Mio 685 sat-nav
Entry-level sat-nav’s gunning for TomTom, so we’ve put it through its paces.
Price: £99.99
The new Mio Spirit 685 has an impressive five-inch touchscreen and allows you to pick between the fastest, shortest, easiest or most economical journey.
The menus are colourful and clear, but the display isn’t the most responsive. However, it’s easy to use, helped by the large buttons on the side. Unlike rivals, though, the Spirit does not offer full postcode entry – you can only input the first few characters before you’re prompted to enter the street name and house number.
Once we’d selected our 20-mile test route, the unit took 60 seconds to calculate it – rival Navigon’s MyRoutes technology works faster, and over time stores your preferences, too. But on the road, the Mio was quick to detect a wrong turn, and provided new directions in seven seconds.
The other feature we liked was the button to the top left of the display that takes you back to the main menu. Yet despite an attractive £100 price, this sat-nav is let down by the fact it does without live traffic notifications.
Verdict
Rating: ★★★
What is it?
Sat-nav from Mio which offers TMC traffic info and budget price.
Problems?
No live traffic notifications, slow to load routes, could do with seven-digit postcode entry, too.
Why buy?
Clear images and decent audio, accurate GPS speed and location data.
