Sometimes, despite the best directions, drivers manage to cock it up spectacularly. We take the wrong turn or go straight when we should turn. <\/p>\n
We take note of famous landmarks and myriad petrol stations and shopping centres, promising ourselves we’ll remember them in case we need to double back. <\/p>\n
Of course, in reality it never quite works out like that and we end up thoroughly confused since one street looks much the same as the next. <\/p>\n
The situation is compounded when there are other occupants in the car and directions are suddenly being provided by a committee. <\/p>\n
Now losing one’s way can really be a thing of the past because of in-car satellite navigation systems. <\/p>\n
This modern-day map and compass system makes use of between three and eight satellites at a time, interacting with the built-in software of the actual in-car system. <\/p>\n
The premise is simple: key in your destination, down to the street number and nearest junction and a recorded voice provides pinpoint guidance. <\/p>\n
Not all satellite navigation systems are equal, however, and despite technological advances one finds some cars are more user-friendly than others. <\/p>\n
The cost of a factory-fitted navigation systems is another issue, with certain manufacturers charging as much as R25000. <\/p>\n
Even Audi’s super car, the R8 which costs about R1,2m , does not come standard with Satnav – a shocker for a car of this magnitude. <\/p>\n
The good news, with the festive season on us, is that the price of portable Satnav systems is coming down as <\/p>\n
the latest technology is being made available to motorists. <\/p>\n
Leading electronics company JNC is following on the success of its Navig8 351 model with a slim and sleek new GPS product called the 578, which will be joined by a wider screen model dubbed the 743. <\/p>\n
The Navig8 satellite navigation unit has an anti-glare visual with touch-screen functionality. <\/p>\n
Branded a smart device, the Navig8 578 comes pre-loaded with more than 70000 points of interest, including tourist attractions, schools, restaurants and even nightclubs and strippers’ bars. <\/p>\n
Test driving one model recently, we were impressed with the relative ease of set-up for the device and option of a 2-D or 3-D diagram. <\/p>\n
Navig8 stores up to 200 favourite destinations that can be individually labeled and it automatically remembers the last 50 places traveled to via GPS. <\/p>\n
I miss the individual road and highway names that one finds on other in-car systems but no doubt JNC will provide this when the software is available. <\/p>\n
What’s really enjoyable about Navig8 is that it is slim and easily transportable. <\/p>\n
It can be used in a car or by pedestrians and when not in use for directions it can be used to listen to MP3 music or for playback of Mpeg video. <\/p>\n
Navig8 comes with a USB slot, a slot for a digital memory card as well as accessories to link it up with a PC or laptop. <\/p>\n
Despite it being smaller than the 743 model, our test unit of the Navig8 578 offered decent visibility and a full colour 3D screen. <\/p>\n
Both models will be sold via Hi-Fi Corporation, with the Navig8 578 model selling for just under R2000 and the wider screen version for R3000.<\/p>\n
I-Net Bridge<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a weird feeling when you get lost driving a car<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}