Tom Tom came first amongst GPS navigation players in a customer satisfaction survey of 2,500 consumers in Australia.

Tom Tom came first across all the criteria including upgrades, accuracy, ease of use, screen display and price.

Garmin also scored well, scoring four or five stars across every criteria, and coming second followed by Navman and then Mio.

Respondents were unhappy with the expense associated with maintaining a GPS navigator, including the need for regular – and expensive – software upgrades, and the fact that some models require the purchase of additional accessories to allow the upgrades.

Steve Mickenbecker, head of research at Canstar Blue, who commissioned Colmar Brunton to do the survey, said consumers just want a GPS that works.

“They are frustrated by inaccurate maps that have either never been right or do not recognise road changes that have been in place for a number of years,” he said.

“A number of respondents reported getting lost on a number of occasions from following GPS instructions, and they still carry paper maps as a back-up.”

When it came to gender, it appeared that females were more satisfied overall with their devices, but males were happier with how easy they are to use.

Canstar Blue commissions Colmar Brunton to survey 2,500 Australian consumers across a range of categories every few months to measure and track customer satisfaction. To qualify, the GPS has to have been bought within the last two years.