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The photo navigational wizardry can't mask a number of other equally serious flaws either. The speaker is the main point of concern here. It's simply too quiet: if you have the radio on, kids screaming in the back, or are travelling on the motorway you won't hear the G280R whisper its instructions. And with the volume turned right up to maximum it's not only too quiet, but the speaker distorts badly. It doesn't matter that the voice instructions are delivered in a timely manner - they're simply too hard to hear for that to matter.

The G280R's 3.5in screen is far from the clearest I've seen on a sat-nav. Colours look washed out on it, and in bright conditions it's hard to see the standard mapping, let alone make out detail in the photo maps. And I'm none too keen on the user interface. Though addresses are simple enough to enter and seven-digit postcode entry is supported, important settings such as screen brightness and volume are found in odd locations. The volume, for instance, can be turned up in two different locations, while the brightness can only be adjusted on the home screen of the device - you have to exit the navigation application to get there.

The G280R is a pretty average when it comes to features, too. It includes speed cameras, but has no traffic information. You can switch between 2D and 3D modes (the latter has a useful autozoom feature), but there's no lane assistance. You can't plan multi-point routes on it. And, while there is a speed warning alarm, bizarrely this can only be given one specific limit. Set the latter to 50mph and it'll warn you when you exceed that whether you're on a 30mph or 70mph speed limit road.

There are a number of fluffy extras, such as a media player, a couple of simple games, a photo viewer and calculator. The G280R will get you where you want to go, albeit in a rather confusing way. It also picks up and locks on to satellites quickly and calculates routes without delay, plus it's bundled with a good, solid windscreen mount.


A few extra toys and the bare minimum of features aren't enough to make up for the G280R's problems. Photo navigation is a good idea, but here it isn't implemented well and there are simply too many flaws elsewhere to make up for it. The device's screen, speaker and ease of use are all poor and features are scant. I wouldn't consider recommending this sat-nav at any price, let alone at nigh-on £200.

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