RAC Sat Nav 220 review

RAC Sat Nav 220 Review

Reviewed by: Brett James

Reviewed on: 8 November 2007

The RAC Sat Nav 220 boasts a large touchscreen 127mm (5-inch) widescreen display with seamless European maps over Route 66's interface. Its girth is also joined by an equally impressive loudspeaker and a supplied Traffic Message Channel (TMC) aerial (with a life-time subscription attached). It can be bought now for around £290.

Strengths
The RAC 220's widescreen display will benefit drivers of larger vehicles and it's housed in a sleek black exterior with a large speaker at the back. It's all ready to go straight out of the box but you will need to unlock the TMC Pro subscription via a Web site.

Its welcome menu screen displays two simple options -- 'Navigation' and 'Entertainment' -- the latter takes you to a basic music player. A press of the AV-IN button to the side will allow you to attach the RAC 220 to a DVD player. It's a touch overkill, but works well none the less.

Inputting destinations or points of interest (POI) is made easier thanks to the Fuzzy search system. Simply enter parts of a POI/address -- for example, 'rest lond' -- and the unit will search/display the logical results. It's just a pity you don't have a Qwerty keyboard to complement this excellent feature.

When it comes to driving, the widescreen display coped well in direct sunlight and made it easier to view both the directional aides and maps. Performance from the SiRF-Star III is also top notch, with routes being calculated fast and efficiently, though its acquisition time is effected more so in built up areas and with overcast skies.

Voice guidance via the loudspeaker was extremely loud and could be heard above the noise of even the loudest of engines. The supplied TMC aerial picked up traffic spots pretty quickly and features a life-time subscription.

Its Bluetooth hands-free option finishes off the spec list by allowing you to attach a compatible Bluetooth phone for voice calls.

Weaknesses
The RAC 220 is a monster of a device weighing a staggering 520g. Its size does make it a distraction for those with smaller cars, so careful windscreen placement is key to preventing it from dwarfing your view of the road. Considering the RAC 220's size, the inclusion of a flip-out aerial is a surprise -- it's something you would expect to see in a model of yesteryear.

Even though there appears to be a route planner, there is no route simulation mode that we could find, so you are left to search through your planned routes manually.

As mentioned, voice directions are loud but still basic in nature, so don't expect to find a text-to-speech option -- it's only 'turn left in 400 yards' and not 'turn left onto Monmouth Drive', for example. This makes the device more map dependant, so roundabouts require more concentration to negotiate.

Conclusion
RAC have set out to provide one of the largest sat-nav devices on the market and they have succeeded hands down. It weighs a hefty amount and its AV-IN function could be classed as overkill, but it's a macho product with a display perfectly suited to larger vehicles.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Jon Squire