Keep GPS on all time and it works fine with most devices I assume. If you shut it down, it is going to take a long time to reconnect.
Android devices never shut GPS down, even if you deactivate it in the action menu but only limit access for apps with the button. (meaning internal processes to track you are still active).
Like that they are fast to reconnect, but your data protection suffers a lot.
I think since SFOS seems to shut it down fully, there is no device that will be very fast in these aspects running SFOS.
Anyway, with MLS and PureMaps and OSM Scout server for offline usage I find navigation to be pretty nice on my Xperia 10 III. But again, I assume it is not really a hardware thing but a software thing.
Best regards
Fuchur