Navigon 2200T

It's been our experience that Navigon's portable navigation devices are a but unpredictable in the performance department. Some are fast, accurate navigators, while others can be frustratingly slow and a little wonky with their directions. However, the one constant is that the company puts out full-featured GPS devices for a very affordable price. Such is the case with the Navigon 2200T. For just $229.99, you get a number of advanced features, including free real-time traffic updates for life, text-to-speech functionality, and photorealistic 3D views for complicated intersections, while some competitors charge double for the same set of features. Unfortunately, when it comes to performance, the 2200T falls under the slower group. It was an accurate navigator, but it took the PND a while to get a fix on our location, and route recalculations could also be a little pokey. Still, for the budget-strapped, the Navigon 2200T is certainly a great value and will get you to your destination.

Design
We don't typically use this word to describe portable navigation devices, but the Navigon 2200T is downright cute. The petite GPS measures just 2.8 inches tall by 3.8 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick and fits nicely in the palm of your hand. Given the ultraportable size, the 2200T could easily be used on foot or on a bicycle with the addition of a handlebar mount.

The one trade-off of the compact size is a smaller screen. The 2200T features a 3.5-inch touch screen rather than the larger 4.3-inch display that's found on a number of PNDs. With a 320x240-pixel resolution, it's fairly clear and bright, but things do get a bit cramped on screen. One way to clear up some valuable screen real estate is to minimize the number of displayed points of interest (POI), which you can do by going to Options > Map Display > Categories Shown (page 2).

Also, as we've mentioned in our reviews of Navigon's other GPS products, the user interface isn't the easiest. It just takes a couple of extra steps to do things like enter addresses or search for POI, compared to a Garmin or TomTom GPS. Also, menu navigation isn't as smooth, and there were a couple of times that the GPS was a little sluggish to respond to our touch commands.

While the UI might not be the simplest, the rest of the Navigon 2200T is straightforward. On the left spine, there's a microSD expansion slot, while the right side has a reset hole. The power button is located on the top of the unit, and finally, there's a Micro-USB port on the bottom for the car charger.

The Navigon 2200T ships with a car charger, a vehicle mount (windshield and dash), and reference material. The car mount requires some minor assembly but it's not very complicated. More importantly, the accessory securely held the GPS in place during our road tests.