TomTom ONE XL-S 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
by TomTom
|
List Price: Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
|---|
(Click here)
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: Not fully Mac compatible
Summary: 3 Stars
In reading other post dating way back two years ago I am surprised that the same problem exists. I have been using a One XL for over a year now and was quite happy with it until constant emails from TomTom finally talked me into upgrading my maps. I took a subscription for the four maps of USA and Canada and downloaded a new map and also updated Home. I went on a short trip and noticed it just didn't work as easy as before but I couldn't put my finger on what was different. It was harder to find points of interest and just not as responsive. I also now had a map of Guam which I deleted because I don't think they will be building a bridge there in the near future.
The one bad thing it did was it had me turn left right into an oncoming lane on a road with an island down the middle. Luckily it was late at night and I was the only one on the road. It did find my way several times I was not sure of the route through the city and it did find several points of interest except one which changed its name but when I put in the right name it showed up.
When I got home thinking everything was OK I decided to hook up to my Mac and figure out my next trip.
Everything worked OK except one thing trying to Operate my One XL on my Mac using TomTom home.
This is what I sent Tom Tom
Updated to newest map and also newest TomTom Home. Now I cannot use Operate My One XL. It has Guam and United States and Canada with Guam selected in the maps. When I try to switch maps to US and Canada it states Problem With Map. You cannot use this map on this device. When I hit continue Tom Tom crashes.
Everything worked fine before the update. The Tom Tom device works OK.
I spent from 8:30am to 5:30 pm on the phone with three different techs and they all had me do the same thing. Downloading new maps and Tom Tom software. When I asked them Mac questions I got PC answers.
If you are a Mac. you know what I mean. All of these people acted as if they had never heard of such a thing.
Well its been around for awhile just google Tom Tom bad maps and find the forums out there with hundreds of the same problem.
They asked me where I purchased my unit and I said Amazon and they said that's the trouble right there. I don't think so I said this was a new, not refurbished unit.
I figured out what I think is happening but I am not an expert so make you own mind up. I don't blame Tom Tom or anyone else. I am running iMac power pc 10.4.11 . I have not upgraded since then because all the updates Mac has had lately keeps getting larger and larger and more numerous and it is eating up my HD.
My TomTom worked great when I bought it because the OS 10.4x was out about the same time. Since then Mac has come out with 10.5 Leopard and this fall will come out with a major update Snow Leopard. The Tom Tom people are creating updates to keep up with this and the software is not backward compatible. I'm sure if I could put the first update back on my Mac all problems would be solved except the maps would not be up to date. The newer software is also directed toward the new Intel based Macs which will not run on pre 10.5x.
If you happen to own a Carvewright carving machine you will be going through the same thing. Their forums are filled with the same type complaints and responses.
You may have to do what I am going to have to do and that is bite the bullet and buy a new computer to go with that new Tom Tom.
Customer Review: Fine Product
Summary: 4 Stars
I had a TomTom One 3rd edition that died on me a few days ago. I'm not a salesman, but I use a GPS a lot like a salesman would with a lot of itineraries and stuff like that. I liked the TomTom because I could add my own POI categories and put my clients in there, making it very quick to make future itineraries. Unfortunately I'm dumb and didn't back up my old one to my computer, losing all that information. Anyway, the 3rd Edition lasted a year and a half. That may not sound like long, but really, I put that thing through hell. I live in Texas and it sits in the car for an hour or more. It also gets cold here now and then, too. I don't baby it. It was dropped a few times...failure was inevitable. I used it every single day and it was great.
When it died, it died out on the road. I had to get a replacement in a hurry. I'm glad my mom had bought a NUVI for herself for Christmas, because I had something to compare the TomTom to. Now I didn't fool around with hers a whole lot, but I didn't even see an option for itinerary planning. That was strange to me because it cost a lot more than I paid for my TomTom when it was new...I think that was TomTom's cheapest model compared to what was definitely not the cheapest NUVI (but not the most expensive). It would have been next to useless for me.
So I decided to go with the familiar TomTom. The retailer I visited was out of most models except for this one, and luckily it was on sale so I actually paid less for it than I paid for my 3rd edition. It served me well throughout the day and when I got home I was very pleased to learn that my computer's software worked very well with the new model.
There seems to be a performance upgrade with the XLS over the 3rd Edition which I didn't expect. Firstly, it finds addresses a little better. Secondly, it calculates routes much faster. Thirdly, there have been some added tweaks to the software within the unit that are small but helpful. For example, when I type in a city name, it knows I'm in Texas and it won't try to give me Arlington, VA. It gives you Texas cities as a default, and you can quickly change the state if you need to.
After a few days of use I can say that's it's the same familiar concept, but it functions a little better. If you're thinking about the ONE 3rd Edition, you may consider just moving up to this one if you're going to use it a lot. Honestly I don't see the point in the wider screen. I mainly care about what's in front of me. I don't care about it calling out street names, either, but I guess it's nice. Actually it's a little confusing at first because if a street name is also a state highway, it will often read you the number. In some cases I didn't even know these streets had numbers. I'll get used to that, though.
Compared to my mother's NUVI (regrettably I don't know the model), it finds the sats faster and just has more features. It also seems quite a bit more robust. Not that the NUVI's bad or anything. It was simple and effective. It just wouldn't do what I needed it to.
Customer Review: Very happy with the Tomtom ONE XL-S
Summary: 5 Stars
Having carefully weighed and compared the Tomtom ONE XL-S and the Garmin 650, I settled on the Tomtom. I paid about $268 for the unit. Prior to its arrival, I had a bit of buyers remorse thinking that perhaps I should have gone with the Garmin 650, because I found more reasonably priced units at Costco. Additionally, I was told by various sales people that that the Garmin was more user friendly, and it was the best selling - blah, blah. Having actually used and played with the Tomtom for about a month now, I am very happy with its ability to take me anywhere I need to go. For me, it never takes more than a moment or two, to acquire satellites (if not immediately), the user interface is straight forward and user friendly. It has lots of points of interest, and I enjoy adding my own in the Favorites list. One caveat, the full manual is online, and one has to play with the unit to figure it out, as the "to how" literature is sparse. Having said that, it's easy to figure out and use.
There are a variety of reasons I chose the XLS over other GPS devices, these include the wider screen, which I think is necessary to freely type in addresses, as well as see a larger view of the map, and I really wanted the text to speech option, which the Tomtom XL doesn't have. In comparison to the Garmin 650, the XLS was cheaper, and didn't have the unnecessary picture viewer or MP3 player. One important factor for me was that the XLS has tons of way points that can be included to plan a route for traveling, while the 650 has only one! Drawbacks to the XLS include a short battery life, but I don't need it because its plugged into the car. The attachment base is decent, instead of attaching it to the front windshield, I highly, highly, recommend using the "Nav-Mat Portable GPS Dash Mount" - it's absolutely brilliant. I paid about $20 including shipping, and it's quality, and it does precisely what it's suppose to do. Other things of note include the following: the cord plugs directly into the XLS, while the Garmin 650 cord plugs into the base; the XLS while plugged into the computer through the USB cord (included) will reenergise the battery, however, I personally opted to purchase the Tomtom wall plug in cord - its just easier; password protection requires that you go through Tomtom "Home" the company's software that requires downloading - which was a nuisance; upgrading the unit to the latest software version (Windoze) wasn't an issue as another reviewer had suggested; I can see the screen in direct sunlight - and it looks good; the unit has (if I recall correctly) 1 Gig of memory, which is mostly filled with the North Am. maps - one can purchase extra memory cards if necessary; finally the unit has the option of shutting down when the vehicle is turned off just like the 650. Overall, I am exceptionally please that I bought the Tomtom XLS. I hope this helps in your hunt. Cheers.
Customer Review: Good But Not Great....
Summary: 3 Stars
I have this and used side by side with a Garmin 200 W for several weeks before returning the Garmin. Overall this is a good product but a few annoying bugs keep it from being great...here are the pros and cons
Pros
It finds the satellites quickly and keeps the signal. The garmin took 2-3 minutes almost every time from a power up start (this was the deal killer)
The user interface is nicer and has a lot more options than the garmin.
The POI database (such as the POI categories it actually has - it is missing several major US retail chains - see below) is more up to date than the Garmin I bought at same time.
Allows you to set the keyboard to QWERTY mode which the Garmin did not.
cons
The graphics are a bit grainy compared to the garmin
The bluetooth is useless, works only for data transmission/reception and that too with very limited number of phones. No, you cannot use it as a handsfree.
If you take a wrong turn or pass by your destination or do anything to pass by your destination on a 2 lane road, it will not tell you to turn around - it will navigate you through the next set of intersections. In rural areas this can mean a 20 mile trip instead of going back 200 yards.
The text to speech works very unpredictably - it pronounces some name very nicely but mangles others horribly such that you can't recogonize it.
Also it announces street names about a quarter mile before and then simply says turn left or right when you are actually at an intersection and want the street name to turn into. This is annoying. Very annoying.
There is an SD card slot. However the unit works either exclusively with the SD card slot or with the internal memory. Which means that you have to reload everything in internal memory onto the SD card which takes about an hour because of the incredibly s-l-o-w data transfer rates.
Also the internal memory is pretty much full so forget about any upgrades unless you spring for at least a 2 GB or more SD card
Strangely, TomTom doesn't know about major US retail chains like Toys R Us, Payless Shoes etc. This even after I updated the unit with the US Retail POI database file
The color schemes available on the unit and online are completely weird. Seems to have been done by people with zero taste and sensiblity.
The internal battery is useless in cold weather (i.e. if you leave the unit in the car in winter). This after a few weeks. It either dies in a few minutes or doesn't fire up at all. Will have to see how it performs in the summer.
The brightness and contrast are so-so in daylight compared to the garmin 200 w
Customer Review: Excellent GPS
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are like me, you have read the GPS reviews. Again if you are like me, the reviews offered little help. For every article touting Garmin, there are just as many for TomTom. I had the opportunity to compare a friend's Garmin with the TomTom I had recently purchased. Here are my observations.
The first thing I notice is the Garmin is simple and intuitive. Logic instructions and prompts guide you through the menus. The Garmin turns on automatically if it is plugged into your car's power outlet. A very convenient feature assuming you are not concern with leaving your GPS visible (GPS units are commonly attributed to vehicle break-in). When providing directions, the Garmin indicates which side of the street the destination is on. Also the Garmin categorizes restaurants into ethnic groups (i.e. Asia, French, American, etc) and provides phone numbers for many Points of Interest (POI). Speaking of POI's, many third party Internet sites offer additional POI's files you can add your GPS. Most of these files are in the Garmin format.
For some inexplicable reason, Garmin also indicates cemeteries. I never knew there were so many along a route I had been traveling for years! If you want to know where the cemeteries are, this is the unit for you.
With all this, why did I choose the TomTom? The ability to customize routes is one of TomTom's greatest strengths. While the Garmin menu is simple and intuitive, you are locked into limited route variability. With the TomTom I can modify any part of the route. This becomes important when you want to avoid a difficult turn onto a busy highway. Also, the TomTom maps appear more accurate. For instance, the Garmin did not recognize jug-handle turns (a side road for making left turns on a divided highway). The TomTom always identified jug-handle turns in the drive instructions. Providing me with which side of the street the destination is on, as the Garmin will do, is of little use if I can't get to it. In rural areas, the TomTom clearly identified minor unpaved roads. The Garmin only showed a blank spot (almost like one of the old world maps you may see in a museum, where a part of the earth is blank and labeled "Dragons be here").
The text to speech is better in the TomTom as well. The Garmin indicated that I should turn onto the "Penna" Turnpike. The TomTom correctly stated it as the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Also, the Garmin announces roads as "Route One-Two-Three" or "Route seven five" while the TomTom would state "Route One hundred and twenty-three" or "'Route seventy-five".
In the end, you will need to consider what is important to you. Hopefully, I have provided some insight and help with your selection.