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The satellite navigators we find today are all the types that have to be fixed on to the car dash or portable. Using the portable requires you to attach it to the windscreen of your car with the help of a suction cup. This makes an ugly mark on the screen. The dash type can be used only in the car it is fitted in.

The interesting Eclipse AVN 4430 Satellite Navigator from TomTom is a type of in dash GPS system which need not be fixed on permanently like the TomTom Go 940 Live, or most sat navs for that matter. The AVN 4430 can be carried over to different vehicles making it more value for money. The device comes with a touch screen display measuring 4.3 inches. Brightness of this screen is automatically adjusted. The navigator has a 2GB in built flash memory and is also compatible with various external memory cards. This device provides fantastic guidance on the route you want to take including interesting and timely voice instructions. It also has a list of various useful points of interests such as nearest hospitals, hotels and petrol stations.

In case of any emergency, the device has a Help Me menu with which you can opt for help. It is possible to calculate multiple routes and use the unique TomTom Traffic functionality to get real time updates on traffic. Eclipse AVN 4430 is compatible with Bluetooth.

This device is a comprehensive entertainment tool and your long trips will never be boring now. You can watch DVDs and listen to music on the CDs. It is also possible to connect your iPod to this device and play files. The rear view camera in the device can be used while you take reverse. This all round AVN 4430 navigator thus is an ideal companion which can take you to your destination safely.

Eclipse has claimed that its latest product, the Eclipse AVN6620 is unlike any other product precisely because it is more of an evolutionary variety than say a revolutionary one. The model is an upgrade version of the company’s all-in-one in-car navigation and multimedia lineup and has been incorporated with a double-DIN system feature which incidentally also happened to be an integral part of its predecessor the AVN5510. The feature is supplemented by a host of easy-to-use hard buttons on the bezel and an imaginatively designed touch screen menu that makes for a hassle free control of its built-in GPS navigation, audio and video sources.

The model comes with a plethora of features that make your job all the easier and entrust you with a good deal of flexibility. Towering the feature count is the built-in DVD ROM-based GPS navigation feature. You can receive route guidelines through the maps that are provided by Navteq, a major player in the navigation software market only rivaled by software used in a TomTom sat nav. Moreover, the Eclipse navigation device includes information on major urban centres, apart from an updated POI database with 8.3 million entries. The only time you will feel cynical about the device is while installing it as it takes an unusually long enough time to find out its bearings, around 20 minutes to be specific.

There are very few issues when it comes to entering addressing for destinations as it is pretty straightforward. Moreover, the five programmable shortcut buttons present at the bottom of the destination-entry screen make for a convenient way to call up the common locations.

Tags for this article: eclipse, gps, nav, navteq, sat