Voice-activated GPS: Just like talking to KITT

One of the benefits of portable navigation systems is voice-guided directions, and if you've got an in-car GPS that has text-to-speech functionality (meaning the system will speak actual street names), even better. Having these audible prompts is not only helpful but also a nice safety feature, since it allows you to spend more time looking at the road instead of down at a paper map or screen. Continuing along those lines, there's a new technology that's just starting to show up in devices now: voice commands. With this capability, you can perform certain tasks with the sound of your voice. For example, you can dictate addresses, find points of interest, and navigate home.

Since this is an emerging trend, there's just a handful of units with this feature, including these three from top manufacturers TomTom, Magellan, and Garmin. We've only had a chance to take test-drive the Magellan Maestro 4250 and TomTom GO 930 so far, but we look forward to checking out Garmin's take and seeing more voice-activated GPS in the future.