If you have ever mistaken Farrer Park for Farrer Road, Sunset Way for Sunset Rise or Queen's Road for Queen
Street, then you may be well eyeing a certain object on the dashboards of some cars gliding past as you make yet another U-turn.

The object is the savvy motorist's tech-toy must-have, a car navigation device that gets you from point A to point B using a global positioning system (GPS).

The devices range in price from $299 to $3,899 and are a navigation system based on a network of 24 satellites in orbit. The in-car devices rely on GPS to provide information on the user's exact location.

Drivers here are spinning their wheels to get on board, as the prices of these devices become more affordable, and as newer gadgets come on the market with sexy features such as being able to play MP3 music files.

Figures for software licences for maps used in the devices - much like how a PC comes with Microsoft Windows software -show the systems' growing popularity: 30,000 to 40,000 such licences were registered here last year, and software providers estimate this will hit 70,000 this year.

Sales manager Koh Shiang Chyi, 31, who uses a VDO Dayton set to guide her while driving around for work, says: "It is more convenient than a street directory. I don't use a street directory anymore, it's a thing of the past."

No wonder, considering how prices have fallen. While the earlier sets launched in the market in 2004 used to come from Europe or America and cost about $400, cheaper sets costing $300 or less are now being imported from places such as China and Taiwan.

For example, the owner of car navigation systems dealer Advan Syn, Mr Ed Chua, says: "A portable set would have cost about $399 three years ago, but now can be had for as little as $299."

By portable, he means systems that you can simply plug into your dashboard and start using. You can also get devices that are installed permanently in your car. Mr Chua's company is one of about 12 that deal in the products now, up from the two or three firms just three years ago.

What is helping to drive up sales is the fact that such devices have gained more exposure in the wake of the rising popularity of GPS-enabled mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants).

And who can resist a device that not only gives you directions but also plays music, entertains with exciting games, synchronises with your Bluetooth earpiece and even shows off your holiday photos.

As for their basic feature, that is, reading maps, that keeps up with the times, too - essential for places such as Singapore with ever changing landscapes.

Updated maps are offered periodically and they can either be downloaded or bought from suppliers.

Some enthusiastic GPS-users have formed online communities to constantly update maps with points of interest or
share programs for map updates, so self-confessed stragglers such as Raymond Thong, 42, can find their way around.

The managing director of a pharmaceutical company says: "I am a road idiot. I used to get lost all the time and waste petrol going round and round, but now the machine can bring me to the correct place via the shortest route, helping me to save more than 30 per cent of my petrol costs."

He jokes: "The system would be even better if it could take me to where I want to go, so I don't even have to drive."

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 21, 2008.

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