Sony Nav-U NV-U92 review

Average user rating

4.8

mediocre

Average user rating from 5 users

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Sony Nav-U NV-U92 user reviews

September 11, 2007

Posted by: Hugh Battenbo

"Pricey but worth every penny"

What I like:

Big bright screen, superb suction mount

What I don't like:

No speed limit display/warning, battery lasts not much more than 1 hour - always take the car charger.

Review:

I have owned this (UK version) for 2 months. The screen is excellent (set the brightness to maximum in the menu). The "sticky gell" mount is superb - it would stick to ANYTHING without leaving a mark (on my Honda Jazz, it sticks to the dashboard like a limpet - it takes all my puny strength to prize it off!). Keep a cloth (I use a glass cleaning kit) handy to clean the attachment area. Without the cigar lighter lead attached, it looks like it came as standard with the car - real neat and classy. The battery only lasts an hour, so always take the car charger. Sitting on top of the dashboard, about the same distance away as the instruments, I don’t need to move my head to read it - just move my eyes a fraction. I reckon this is better than the position of most built-in sat navs which are positioned quite low in the centre console. The screen is bright enough to read even when wearing sunglasses.

The default route setting of "fastest" can take you miles out of your way to keep to the major roads - select the "shortest route" from the menu for sensible routing for short journeys. You have the option of selecting “fastest”, “shortest” or “optimum” route - it is a good bet that one of them will give you a route which suits you. You can request to avoid motorways. With “shortest route” selected, the literal computer will add a few additional turns to cut off the odd corner to save a yard or two, but otherwise gives an excellent, sensible route. The “optimum” route is a compromise between the fastest and the shortest. Ideally, the nice lady would balance the saving of a few yards with the benefit of making fewer turns, but she will always get you there, so what’s the odd extra few yards or turns?

Downloading the speed camera data (1 year free at www.navu.sony-europe.com) needs at least 2 PhD's (I only have one, so took me ages to figure it out). Expect to go around in circles for 20 minutes or so (SONY take heed - TERRIBLE site). Contrary to the information given on the site, you will not find your model number on the base of the unit; it is on a sticker on the box. If you have thrown the box away by this time you are in trouble! There are a number of NV-U82 designations for different countries; the one for UK is NV-U82G. The nice lady warned me about the speed camera just down the road - impressive as it has only been there a few weeks (Beware! Watch your speed! - an icon also appears on the screen to show you exactly where the camera is). Activating the speed camera data does not switch it on; you have to dig into the menus and switch on “warnings”. You can switch on speed camera, distance camera and traffic light warnings.

One of the menu screens will tell you how many satellites you are connected to (4 for south Manchester), your latitude and longitude and your height above sea level.

The nice lady does not speak the road names. For major roads, the A/B name is spoken, (eg "turn right in 100 yards on the A354). You have the option to show road names on the map (got them all right pronto, even the smallest local roads). The display shows the road name you are currently on and the name of the next road at bottom left.

Amazing how it shows the names of small pubs, cafes, major premises in our little villages (cafe JemAndI, Saints and Scholars cafe - just down the road). Cafes, chemists and petrol stations are all shown. Major premises such as large car vendors, museums etc. are shown and are a useful landmark.

If you decide to detour from the nice lady's instructions, she calculates the new route with adequate swiftness - no panicky "do a U-turn" (unless you are in a supermarket car park - when off-road she assumes you are on the nearest public road).

The kit comes with a pouch for the main unit but you will need a carry case for the total kit- display unit, mount, car charger and cleaning cloth (I use a spectacle cleaning kit) to keep the attachment area (and therefore the sticky gell mount) clean.

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