Novogo S700 BT Review (GPSmagazine.com)

11. Multi-Destination Routing

Figure 63: A multi-stop itinerary

The process for creating multi-destination trips is essentially the same as for a single trip: you find a destination address via the Find menu, and then add it to the route by pressing "Add as Via" icon. Once you've added all the destination addresses, you can view all the stops by visiting the trip information page, shown above.

Figure 64: Optimizing the Route

One of the more powerful features of the S700 is its ability to "optimize" a multi-stop route, or re-order the stops in the most efficient manner. For example, if you're a real estate agent, or delivery driver, and need to visit 10 addresses, it's very useful to have the GPS tell you the best (most efficient) order to visit each address, minimizing overall travel time (and gas).

To optimize a multi-destination route, simply tap on the Optimize icon, as shown in the above figure. You can always manually change the order of the stops by moving each stop up or down the list. Route optimization appeared to function correctly, producing results consistent with Microsoft's Mappoint optimize feature.

12. Routing Engine Performance

The single most common complaint I hear about any given GPS is "the GPS took my on a crazy route to get to my destination". One of the most critical aspects of any GPS is the quality of its routing engine. Yet this is one of the least well understood features among consumers. The confusion is understandable: how can two GPS units that both use the same mapping data produce wildly different routes to the same address? The answer lies in the fact that mapping data is only a small part of the total equation.

How a given GPS will determine the "best" route is the result of not only the mapping data, but also how many additional data points, or attributes, are factored into the equation. For example, are certain roads closed after hours or on the weekend? What is the average rate of speed for a given road? Statistically speaking, more accidents happen when making left turns as opposed to right turns; is the GPS unit factoring that into the route? Each company takes all this data and compiles it in different ways. The number of attributes used varies depending on how much money the manufacturer is willing to spend on the mapping data.

The Novogo S700 BT is powered by TeleAtlas mapping data. In the past, I've made no secret of the fact that NAVTEQ (the larger mapping company used by Garmin, Magellan, Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, and many other in-vehicle units and online mapping portals) is, in my opinion, more accurate and complete in North America than TeleAtlas. However, both companies have been improving, and the gap between the two is getting smaller.

To test the routing engine I entered several addresses in various states, and compared the route produced by the S700 to that of a Garmin nuvi 660, and the output of Google Maps. Let's take a look at the results:

From: 135 Central Park W., NY NY To: 800 Boylston St., Boston MA
Novogo	Garmin nuvi 660	Google Maps
♦Left on W. 75th St ♦Right on Broadway ♦Left on W. 79th St. ♦Merge on Hwy 9A H. Hudson Pkwy ♦Enter i95 Geo Washington Br ♦Right on i95 Cr Bronx Expy ♦Keep Left on Trans Manhattan Expy EB (95/I) ♦Continue on Trans Manhattan Expy EB (95/I) ♦Left on Alexander Hamilton Brg EG (95/I) ♦Left on Cross Bronx Expy EB (95) ♦Left of Bruckner Expy (278) ♦Left on Throgs Neck Expy NB (295) ♦Right on New England Trwy (95) ♦Left on I 91 Hartford ♦Right on US 5 Hwy 15 ♦Left on Wilbur Cross Pkwy NB (15) ♦Continue on Wilbur Cross Pkwy NB (84/6) ♦Left on I 84 Boston ♦Right on I 90 N.H. ♦Enter Massachusetts Tpke EB (90) ♦Right on Prudential CTR Copley Square ♦Left on Hwy 9 Prudential CTR ♦Right on Belvidere St ♦Right on Dalton St ♦Right on Boylston St ♦Arrive at Prudential Center	♦400 ft Right on 72nd St ♦5.5 mi Exit 14 right onto I-95/Cross Bronx Expwy/Geo Washington Br/W 178 St ♦0.4 mi Continue on I-95 N/Cr Bronx Expy/W 178 St ♦0.2 mi Keep left onto I-95 to Cr Bronx Expwy ♦0.4 mi Keep right on I-95 N ♦0.3 Exit 1C right to I-87 to Albany/Maj Deegan Expwy/Queens ♦0.2 mi Exit 3N right to I-87 N to Albany ♦6.9 mi Exit 4 right to Cross County Pkwy ♦0.2 mi Right to Cross County Pkwy East to Bronx River Pkwy ♦400 ft Keep left onto Cross County Pky E to Hutchinson Pkwy ♦11 mi Keep left on Hutchinson River Pkwy ♦0.2 Keep right onto Hutchinson Pkwy to Merrit Pkwy ♦37 mi Keep left of Merrit Pky ♦31 mi Exit 68N-E right to I-91 N to CT-66 E/Hartford/Middletown ♦17 mi Exit 19 right to CT-15/US-5 N to I-84 Boston/East Hartford ♦3.7 mi Keep left onto I-84 to Boston ♦1.7 mi Keep left on I-84 E ♦37 mi Right to I-90 E to Boston/N.H.-Maine ♦45 mi Keep left on I-90 E ♦8 mi Keep right on I-90 E ♦2/6 mi Exit 22 right to Copley Sq/Prudnetial Ctr ♦0.3 mi Keep left onto Avenue of the Arts to Prudential Ctr ♦0.2 mi Right on Belvidere St ♦0.2 Right on Dalton St ♦0.1 Right on Boylston St ♦0.2 Arrive at 800 Boylston St on Left	♦Head southwest on Central Park W toward W 73rd St 430 ft ♦Turn right at W 72nd St 0.6 mi ♦Take the ramp onto Henry Hudson Pkwy/RT-9A N 4.8 mi ♦Take exit 14 for I-95 toward Geo Washington Bridge/Cross Bronx Expy/W 178 St 0.4 mi ♦Follow signs for CR Bronx Expy/I-95 N and merge onto I-95 N Partial toll road Entering Connecticut 70.6 mi ♦Take exit 48 on the left to merge onto I-91 N toward Hartford 36.8 mi ♦Take exit 29 for US-5 N/CT-15 toward I-84/E Hartford/Boston 0.4 mi ♦Merge onto CT-15 N 1.7 mi ♦Merge onto I-84 E Partial toll road Entering Massachusetts 40.7 mi ♦Take the exit onto I-90 E/Mass Pike/Massachusetts Turnpike toward N.H.-Maine/Boston Toll road 55.0 mi ♦Take exit 22 toward Prudential Center 0.5 mi ♦Merge onto Avenue of the Arts/Huntington Ave/RT-9 177 ft ♦Turn right at Belvidere St 0.2 mi ♦Turn right at Dalton St 0.1 mi ♦ Turn right at Boylston St 0.2 mi
Total: 212 miles / 3 hours 15 minutes	3 hours 24 minutes	212 miles / 3 hours 49 minutes

The results shown above are interesting: all three systems route us essentially the same path and have us arrive with the destination address on our left, however the estimated arrival times vary by more than a half-hour between them. Having made the above trip many times, I can say that the Google Maps estimated drive time is closest in accuracy. Garmin's is slightly more aggressive/optimistic, claiming a drive time 26 minutes shorter than Google Maps. The Novogo S700 under-estimates the actual drive time, producing an estimated trip time 34 minutes shorter than the Google Maps estimate.

Further testing produced acceptable routing performance for the S700, although the unit consistently under-estimated the travel time. The routing engine on the S700 is decent, though not as solid as Garmin's or Magellan's, very likely due, at least in part, to Novogo's use of TeleAtlas' mapping data (Magellan and Garmin use NAVTEQ maps).

13. Bluetooth

Figure 65: Accessing the Bluetooth Menu

The Novogo S700 BT is Bluetooth equipped. Oddly, the only way to access the S700's Bluetooth menu is by pressing the telephone button on the front of the unit. That is, there is no way to access the Bluetooth menu via the menu system directly - you must press the telephone button.

Figure 66: Bluetooth Menu

Pressing the telephone button on the front of the S700 brings up the Bluetooth main menu, shown above. By default, the S700 ships with the Bluetooth functionality disabled, so you'll need to tap the "Bluetooth On" icon to turn on Bluetooth before you can pair the device with your Bluetooth compatible cell phone.

Once paired with a compatible, Bluetooth enabled cell phone, the S700 can function as a hands-free speakerphone, can access your cell phone's address book, and can place and receive cell phone calls.

Figure 67: Bluetooth Settings

Although the S700 is Bluetooth enabled, I was unable to pair the unit my Blackberry 8700. Tapping on Search displayed a "Searching" screen that eventually timed out, and tapping on "Connect" appeared to do nothing at all.

14. Real-Time Traffic

RDS Traffic Data

The S700 doesn't support real-time traffic data out of the box, but Novogo does sell an RDS/TMC traffic kit that adds that capability to the S700. The traffic kit consists of an external RDS/TMC traffic antenna, and a modified windshield mount that accommodates the external traffic antenna.

Novogo didn't provide the traffic kit in the model I tested, so I couldn't review the real-time traffic features.