A feature-rich personal navigation device, the iPAQ 310 Travel Companion provides route guidance and entertains along the way. It has helpful navigational features, such as a wide, 4.3-inch screen and spoken street names—rather than just giving left/right directions. But it lacks one of the most desired driving aids: traffic capability. (It has a menu function for traffic but that feature is currently only available in Europe. It might become available in the United States at a later date.)

Shared among Hewlett-Packard smart phones and PDAs, the iPAQ name is now also applied to dedicated personal navigation devices, including the iPAQ 310 and HP iPAQ rx5915 Travel Companion. Like a Pocket PC, the iPAQ 310 uses the Windows CE operating system, adding appeal to some gadget enthusiasts for the potential to “hack” it for customizing and possibly adding future applications.

Key features include:

Initial impressions. The mid-priced iPAQ 310 has a large, clear 480x800-pixel display with crisp graphics, boasting 65,000 colors, and the unit itself is a sleek, portable design. A unique feature that the iPAQ 310 brings to the market is a three-dimensional representation for 40 U.S. cities. Seeing distinctive landmarks rendered in 3D can help travelers to negotiate unfamiliar streets, but most buildings are not presented as true-to-life replicas. Although this is a promising feature, we found it to be more of a novelty than a true navigational aid.

In general, we found the map-screen layout to be cluttered in two- and three-dimensional viewing. (The user can remove all displayed info for a clear view, but that should not be necessary for regular use.) Further, the displayed driver information is small and hard to read. That is made worse by the name of the next road shown in a scrolling fashion.

The basic onscreen controls are typical of most navigational devices, and the iPAQ 310 does smartly gray out letters to aid in entering addresses. But there are weaknesses in the user interface. Though there are 12 million points of interest, finding the right one can be a challenge. For example, a user cannot search for a POI in a different city unless it is along a programmed route. Also, once a destination is selected, the iPAQ 310 can take longer than competing units to calculate the route.

CR's take. The iPAQ 310 offers a great range of multimedia entertainment, novelty 3-D maps for select cities, spoken street names, and helpful Bluetooth connectivity. But it is mediocre as a navigator. In particular, the control interface is not as easy to use as the top-rated products, and the map guidance can be more challenging to read while driving than some competitors’. Ultimately, the iPAQ 310 is best suited for travelers looking for a portable entertainment device. The multimedia ability to play digital music, video, even video games, and view photos is its greatest appeal as a travel companion.

The iPAQ 310 could be cross-shopped with quite a few models. If you are looking for mobile entertainment, one to consider would be the Mio DigiWalker 720t, because it has similar multimedia features with better navigation and easier user interface. If multimedia is not a priority, there are many other choices. In the $350-to-$450 price range, recommended choices include the Garmin nuvi 350, TomTom GO 720, and TomTom ONE XL S.

For more information on portable GPS navigation systems, see our Ratings and buying advice and watch our video guide. Discuss GPS with other shoppers and owners in the forums.