Long gone are the days of asking the nearest bystander or corner shop owner for directions, new

age GPS devices for Cars have changed the way Indians take to th e roads. While there is a significant drop in interesting conversations one had at such journey pit stops, the new age Indian driver lets his GPS device decide th e best route to destination and provide critical info on fuel stations, ATMs and emergency services. Coupled with turn-by-turn voice navigation offered in multi ple languages including popular Indian ones, these devices represent a rising br eed of electronic devices aimed at enhancing the overall driving experience. I have been a witness to the changes happening over the last couple of years lau nch of newer models, claims of maximum road coverage and entry of international biggies with pocket-friendly devices. We, as automobile enthusiasts, couldnt love this ride more. From a may-have product category to a much popular segment, Car G PS devices have come a long way. Two things, according to me have revolutionized the Car GPS segment availability of latest models by Indian and International b rands at extremely affordable prices and secondly, the combination of value-added features like hands-free calling, music players, image gallery and others which result in a hard-to-be-missed toy which has turned out to be a near-necessity in all modern cars on Indian roads Well, there is a downside of these positive changes too we are now left with a p lethora of options to choose from and with so many similar features, its time to end this War of GPS! First, lets look at the key features required in a great value-for-money Car GPS device: 1. Quality and Coverage of Maps/ Software Lets look at the softer but critical factors. A good navigator device should offe r maximum coverage of Indian cities and Points of interest (POI) and should be p owered by a latest operating system to deliver the value. Currently, most GPS de vices claim coverage of over 500+ Indian cities/ routes and POIs and the standar d op systems are Windows CE versions 5.0 to 6.0 (latest). While most people gene rally dont head off-road everyday but having decent coverage helps when you plan vacations to non-touristy locations. A benchmark device should at least over this much coverage and critical info lik e nearest ATMs, Emergency services location, Gas stations etc 2. Under-the-hood features This is the core of a device. Like with most tech pro ducts, following points are important: CPU frequency required for speedy Satellite-to-GPS fix time (the higher the freq uency in Mhz is better) FLASH/RAM Most budget tablets come with 1GB flash/ 64 MB RAM and thats the expect ed benchmark. This is important for quick loading of applications and while mult i-tasking between navigation and other features. Premium ones come loaded with 1 28 MB RAM and upto 2GB flash memory. Battery Since most of us prefer our Personal GPS devices to be specialists in th e directional domain, having a good battery back-up is as important as having tu rn-by-turn navigation! 800mAh 1100mAh battery is the industry norm across device s with the higher value of mAh considered better. With general use, 800mah-950mA h battery can give you up to 2.5 hours of backup while the backup in an 1100mAh (or above) battery would be about an hour or more extra. (Note: All devices are accompanied by in-car chargers so use of back-up is mostly out-of-car or when yo u forget the charger!) Display Two things matter here the screen size and the pixel resolution. Most bu dget devices offer 4 inches of screen while the premium ones generally come with

a 5 inch screen size. Resolution aspect ratio standard is at least 320 X 240 pi xels while some newer models offer up to 480 X 272 pixels in budget range and pr emium ones offer more. All devices are built for touch-screen options and jargons like TFT/LCD screen, VGA/ QWVGA alter the visibility/ viewing angles add to your overall comfort whil e these can be discounted when looking for budget option 3. Build Quality Weight of the device ble in Indian market evice does help when to carry your device is not a major concern since most of the GPS devices availa range from about 140 grams to 200 grams. Having a lighter d you dont have a co-navigator in the front seat and you like along with you for value-add features or security reasons!

4. Value Add Well we all love value for our money so extra features and freebies add to the o verall buying process. Most modern devices let you enjoy some music/video playba ck, E-book reading option, in-built games. Packing these features along with add -ons like locate device/ help when lost, favorite locations etc give you long-term satisfaction. Now having understood some key features, it was time for serious reality check. I evaluated most of the available options (the list is never ending), especially the ones easily available in the retail market and following represent the podi um finish as per my understanding. (Disclaimer Use the parameters and your usage criteria to arrive at the desired option!) Read more at http://www.carkhana.com/blog/best-car-gps-in-india-%E2%80%93-hunt-i s-on/ About Carkhana: Carkhana.com is Indias leading e-commerce portal for the automoti ve industry with over 50+ partner brands, 700+ products, FREE Shipping pan-India and a dedicated customer care team. For more info, checkout http://www.carkhana .com, the official blog at http://www.carkhana.com/blog. Its official page on Fa cebook is http://www.facebook.com/carkhana and its twitter handle is http://www. twitter.com/carkhana