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There's even an electronic compass built into the thing that doesn't rely on the GPS signal - so it can guess at where you are on the map when you enter a long tunnel or lose the satellite signal in some other way.

But now onto the bad things. Well I say bad, but what I really mean is disappointing, because there's nothing disastrously wrong with the Strada. The first thing to point out is that, despite the fact that it costs well over £200, it doesn't come with TMC or the ability to receive traffic information over a data connection. You can add a TMC receiver at a later date, but to be honest; at this price I'd expect it to be included.

The second thing is that it doesn't quite have all the bells and whistles of a TomTom. For instance, the auto volume is merely speed based rather than related to actual cockpit noise, and even though brightness can be adjusted based on whether you're in night mode or day mode, there's no light sensor to do it automatically for you.

Finally, I'm not a fan of the Strada's non-standard charging arrangements. Instead of using the standard mini-USB socket on the side, the Strada utilises a tiny circular power input, which means buying spares or replacing lost and damaged charging cables will be more hassle than it should be.

Verdict

However, those are mere niggles, because in most respects this is a very competent sat-nav system. Its biggest strength is that enormous screen, which makes spotting POI's and map-reading extremely easy, but there's plenty of other stuff that's worth having too.

It's still not quite the complete system that the TomTom Go 720 is, and doesn't feel quite as responsive in use either, but if you'd prefer a big screen £250 isn't too much to ask.

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