For outdoors enthusiasts, the Garmin Edge 705 is the best navigation tool, but it represents one hefty investment. If you prefer to save your cash and don’t mind using paper maps on a windy hilltop, you could do a lot worse than Magellan’s eXplorist 500.

It doesn’t have the slick OS seen elsewhere, but there is a good choice of interesting mapping add-ons for purchase, and you can also buy niche interest mapping: the SnowRanger series of maps is great for skiers, allowing you to add piste maps of popular
international ski resorts.

It doesn’t have the bells and whistles of competitors: there’s no digital compass, so you have to be moving to take a bearing; there’s no barometric altimeter, which means altitude readings aren’t as accurate as they could be; and no option for basic weather prediction as on the Suunto X9i. You can plan routes on your PC and transfer waypoints, but the software isn’t as advanced as Suunto’s Trek Manager.

But the Magellan eXplorist 500 is a pretty good performer in other respects. It locked on to enough satellites to supply an accurate position in around a minute, and maintained steady reception in built-up areas and under light tree cover on our bush walk. We also like the fact that it’s nice and pocketable, and that the colour screen is more readable than the others in bright conditions.

But it’s the price that will ultimately draw people in. In this company $329 is a steal and, as such, we can forgive it the absence of many advanced features.