Garmin Zumo 595 LM

£629.99

As well as this range-topping unit, there are 395 and 345 versions, with slightly smaller screens and slightly fewer features and for most people, the £360 345LM would do the job just fine. I say this because, this year, I’ve done thousands of miles with the 595 and, apart from its fuller European map coverage, I’ve used the additional features precisely never. That’s not to say some riders won’t enjoy the 595’s smartphone-friendly features (like Spotify streaming) and ability to control a Garmin Virb action camera but really it’s all icing, not cake. Installation It’s a pain to wire in. Same Ram-mount as the Tomtom but a relatively short initial cable blossoms into an octopus of wires for a USB terminal and various jack sockets (never met anyone who’s used any of them). This means bodywork removal is needed to get the power leads to the battery.

Ease of use It’s pretty simple. To get directions, tap “Where to go”, unless following a pre-planned route (which

will be hidden under the “Apps” menu, inside the “Trip planner” app). There are sub-menus to poke around to alter settings and connect headsets and phones — arguably less intuitive than the Tomtom menus but actually faster to navigate. There are options to customise the set-up to suit you, as you get used to it, making it even easier to use.

Directions

Pretty good but handling of street names/directions isn’t always as clear as the Tomtom, which is especially confusing with the audible directions: it will ask you to turn off a roundabout onto a street (eg Route des Grand Pres), when the sign in the real world displays a town name or road number (eg St Marie de Cuines). On the other hand, the screen map is very clear — as long as you turn off the pointless “terrain shading” — and lane and turn diagrams for major junctions are excellent.

Overshoot a junction and it does spot the error and recalculate quickly. It’s usually quicker to work out and offer an alternative route than the Tomtom when you ignore its initial advice.

Route planning — on the device

Pretty simple. It generally makes excellent choices for A-to-b routes, when set to take the fastest option, though it is occasionally prone to getting off dual carriageways, then straight back on. And even when set to “fastest” it can opt for a slow route through a village rather than the faster bypass round it. There is a round-trip feature (which the other Zumos lack) but its round-trip and Curvy Road options aren’t as good as the Tomtom ones.

The key thing to watch with the Garmin is that all routes will follow the preferences you’ve selected (shortest, fastest, Curvy Road) and the avoidances (off-road, seasonally closed, toll, etc). You have to go into the settings to change between them.

Route planning — on a computer

This is the Garmin’s advantage: the Basecamp software is a very powerful tool for planning trips. There are two catches: it’s better on a Mac than a PC and it’s not intuitive, so takes a while to master. Once you have got to grips with it, it is superior.

Verdict

The Garmin is a bit more demanding to use, but is the more powerful device — not for a single trip, perhaps, but it has a clear edge for those who are serious about touring. It’s important to learn how to use it (and Basecamp).