Satmap Active 10 Plus GPS review

Satmap Active 10 Plus GPS review

Nice and easy to use

Our rating

3.5

66.08
379.99


Our review
Big, hefty and sometimes annoyingly slow, though it’s very easy to use

The Active 10 Plus comes preloaded with a map of Great Britain at 1:1,000,000 scale, a 1:250,000 road map (road atlas-style) and a 1:5 million scale world map.

If you want to add OS maps you’re looking at £59.99 for 1:50,000 scale and £39.99-£200 for 1:25,000. There are plenty of maps available and there will soon be a way to build your own custom map by telling Satmap what you want.

The unit is easy to use and the online route planner makes planning a route much easier than doing it on the unit itself, but there were a few annoyances.

The claim of postcode enabled navigation only works on a small number of maps and it isn’t on the Active 10 itself; the buttons, when wet, are slippery if you’re wearing gloves; and the speed of the system had us shouting at it from time to time.

Zooming out of the map takes a while for the screen to refresh and when travelling quickly it was all too easy to overshoot waypoints for turnings because it simply didn’t update our position fast enough.

  • Casing: Good sealing, but it could do with being much tougher at the top curved section for better impact-proofing.
  • Buttons: Large and easy to use even with gloves on, although the joystick in the middle is a bit overly sensitive.
  • Display: Large and bright, although at times annoyingly slow to update, especially when zooming.
  • Batteries: The rechargeable lithium polymer battery gives a good run time, but not as long as the manufacturer claims.
  • SD card slot: Not as well sealed as we would like – our memory card got wet. It still worked, though.
  • USB and audio: There’s an audio output jack for the audible point of interest (POI) function.
Product "37417" does not exist or you do not have permission to access it.