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,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of TomTom ONE XL-S 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator
Customer Review: Not as good as previous model
Summary: 2 Stars
I only had my original TomTom for about a month before it was stolen, but I was generally happy with it. I replaced it with their newest model, but it does not seem as good as my first one. Why do I say that? The routing choices have been poorly selected. On a recent trip (145 miles) where I knew essentially where I was going, I just could not get the unit to focus on the best route which was an interstate highway as opposed to a crooked parallel state highway with only two lanes. After several alternatives were explored, it did OK for a portion of the trip but inexplicably flipped me back to a crooked state highway. This weekend, the unit selected similar set of completely inaccurate choices, both leaving and returning. I was leaving an address near Cincinnati, OH and the Appalachian Highway (SR 32) to Athens, OH, a trip of about 100 miles.TomTom ONE XL 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of the U.S. and Canada The Appalachian highway is without a doubt the best and most direct highway and it four lane all the way, but the TomTom selected a number of crooked two lane roads that would have added substantial time to the trip. When I was less than 20 miles from my home, the unit selected another crooked two lane choice that would have added many miles to the trip and would have sent me in an easterly direction when I needed to stay on a northerly path.
To be fair, I made a trip to Columbus recently with a complicated path and the unit did a good job. I am left to wonder if the unit can do a decent job for an urban environment, but just cannot plot longer trips on priority highways.
I have found this to be a consistent problem. As such, I recommend another GPS unit other than a TomTom.
Customer Review: Difficult company to deal with!
Summary: 1 Stars
I have not yet used the TomTom One XL-S to plan a route. Instead it has been in my family room since it was delivered, May 23. The "latest map update guarantee" does not work - the error message says my unit is either more than 30 days old or not eligible for the guarantee. Both of these statements are false.
I called customer support on Saturday and learned they are open during business hours, Monday to Friday. It took until today, Thursday, May 28, to fit their support hours with my schedule. The first support rep. I spoke with sent me an email with instructions to get the update; these did not work.
The second support person put me to work - I had to email a screen shot of the Amazon receipt to them to prove eligibility for the update (and navigating their website to send this email was not easy). Now, I have to wait to receive another email with some kind of info and call TomTom support again - for the third time.
I am on the verge of returning this unit. I keep telling myself to forget about the update and just use the unit, but then I figure I paid for this as part of the purchase.
Whether or not I eventually get the "latest map" is now immaterial ... I will never purchase anything from this company again; they just make it too hard.
UPDATE: I heard back from TomTom. It's unbelievable - as requested/required, I emailed the screen shot of my Amazon receipt - in the form of a MS Word document. They cannot open it and need me to re-send the receipt as a .jpg or .pdf. My home computer, and I'm sure many others' home computers, do not have this capability. I have 72 hours to do this, so by the time I return to my office on Monday, my "question" will have expired and I will be expected to start over. I'm disgusted and finished.
Customer Review: TomTom One XL-S
Summary: 3 Stars
Overall, not a bad GPS, but there are a few quirks.
1.The voices tend to mispronounce some of the city names. Often, its more humorous than troublesome, but this also transfers to street names. This was more noticeable in California, where Spanish names seem to be more difficult.
2.The map update coupon for 30 days is almost worthless. If you've never used a GPS, or used TomTom Home, you might get the wrong idea that your GPS is up to date. On the opening screen, it will tell you that your TomTom is up to date after downloading minor changes to map sharing. For the new user, they could easily mistake that to mean the maps are up to date also.
3.E-mail support consists of a quick canned response to indicate that your message has been received, but due to unusually high number of incidents.... blah, blah, blah. The follow-up response does seem like it comes from a real human, but instead of a response, they indicate that they will "forward the message to the appropriate department for you". The appropriate department must be their survey department, as that is the only follow-up you get.
4.Maps, on a couple of occasions, were inaccurate.
5.Newer areas (1-2 years old) weren't included, but should have been.
6.Though most of the menu was easy to navigate and understand, some wasn't.
As I stated, the product, for the price, really isn't that bad, but I would rather spend a few extra to get more of what I wanted (smaller footprint, bluetooth support, etc.). I'll probably wind up keeping this as a backup system, and go with another company. I guess that a negative experience with a company tends to leave a bad taste. Hopefully, my experience isn't normal.
For the GPS unit itself, I give a 4. For Customer Support, I give a 1.
Customer Review: Won't mount in my car/Fast Friendly Service Company anything but
Summary: 1 Stars
The TomTom company seems OK, but sometimes their satellite system doesn't work. However, its better than my phone GPS.
The windshield of my car is not vertical. It sweeps back at a very odd angle. Look up Photos of the Honda Fit so You can see the problem I am having. The strange angle also makes the lower portion of the windshield at arm's length from the driver.
I am currently trying to find a way to mount it in my car, because its good enough to keep if it would only mount to the dashboard.
The Fast Friendly Service Company charges a 15% restocking fee, which is odd for an Amazon vendor, so be sure you really want something before you buy from them. A logic loop in the programming made it impossible to reach the seller to ask for permission to return it. After I put this fact in my feedback of them, they begged me to remove it because they are a small company and just trying to get ahead. I'd rather have an adapter to make it fit my car than return it. They haven't seemed to notice this because they were so horrified of my feedback that they forgot about everything else. They say they will make exceptions to the to the restocking policy. All you have to do is ask! Perhaps if enough people ask, they will give up this bit of harrassment on a regular basis. I found working with this company to find a way to mount the TomTom in my car tedious and tiring.
I'm currently working on my second attempt to try to find an adapter to make it fit a car witout a big lat spot on the dash and a windshield that is not vertical and far enough away that if I could mount it near the bottom of the windscreen, it would be hard to see. If that isn't possible, I will have to return it.
Customer Review: High hopes, dashed expectations
Summary: 1 Stars
I will admit, this was an impulse purchase. I was going to Hawaii and was going to borrow a coworker's GPS unit. However, 3 days before my trip, she had an unexpected emergency and was called away. Her trip required her to take her GPS, too. So, I purchased this - - and diligently read the manual and tried a few practice runs at home.
I thought it was a bit difficult to use, but thought it would improve with time.
I also had the issue with updating the maps - - and that was frustrating. If I purchase the unit, and it comes with the opportunity to update maps...then I should be able to do that without problem. I didn't have time to fight that battle before I left....
Once I got to Hawaii, I found that the maps were pretty dated, and that having the audio directions was a hindrance. Why?
The system cannot correctly pronounce most Hawaiian names. Either the emphasis is placed on incorrect syllables, or vowels are pronounced incorrectly. It made for some hilarious and NOT so hilarious drives.
We also ran into an issue. The computerized voice would instruct us to 'turn right' at a particular location.....but the screen itself would clearly show a left turn. It seemed that no matter WHAT choice we made, it was always the wrong one.
After the third day, the GPS unit stayed home in the cabana while we went out and enjoyed Hawaii.
When I returned home, I decided to give it another 'chance' on a trip home to West Texas. I am highly familiar with the area, and wanted to 'test' the GPS.
Once again....fail.
This puppy is going back and I am going to do a much better job researching before I purchase another one.