Best sat nav 2011: which one is right for you?

The best sat nav and best GPS devices in every category

Until someone comes up with a viable flying car, getting around on the UK's congested road network is the best that we can hope for.

Take the pain - and the strain - out of getting around with one of these: our pick of the 10 best sat navs on the market.

The cleverest ones could even save you petrol money - by picking the best route for your journey, whether you're going home, to work or simply nipping down to the shops. But what sat nav should you buy? Let's find out...

NavFree GPS UK & ROI for iPhone – £free

Best free sat nav for iPhone

There are lots of low cost or free sat nav apps for iPhone, making it one of the best sat nav phones you can buy. Our favourite is NavFree GPS from GeoLife, an app that includes lots of professional quality features like turn-by-turn navigation, voice guidance and automatic re-routing.

You don't just have to take our word for it either. The app has already won rave reviews on the iTunes App Store with an average rating of 4 stars. NavFree GPS uses the OpenStreetMap (OSM) system created by users – although that can mean that rural routes aren't as well covered as urban ones.

Google Maps for Android - £free

Best free sat nav for Android

If you own an Android phone, you've got access to the navigation in Google Maps already. It offers free turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts whether you're travelling by car, by bike or on foot – and you don't have to worry about paying for or installing additional maps – the whole world is right there at your fingertips.

Rather handily, Google Maps offers a good level of integration with other Android and Google Apps – for example you can use it to check in with friends close to you using Google Latitude. Other goodies include Points Of Interest – so if there's a business, shop or petrol station you need to find, chances are Google Maps will get you there.

Binatone F350 – £59.99

Best sat nav for under £100

Our first all-in-one sat nav is a doozy: a budget model with professional route mapping for less than the cost of a full tank of fuel. The Binatone F350 boasts a 3.5-inch touchscreen and is slim enough to slip into your pocket – making it handy for sat nav on foot or by bike as well as by car.

The Binatone F350 includes full UK and Ireland maps, with an SD card slot for expansion. You also get a choice of 2D or 3D navigation views and it has Points of Interest pre-installed. Just want you need when you're trying to find a kebab shop at 3am.

TomTom GO Start2 – £119.99

Best sat nav for ease of use

Ask the man on the Clapham omnibus what the best sat nav is to buy and you're likely to get two answers: 1) that he can't drive, which is why he's on the bus and 2) a TomTom. It's not hard to see why.

The TomTom Start2 puts all the company's sat nav know-how at your fingertips – along with full European maps. Then makes it easy to use with a simplified start screen, advanced lane guidance and friendly voice prompts. You can even customise it with a choice of brightly coloured skins (an extra £14.99 each). Buying one is a no-brainer. Just ask the man on the bus.

Read: TomTom Start2 review

Mio Navman V575 TV – £149.99

Best sat nav for watching TV

Cars and TV usually go together like people's heads and hammers, but we're prepared to make an exception in this case. The reason? The Mio Navman V575 TV enables you to watch Freeview TV when you're out and about – but only when you're parked up safely.

Other goodies include IQ Routes, which takes congestion on your route at peak times into account, and LearnMeT – a feature that helps the Mio Navman V575 TV learn from your driving habits and adapt your route to suit. We're also fond of Mio Navman's 3D junction views and its QuickSpell keyboard, which makes typing in your destination easy.

Garmin nüvi 265T – £169.99

Best sat nav for hands-free calling

With built-in maps of Europe and Bluetooth for hands-free calls, the Garmin nüvi 265T is the perfect personal driving assistant. Pair it with your Bluetooth phone and you'll be able to make and take calls using its built-in microphone and speaker, with number dialling accessible through its 3.5-inch touchscreen.

Like other Garmin sat navs, the nüvi 265T offers a range of advanced features including anti-theft protection and proximity alerts, which only tell you about safety cameras and relevant Point Of Interest along your route.

TomTom Via Live 120 Europe – £199.99

Best sat nav for saving fuel

Cut the cost of driving from A to B with the Eco Routes feature on the TomTom Via Live 120. It gives you the option of taking most fuel-efficient route for your journey, based on information supplied by millions of TomTom users.

Other key features include full maps for the whole of Europe with a year's free LIVE traffic updates saving you from stress in Strasbourg, frustration in Florence and loutish behaviour in London. The TomTom Via Live 120 comes with a 4.3-inch touchscreen display and 4GB of internal flash memory.

Read: TomTom Via Live 120 review

Navigon 70 Premium Live – £249.99

Best sat nav for staying up to date

Now we're at the high end of the sat nav spectrum all kinds of geeky features come into play. One of the best is the Live Services feature on the Navigon 70 Premium Live, which gives you real time updates on all kinds of stuff in your area – from local fuel prices to speed cameras, events and more.

The Navigon 70 Premium Live also excels with a 5.0-inch widescreen display, a motion-sensor for almost touch-free operation and an Active Lane assistant to help you at junctions.

TomTom Urban Rider

Best sat nav for motorbikes

If you ride a motorcycle to work every day, there are sat nav options available to you. Sat nav devices for motorbikes combine a handlebar-mounted touchscreen display with a bluetooth headset that fits inside your helmet. The instructions are then played out on screen and in your ear.

We'd recommend the Urban Rider if you travel a lot and have a habit of getting lost, but the lack of voice control is a big let-down and we really hope that TomTom addresses this in the next iteration.

Read: TomTom Urban Rider review

TomTom Go Live 1000 Europe – £279.99

Best sat nav for advanced features

You want it, you've got it. The TomTom GO Live 1000 throws almost everything you could ask for in a sat nav into one easy-to-use device. Highlights include HD Traffic for advanced route planning, Advanced Lane Guidance to help you breeze through the most complex junctions; a full year's worth of Live Services updates for over 30 European countries and much more.

You can even control your TomTom using voice prompts alone. But the real killer feature is the TomTom GO Live 1000's advanced 4.3-inch touchscreen, which includes iPhone-like features such as pinch-to-zoom.

Read: TomTom GO Live 1000 review

Snooper S7000 Syrius – £379.99

Best sat nav for high-end entertainment and navigation

OK, it costs a mint, but the Snooper Syrius S7000 is worth every penny. Here's why. For one, it has the largest touchscreen of any of the sat navs available here – that's 7-inches of touchscreen, widescreen loveliness, making it easier to see the ahead.

Throwing in a Freeview TV tuner, MP3 and MP4 players, Navteq route guidance and free TMC traffic information only scratches at the surface of what this things can do. For high milers, Snooper's award-winning Aura speed camera detection is a must, as is Multiroutes – an easy-to-use feature that lets you plan a single journey around up to 16 different destinations using simple postcode entries.