Five or six years ago, the satellite navigation market was a very different animal. Products were expensive and, frankly, they were a bit rubbish, too.
The dark green screens were hard to look at, voice instructions weren't available on most products, and the routes they took you on were often ridiculous.
In 2008, however, sat nav is a booming market. And because the market place is so full of good companies trying to make a buck, prices have tumbled. The days of the £600 sat-nav devices are over.
So here we have seven great sat navs. There's something for everyone too, with all tastes, needs and budgets catered for. So if you're thinking about buying a new sat-nav gadget for those long road trips this summer, be sure to check out the following reviews.
Binatone probably isn't the kind of name you'd associate with anything other than fairly basic home telephones.
But here it is, popping up in a list of cool sat-nav products.
The reason the Binatone Carrera X430 has made it into this list is because not only is it a competent product, it's also cheap.
At £130, you'll not find many sat navs for less. And you'll certainly not find any in the same price bracket that are better. If you're on a strict budget, this one is definitely worth considering. Read our full review
If you've got a little more money to spend, Garmin's Nuvi 660 is absolutely worth the extra cash.
For £175 it's a great gadget, and its feature set goes far beyond the call of duty.
It's designed to not only sit in a cradle, directing you and your car to your destination, but also to go with you when you step out of your car.
It'll give you street-level directions as you walk around any city in Europe, and it also has a foreign language phrasebook to help you with tricky translations while abroad. Read our full review
Like Binatone, Sony is another brand name in unfamiliar territory here. Sony isn't renowned for its prowess in the sat-nav market.
But that clearly doesn't mean it's not capable of churning out very competent products in the field.
The NVU51G (if we all spoke the same language we wouldn't have to put up with these annoying product names) is a well-rounded product which performs admirably in almost any condition.
What's more, it's waterproof so you can take it out in the rain and it should make it through the day unscathed.
It's also one of the most sexy sat navs available, so if looks are important to you, give this one a gander. Read our full review
And where Sony leads, it seems, Panasonic is not far behind.
The Strada CN-GP50N is immediately recognisable from its impressive 5-inch LCD touch panel.
Like the Sony, points of interests (POIs) are rendered as 3D models on screen.
And the Panasonic is also notable for its particularly lovely-looking maps.
You can get it now for £200, which is 30 per cent cheaper than when it first launched, so you may find this one too good to refuse. Read our full review
Michelin is obviously better known for making tyres and roadmaps. But in the VIAmichelin X980T, it's also managed to build a very competent-yet-curious sat-nav device.
It almost looks more like a handheld games console than a sat nav.
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