The Big Journey
"So, where should we go?" I asked my co-pilot, the Gandalf to my Bilbo Baggins.

"Hmm?I haven't seen water in a while"

This was true, seeing as how we live a few hundred miles from the ocean. A quick look at a road map, and we decided to hit the eastern shore of Virginia, right along the Chesapeake Bay. We'd never been there before. It was going to be an adventure. Maybe not as big as a Hobbit's, but an adventure nonetheless.

Before we could memorize any of the roads in the atlas, we closed the book. We were going to rely on the navigation system to get us there in a blind run. Typically, I test navigation systems by having them first take me to destinations I've been, allowing me to judge their accuracy and efficiency. This time, I decided to do things differently and hit an unknown location first, just to see if I could get there.

We punched in our destination city, and chose a road at random (actually, you can look at the location of your desired destination before you choose it, which is remarkably helpful). I decided, too, to have the system take us on the "shortest" rather than the "fastest" route. This typically entails taking lots and lots of back roads, rather than interstates. This truly was going to be an adventure through totally unfamiliar territory, of the over-the-river-and-through-the-woods variety. For all I knew, there could even have been giant spiders waiting for us. But In a matter of seconds, the system had calculated our route, and there was no turning back. With that, off we went.

The AVIC-N1 touch-screen menus guide you efficiently through the system's potent navigation features. You can search for and get guidance to specific addresses, intersections, landmarks, restaurants, banks, airports, hotels, and much, much more.

I noticed immediately that the AVIC-N1 is accurate. Frighteningly accurate. The map continually tracked our position, even when the system wasn't in navigation mode, and did so with reliable precision. "Gandalf" was particularly impressed. For the first few miles, he expressed his amazement every time the map showed us passing streets at the very moment we actually passed them. Conspiracy theorists (and anyone worried about being followed by black helicopters, for that matter), you may want to avoid installing this receiver in your car. The satellites are clearly always tracking your position, and they always know where you are.

As with most DVD navigation systems, the AVIC-N1 guides with both its visual map and voice prompts. I learned pretty quickly that relying on just the voice prompts isn't the best navigation strategy. The AVIC-N1's soothing, female voice lets you know that a turn is coming up anywhere from seven-tenths of a mile to a quarter mile away. Your second, and last, reminder, comes at a tenth of a mile away, which is a pretty short distance. A couple of times I nearly missed my turn (alright, once I did entirely) because I forgot that it was coming up until the voice prompt reminded me.

The trick, which I found easy to learn, is to use the visual guide and voice prompts in harmony with each other. At the first warning that a turn was coming up, I'd keep an eye on the screen (without taking my eyes off the road, of course). Every time you approach an intersection, the AVIC-N1's screen provides you a close-up image of the turn you have to make. In cases where you have multiple turn options, it shows you exactly where you need to turn. I was thoroughly impressed by the accuracy of the map renderings. By the time the system gave the second warning, I knew exactly where and when to turn, simply by comparing the map detail to the road in front of me. The voice guide was my cue to look at the map; the map finished the job.

Along the way, I also grew quickly to appreciate two map features. First, as long as the map disc is in the drive, you can adjust the scale of the map on the screen, from 25 miles out to as close as one-fortieth of a mile. I usually kept it at a scale of one-tenth to one-quarter of a mile, which gave me a clear idea of where I was, plus a satisfactory view of the roads around me.

Second, the orientation of the map is adjustable. By touching the appropriate icon on the screen, you can choose to have the map track with you (rotating as you make turns), with the electronic compass always indicating north. Or, you can choose to have the map remain oriented north, so that the triangle representing you changes direction on it as you travel. I decided fairly quickly that I preferred to have the map track along with me; it made it easier for me to keep myself oriented in real, three-dimensional space.

When you're navigating, the map always shows you how far you are from your next turn, how far you are from your destination, and how much estimated time you have left until you arrive. When you touch the distance-to-turn box, the voice guide tells you what sort of turn to make next. When you touch the ETA box, you can choose for it to show how much travel time you have left, or what time it anticipates you'll arrive.

The map screen, with its adjustable display scale, gives you all the information you need to get where you need to go.

At the bottom of the screen, you see the name of the road you're on, and the town you're in. At the top, you get the name of the road you'll take next. Both features are remarkably convenient, and make navigating that much easier.

And here's the icing on the cake: the AVIC-N1 comes loaded with 64 MB of internal memory, which means that once you've programmed your destination, you're able to remove the map disc and enjoy your CDs or MP3 discs while the system navigates from memory. Great music (to go along with the accurate guidance) meant that our three-hour adventure had a soundtrack, as any good adventure should.

When the system gives you a voice prompt, it either attenuates or mutes the music — you get to decide which you prefer. You also set the volume of the voice guidance independently of the music volume, so that it comes through at a constant level, no matter how loudly or quietly you play your music. This was one of a slew of seemingly small but brilliant features that made me understand just how much thought went into the design of the AVIC-N1. Such attention to detail really makes this receiver a superior one.