TomTom ONE XL 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
by TomTom
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List Price: Our Price: $59.99 You Save: $239.96 (80%) 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 XL 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: What a disappointment!
Summary: 3 Stars
After four other GPSs and countless reviews I decided to but the XL as it was offered for $185. After receiving it and installing all of the updates, including a new map, only released a few weeks ago, I took it for a test spin.
Boy, was I disappointed. First the good bits :) -
It picks up a signal very, very fast, is easy to use and has legible maps. It also had some nice features such as speeding alert, a selection of voices and many customizable features. And now for the bad :(
Its navigation system failed four time out of five to get me to the correct destination. For example, I drove to an in-town hotel by using the hotel's street address. The system guided me without incident, but told me that I had arrived several miles away from the destination. As I said, I used multiple addresses and it only took me there 20% of the time. To me, this is make or break for the GPS. No amount of fancy features is superior to basic guidance. Any GPS will get you to the freeway, but its the last mile that separates the quality products from the bad. And this was bad.
I also found that the POI, points of interest, were limited and not very accurate. It's a shame that they couldn't link with Google to extract the Google POI database and import it into the entire TomTom line.
As an editorial note, I wonder why the car icon is centered in the middle of the map when using 2D screens, but at the bottom for the 3D version. Since you are always driving forward, having the icon at the screen bottom would allow a lot more map to the visible and let you manually select a better route. After all, isn't that what the wide screen if for?
I still like TomTom, but I would pass on the XL. Perhaps the 3rd edition would work better.
Customer Review: Basic navigation only - POIs are useless!
Summary: 2 Stars
This could be a nice product if it weren't for the lousy mapping information. The wide screen is nice, menu controls are O.K., audio instructions are clear. The point-of-interest information, however, is inaccurate to the point of being useless.
Wanted to look for a Home Depot on my newly bought TOMTOM, nope: generic 'shopping centers' only, you can't look by chain name. Took it on a business trip, had it direct me to the nearest mall - no mall, only the offices of a 'mill' (no kidding). Had it send me to a gas station on the way back to the airport - no gas station, just a fork in the road. Next alternative (supposedly) 10 miles and a toll-road away (went off to find a gas station by sight with better success). Even the name of the street where we live has the wrong spelling ...
Tested all of the above on my wife's Garmin: The mill is not a mall and the nearest (real) mall is indicated correctly. Same for the gas station at Denver airport - it is where it really is, not where the TOMTOM had it. My street is spelled correctly. And 'Home Depot' and 'Staples' come standard with the Nüvi. Grudgingly, I paid the $50 restocking fee and am proud owner of a Nüvi now ...
If you just want to use the TOMTOM for basic navigation, you may be happy with it. If you're used to the flexibility of finding places without having to google them first then the TOMTOM will be a huge disappointment. It may have to do with the fact that it is not a US product (the European market is different, e.g. not many EU-wide retail chains). There are POI upgrades available on the web that supposedly correct some information, but if I have to spend money (and time) for that, I'd rather go with a product that has it right from the get-go.
Customer Review: Better than the TomTom GO 910
Summary: 5 Stars
I owned the TomTom GO 910 before I purchased the TomTom ONE XL, and I much prefer the ONE XL. Here's why:
1. The ONE XL is more portable, so it fits easily in pants pockets or a woman's purse. This is key because, unlike the chunky GO 910, you won't leave the unit in the car for thieves to smash your window and take it (even when the unit and all wires are out of sight in the glove compartment).
2. The ONE XL sticks more easily to the car windshield because it's lighter. The GO 910 would droop or sometimes fall right off.
3. The ONE XL doesn't have as much storage capacity for music, but I don't mind that. I'm still able to get about 3GB or MP3s on my ONE XL with a 4 GB SD card and the OpenTom MP3 player (free internet download), and 3GB of MP3s is plenty considering that it's difficult to do anything but shuffle playback on either TomTom.
4. The ONE XL is more reliable than the GO 910. The GO 910 has a temperamental hard drive (vs. flash memory for the ONE XL), and it would occasionally go into a frozen, comatose state until I plugged it into my computer.
5. I don't need photos on my GPS, and I actually need a break from photos. I already have them in my iPod, mobile phone, and laptop, wallet, photo frames, and digital photo frame. Enough already.
6. The ONE XL is currently less expensive if you only need US maps, even when you include the price of a 4GB SD card (but if you need Europe and US maps, the GO 910 is cheaper).
My only complaint is that, as far as I can tell, the ONE XL can't read from the SD card and from the internal memory at the same time - it's one or the other. So if you have an SD card, you have to set aside about 1GB for the system software and a map.
Customer Review: This US model has worked great for me in Europe
Summary: 5 Stars
NOTE: I bought this in the States, didn't open it until I arrived in Germany, and it has only been used in Europe.
I work in Germany and wanted to get a GPS to get around without spending too much on a GPS. Obviously GPS systems with only US maps are cheaper than any dual US/Europe GPS, so I researched different brands and models that were compatible with online map upgrades. I found a great pick with the TomTom One XL. I bought the system when on sale for $200, and I bought the "Western Europe" map upgrade online for $120 (thru TomTom home). There is not enough internal memory, so I put the new map on a SD card. I had a few issues after purchase and download of the Europe map, but customer service was great (no waiting on the phone, and they stayed on with me until the issue was fixed).
OK, so the new map wasn't as simple as "plug-n-play," but after 30 minutes on the phone with U.S. customer service troubleshooting my problem, I ran a flash file on my XL, I turned on the system, and after 45 seconds of searching for sattelites, the GPS was tracking my location in Germany.
The interface is adequate, with large buttons on the 4.3" screen that make it easy to choose. The tracking of my location has pin-point accuracy, and when I turn on the system, it takes less than 60 seconds to locate my position. My mount is solid, and I have excellent reception without any tacky antennas. POIs are slacking, but I'm just trying to get from point A to point B. I'm a basic user.
Overall, I'm very pleased with this US/Canada/W Europe GPS for only $320 total. It has been a great convenience getting around city and rural Europe, especially since road signs and names can be confusing here.
Customer Review: Unit did not work
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased this unit to use on the road. I have been using a GPS system for about 4 years. I have one built in to my Jeep, have been renting from Hertz when traveling. While I do not consider myself a GPS expert, I have enough experience in using one to understand the operation. Due to the expense of renting when traveling, I decided I would purchase a unit to save the rental fee everytime.
I hope that the unit I purchased, new in the box, was defective and not the norm for TomTom. I took it on the road. I tried to route 7 different locations over a period of several days. It failed miserably.
- I got off the plane and turned it on. It never found my location, despite laying on the dashboard for over an hour.
- I went online for tech support, found suggestion to reset.
- I reset it, did not make a difference, still took a long time to find location (20 - 30 mins) if it did find it. I was with someone walking around down who had a Garmin Nuvi, it always knew were we located, the TomTom never found the location, even when searching for over 2 hours.
- Over the 7 attempts I tried, it worked one time.
When working, it does a good job of recalulating route, announcing turns. When I returned it, the sales person asked me if I want to exchange it, I chose not to. Did not want that frustration again. So as I said, I hope it was only defective, because if it is normal, it is terrible.
Last but not least, their website is less then user friendly. I was told by tech support to just look on the web. Links given were non-working.
I returned the unit after and purchased a Garmin Nuvi 360.
Hope this helps.