TomTom ONE 3rd Edition 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator
by TomTom
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List Price: Our Price: $59.99 You Save: $190.00 (76%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TomTom ONE 3rd Edition 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator
Customer Review: the ONE is the one!
Summary: 4 Stars
Personal navigation systems seem to have popped up aplenty over the past year or two. Along with the marquee brands (TomTom, Garmin, Magellan etc) several Asian manufacturers have also come to the fore flaunting their 'brand-effectiveness' through value-priced models. Last Christmas season, I was close to purchasing the original ONE, but held on for the 'next-gen'. In hindsight, what a decision it turned out to be!
the ONE is arguably the best value-for-money personal navigation model in the market today. Extremely compact yet packing a full 3.5" screen, precise maps, 3D atlas renderings, and crisp turn-by-turn directions, the ONE is a pocket-sized dynamo that delivers great performance. I know friends that use Garmins and have a gripe or two about the accuracy of the maps. the ONE is pre-loaded with US/Canada maps that has not let me down once since I bought it.
Another great feature for the Tom Tom models is the map-correction feature through their application, which is available free of charge for download. I synch the ONE on a monthly basis and routinely get corrections made by users to POIs, street intersections etc. It's very convenient and not very time-consuming nor does it require much tech-savvy.
A couple of minor gripes I've had with the device are:
1) battery life - even with the audio turned off, the ONE hasn't given more than ~2 hours of juice. Not a show-stopper, just the hassle of purchasing multiple cigarette jacks if you switch between different cars the way I use it.
2) I've found that the ONE routinely takes a good minute or two to synch up with the GPS satellites when the device first powers up. I've had it happen on freeways as well, and don't believe it's the known handicap of GPS receivers around city roads.
3) Text-to-speech - All devices in the market today seem to have reserved this feature for higher end models at premium price points. It takes a little getting used to anticipate distances in the real world based on the timing of the voice-over lady. Well, you can't have the cake and eat it too!
All-in-all, if you're shopping for a navigation system that you can rely on to actually get you to wherever you're headed without denting your picket, look no further than the ONE.
Customer Review: Stay FAR FAR AWAY from this
Summary: 2 Stars
TomTom ONE 3rd Edition 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator
I've had a TomTom ONE 2nd Edition for a bit over a year. Have used it extensively on the West Coast and a bit in Florida and New England. It has recent but not the very latest maps.
In short, it's a disaster. I've used it to navigate to popular tourist destinations in Florida (the Everglades) and Oregon and to many other destinations. The only reliable navigation I get is going to a built-in POI. When I enter addresses (for buildings that have been in their location for 15-100 years), TomTom misses by 0.1 mile to as much as 2.6 miles! Once it sent me ("fastest route") over rough gravel forest roads, ultimately ending in a closed road that forced me to retrace my track for 10 miles.
The routing engine seems to have problems as well. It will go out of its way (that's my gas and time) to avoid some left turns. It also doesn't consistently know when [old] center dividers prevent turns (wasting more of my gas and time). Also, the unit is off by a factor of 1.5-2x when estimating trip times greater than 15-30 minutes. It's as though the unit assumes you always travel at exactly 30mph, even on interstate highways and freeways. Miserable for planning trips.
TomTom support offered a solution: Take a chance and buy some new maps...
Best way I've found to navigate with TomTom ONE: Go to Google Maps and get a map, then use TomTom to get you close and finish up with your handy Google map. Once you're at the destination, you can create a Favorite by marking your current location, and TomTom will navigate there reliably from then on.
On the good side, I like its graphics and the fact that I can create my own POI categories. This is something important that I wish Garmin offered in their Nuvi. Also, satellite acquisition is very fast and route recalculations are acceptably fast.
My TomTom also requires hard reset every several times it's used. TomTom's support had a good solution for me: buy a new TomTom.
I'm sort of taking their advice: am buying a new unit, but it's going to be a Nuvi... I'd recommend the same for anyone considering a TomTom ONE.
Customer Review: It's amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
About three weeks ago my wife purchased a Tom-Tom One for me for my birthday. She'd asked if I wanted a vehicle GPS -- I told her I didn't. I was concerned about the difficulty of using it, thinking it'd be another piece of technology shoved in a drawer. She bought it anyway.
I have to admit, it's absolutely amazing. The Tom-Tom doesn't come with a manual. It's touch screen and fairly intuitive. Hit the screen for the menu, scroll through options, type in an address or locate by category (e.g. restaurants, shopping) -- and it DONE. It takes 2 seconds to program the trip map and it's off. Voice command and video command guides you -- if you choose to vary the route (e.g. if Tom-Tom wants to guide you to take an interstate/freeway, but you move on to take a different route, Tom-Tom automatically adjusts to your change, automatically reroutes, and takes you there anyway.
Whereever you are, to get home you touch the screen and reroute to home and Tom-Tom takes you home.
We're using it several times/week since placing it in the vehicle.
Example, we had to take a family member to a hospital 95 miles away, in a town we'd not been to before. I entered in the town, clicked on Hospital, picked the correct hospital from a list provided by Tom-Tom, and clicked Done (equal to Enter). Tom-Tom guided me out of my driveway and all the way to the hospital. It identified every cross street -- on freeways it advised me of any time I'd have to pull off 2 miles before the ramp, and again 1/4 mile before the ramp, and then at time to pull off. It visually, continuously advised me of miles driven, miles remaining to go, and gave me an estimated arrival time. Coming home, I pulled off on a different ramp/exit to purchase gas and have some dinner. When I got back in the vehicle, the Tom-Tom re-routed me automatically and brought me back on the freeway and guided me home.
Also, it came with a rechargable battery that runs without plug in about 90 minutes, and included a car charger and a computer USB connector/charger. The screen is crisp and clean. The voice directions are crisp and clear. And it's easy to use.
I'm amazed. No kidding.
Customer Review: When the novelty wore off the problems surfaced
Summary: 1 Stars
We have had problems with our TomTom since we purchased it. Approximately 40% of the time the directions are incorrect, and the maps are wrong. About 60% of the time the device cannot even locate the destination I have tried to enter many different ways.
I decided that updating the maps would solve the problem. I went to their website and I downloaded TomTom home to my computer. The web site is NOT USER FRIENDLY, and I jumped through all kinds of hoops to make the connection work. I took a deep breath and proceeded to browse the maps. I was more than disappointed to find out we could not just upgrade the maps, but we had to purchase a whole new one for $99.
Despite the horror of having to put a wad of money into an inferior piece of technology that had very poor performance, I decided it might help.
I went through the multitude of pages to finalize my purchase, and that experience was more frustrating than actually owning this broken piece of crap.
The forms to enter information are not Americanized and are set up like European forms. And before you ask, YES I had selected the U.S. as my location. When I tried to submit the information, I got multiple errors about incorrect symbols entered in certain areas of the form. When I went back to fix the erroneous errors, I was horrified to find the form was wiped clean of all of my previously enterend information. I had to enter my personal information over and over again. I DID THIS ABOUT FIVE DIFFERENT TIMES BEFORE the SITE WOULD ACCEPT MY ENTRIES.
Then to top it all off, I got a message saying I needed to enter a security code in order to charge my Master Card debit card. It said it was some kind of "Verified by Visa" thing which is strange because I was using a MC. There was a link underneath that said "Forgot your security code?" Which I clicked thinking this would help me. INSTEAD I GOT A HORRIBLE MESSAGE SAYING MY DEBIT CARD HAD BEEN LOCKED AND COULD NOT BE USED UNTIL I CALLED MY BANK!!
I AM SO CLOSE TO THROWING THIS USELESS PEICE OF JUNK INTO THE TRASH IT IS NOT EVEN FUNNY. When it does go INTO THE TRASh, I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM Tom Tom AGAIN.
Customer Review: Great Value for the Money
Summary: 4 Stars
My wife gave me one for Christmas last year -both for use in the U.S. and in Canada (as we were headed there the following June). Fantastic little device. I don't know about the prblm someone posted with not getting a free map upgrade after a week- mine was updated over a month later, even though I'd checked when I first got it, at no charge.In fact, I've been so satisfied that upon having to come to the U.K. for 6 wks -and drive (where in the past, I took taxis), I ordered one via Amazon.co.uk and had it delivered to our offices there. My first day at work, I rode w/ someone and picked up my TomTom. (Although, I have had some occasional problems here w/ the time required to get a "fix" when first switched on.) I first was going to just buy the UK/Euro maps for my original, but the cost of buying maps when TomTom isn't running a "special" is pretty steep. I decided it was cheaper to buy a whole unit at a discount, have it delivered instead of carrying in my bags, and then I didn't have the hassle of unloading/loading btwn the N.America and the UK/Euro maps. I don't at all regret the decision. I've gone many places at will that I'd not have if I had to take the time to figure it out on my paper map (which I do have). And it makes dealing with detours for construction, accidents, etc. MUCH easier. Not to mention when you're driving to city centre and can't park near where you'd plan to go, and can use TomTom to find another car park, AND find your way back to it readily when you're done.It's not perfect, and you should have a hardcopy map as b ackup. As for travel time estimates- well, that depends on what time of the day, day of the week, month of the year (shopping days, for instance) and whether there are bus or subway strikes and the like. But it DOES update the ETA as you drive.It's not got the huge displays and full audio (doesn't say the street name of where you are turning) like those costing 3 to 5 times as much -but it works, and at this price, you don't have as much to lose. Gave one to my niece who moved to med school at U of Cinci -she thought it was the most fantastic grad gift -something very useful, gadgety, and not something she'd have spent her own money on.