Tech bytes for tea?

What does one look for in a navigational GPS device? Here are some things I look out for from my own experience.

• Good database so that the hotel or sight you’re looking for is in the map data. Good road database also helps in planning a good route from start point to destination. I had this GPS in the past that repeatedly tried to direct me to enter an expressway by driving into a one-way EXIT from the expressway. I had to take things into my own hads and figure out how to get onto that expressway in France.
• Good user interface so you can find that hotel or sight and select it for navigation. The “point of interest” (POI) is only useful only if you can dig it out from the map data. I’ve used devices in the past where I tore my hair out just to locate a specific hotel to get to but can’t find it – only to discover later that it was in the database after all. I couldn’t find it because I didn’t have the exact address down to the door number. Then again, in Japan you can just key in the phone number of that establishment, and the GPS gives you the location and route to that specific hotel or sight.
• Intelligent route planning to give you the shortest or fastest or least congested (based on live traffic data) route, with quick adjustment of the route should you make a wrong turn. Again the GPS that came with the rental car in Japan was exemplary, it was dead accurate on estimating time of arrival – after taking into account the traffic congestions along the way.