Sat navs, tyres and accessories Should I buy a sat nav?

With the best sat nav, you won't get lost

Satellite navigation systems – or sat navs – are more popular than ever before.

They make it much easier for you to find your way around, and modern sat navs such as the TomTom GO LIVE 1000 and Garmin nuLink 1695 can even help you to avoid traffic jams.

Here are some of the other advantages to driving with a sat nav:

Sat nav journeys

Most sat navs let you choose which route you want to take to your destination. You might, for example, want to take the shortest route possible to help keep your mileage down.

But if you’d rather arrive sooner, it could pay to drive more miles on a motorway-heavy route.

Sat navs will help you plan your journey, and are especially useful when trying to avoid toll roads and congestion charge zones.

Lower fuel costs

Driving fewer miles – and spending less time in traffic jams – can help you cut your fuel bills.

By using detailed maps and live traffic information, the most advanced sat navs can quickly guide you away from troublespots so you don’t waste fuel.

Most sat navs also highlight petrol stations on the screen, which means you have the option to look around for the lowest fuel prices before you run too low to be choosy.

Sat nav camera awareness

Modern sat navs tell you where speed cameras are

Lots of sat nav devices, let you know when you’re approaching a fixed speed camera.

The locations of fixed speed cameras are public knowledge, so these sat navs are not illegal, but there is still no substitute for careful driving.

However jammers, which send a laser signal to the speed detector preventing it from taking a reading, are illegal, and their use could lead to prosecution.

Explore without getting lost

The best sat navs allow you to explore more remote parts of the country (and Europe, if you get the right sat nav maps) without fear of getting lost.

They’ll even show you where the nearest restaurants, toilets and tourist information points are – but that doesn’t mean you should do away with your atlas completely.

It’s always worth double-checking the route the sat nav suggests before you set off to make sure it’s sensible.

Clear instructions

Some sat navs provide live traffic information and re-routing around traffic

With clear screens and easy-to-follow voice instructions, the best sat navs have the power to end arguments over which route you should take. And, if you get lost, they’ll put you back on track quickly.

In our sat nav tests, models are judged on how quickly they re-route you.

Some sat navs also feature voice recognition - just say your destination out loud, the postcode or the town name for example, and the sat nav will soon begin to calculate a route.