New Sony GPS Navigators - NV-U44, NV-U74T, NV-U84, and NV-U94T

Sony is the latest portable GPS navigation device manufacturer releasing information on next-generation products due to hit store shelves for the holiday buying season. Garmin announced both the discontinuation of some production and the release of new, feature-packed models due in October. With a shorter lead time, Sony has announced four new models to arrive next week: NV-U44, NV-U74T, NV-U84, and NV-U94T.

These new Sony units represent an evolution of the Nav-U line, adding a few minor new features focused on entertainment, such as a photo viewer and stereo Bluetooth. There are now 150 branded points-of-interest (POI) icons to help identify businesses along a route. In total, there are five million searchable POIs in the database. All four units have pre-installed maps of the full United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

The highlights
The Sony NV-U44 is basic navigator with a 3.5-inch screen, spoken street names, reality view, and photo viewer. It uses the clever "gesture command" found on all new Nav-U devices that allows the user to enter a command by essentially tracing a symbol on the touch screen. Retail price is $250.

The NV-U74T has a wide 4.3-inch screen, and its features build on the NV-U44 by adding a traffic receiver. Retail price is $300.

The NV-U84 trades off the traffic information for a large, 4.8-inch screen. Retail price is $350.

At the top of the new device range is the NV-U94T. With a 4.8-inch screen, the NV-U94T combines all the features highlighted here for $400.

Bottom line
When we tested the Nav-U NV-U73T and Nav-U NV-U83T, we found the navigators had a crisp display with a nicely detailed map. Spoken street names, reality view, and subscription-based traffic information were helpful. However, route calculation was slow, navigating through menus was slow, and generally, the units felt like they needed further development to compete with the top-rated units.

Since we published our first look and video on the Sony Nav-U NV-U83T, and rated both that and the Nav-U NV-U73T, the fast-paced GPS market has moved quickly. Competing units have since announced or introduced a number of features that will give shoppers new choices for the holidays, such as historic traffic data, free real-time traffic information, reality view, and voice recognition. These new models from Sony don’t appear to have the same sizzle. But, we’ll soon find out how they perform, as our secret shoppers are ready to purchase test samples when they go on sale late next week.

—Jeff Bartlett

For more information on portable GPS navigation systems, see our Ratings and buying advice and watch our video guide. Discuss GPS devices in the forums.