Turn-by-turn battle: Sync vs. OnStar

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The fight between General Motors' OnStar and Ford's Sync is getting serious.

Before now OnStar and Sync had little in common. Sync was basically a voice activated radio and phone assistant whereas OnStar offered a smorgasbord of services, from operator assisted turn-by-turn directions to stolen car retrieval, that mostly depended on talking to human operators at a call center.

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Ford's Sync turn-by-turn navigation is available on newer cars, like the 2011 Mustang, but it can be added to slightly older models with a simple software patch.

Now Ford is attempting to offer similar services but for a fraction of the cost and without those expensive human operators.

Both systems operate by connecting you to a remote service, then downloading the directions to your car. You hear spoken turn-by-turn directions and, assuming your car doesn't have a real computer screen, see written directions with simple icons on the radio display or in the center of the instrument cluster.

GM's OnStar Turn-by-Turn Directions: $10 for the first year (free in Cadillacs and Buicks), then $28.90 a month as part of OnStar's "Directions and Connections" package

Ford's Sync Traffic Directions and Information: Free for three years, then $60 a year after that

Sync's advantage here is obvious. It's a lot cheaper than OnStar, if you don't include the cost of your cell phone service, which you'd probably have anyway. To be fair, OnStar offers many features beyond just navigation but, then, so does Sync. They're just not the same features.

For GM's OnStar, a cell phone is hardwired into the car and drivers communicate with real human operators at call center. Meanwhile, Ford's Sync uses your cell phone and connects it to the car via Bluetooth. Ford drivers communicate with a computerized voice-activated service.

The weakness of Ford's Sync system has to do with the technology. There are the limitations of your own pocket-sized cell phone compared to GM's more robust built-in phone. Then there are the limitations to talking to a computer instead of a real person. Real people may not be perfect, but at least they can work with you.

When Ms. Sync -- my pet name for the eternally cheerful female voice of Sync -- doesn't understand you she just provides wrong answers or says, "I'm sorry, I didn't get that." Either way, all you can do is try again and, in my experience, if she didn't get it the first time, she's just not going to.

After a few tries, Ms. Sync gives up and cheerfully informs you that you can just type in the places on the Syncmyride.com Web site. (Point taken for next time. Thanks. But, at the moment, I'm in my car.)

She may have trouble understanding your commands but she's also awfully hard to understand, herself. Her voice often breaks up into weird robo-burbling that brings back childhood memories of my Speak-N-Spell as the batteries ran down.

Bottom line, input using the voice operated Bluetooth phone system is a pain. And, once it's done, downloading the directions takes a long time, plus it's easily disrupted. Turning the car on or off during the downloading process -- or just driving through a patch of bad cell service -- stops the download and you have to start the whole process over again.

I recommend Sync TDI users simply plan ahead and use the Web site to enter destinations before getting in the car, it by-passes most of the hassles.

To be fair, if you're only using Sync to work your mp3 player and cell phone, it's great. Sync's new navigation technology, though, is a case of "You get what you pay for." In this case, you pay zip for three years and you get a system that can, at times, have you pulling your hair out. But, in a pinch, it gets you where you're going.