In The Box

Inside the box you get a car cradle - which folds up neatly for easy storage - a car charger, mains adaptor, USB cradle, manual and a protective carrying pouch.

Design

The Syrius does look pretty cool in its sleek black finish and clear 4.3" widescreen display. Though its outer surface did tend to pick up a fair amount of finger prints over time.

At the base of the device are a set of connectors which can be used to plug in an extension microphone/audio out and the inclusion of a TMC input, which is actually misleading because the S600 does not provide support for this function - this is reserved for the new S2000 which shares the same shell.

Navigation software

This is the most refreshing part about the Syrius in that it does not use the standard Windows CE or any Microsoft related Operating systems to power its device. The S600 uses Linux and as a result this is one of the fastest interfaces we have used in ages.
Menu items can be navigated through quickly and everything has been simplified as much as possible.

Furthermore when you come to enter postcodes or address destinations you have the benefit of a full Qwerty keyboard.

Even more impressive was the speed of its initial route calculations, as soon as we pressed ‘calculate’ the route was ready virtually instantly and for longer routes, in a matter of seconds.

You get your usual route planners,simulations and of course loads of POI to choose from.

The mapping software is provided by NAVTEQ, but we reviewed the device with only UK & Ireland maps.

Driving Tests

During our tests the SiRF-Star III could lock onto our location pretty quickly - both indoors and out. The map detail was not as graphically intense as its Windows counterparts but the maps were enhanced by colour coded route lanes, which differentiated from the normal roads and there was a large directional box showing the distance to next turn.

As we mentioned its initial route calculations were quick, but surprisingly when it came to route-recalculations (i.e. when we deliberately tried to outfox the unit by going the wrong way) we felt these could be faster, though it’s not a major problem and thankfully the efficiency of its routes were good.

Voice directions were spoken clear but there is still no text-to-speech option for announcing road names.

There were a few options we disabled from the settings menu in relation to the voice directions. The first was the annoying route alert sound effect that occurs before a direction is spoken (which sounds like a train announcement) and the second was for the announcement of the speed cameras - though a useful feature, it can get overwhelming when you are trying to concentrate on your route.

But there is no doubt that the Syrius has got the best speed camera detection software we have ever used. You can pay a one off fee of £99 for a life-time subscription or pay monthly (£5) and get 6 months free. The subscriptions will also allow you access to a yearly map update as well (worth £80). All updates are carried out by linking the device to your computer via its USB cable and software.

As mentioned the safety camera alerts can be tailored to suite, but essentially you get an on-screen icon that appears during driving, which displays the exact distance to the camera (with an advance warning) and on top of this an audible and spoken alarm.

The software is kept pretty up-to date and the moment a camera is added to the database it will be available to you. Incidentally Snooper will also handle support for the new Super Gatso cameras when these get released by the Government.

Multimedia/Bluetooth/TMC

The device is void of any multimedia functions, but we could live without these no problems. We believe a Sat-Nav unit should be there for navigation rather than gimmicky multimedia functions.

It does have Bluetooth support so you can link up your device to a compatible Bluetooth phone - plus dial POI to. This worked as you would expect from a handsfree system.

As mentioned you won't find a TMC option here either so you will have to buy the S2000 model for this.