Routeplanners: SatNav & GPS News

AA Navigator has released its latest unit, the Vive! This one’s strictly for the European market, pre-loaded with maps of the U.K. and Ireland (including over 50,000 POIs), with a pricier option also available that’ll add a 1GB SD card filled with maps for guiding you throughout all of Western Europe.
The unit’s specs look to be respectable enough given the price, including a 3.5-inch touch screen (apparently the only form of input), Centrality Atlas II 300MHz processor, 256MB ROM and 64MB SDRAM, an SD/MMC slot that’ll accommodate cards up to 2GB, and a promised three hours of juice from the internal rechargeable lithium ion battery. The one thing that’s not clear is the type of GPS chipset in the thing, although given the near-ubiquity of the SiRFstar III, we wouldn’t bet against it. You can snag this one now direct from AA Navigator for £150 (or $280), with the aforementioned upgrade tacking an extra hundred pounds on top of that.

It comes with 6 months of speed camera alerts, and information on all six types (did you know there were so many?) of cameras in use in the UK. A subscription for 3 years then costs £100. Battery life lasts just over 3 hours, but a car charger and AC power adapter are included.