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Navigon 7200T GPS going for style and substance

GPS manufacturer Navigon unveils its new high-end Navigon 7200T portable navigation device with free lifetime traffic and reality view.

Bonnie Cha Former Editor
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
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Bonnie Cha
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Having to compete with the likes of Garmin and TomTom is no easy task, but Navigon is hoping to woo some new customers with its latest portable navigation system. Today, the GPS manufacturer announced its new Navigon 7200T, a high-end in-car GPS that's out to win you with style and substance.

The Navigon 7200T is certainly a stunner as far as design. It largely keeps in line with the company's previous models, such as the Navigon 2100 Max, with its slim profile and black lacquered chassis. On the front, there's now a 4.3-inch, flat-panel touch screen and in addition to the standard 2D and 3D map views, you get 3D landmark views. The feature is similar to the 3D building renderings found on the HP iPaq 310 Travel Companion, but brings them to landmarks, such as the Empire State Building and Golden Gate Bridge. You also get the Reality View Pro and Lane Assistant Pro capabilities that provide a "photorealistic" 3D view of complicated intersections that show you which lane you should be in and what direction you will be turning.

Moving beyond appearances, the Navigon 7200T comes preloaded with maps of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and offers Zagat ratings and reviews of various points of interest. You get a number of advanced features, including text-to-speech functionality, a voice recognition system for address entry and more, free lifetime traffic alerts, and integrated Bluetooth.

Now, while the Navigon 7200T certainly looks good on paper, we're a little reluctant to get our hopes up since we haven't had the best real-world experiences with the company's GPS. The user interface isn't the most intuitive and there's been problems with sluggish performance. However, the 7200T is sporting a faster processor and new software, so perhaps this time will be different? Fingers crossed. The Navigon 7200t is expected to hit store shelves in October with a price tag of $499. We'll, of course, publish a hands-on review as soon as we can get a unit, so stay tuned.