Garmin StreetPilot iPhone App August 2011

What is Garmin StreetPilot?

The Garmin StreetPilot is a new sat nav app for Apple iPhone users. It comes almost two years after the launch of the TomTom iPhone app, although at £44.99 it is currently £5 cheaper.

It is also about £35 cheaper than the cheapest Garmin dedicated sat nav, the Garmin nuvi 1210, though you'll need an iPhone already to use it.

To find out more about sat navs and see test results for almost 90 models, check out our sat nav reviews.

How does it perform?

Our on-road and lab-based tests will reveal all, but for an initial impression we tried the StreetPilot over a 35 mile journey across London. The interface is much like a dedicated Garmin sat nav - clear and easy to use, helped along by the iPhone's excellent touchscreen response.

Programming in a destination is simple. You can specify a house number as well as a postcode for even greater precision. Or you can choose from a huge range of points of interest to navigate to. There's also Google Local live search helping you find more local services and businesses.

Once you've programmed your destination, the StreetPilot displays your street-level map position and you're ready to go. There is no overview of your route, or distance remaining to your destination. The on-screen mapping is richly detailed, with buildings shown by the side of the road. The map is colourful, bright and easy to view. 

Speed limit warnings are clear, though some schematics like roundabout directions are small. 

If you take a wrong turning, the StreetPilot recalculates your route quickly, although our estimated time of arrival was always very optimistic. No account seems to have been taken of traffic conditions or the time of day.

Sound quality and instructions impressed, although some mispronunciations were apparent. "Fulham" was pronounced "Full ham" while "route" was pronounced "rout".

Overall, though, the StreetPilot left us with a positive initial impression. When we put it though our full range of tests we'll get a better idea how it compares to the competition.

Thinking of going for an app instead of a dedicated sat nav? Check out our 21 sat nav app reviews to compare the best available.

In our full sat nav reviews, you can find out...

Before reaching a final conclusion on any sat nav and deciding whether to award a Best Buy or not, we put each dedicated unit and app through a detailed examination and series of tests at our lab. These tests include:

• Road tests – each sat nav is subjected to our extremely demanding test route, which includes busy city streets, complex junctions involving several turns in quick succession, multiple lanes, single and multiple lane roundabouts and more. Road tests are carried out with a driver and assessor.
• Ease of use – unlike some who do a quick check, we carefully and systematically rate many aspects of ease of use, from programming in a destination to changing routes whilst en route.
• Audio instructions – we check to make sure that audio is clear and loud enough to be heard over the noise of the car, whilst also rating the detail, clarity and timeliness of instructions, awarding extra marks for spoken street names and road numbers.

For more options, read our sat nav reviews of all the leading models from Garmin, TomTom, Navigon and more.