The touchscreen is a bright, clear 4.3in affair that worked well in every lighting situation we came across from strong direct sunlight to pitch black - and we mean pitch black, the instrument cluster lights in our car packed in one night during the test. The base unit itself measures 126 x 81 x 20mm and weighs 170g allowing it to be easily slipped into a coat pocket or the smallest of glove boxes when not in use.

These menus are logical, Captain

Set-up could not be easier. Open box, attach sucker clamp to windscreen, plug in charger, clip on the main unit, adjust unit angle so as to reduce reflection on the windscreen and give it 30-odd seconds to find itself. Now tap in a post code and away you go. The Mio is similarly easy to use on an ongoing basis, the screen's menu structure being both straightforward and logical.

The C620 comes pre-loaded with Tele-Atlas maps for 22 Western European countries, and also has Bluetooth for hands-free calling and A2DP stereo streaming - yes, there's a built in MP3 player, along with a picture viewer and a contacts book. It comes with a year's worth of free speed camera updates via the Mio website.

Clear even in bright sunshine

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The base unit also has 2GB of memory and an SD/MMC slot. Mio claims the C620 will run for two hours on full charge, a claim we found to be almost spot on.

Verdict

We really don't have a bad word to say about the Mio C620. It's small, light, easy to use, has great 3D map imagery, near faultless voice prompts and never once got us lost. It may not beat the Tom-Tom Go 720 for absolute depth of features, but for day-to-day use we'd rather have the Mio's 3D mapping.