TomTom ONE XL-S 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
by TomTom
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List Price: Our Price: $45.00 You Save: $304.95 (87%) 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-S 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: absolutely wonderful to use, but can't update easily
Summary: 3 Stars
i get lost easily, my man doesn't, but it sure has become useful for both of us to get around. we travel about 600 miles from town to town every two months, and need more driving to obtain materials for my guy's construction business.
i can't imagine how we ever got around before - google maps are useless and horribly obsolete.
PRO - easy to use and program. we like the terrain mode as it helps us determine where we are in regard to (possible) fishing lakes and water and roads and business areas.
PRO - if you decide to take another route, it quickly reconfigures route to destination.
PRO - was able to add a download of a gif of a sexy almost naked woman intro screen saying, "curves ahead." however, that's all i had room to download.
PRO - always easy to read the 4.5" screen. i really like that it shows the next road to turn onto in the upper right corner, and the details of the trip on the bottom.
PRO - it shows the exit number of freeways.
PRO - volume easy to adjust, and can be too loud at 100%.
PRO - it gives the miles and minutes, and ETA.
PRO - it lets you choose if you want toll roads, which are common in some areas.
PRO - gives different modes of travel, such as if you're walking or bicycling, or to avoid freeways.
PRO - some of the POIs are really useful, with up to about 20 of the nearest ones closest to you. i really like the "unique local attractions" POI - really interesting things sometimes the locals don't know about.
PRO - you can choose POIs for near you, along route, or at destination.
PRO - it sticks to glass easily with saliva on the gripper pad.
PRO - i don't need to put on reading glasses to view the directions or writing.
PRO - it's great that it will tell you what lane to be in, especially useful when on busy cloverleafs and busy highways and exits. no sweat or last minute lane changes.
PRO - called customer service once, and it was easy to get thru, and the rep was super nice and helpful and spoke clear english.
CON- it took a call to support to discover the one voice that gave vocal directions of street names and exits. that's what the LS is all about, but their instructions didn't make it easy to determine how to get it.
CON - device batteries go low quickly.
CON - worst thing is trying to update it. it took hours and numerous attempts, and then it said "device full." why didn't it figure that out before the download? i couldn't find anything to delete to make more room. some time in the future guess i'll have to get an expandable storage card, and then have to pay about $100 to update it.
CON - sometimes it gives weird directions. once it had me drive down the interstate 6 miles, and make a turn to go the other way 9 miles; why didn't i just go 3 miles the right way from the beginning?
CON - i bought the Dennis Hopper voice for $14 bucks - a complete waste of money - he only says about two additional things, and i can't understand what the one phrase is he's saying.
CON - i also downloaded some free voices, such as the redneck and marilyn monroe, and they were useless - some never showed on the device, but shows when connected to the computer.
CON - some of the POIs are useless - not for your area, or amazingly ignorant of businesses that are out there. it's almost like the yellow pages - maybe it only puts on businesses that pay to advertise there.
CON - guess i drive faster than i should, as i had to turn off the warning beeps if i went over the speed limit. took a while to determine that's why it was beeping all the time and how to change it.
CON - tomtom's webpage was useless for anything after signing up my tomtom LS on it.
CON - when hooked to the computer and the internet to see what to download, it lacks capability for many additional paid features such as specialized maps, music, and about 6 others i would have liked.
COMMENTS - we paid an extra $118 for the LS compared to the tomtom regular, and feel it's worth it.
thus, we paid $250 for it from wal-mart versus the cheaper tomtom from amazon for $132.
UPDATE: 8 18 2009
I ended up buying another one of the same model a few months back. My man has one, and I use the other.
It still gives really weird directions sometimes, like getting off a freeway, following along the service route a few miles, then getting back on the freeway.
I've been in the McAllen, Texas area a while, and everything is about 6 blocks off from real location. Some people I've talked with in the area said it's the same thing with their different brand of GPS.
This one has a feature that the first one didn't have - when you get to the destination, it shows what side of the street the business is on.
Customer Review: TomTom ONE XL-S
Summary: 3 Stars
The TomTom ONE XL-S is a good product with a few annoying quirks. It features a widescreen display and text-to-speech feature (announces street names), which are among its strong points. But I also use a Garmin Nuvi in my wife's car, and it has several features that the TomTom lacks. For example, the Garmin turns itself on when the car is started, and off when the engine in turned off; the TomTom must be manually turned on and off. I have drained the rechargeable battery more than once on the TomTom by forgetting to shut it when I got out of the car. Also, the Garmin automatically switches to a dark background at official sunset time; the TomTom has several "night backgrounds" to choose from, but night colors have to be manually selected when it gets dark. And the Garmin has several dialects built in to choose from (I chose British English); the TomTom has a menu for different dialects, but anything other than American English must be downloaded from TomTom's website. And the text-to-speech feature is only available with one computer-generated voice.
The TomTom takes about 2 minutes to find satellites when it's first turned on, but after that it's fairly quick, even when turned off for an hour while you're grabbing a bite to eat. The Garmin is temperamental -- sometimes it finds satellites right away, and sometimes it takes 5 minutes or more. Also, the sequence for programming in a destination with the TomTom is more logical -- select city and state, select street, select address. With the Garmin, you select a city, then an address, then the street -- sounds minor, but it makes it more difficult to "fudge" a location if you've got the address wrong by a few numbers.
Finally, the Garmin uses a little car as "home base," while the TomTom uses a giant arrow -- matter of taste. And the TomTom's map makes a smooth rotation during turns, while the Garmin's map makes 2 or 3 big jerky movements while turning. Between the two, I slightly prefer the TomTom -- but it's pretty close.
ADDENDUM: After owning and using this unit for two months, I finally got up my nerve and installed TomTom Home on my computer, which allowed me to download and install updated software and several new features. For example, I now have multiple options for my "travel indicator" -- the default blue arrow is still available, but so are icons of a sports car, family sedan, racing car, and motorcycle. I also found that someone had created and uploaded an icon of a BMW 3-series, which is exactly what I drive, so that's what now displays on my TomTom! And I discovered an option through "Preferences" to have the unit shut down automatically when external power is removed (such as when the car is turned off); I'm not sure if this option was available before, but it sure helps prevent drained batteries in the TomTom when I park and leave the car. You still have to turn the unit on by hand after starting the car, but it's about as much bother as with my wife's Garmin, which starts up "automatically"...but won't display anything until you touch "Agree" under a screen warning you not to enter information while driving -- and it does this EVERY TIME it starts (and this feature cannot be disabled in the Garmin).
I downloaded a pleasant British female voice for my TomTom, which I prefer to listen to when navigating, even though it disables the text-to-speech option, which is only available with the computer-generated voice. Some of the computer's pronunciations were way off, however -- it inexplicably pronounced "West" as "Razz," so that "Westbury" sounded like "raspberry." It also pronounced "Cuba Road" as "Cubb-a Road," and dragged out the names of numbered routes, so that Route 495 became "Route Four-Hundred-and-Ninety-Five."
The new software claims to find satellites faster, but the improvement is subtle at best. One thing it did change that I did NOT like was that it screwed up the on-screen compass, which previously looked like a real compass and displayed actual directions with the appropriate letters -- "NW" for northwest and so on. With the new software, the compass shrank to a tiny circle with a "V"-shaped arrow, with no letters to indicate direction -- and while it found north and south with no problem, it clearly reversed east and west, which had never happened before. Since the new "compass" was essentially useless, I disabled it, and instead enabled a "Display direction" feature under "Preferences." This causes the unit to display the exact degrees that one is traveling with respect to a direction -- for example, "-30 degrees West." It's a bit too nautical, but at least I can read my travel direction at a glance instead of trying to decipher a compass heading.
Customer Review: Some nice features, but very disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a Garmin and iPhone owner and have had the XL-S for a month. Here are my observations:
The bottom line: for my needs, dramatically inaccurate arrival times is a deal killer; the user interface screams completely uninspired effort; overall the TomTom XL-S is still pretty darn useful, but sadly demonstrates only incremental improvements over my 5-year-old GPS unit.
Pros:
Hardware
-the case is very sturdy and has a satisfying feel
-the screen is always readable, variable backlighting is terrific
-auto-shutoff when power is disconnected option is great
-mini-USB for power is nice to see
-time to lock into satellites is awesome (10-15 seconds)
Rendering
-rendering speed is impressively fast and responsive
-configurable color schemes are wonderful
-the combination of color scheme and backlight levels in day/night modes is great
Menus
-touch-response is instantaneous and surprisingly fast
-no missed touches ever
-entering data is very easy, virtual keyboard is decent size
-searches (i.e. for POI's) are very fast
-the shear number of options in preferences is impressive
Routing
-time to plot routes very fast
-no complaints on routes it chose (ran it side-by-side with the Garmin for a month)
Host Software
-backup feature is very nice
Cons:
Hardware
-why is it so large and odd shaped? It is very light, so you know there is a lot of air inside
-what gives with the SD slot? it cannot be used to expand internal memory, only replace it
-why must I dig around to change between night/day mode? The unit knows time, date, lat/long therefore it should know the precise time of sunrise & sunset
-the bluetooth does absolutely NOTHING with many of the phones on the market!
Routing
-why not display fastest and shortest routes and then allow me to pick?
-arrival time -- totally BROKEN. It is at best 15% pessimistic and on average 25-30% pessimistic*!!!
(*over several dozen trips, distances several miles to over 75 miles -- wrong every single time)
-it actually told me on a 55 mph section of country road with no intersections that it would take 5 minutes to arrive from 1.0 miles away! (that's 12 mph folks!)
Rendering
-in 2D mode there is no auto-scaling! Honestly, on the interstate how useful is a 2-block-long straight line wavering for 3 hours?
Menus
-fast POI searches is super-great -- wimpy, short list of POI's very NOT great
-I knew POI's where lacking, but figured I'd just load a bunch up -- wrong
-why must I tap dozens of times to navigate to a function?!
Host software
-the computer voice for spoken names completely and irrevocably failed after 1st sync
-the Macintosh version of the software breaks all of the interface rules, it is poorly designed & implemented
-the host software insisted that I install a rev that clearly pre-dated what was already installed
-have no idea whether MapShare is working or not -- no indication on software or TomTom
Summary
I've spent some time playing with the Garmin Nuvi 660 as well. The big picture: the current crop of GPS products is terribly disappointing. Considering that the TomTom is essentially 3rd generation and Garmin is 5th (or so), one would expect these devices to be sophisticated and fairly refined. This is far from the case. This is not to say the all of these offerings are useless -- I'm still a big advocate for GPS navigation, it's so very helpful and convenient.
Each manufacturer has performed some wonderful engineering (software and hardware), but if you look at what has evolved over the past decade or so the interfaces have changed very little. With the relatively recent explosion of competition one would expect aggressive advances in these products. Sure the SiRF Star chipsets are phenomenal, the screens are bigger and brighter, the CPU's are more powerful, and there is tons of RAM -- but these are all gimme's from their hardware suppliers.
For example, as a software engineer, I know that I could sit down and write an algorithm to calculate sunrise/sunset (forecasted into the next century) in a weekend. Is it really too much effort to ask for the day and night mode to switch automatically? Also, why must I pound on the screen navigating through endless menus like I'm using a cell phone from the 90"s? There is not a SINGLE function on the iPhone that is more than 3 taps from the top level (95% are 2 or less) -- impressive.
Customer Review: TEXT-TO-SPEECH AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE
Summary: 5 Stars
At long last TomTom has released a GPS model that incorporates a text-to-speech feature at an affordable price. This has been what most TomTom customers have been waiting for. The original TomTom One was first introduced to consumers roughly two years ago and was in direct competition with the Garmin Nuvi 350 model. One of customers major gripes was that the TomTom One lacked the popular text-to-speech feature that the Garmin Nuvi 350 had. It seems that in a two short year span the TomTom One has come a long way with adding features and (with GPS becoming more popular) lowering prices.
The TomTom One XL-S is, in a way, the first of its kind. It is the first TomTom GPS device to offer text-to-speech (verbal pronunciation of street names) at a price tag of under $300.00. This is good news for consumers not looking to invest too much cash into a GPS but wanting this convenient feature. For those who are unfamiliar with past TomTom One devices this text-to-speech comes in handy when not wanting to take your eyes off the road. For example: lets say you are driving on an unacquainted, busy freeway. Traffic is moving at 70mph in four lanes all around you, your exit is close but given the circumstances you have to keep watching traffic and don't get an opportunity to glance down at your trusty TomTom. Ordinarily you would simply hear you TomTom One say "Exit Right" as you approached your off-ramp. But with the new TomTom One XL-S the street names will be heard as well as illuminated on the screen. So instead of hearing "Exit Right" you will hear "Exit Right On War Memorial Drive". A very convenient way to keep your eye on the road and know exactly where you are at all times.
Aside from the text-to-speech feature this particular TomTom One comes with a widescreen for easy viewing. I personally have never had any trouble reading the 3.5 inch screen of the original TomTom One but I'm sure a lot of consumers will love the new 4.3 inch widescreen display.
All the new features of the TomTom One 3rd Edition are included here as well. You get the "Help Me" button which when pressed opens features such as "Phone For Help" which displays emergency numbers for the current location (such as and typically 911) "Drive To Help" which show you the quickest way to the nearest police station or hospital and a "First Aid Guide" which is provided by the British Red Cross.
Also included in the safety features is an option to sound a custom alarm if any of the following occur:
1. When approaching a school or church
2. When driving faster than a set speed
3. When driving faster than allowed
A nice addition to the TomTom One XL-S is the ability to make your own map corrections. For example the city I live in recently shut down an existing department store and rebuilt a Super Center about a mile down the road about 3 months ago. Because of this recent change the Points Of Interest database had to be updated. I simply used the "Map Correction" feature to edit and move the existing Point Of Interest to its correct location on the map. Very convenient. The "Map Correction" feature also allows users to (Un)block A Street, Reverse Traffic Direction, Edit Street Names, Add Missing POI, and Report Other Errors
Compared to the many GPS devices I've used (including Garmin products) I've personally found that TomTom has the edge as far as map accuracy and route planning. This new TomTom One XL-S is another break through in TomTom technology that would be perfect for anyone looking to either upgrade from a previous GPS or for first-time GPS buyers looking to save themselves the headaches of getting lost in unfamiliar neighborhoods.
Included in the box is:
- The TomTom One XL-S
- (1) Car Charger
- Documentation Pack (Quick Start Guide, Installation Poster, Accessories Catalog, and Warranty/License Agreement)
- (1) Windshield Mount
- (1) USB Cable
- (1) Adhesive Disk For Windshield Mount (for mounting the TomTom to your dash)
Customer Review: Seems ok, though I wish I were aware of some things BEFORE purchase
Summary: 3 Stars
1. The internal memory on this unit is 1 GB. Though that fact in and of itself wouldn't have made me pause at purchasing this device, the following situation would have: I went to download an updated map using the "latest map guarantee," and it told me there was not enough room on my device for the map. Huh? I just bought this (brand new), and it already can't fit the latest map!
So I searched TT's official site and was told to delete some things from it (POIs, unused voices, etc.) before installing the new map.
2. After experiencing the above issue, I started searching for an SD card to purchase to add some more memory. This is when I found out that not only is the largest sized card compatible with this device only 2 GB (and must be SD, not SDHC), but also that when you insert an SD card, the device will use either the internal memory or the SD card, not both.
3. Before deleting items on the device to make room for the updated map, I was told to perform a backup using the TT Home software. So I did this. It took a whole half hour to do the backup. (Just for comparison's sake, I copied the same data to my USB thumb drive, and then timed how long it took to copy it from my USB thumb drive to my computer: less than 2 minutes.) I found out later that the USB connection that comes with the device (not the USB cord) is not USB 2.0 but rather the older and much slower USB 1.1.
That won't have an impact on people who don't plan to backup. However, when updating the maps, which for the entire US and Canada map takes up roughly 90% of the 1 GB memory, it will take around a half hour to copy the map to your device. Keep in mind, this is on top of the 25 or so minutes it takes just to download the file (on a cable connection). And this will have to be done everytime you update the map or backup your device.
So, if I wanted to do my usually practice with m electronics of backup, then update, then once everything is verified, backup again, it would take more than an hour and a half.
4. Battery issue: When I purchase electronics with recharable batteries, one of the first things I do is fully charge it before using it at all. So when I got my TT, I looked through all the information but couldn't find anything about "fully charging the battery." I then started looking through the manual, and it was giving me instructions on how to "get started with TomTom," "safety issues," "taking care of TomTom," etc. I didn't see anywhere listed that I had to fully charge the battery before use, so I started playing with it.
Finally, however, after playing with it for an hour and flipping through the manual trying out the features, on the last page, prior to the copyright notices and whatnot (page 55 of 58), it says, "we recommend you fully charge your battery during first use." Well, thanks for putting this at the END of the manual, when it's the FIRST thing I should have done.
Please don't get me wrong. Once I get everything set up, I'm sure the device will be satisfactory and serve its intended purpose. But some of the above issues are things that would have made me look at another product: either another company or perhaps a more advanced TT product.
Hope these things help others so that they can make a more informed decision.
I should also point out that a lot of the information and help I received was from [..] -- I don't think this is TT's official forum, but they were very helpful and knowledgable.