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Despite some flaws, the Navman Panoramic puts in an impressive turn, proving why dedicated car sat navs are still worth buying.
Fast journey planning, quick recalculation of routes and multiple route types combine to make up a balanced overall package.
The big selling point of the Navman Panoramic is the 7-inch screen, and this is definitely the highlight of the navigation device. Not everyone needs such large visual clues though, and we would suggest that for the vast majority of drivers, a 5-inch screen is just as good - and generally £50 cheaper.
We liked
Being able to pick a more economic or faster route for a journey is a welcome addition, especially when it's backed up by IQ Routes to ensure slow traffic is avoided.
The car mounting system is excellent, and ensures that the big screen can be positioned in a way that doesn't block your view.
The Navman Panoramic puts in a good turn in the value for money stakes, too - at least it does until the extra subscriptions come into play.
We disliked
The Navman Panoramic's size combined with its plastic casing and light weight makes it feel far cheaper than it really is. It's also a bit too bulky to just slip into your pocket when you leave your car.
The lack of a hardware volume control is a real shame, particular when you're left trying to use the fiddly interface. The voice isn't the easiest to listen to either.
Points of interest aren't particularly useful if you live outside of London.
Final verdict
Not everyone needs a 7-inch sat nav, and ultimately that marginalises the Navman Panoramic. If you do find a standard sat nav a little hard to see, then this is worth checking out.
Even here, though, the Navman Panoramic shows how important the voice guide is - and it's in this area that the likes of the TomTom series outperform it.
Despite these flaws, we're impressed with the speed of the Navman Panoramic, the versatility of the mounting system and the flexibility of being able to plan different routes on a range of criteria.
It's not quite the rounded package it could have been, and we'd love to see better points of interest localisation, but it still offers decent value for money, especially given that it includes maps for the whole of Europe.
