It’s hard to believe that the TomTom owned the GPS navigation thrown less than a year ago. Since that time GPS has become a standard feature on most cell phones, and to a lesser extent so too has maps and point of interest (POI) locations. But TomTom became complacent, and while it rested on its laurels the true king of GPS navigation arose to reclaim its crown—and that king is NAVIGON. Announced as Q2 2009 releases, but out now in some markets, are the 4300T max, the 3300 max, and the all-mighty 7300T. Quite frankly, it’s hard to imagine a GPS device coming out that could top the NAVIGON 7300T, but without a doubt that will happen. For now, however, let’s not worry about tomorrow and focus our attention on this kick-ass model.
Undressing the NAVIGON 7300T
What NAVIGON is most proud of with the 7300T is the company’s partnership with Rand McNally, America’s leading publisher of maps, atlases, and globes, to bring you the best of 3-D navigation. It’s true, the NAVIGON 7300T brings you the utterly visually impressive Panorama View 3-D and Landmark View 3-D on a 4.3-inch touchscreen. As mentioned, most devices with GPS also have POI capabilities, and the NAVIGON 7300T is no different. Only, the 7300T has teamed up with ZAGAT to bring you the location of 27,000 places across the U.S. and Canada, including hotels, restaurants, nightlife spots, music venues, theaters, golf courses, and airlines among many other desirable places to be. So, whether you’re new in town or just a desperate loser with no social life, you’ll know just where to go. The NAVIGON 7300T also does you the favor of keeping records of your favorite POIs, which isn’t a problem for the 2GB of Flash and 64MB of RAM. Those resources, however, are better off being occupied by the real-time spoken traffic updates and traffic re-routings or the intuitive (and more laymen) voice activated controls.
Sprinting through the more interesting of the remaining features on the NAVIGON 7300T are the Exit Guide, DirectHelpSM, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant, Rand McNally Scenic Routes, Bluetooth Hands-Free, and the Go Home function.
All this will run you $399. If, however, the price of the NAVIGON 7300T is too steep, you’ll be fine with the barebones 3300 max option, which will only drain you of $199.
