TeleNav Shotgun Includes Mileage Capture, Automatic Updates

Making the best use of Internet connectivity is the new frontier in the GPS feature wars. TeleNav, which is best known for providing navigation services for mobile phones, jumps into the car GPS fray with its Shotgun (as in "riding shotgun") model. TeleNav first introduced the Shotgun in November, 2008, and then reintroduced it with updates and improvements in early 2009. The latest version has some terrific features, but also some performance issues still to be worked out. It's a strong contender for business travelers, thanks to its mileage tracker and other connected features.

I'll start with one of the features TeleNav added to the Shotgun GPS in its 2009 update: mileage tracking. When you begin your trip, you have the option of touching a "start capture" button on the screen. From that point on, the Shotgun tracks your mileage, including start, end, date, time, addresses, and exact mileage. Hit "end" when you've finished your trip, and the Shotgun automatically sends the info to your account at my.telenav.com. This feature worked perfectly in my road tests, and it's a dream come true for frequent business travelers. It automatically keeps a detailed log that can be exported to .pdf or Excel.

Its connectivity is also very useful when you're planning a trip. There are several ways to get your computer's Web browser to communicate with the Shotgun, but I chose the simplest, adding a TeleNav button to my Google toolbar (takes just a few seconds). Simply highlight any address when you're Web browsing, and hit the TeleNav button to send it to the Shotgun's favorites folder. You can even create sub-folders to keep things organized by trip, etc. This also worked flawlessly in my tests. This is terrific for business or vacation travel. When you browse your destinations, just keep loading addresses into your Shotgun, and you're ready for your trip.

TeleNav uses connectivity for additional features, including gas prices search; traffic tracking and avoidance and smart rerouting; Internet-connected search (through a menu system, not a Web browser); quarterly map and POI updates; restaurant reviews.

Out on the road, the Shotgun's menu system, maps, and text-to-speech directions are clear and easy to follow.

The Shotgun's most noticeable flaw compared to Garmin and TomTom units I've tested, is slow signal acquisition. At cold startup, I consistently had to wait several minutes for the GPS to be ready. This needs work.