Sexy Sony GPS

As Sony is my witness, I will never get lost again. Nope, never. And it's all thanks to my new toy, Sony's Personal GPS Navigation System called Nav-U. It's also called NV-U70. I don't know why.

This Nav-U GPS is the first one Sony has attempted. And they deserve a hearty pat on the back, because they did a darn good job. The menus are beautiful, clear, and incredibly easy to understand. That kind of quality is something I expect from Sony - and it's the reason I applied for a "Sony Card" Mastercard about 7 years ago.

Sony Points can be used towards any Sony product, including any DVDs released by Sony Pictures. It's a sweet card for shizzle, yo. I saved up my points and bought my first digicam back in '03, then started the process all over again.

I had been saving my points for almost 3 years when the Nav-U came on the market. But the $800 price-tag was a little too high for me. With a recent huge influx of GPS units from other companies such as Pioneer and Alpine, the competition was getting tough and Sony lowered the price. Twice.

I realized I had enough points to snap it up for free so I did just that. I was even able to talk the Sony Store sales dude down another $50, which is something I've never done before. I felt proud when I walked out of the store and opened up my new toy.

The lithium-ion battery was already full of ion-power so I started playing with "Mr. Navington" almost immediately. The touch-screen overjoyed my excited fingers and the sound effects pleased my ears. The speaker system is totally kick-ass, with dual tweeters sandwiching the touch-screen and a big 4.5 cm woofer pounding out the bass from the rear. It's too bad the English babe's voice wasn't as hot as the French chick's pipes. The beefy "Now, turn righTTTT" just doesn't sound as sexy as the French girl's, "Maintenant, tournez à gauche."

I don't know much about computers, but I was surprised to see it used an Intel PXA255 processor running at 300 MHz. Planning a driving route to my parents house took approximately 5 seconds while a slightly longer trip, to Kipling Saskatchewan, (where Jodster will be this weekend) took 20 seconds longer. What's super sweet about the Sony GPS is that if you miss a turn it will re-route you instead of telling you to make a U-turn, like many of the GPS units on the market.

I slapped the "Mega Super Suction Cup" (yes, that's really its name!) to the windshield and clicked the Nav-U into place. It looked like a tiny TV, especially at night, with strong contrast between the bright screen and the blackness. I was giddy. I drove around and watched the 3-D map spin around while ATM and gas station icons whizzed by. I even mounted it in the DeLorean and imagined taking some long, exciting trip. Right now it's still a toy to me, but it will be a sweet tool for us when we take our trip to Burlington, Vermont in November.

Two Martini-thumbs-up for Sony's GPS navigation system, and three Martini-thumbs-up for just how damn sexy it looks.