater visible map area with the new, sensitive Motion Sensor. This means that functions such as Navigon MyBest POI in the navigation menu can now be activated without touching the display. In addition, City View3D 2.0 offers even better orientation in many cities: the new road display includes realistic displays of road widths, colours of buildings and roof shapes. This unit will be available at an SRP of R2 499.99.

The Navigon devices will be available at leading retailers from November 2010.