Navigon 2200T

The 2200T is a slick-looking, compact device that will easily fit in your pocket when you leave the car. Its external good looks, however, don't carry over to its interface, which is rather dark and not as attractive as competing units from TomTom and Garmin. Navigating through the 2200T's menus and settings is not always intuitive; I had difficulty figuring out how to return to the home screen and cancel a route, for example. Both required several taps--in places I didn't necessarily expect--making both processes more difficult than they should be. But once you get used to its quirks, it's easy enough to use. Like all of the GPS units we tested for this roundup, it includes text-to-speech capability, which means that it pronounces street names for you.

The 2200T includes Navigon's Reality View and Lane Assistant Pro features, which show you the road as it actually looks, and tell you which lane you should be traveling in, respectively. These capabilities come in very handy, especially when you're making your way through unfamiliar roads.

The routes that the 2200T provided were decent, but not exceptional. They were very similar to those suggested by the Garmin Nuvi 265T and the TomTom One 130 S; however, the routes delivered by these three devices did not work as well as those provided by the Magellan Maestro 4350 and the TomTom GO 930.

The 2200T will get you where you're heading, though. And it will get you there with traffic service--a stellar extra when you consider this device's low, low price.

--Liane Cassavoy