Navigon from Navteq: "You spent how much on an iPhone GPS App?"

I'm terrible at directions. I get lost in Seattle and have lived here for 12 years. I'm pretty good with a map, but never seem to have one at hand. And I often travel to places for work where I need to rent a car and drive myself around unfamiliar areas.

When I first got the iPhone, I relied on Google Maps for my directions. The only issue is that this app will tell you how to get from point A to point B, but doesn't provide turn-by-turn directions. So I was constantly pulling over to re-evaluate my navigation.

I tried a few cheap or free turn-by-turn navigation apps. I had settled on a free solution from Mapquest of all places. Mapquest had completely lost my mapping business after owning it for years when Google Maps came along. So imagine my surprise when the MapQuest app on my iPhone provided decent turn-by-turn directions with voice prompts for free!

I recommend the MapQuest application, but it has limitations. One, if you don't have a data connection you lose your maps. This can be a real problem at times as it seemed to stumble in the most inopportune situations. Still, for free it did a good job.

But I still found that I wanted something a little more robust. I started looking at paid apps and finally settled on Navigon from Navteq. Navteq doesn't make GPSes, but supplies data to companies like Garmin, BMW and Nokia for their applications. I was a little worried about spending more than $40 on an app, but decided if it managed to keep me a bit safer I'd spring for it.

I haven't looked back.

I love the graphics. The voice is great. And I added on a $15 traffic option to report on traffic snarls and attempt to reroute me around it. And I'm glad to say that all of that works reasonably well. Just tonight I was heading home and the phone was telling me to exit the Interstate one exit earlier than usual. I almost ignored it, but decided to follow the directions. As I exited on the ramp, I saw that an accident had backed up my usual offramp and traffic was clogged to a standstill. I guess it works!

A few weeks ago I was driving some distance from the Philadelphia airport to a suburb and relied entirely on Navigon. It rerouted me onto surface streets which I followed... later being told by the locals that because of rush hour I had avoided high traffic areas.

You might be reluctant to spend $50+ on an app for navigation when free options exist, but I can say that the Navigon maps are more up-to-date than the other solutions I tried, the routing seems better, and it seems to more reliably keep track of where I am.

The only downside to Navigon I've seen are occasional glitches where the voice suddenly stops working. This is rare and happens when first starting the application and is corrected by restarting. Once in a while it also seems to get incorrect location information from the phone and gets a little turned around, but these incidents almost immediately adjust.

If you are frustrated with navigation and don't have a GPS option, you may want to consider Navigon. I love it.

Pros:
- Up-to-date maps
- Routing around traffic issues
- Great turn-by-turn directions
- Nice visual indications of highway exits, lanes, etc.

Cons:
- Occasionally seems to lose its voice
- Occasional moments when it gets turned around

Welcome to the CHill Tools blog

I've been using computers for a very long time now, and tend to be somewhat of an early adopter. To that end, I've started this blog where I will highlight hardware or software products that I recommend and use. I probably don't need the responsibility of yet another blog, but I would like to have a link to send folks who ask me about the software and hardware I use on a daily basis.

Instead of a traditional review, I'll try to focus a little more personally on how the particular technology helps me get through the days. Perhaps this will spur some new ideas for how to improve your life with technology.