Article by: Mike Barrett
Date: 20 Dec 2010

If you are a truck or lorry driver, or even a “White Van Man” you will find that SatNav is useful, but not ideal particularly if you drive some of the larger vehicles. The normal SatNavs will try and send you down inappropriate lanes, or along roads with various restrictions in place.

This is where more professional Trucking SatNav systems are required. Devices that know about width and height restrictions, where heavy lorries are allowed. You also need routing calculations that do not try to take you down narrow winding lanes to get to your destination.

Navevo recently released the ProNav PNN300 Trucker’s SatNav designed to handle the requirements of HGV and other commercial drivers. To put it through it’s paces we sent Alex Dixon, our own HGV driver, out on his deliveries with the PNN300. The following review records his findings during two weeks of trials:

Alex Dixon’s Navevo ProNav PNN300 Trucker SatNav review
A few weeks ago we reported that Navevo had launched a new product in their Pronav range. For the last couple of weeks I have been trying it out, on my delivery routes around the country mainly in the south west of the country.

In the box
In the retail box is the usual equipment you would get with any SatNav and includes a Car charger (mini USB), Windscreen sucker mount, instruction manual, and a bag/ screen cleaning cloth and, of course, the Pronav PNN300 itself. This is a much slimmer device the the previous model and does look very well built



Setting up the ProNav 300
On starting the Pronav for the first time and selecting navigation you are presented with a set up screen into which your vehicle dimensions, height weight etc are entered. This is also where you turn on the Pronav’s main features which are overnight restrictions and ERN (Excluded Route Network or Lorry ban zones).

These features mainly cover London at moment and has been set up in conjunction with Transport for London. As my work doesn't take me to London very much I have been unable to test this feature during the period I had the device.

The ProNav300 In use
Using the PNN300 on a daily basis I have not encountered any problems at all with it. It does what it is designed to do, though as with any SatNav it is only a guide not a God.

The 5 inch touch screen is very clear and the on-screen map is easy to follow. Even in bright sunlight you can still see the map on the screen. Battery life is average lasting about 2 hours before it will need recharging.

Entering a postcode or town/street address is done on an ABC keyboard. I would like to see a qwerty option. The touch screen isn't very sensitive and needs a slightly harder press on the screen than say a TomTom device. Personally I think this is a good thing as it stops secondary or inadvertent button presses. There is also a stylus if like mine your fingers are of the larger variety.

The device can be used as a hands free unit though does require a button press to get back to the map screen if on the move. The icon for mobile phone connection does default to a place that can be obstructive when setting a new destination thought the icon can be moved around the screen by touching and then dragging the icon to where you want it.

The FM transmitter is very good and provides a very clear reception in all but the most noisy of vehicles, also the hands free provides very good audio output when receiving or making a call.

Points of Interest
The POI data base on this unit is very good. As well as the usual POI sets it includes loading bays (side of road mainly in London), truck stops, winding road, HGV fuel stations, steep hills and sharp curves.

One down-side is the that custom POI can not easily be imported on to the device. Navevo can provide a POI builder that will enable you to import your own POI databases. This is available on request.

Multiple destinations
For multi-dropping there is an unlimited number of via destinations that can be inputted. Though it does not optimise the route you plan this does work very well and will ask you if want to go on to the next leg of the journey.

Other Applications
Media player: The device does have a media player featuring audio and video. The mp3 and video content must be placed onto an micro-sd card to be able to use this function. I couldn't get it to work whilst navigation was running. The ProNav300 device can also be used as a picture viewer.

Notes: This feature lets you make notes and save them for future reference there is also a calendar and a calculator.

Conclusion
This a very good device and in the 2 weeks I have being using it it hasn't put a foot wrong or crashed once. Bearing in mind I do around 7-10 drops per day this is very good going. My work normally takes me to the south west of England at the start of the week and this is where most of the testing has been done, mainly delivering to furniture shops in town centres so has had a good workout and has proven itself extremely capable.

The Mount and sucker is excellent. The sucker is much better than TomTom 7000 mount and when fitted to the windscreen sits closer than a TomTom unit. Comparing both the TomTom 7000 and the ProNav 300 the ProNav unit is much easier to operate than TomTom’s in day to day usage. the arm of the mount transmits very little vibration even in steel sprung cab I had during the test period.

If you are looking to buy a satnav for UK or Europe trucking work you cant go wrong getting one of these. My personal view is that I would be happy to buy one myself especially as it comes in a good £200 pounds less than the nearest competitor.

Comments Posted by mrcoachdriver on Mon Dec 20, 2010 2:55 pm Is there a version suitable for coach touring application? Although height, width and length restrictions are common to all vehicles, the weight restrictions for PSV and LGV may be different - there are distinct roadsigns restricting access for goods vehicles, whereas PSV's are only subject to mgv and axle weight restrictions. There also distinct lorry and/or bus/coach bans in certain areas. A satnav which was able to differentiate between the two types of vehicle would be really useful to the PSV sector.   Posted by Darren on Mon Dec 20, 2010 3:46 pm You configure your vehicle on the device so you can set it up with the weight limits and restrictions applicable to a PSV if you need to. Darren Griffin   Posted by Mattyboy101 on Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:23 pm How does it compare to the Garmin Nuvi 465T? They are quite similar in price. A friend needs one for Western European HGV use.   Posted by Darren on Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:33 pm The most important difference is that Navevo have focussed on this market and are working hard to tailor it and offer truck specific features. They're working very closely with drivers to that end. Witness features such as the London lorry ban routing data etc. The Garmin is very capable but much less customised. It (ProNav) has come a long way since launch and Navevo continue to work hard listening to feedback and introducing features based on feedback from drivers. There's a comparison of features on the Pronav site here. Darren Griffin   Posted by speedbird1 on Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:43 am I constantly use my TT920 when working but have used it mostly for music storage and audio books. When i have to use it for directions i am always aware of the lack of height/weight stuff it does not have. This unit could be the answer, however, music, it does store music but does it transmit well enough to use that facility when in large town centres. Basically we all know TT transmitters are c**p. Is this any better? And is it remote compatible. I do love that feature on the TT. Happy Christmas. (cant wait for the camera app for Android on Christmas day!) Mike 'Tis better to keep your mouth closed and let others believe you are an idiot than to open it and prove you are!   Posted by mrglenn on Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:57 am What is the situation regarding using the Pocket GPS speed camera database on this unit? I notice that ProNav isn't listed anywhere in the database installation guides, so what happens when the provided trial camera database expires?   Posted by Darren on Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:00 am We do not support the ProNav. Navevo supply a database and updates would have to come from them. Darren Griffin   Posted by mrglenn on Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:14 am Darren Wrote: We do not support the ProNav. Navevo supply a database and updates would have to come from them. That's a pity. Being a transit driver that's fed up with being sent down narrow country lanes that are no more than dirt tracks by my clunky old Garmin 510C, I thought I had found the unit for me. As I have a lifetime subscription though, I don't particularly want to keep spending out on database renewals. Back to the drawing board!   Posted by inthe128 on Fri Dec 24, 2010 2:32 pm How much of Europe does it cover, could I expect Eastern Europe to be covered? in the 128   Posted by alix776 on Fri Dec 24, 2010 3:29 pm The coverage for Europe will be the same as snooper, gamin and copilot as they all use Navteq data currently using aponia truck navigation on windows phone. Good bye IOS don't let the door hit you on the way out . Oh the joys of being a courier. device Lumia 950 xl   Posted by inthe128 on Fri Dec 24, 2010 3:38 pm alix776 Wrote: The coverage for Europe will be the same as snooper, gamin and copilot as they all use Navteq data Would that include Poland? I have none of those units Alex, just TT, so I know what that has. The web page for this review model does not give much away. in the 128   Click here to view more comments...