Death Match: TomTom GO930T VS Navigon 8110 review

Two high end sat nav devices, fighting to cater for all your navigational needs

Spend £100 on a sat nav and you can expect regional maps, and at the most safety camera info. Spend £300-400 and it will play music, answer calls and display photos.

TomTom has been the undisputed sat nav king for years, with every other manufacturer snapping - but never quite biting - at its perfectly formed heels. The GO930 is its top of the range device, incorporating this seasons sat nav essentials: map share and lane advice.

Despite being pioneers in sat nav development for many years, Navigon only introduced its first dedicated device recently and the 8100 sits at the top of the range. Could this prove a serious TomTom botherer? We hit motorways, cornered country lanes, got frustrated in traffic and got lost, to find out.

Death match 1: Features

Avoid jams with the traffic receiver and go hands-free with built-in Bluetooth on the TomTom 930 T. There's an FM Transmitter and even a built-in help guide offering boy-scout level medical advice. The innovative map correction lets you report errors, but it's the neat features like recordable voice commands and selectable cars which makes the 930T so enjoyable.

On the Navigon, you get Bluetooth, Text to speech, European maps, free Traffic updates via Trafficmaster and two years of free map updates via FreshMaps. There's the obligatory photo viewer and mp3 player. Come on though, does anyone actually use them?

Winner: TomTom Go 930

Death match 2: Ease of use

TomTom's standard simple interface and responsive touchscreen are incredibly easy to use. The new advanced Lane Guidance flashes with massive motorway-style signs up to ensure you exit at the correction junction and the excellent IQ routes selects the optimum journey for the time of day.

Maps on the 8110 are easier to follow than the TomTom, partly due to the generous (if occasionally sluggish) 4.8in screen, and put simply, better graphics. With lane assistance (which works on every type of road CHECK) and reality view for replicating motorway signs, you've got to be really stupid to go the wrong way. By showing maps topographically, you also get warning if the road you're heading for is actually a perilous slope.

Winner: Navigon 8110

Death match 3: Performance

Locking onto within seconds, the GO930T trounces the Navigon finding a satellite. Route calculation fares less well, don't get us wrong, ranging from 2-20 seconds in a town; it's very impressive, just not as quick as the Navigon. It reroutes quickly and despite confusion with overlapping the M4/A4 roads, route navigation was smooth.

Satellite lock-on takes longer than the TomTom on the Navigon, but once there, route calculation is consistently under 10 seconds. Instructions are clear and it reroutes incredibly fast, only getting slightly confused with the wilderness of an M4 service station.

Winner: TomTom Go 930

Rating

With outstandingly clear maps and fast calculations, the Navigon 8100 is a serious challenger, But for now, the 930T is the sat nav that does everything - whether you need it or not.