First look - Binatone T430 sat-nav 18/08/2008

The arrival of Binatone’s T430 satellite navigation device in the What Laptop office caused more interest than most GPS products, thanks to the inclusion of a reversing camera. Fix the camera to your car’s number plate, wire it up to the reverse lights and never reverse blindly into anything again.

That’s the theory, anyway. In practise, we’d advise those without electrical knowledge to seek help before plugging in the soldering iron and setting to work on your car’s wiring. That said, it is a fairly easy application, with only two wires and easy to follow instructions provided.

Once connected, the power from your reverse lights activates the camera automatically, switching the T430’s screen wirelessly from sat-nav mode to a concave view of the outside world. It’s a neat feature, but the camera itself isn’t the most subtle, and judging distances can be tricky. Located in the centre of the car, the camera also creates a couple of large blind spots, so it’s still worth checking over your shoulders before reversing.

The T430 itself offers a 4.3-inch touchscreen display and mapping for the UK and Ireland. We spent the weekend playing with the camera function, so haven’t yet had the opportunity to test the Binatone’s navigation functions, but for a full review see issue 116 of What Laptop.