Voya 350 Portable Nav System Keeps You On Target

Directions are my nemesis. I can hear them, see them and even understand them and still I somehow get lost going to the simplest locations (like, um, "home"). That's why a portable GPS-based nav system like Averatec's Voya 350 is the type of thing I should keep on me at all times.

The Voya 350 offers visual and audible instructions for getting from point A to point B, and its light weight makes it portable from one vehicle to another (or in my case, carrying it on a walk around the neighborhood).

Maps and directions are provided by NAVTEQ, which means you don't have to download updates or carry a backpack full of DVDs. TWICE says the Voya is powered by a Samsung 300MHz processor and it runs on the Windows CE operating system. The unit also has an embedded SiRF III GPS receiver.

There is one small feature I could do without: a tiny note in the Voya's product sheet says the unit will alert you "when you are exceeding the speed limit, even if you're not in navigation mode." Nice idea, but I already have a mother.

The Averatec Voya 350 Handheld GPS Navigation system is available for $429.99 through Averatec's Web site. It can also be purchased through other online and brick-and-mortar retailers. -- Mac Slocum

• Voya 350 offers driving maps and directions.

• Portable GPS unit.

• MSRP: $429.99