The PiN display switches from 2D to 3D when being guided to a destination and it provides supplementary information like vehicle speed and distance to next turn. In the event of a missed turn, the system will quickly re-calculate the route within several seconds.


3D Colour Map View

Also, clear voice prompts provide turn-by-turn direction. Though the computer's utterance of the phrase "Make a legal U-turn" sounds like an admonition to "Make ILLEGAL U-turn."

The PiN did steer me wrong on a couple of local trips around town—for example, recommending turns on local access or dead-end streets—and on at least one occasion plotted a needlessly circuitous route. I've never used a GPS system (or indeed, any piece of technology) that was infallible, and the GPS system worked reasonably well overall.


Set to Avoid Areas

The SmartST software conveniently leverages one common function of the PDA, its address book. So it can automatically plot the route to addresses you select from your Pocket Outlook Contacts list.


Navigate Using Pocket Outlook Contacts

It could go a little further though, as it would be nice if you could also use the PC software to type destinations and then download them into the device. This would be enormously convenient to those who make multiple pre-known stops over the course of a day.

As it stands, you can currently only enter addresses by pecking away at the on-screen keyboard, and entering a half-dozen devices this way each morning would not be fun to do. A future revision of the SmartST software is supposed to address this limitation.

There's no question that the PiN provides functionality equivalent to any built-in or add-on automotive GPS system. Because the PiN isn't a dedicated GPS device, there are some other issues—other than the aforementioned storage needs—that need to be taken into account when using it.


Display Route Summary Details

Primary among them is that the SmartST application can't launch (for lack of available memory) if more than a couple of other applications are also running on the PiN. Therefore, it's recommended that other applications be closed before launching SmartST. Also, even if SmartST is the only application running, it's still running atop the Windows Mobile OS, and so may not respond with the same alacrity as a dedicated GPS device.

Also, since SmartST requires working memory to equal about 10 percent the size of the maps (i.e. 100 MB of Maps means SmartST needs 10 MB of system memory to run), you could conceivably run into a situation—at around 400 MB of maps—where the program may not have enough available memory to run. Of course, 400 MB of maps covers a considerable portion of the US, but if you travel extensively to different parts of the country, you may have to sometimes unload unnecessary maps to keep the memory footprint low.

So is the Navman PiN a viable alternative to a dedicated in-car GPS navigation system? In many cases the answer will likely be yes—especially if you're also in the market for a PDA, and perhaps even if you're not.

The Navman's price tag is comparable and often less than many car-based navigation devices, and its usefulness as a fully-functional PDA is a powerful selling point. Finally, although the GPS system isn't without some potential pitfalls, it does the important stuff well enough to justify them.