GPS Navigator Best buy Cheap

1. 

   S. D. Wright
   February 28th, 2010 - 23:24

   After a couple of months of ownership of the product I have nothing but good things to say about it. Put in the address of your destination and let TomTom Go Plus do its thing. I really like the talking prompts that give you ample time to do what ever manuvering TomTom calls for. Since I got it I’ve had two down-loadable firmware upgrades. One of the additions is the ability to enter a zip code to get a city. New updated US maps are due out in June and will come both on CD and installed on the card for a higher price. If you want easy out of the box navagation help let TomTom do the talking. The newer 300 and 700 versions will have many more capabilities such as Bluetooth. Phone call ability and many more goodies. TomTom rocks!!!!!!
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. 

   Ken
   March 1st, 2010 - 02:01

   I purchased a TomTom navigator system based on good experiences with renting cars with Magellan’s Neverlost. The Magellan unit was expensive and I found the TomTom had a superior user interface, was portable and less costly. So I purchased the TomTom Go Plus.

   I can’t give enough praise to the user interface. It is very intuitive. The graphics are large and easily read from a distance. Its speaker delivers loud and clear speech. Being able to put the TomTom in my pocket and have it guide me in a city while I’m walking is a plus. The battery lasts 4-5 hours.

   All of these advantages though, are overshawdowed by an error-ridden map and POI database that is incomplete and old. Some examples from my trips:
   
   - It seems 50% of the POIs in the database no longer or never existed. Conversely, TomTom misses 50% of the existing POIs.
   
   - On every trip, TomTom will not recognize a stretch of highway. TomTom thinks I’m driving through a meadow or woods and constantly tells me I need to get back on the highway. Fortunately, TomTom’s volume will mute.
   
   - TomTom thinks some interstate entrance ramps are clover-leaf instead of stoplight, guiding me to turn in a wrong direction.
   
   - Monticello may be Thomas Jefferson’s famous home near Charlottesville VA, and featured on US currency, but TomTom cannot find it.
   
   - In southern MD, TomTom guided us to a farmer’s house instead of the desired restaurant three miles away.
   
   - In Alexandria VA, we needed to find a hospital. TomTom guided us instead to a restaurant, four miles from the nearest hospital!
   
   - Heading to a friend’s wedding near Hilton Head SC, TomTom guided us to a continuous loop through a remote neighborhood 15 miles from the destination. We had to stop at a gas station and ask directions. This was the final incident that lost my confidence in TomTom.

   Now I’m back to using paper maps and written directions. I use TomTom as a secondary device mostly for tracking and measuring distance. If I could do it over, I would purchase a Magellan.
   Rating: 2 / 5
3. 

   cricket62
   March 1st, 2010 - 04:13

   First I would like to thank the reviewer who brought up the TamTam software to make this device macintosh compatible. It was the deciding factor in my purchase. There are only a couple of minor inconveniences that aren’t worthy of a star removal. I’m not sure how to put this, but the device is not very “grippable”. i’m always afraid of it slipping from my hands because of its shape and smooth contours. Also, it is difficult to see the screen from some angles in bright daylight. However, this GPS system is unbelievable! Very simple and intuitive, portable, long lasting battery, clear voice instructions, 3D visuals and comes with a nice carrying case. You would not believe how small this thing is, yet the maps and menus are easy to read.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. 

   Bro
   March 1st, 2010 - 06:50

   Excellent ease of use coming out of the box, especially if you get the preloaded. Very unclunky looking and as discrete as you can expect from an aftermarket. 3D view is a real plus. No it doesn’t give the most direct directions but I didn’t know where I was going anyway. I’m still ahead of the game. For the bad news, screen washout is not just an annoyance. Except for the voice prompts the unit is practically useless and distracting in NJ winter sun and likely even more so in summer or sunnier states. Forget about wearing sunglasses. Why wouldn’t the company test this before putting it on the market? TomTom customer service says they are working on a screen cover to gerryrig a solution but that’s a bs response. It’s a hardware problem. Fix it. Drove from Jersey to Florida recently. Not much use in that drive. Get on I-95 and keep south til you hit water. The maps could use some updating. It’s missing some sections of major roadways so it tries to swing around when all you need to do is go straight. Some addresses on roads that it does recognize is also missing. (Un)coupling the unit to the swing arm is clunky, especially if you have big hands or are wearing gloves. The unit is too easy to turn on in the carry pouch. The suction attachment doesn’t work well in below freezing weather. Works fine once the car is warmed up. All of these are design flaws that should have been remedied in the product development phase. It has a feature that allows you to avoid parts of a route but would like one that allows you to force a route as well. Lack of WAAS makes it less precise than similarly priced products. Having to switch between maps ie. mid atlantic and southeast states is not that troublesome. Avoiding traffic jam feature was helpful. More good things is that I did feel more comfortable veering off my course to get gas and such. They could stand to shave a couple hundred off the price though given weaknesses in execution. My feeling is that they shouldn’t be rewarded for selling a product that has such glaring and multiple design flaws. Instead buy the new Garmin c330 clone coming out in March. Looks good except for the fact that the Garmin doesn’t seem to have a capture GPS position, which can be very useful.

   http://www.garmin.com/products/sp330/
   Rating: 4 / 5
5. 

   Richard J. Lawler
   March 1st, 2010 - 08:47

   The Tom Tom GO is an excellent product. With the preloaded maps there’s almost no setup required, and it’s very easy to use. It works as well or better than any of the original equipment GPS systems provided in automobiles. And because it is not original equipment it is unencumbered by liability-minimizing function locks present on some car systems (for example one car maker’s GPS system doesn’t allow anyone to enter a navigation destination when the car is in drive.)

   The 3D views generated by the Tom Tom GO are uncannily realistic as they track exactly what you see through your windshield. As such they can be a bit distracting at first. But the Tom Tom GO provides an option to simplify the information displayed always or when traveling faster than a given speeds to eliminate potential distractions.

   I’ve found the included maps (I have the Preloaded USA Maps version) to be very accurate and routes generated to be quite smart. In testing it out in my home town the routes generated have been very close to those I’d choose myself.

   I’ve had another popular portable GPS system and the maps for that system were no where near as accurate or smart as the Tom Tom GO.

   It’s important to consider the pros and cons of a removable GPS navigation system. It’s is an obvious advantage in that you can use it with any car and can take it with you when you travel and rent a car. But being removable it might make an attractive target for theft if left in place in your car. So you have to anticipate the minor hassle of packing it away when you leave your vehicle in any unsecured place.

   The Tom Tom GO is a brilliantly designed and executed device that does what it promises and can be used by anyone.
   Rating: 4 / 5

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