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Route 66 is a long time player in the GPS market, albeit with software and this is its first attempt at a dedicated in-car solution. Although I prefer the Medion aesthetically, the Chicago is still a good looking piece of kit and obviously shares the excellent overall casing. The Chicago 6000 is the entry level version, and retails at £149.99 making it even cheaper than the cheapest option that Medion has on offer. The question is, whether this low price is reflected in the performance.

Out of the box all the usual things are accounted for with a USB cable, mains charger and in-car charger all included. There's also a smart little carry case and a woefully bad pair of earphones – apparently MP3 playback is taken seriously as a feature though I can't imagine why. Disappointingly though, the car mount included lacks any height adjustability as seen on the Medion, which is a significant annoyance.

Street level UK and Ireland maps along with major European roads are loaded onto a 512MB SD card, with 111MB left free. Mapping, as with the Medion and many other devices, is supplied by Navteq, which is generally considered the superior option.

Since this is the entry level version the 6000 doesn't have TMC, though it is supported if you can get hold of an external antenna. Other than that the basic feature set is exactly the same as the Medion, with a POI database, speed camera database along with another feature which will warn you when exceeding your preset speeds.

If you've often found yourself speeding unwittingly then this could be a useful feature, though I'm certain it won't be for everyone.

Regrettably, however, everything else about the Route 66 software is decidedly mediocre. Sure, it'll get you to where you need to be more often than not, but not in the care free and easy way the Medion or other superior GPS devices will.

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