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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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TomTom ONE XL 4.3-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Overall Very Solid and Worth the $
Summary: 4 Stars
I just puchased the tomtom ONE XL and am already very impressed with it. I got it for $316 on eBay and it has been worth every penny. It has gotten me to and from everywhere and is impossible to get lost with. However there are pros and also cons.
PRO's:
Auto route recalculation- my favorite feature. YOu take a wrong turn and it will automatically get you back on track.
Points of interests - find gas stations, food, atms, etc.
The different ways you can tweak your trip. ex: avoid highways, scenic route, avoid certain roads.
PRECISE DIRECTIONS: the tomtom will even tell you what exit number to take or which lane to get in.
Time and reliability: The tomtom found me a new and much quicker way to the golf course saving me minutes off my trip.
CONS:
MOUNT: My #1 complaint is the mount that comes with the tomtom. It can be put either on the dashboard or the windshield yet the tom tom has fallen off from both positions. My Suggestion: BUY A SECURE MOUNT to place the tomtom wherever you want and prevent it from falling.
Battery life: I find myself charging the tomtom quite often
Charging port: hard to get the usb end of the cord into the tomtom (while driving)
Starting up: for some odd reason the tomtom will sometimes need a couple minutes to find a gps signal.
Other than that I am very pleased with the tomtom one XL
and I would highly RECOMMEND IT!
Customer Review: Cute.
Summary: 2 Stars
I've had Garmin 2610 for a couple of years which I bought refurbished for about the same price as a brand new One XL. 2610 (it can be found for a lot less than ONE XL) is a "reference" GPS for this review.
ONE XL Pros:
1. Lightning fast GPS lock
2. 3D map
3. Bluetooth (but no handsfree)
4. Chatter kept to minimum and to the point.
5. Very simple and intuitive interface
6. Portable/2-hr power reserve
7. Traffic info support
ONE XL Cons:
1. Low contrast display - very hard to see in direct sunlight
2. Does not auto switch to night/day display mode based on time of day
3. Does not adjust display brightness automatically
4. Route calculation is not that fast
5. Sometimes gives weird directions, for example left turn, followed by a u-turn instead of a legitimate right turn
6. Tele-Maps are not as accurate as I've heard, at least in DC-Baltimore area.
7. Can not plan a route on a PC and upload it to GPS.
8. Can't confirm location of the POI in the Navigate To/POI screen. Must calculate the route before you can see if you selected the right POI.
9. Does not turn itself on/off when you start/stop the car. Must operate the power button manually.
10. Still no text-to-speech just like an old 2610.
11. $100 extra for just a bigger display compared to non-XL might not worth it.
I'll probably keep this TomTom considering the 15% restocking fee at Best Buy.
Customer Review: Get to know each other
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought my TomTom recently when I knew I'd have to deal with a city I don't usually go to, Cambridge, MA. Cambridge has all sorts of crazy streets and cow paths and one-ways and things. I avoid it as much as possible, but I had to go to a reception there. I bought the TomTom and tried it out on places I was already familiar with to get used to how it worked. Some things take a bit of getting used to. It may say "Right turn ahead" when you know there is only a fork in the road, but when you approach, it says "Bear right". It pretty much got me everywhere, not always by the way I'd have chosen, but it got me there. I haven't hooked up the traffic or weather things yet, so I can't comment on those, but it was fairly easy to use and got me where I needed to go with a minimum of muss & fuss. I consider that success!!
With regard to the reviewer who got old software into his TomTom by accident, the FIRST thing I did was back-up the TomTom to my computer. I too had my unit freeze up, but because it was backed up, I was able to restore it from my computer. I owe a debt of gratitude to that reviewer or I'd probably have had a tantrum over that.
I'd say buy this unit, but I hear a newer version, which announces street names, has come out. You might want to take a look at that one first as hearing the street names can be helpful. Then again, this one may be upgraded for that feature too, but I haven't heard anything about it yet.
Customer Review: Happy to have it, but. . .
Summary: 4 Stars
This is my first GPS unit and I bought the TomTom because it allows upgrades with a Mac computer so they say. First off, the unit works as described and is extremely easy to learn and use. In particular, I like the widescreen of the XL.
In use, I have found it works very well, though one already with a knowledge of a given area can work travel faster than the route sometimes given by the device, of course. I tested it on a 3 hour drive, and the only real problem I had was when the unit seemed to go haywire, at the same location coming and going. Near as I can figure, the problem was not with the signal but with the map in its memory. The device thought I was driving out into the cornfields when all I was doing was contiuing on a long curve of the highway. Other than these 2 minutes on a 3 hour trip, everything was fine.
Two current problems though: The current TomTom Home software works very poorly with the Mac. It does not seem to work well at all and has terrible reviews at VersionTracker where it can also be downloaded. Also, for some reason, TomTom Home will not accept the registration serial number of my unit, so for the time being, I cannot download to purchase additional maps. I sent an email with no response, and will try and call their number, but I am not hopeful there either. With all the units out there, I am always surprised when one talks to a real live person!
I am happy I bought the unit but hope these last two matters can be remedied over time.
Customer Review: Takes the worry out of going to an unfamiliar location
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the TomTom One XL in a Radio Shack store in a town where I was looking for a UPS pickup center and could not find it,even though I had map printouts and directions from Google. Since the unit was charged out of the box, I was able to use it right away in my car and got to the street in the industrial section of the town without any problems. Getting out of that frustration of having been lost was great!
The next week, I used it during vacation when we drove from NY to North Carolina (700 miles), and it was great being able to check ahead to see where roadside restaurants and motels were, so that we could plan where to stop for the day. Once in NC, we were in two towns and the unit led us to the addresses we wanted to go to without fail.
The recalculate feature is great, because sometimes I would go in a different direction than what the unit recommended. Within five seconds (or even less), the unit would show the new route.
I found later from friends who had done comparison shopping that they bought Garmin because that unit announced the streets or exits that you are supposed to take, instead of just "turn right ahead" or "take this exit" as the TomTom One XL does. But I found that in a strange neighborhood, where I didn't know the names of the streets anyway, all I needed to know was where to turn. So this did not seem like a critical difference (and maybe TomTom will do a software update later to add this).