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Mio 269 Plus
by mattharris1801
Had this sat-nav since it came out in 2005, never once taken me into a field river or private road.
Looks >>>> This sat-nav is quite bulky at around 1" thick and 6" wide, has a resistive touch screen, back button, home button and zoom etc, for quick access. Considering its age it doesn't look old, ... software of physically; as it uses a frontal panel of aluminium and buttons in cased in a soft touch plastic.
Usability >>>> The software is simple, elegant and very quick and easy to read whilst driving. The voice on the sat nav is also bearable, and uses English without american versions of some words. The only map option is face down, i.e birds eye view/map view, this is great and makes it much easier to use, unlike some satnavs that allow an almost 3d car view, which can be confusing and hard to follow in my experience. When entering an address it only allows the first 5 components, you must then add the house number for example afterwords. This may be annoying if you're used to just inputting the whole postcode, which admittedly is easier and faster. Gives instructions in miles and yards, and always gives plenty of notice before a change of direction needs to occur. The menu's are easily navigable and self explanatory.
Whilst navigating it has a visual countdown to the turning for example, and also shows speed, est. arrival time and altitude.
The sat-nav includes the maps of Europe, and given its age may need updating via a PC to get fully up to date maps. Have used this throughout England, France and Spain with no issues, apart from a couple of new roads being non existent on the mapping software, but it recalculates fast. It also has a fair list of tourist attractions and petrol stations in its maps, which is helpful on long drives.
With age the battery now holds no charge at all, and have got through 2 car chargers, although these are cheap so not an issue.
it also has an mp3 player, cant see much use for this feature, and have never used it.
Comes with a load of extras such as: Carrying case, remote control, windshield mount, bike mount, earphones and a USB cable.
Overall >>>> Great buy, especially now when one of these could be bought for a fraction of the original price, and still does a great job. Never got lost while using this.
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TomTom Go 820 Live
by blonde_girl774
My worst driving experience was going to the Trafford Centre for the first time ever... I remember passing Old Trafford and signs for the football which I thought was definitely a good sign... that soon started to fade when I started to see signs cropping up for Chester Zoo and I finally realised I was most definitely lost when I saw the ... "Welcome to Cymru" sign! For those of you that aren't familiar with the North West then just imagine driving about an hour in the completely wrong direction to where you want to go and you'll get just a little insight into my navigational abilities! Thankfully I invested in a satellite navigation system shortly after my little mishap (that still gets recycled around the dinner table... along with the time I looked in a yellow pages for somewhere to take my first ever car for a service and rang them... only to be told they were an Audi garage and didn't really service Volkswagens) and everything has been much smoother sailing since then... That was until my faithful seven year old Tom Tom decided to pack in and give up in autumn last year. Luckily in the ten years that I've been driving I've managed to master all major destinations and landmarks that I need so I don't really have much need for one now... until I was faced with the prospect of driving to the Lake District over Christmas! My dad was on hand to provide me with a brand new Tom Tom Go Live 820 as a Christmas present which he'd actually been given for free due to his current job of working on road safety issues for the police.
The Tom Tom Go Live 820 is basically a satellite navigation system for those of you that have never heard of it or the brand before; it's designed to offer visual and audio directions to any destination of your choice (be it a city centre, a landmark or a postcode). This model is advertised as making navigation a breeze (something I really need) and is designed for convenience too. It weighs just 191g and measures 11.9cm by 8.5cm by 2.1cm making it very sleek indeed. The screen size is 4.3 inches (type is 16:9) and is 480 by 272 pixels. The battery life will last for two hours which there is a 2GB flash memory. The bundle I got also contains an integrated mounting which allows you to either attach the model to your car window or to sit it upon the mount on a flat service. There is also a charger which allows you to charge the Tom Tom at home and through your cigarette lighter in your car too which means you don't need to worry about the battery. I've also invested in a carry case for it to keep it safe and from getting damaged; these can normally be purchased for around the £15 mark depending on the quality you want. The Tom Tom Go Live 820 offers you the chance to carry out hands free calling via Bluetooth, voice control to plan your route and give other commands to the device, richer maps (whatever they might be), IQ Routes (which uses speed data from millions of other drivers to accurately calculate the travel time of your route) and Advanced Lane Guidance to help you navigate complicated junctions.
The first couple of times I used the Tom Tom Go Live 820 I did have to keep referring to the instructions, however once I'd used it three or four times it all became incredibly simple to follow. The options are clearly listed on each screen as you select your way through the categories and the touch screen is incredibly responsive without being overly sensitive. It's simple to programme in your destination from a choice of options (city centre, street address, etc) and after that it takes under a minute to calculate a route. There can be a slight delay with the route showing up while the satellite signal is found. On average it takes about two to three minutes from switching the Tom Tom on to completing programming a route in, this delay is partially due to the Tom Tom taking about twenty to thirty seconds to load the welcome screen which was the same with my old one. Once the route is calculated it's incredibly easy to see the distance, the duration and the first instructions from the images on the screen with all important numbers such as total distance, distance left on current road, etc. being shown in a bar along the bottom of the screen. There is also the opportunity to view the real time traffic information which offers not only the latest maps but also the most relevant information in your surrounding area. You'll be able to see any traffic accidents / conditions / jams, road maintenance or works, safety cameras, weather warnings, etc. in the immediate area to where you are or where you're travelling to.
The colour and images on the screen are crystal clear, far more defined than my older screen used to offer due to having richer colours and a sharper view. The lanes at a junction are also much more clearly defined (they're shown using a still 3D image) so I don't have to rely on road signs as much. The audio instructions are also very clear and well paced, you can of course download other voices if you wish to change from the two provided by the Tom Tom Go Live 820 (my friend has The Hoff on hers)! I also like how you can use this as a car kit for your phone, using the blue tooth to answer and make calls. This also means you can give commands to the device, at first I felt a bit of an idiot but it soon made me realise I could save time! It doesn't always recognise what I'm asking, if I say "Call Mum" I'll sometimes end up with a new route to a place I've never heard of but it does seem to be getting better! There are one hundred and fifty tasks which can be activated by voice from making a call, to altering a route, to looking for something in the nearby area (such as a cash machine or petrol station). The safety aspect of this is clearly demonstrated in daily usage as it offers hands free operation, emergency information and warnings of dangers ahead too. There is also a "Help Me" emergency menu which allows you to find details of hospitals and roadside assistance companies in the immediate area too. Linked to this is the fact that you will also be alerted to speed camera locations and average speed check areas too.
There are a few other features that I'll share with you such as the link to Google search which allows you to search for any landmark or outlet (such as Chinese restaurant) and Tom Tom will automatically take you to the one you select. You can even get a five day weather forecast on your Tom Tom which amazed me... it's always the small things! One downside is that, as roads are constantly changing, the maps do need to be updated (apparently every three to six months to be on the safe side but always before a major journey I'd say). There is a cost involved with this as it'd be a bit too good to be true if it was completely free. There seems to be different information about regarding charges, with my old Tom Tom I bought a yearly subscription for around £35 which entitled me to update my Tom Tom every three months (so four times a year). This same service now costs £44.95 for a year's subscription. There is Map Share which are maps that have been updated by Tom Tom users which is free though! Overall I can't really fault this Tom Tom model as I've not experienced a single problem and it's safely got me to many destinations on time. It's quite an expensive model to purchase as it was only brought onto the market back in June 2011 so it's relatively new still. The UK version is currently on Amazon for £153.22 while the EU version is actually cheaper at £149.99. Amazon does seem to offer the lowest prices from what I've seen but, as with anything, it's always worth shopping around to see what's on offer.
Thanks for reading!
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TomTom Go 820 Live Europe
by Deru
As my old TomTom's battery wasn't charging properly, I'd decided to sell it and then replace it with a more up-to-date version with traffic updates to help me navigate the London roads, so I went for a TomTom 820 HD Traffic.
Got it for £168 on Amazon, which I think is a pretty good price for one including Western Europe maps ... (about £10 more than UK only version). I may never use it outside of the UK but figured it would retain for when I decide to re-sell it. I expect it to last a good few years like my old TomTom One Classic (3rd series), which lasted about 5 years and only cost me £88.
EASE OF USE
Having used a TomTom before, I found getting up and running with this new one a doddle. I've also tried out other Sat Nav's including ones built into cars but still find TomToms to be the most user-friendly (maybe I'm just used to it).
One thing that stood out for me upon my first taking the device out of the box was that the suction mount was stuck on the back of the TomTom. My last TomTom had a slot on suction mount (which fell off the windscreen A LOT), which I stopped using and opted for a vent mount instead. This new one has an in-built mount, which sticks to the windscreen when I turn a dial to lock it to the windscreen. I find this suction mount to be excellent and it has only fallen off on me once. Sometimes a little tricky to take off but at least it doesn't fall off, which can be dangerous if I'm trying to pick it back up again from the floor when the car is moving. The TomTom angle can be adjusted when stuck on the windscreen and the picture can rotate 180 degrees, which adds a lot more flexibility for mounting the TomTom.
Navigating around the menu's is easy using the touch screen by touching the appropriate icons (which are appropriately labelled). Navigation speed is adequate but sometimes I do find that it could move from screen to screen a bit more quickly. There is a very slight momentary delay between moving from screen to screen once you touch an icon but otherwise, okay.
Once you're ready to set off, you can navigate to an address by entering a town, postcode, recent location, favourite location or point of interest. I find it very intuitive to use and this is all that most people will ever need. Once set, it takes about a minute or two to calculate the route depending on the complexity of the route.
When moving, the TomTom will guide you to your destination. The voice guidance is loud and clear. Very easy and generally very reliable so long as the power lead is plugged in or it has enough charge to last your journey. Battery life seems to last between 1-2 hours for me, which is adequate so for short journeys, you don't have to plug it in. A lot of the options, what it displays, etc are customisable. The screen is also very sharp compared my old TomTom, which helps with navigating if you're not sure which turn to take because there's more than one road up ahead. However, when you miss your turn and it needs to recalculate your route, it can take about 10-20 seconds so you may end up missing the next turning if they're close together.
NIGGLES
When I first turn on the TomTom, it sometimes doesn't switch from night mode to day mode and vice versa, which is a bit annoying. Not sure if it has a light sensor or something but I have to wait for it to change itself after a couple of minutes. I can however, manually set it in the settings.
When I enter a new destination, it always asks me if I want to navigate from my last known location. I don't like this and have actually changed the setting to tell it to not ask but it still asks. I'm not always using the TomTom and I sometimes turn it off when I know where I'm going so it will ask me if I want to navigate from the last location where it was switched on, which I find rather pointless as it should just be detecting the current location. There is no point in navigating from the location where I'm not currently at. This is a minor annoyance but it just means I have an extra screen to go through especially as I can't seem to turn it off.
FEATURES
The main feature that interested me in this edition of the device was the Live Traffic updates. I was hoping that this thing was smart enough to help me avoid all traffic jams in and around London, but not quite the case unfortunately. It tells me where there are traffic jams on the roads on screen, and it does ask me if I would like to take alternative routes that would save me so many minutes (this depends on your settings) but it doesn't always do it and so I end up queuing in traffic even though there are routes with less traffic. Once it's calculated a route to avoid some traffic, it would say to me "you are still on the fastest route", which I sometimes doubt as if I avoid certain areas completely using my own knowledge of the route, it's sometimes quicker than listening to the TomTom. This Traffic Live feature is actually subscription based so will cost something like £30 each year.
What I normally do is tell it to calculate alternative route and then tell I to avoid certain roads. This is a bit fiddly and I have found that I have to repeat the process several times as it just avoids one street so still takes me around that one street whereby what I really want is for it to avoid the whole area altogether. You can tell it to 'Travel via' but for that you need to give it a street or point of interest. As I sometimes can't think of any streets or points of interest without sending me too far out of the way, I end up just using 'avoid part of route' instead. Fine if you remember a street but would be nice if it let you select an area / town rather than being too specific when using the 'Travel via' function.
To my surprise, this TomTom also has built-in Bluetooth, which means you can use it for hands free calls. This works very well and even syncs your phone's address book to it so you can see who is calling you by name rather than just the number on the TomTom screen.
The TomTom also has useful features like speed camera alerts and Map Share. The 'suggest driving breaks' seems a bit pointless unless you're a HGV driver or something. Every so often, it tells me that I should plug it into a computer to update the maps. Supposedly, other users share map data to update the map. A proper map update is not free but this map share is. I have found the feature to tell the TomTom that a road has changed i.e. permanent or temporary road block. It has taken me down a couple of roads where barriers have been erected so cars are no longer allowed through but I expected this now and again. There is also the chance of it taking you down the wrong way of a one way street but it has not happened to me yet on this new one. With this, you would hope someone else has added this in their map share otherwise you would need to purchase a map update.
Similar to my old TomTom, this one also has a Toll Road warning so asks me whether I want to include these roads or not. Useful if you would rather avoid the tolls or London Congestion Charge Zones. Despite having the time programmed in, it still gives me the toll warning for going into the Congestion Zone despite being after 6pm so that could be programmed in by the manufacturer. There's loads of other things you can do like change voices, connect it up to your PC and download traffic camera updates (official ones aren't free but there are unofficial ones), choose which points of interest to display on map, download point of interests like McDonald's and bank branches etc. It even has a Google search to find points of interests.
One thing I didn't expect was any sort of voice recognition but it does have some. The only thing I've ever managed to use it for was answering back to the TomTom when it asks me whether I want to take this alternative route that will save me so many minutes. Answer is always "yes" or "no". If I don't answer, it just sticks to the current route. I find it a bit disappointing that they haven't implemented this feature for making calls.
SUMMARY
Pros
- Easy to use
- Doesn't fall off the windscreen as easily when using the built-in suction mount
- Built-in hands free feature
- Has map share for free map updates
- Great picture
- Gets you from A to B right to the door in most cases
- Lots of features
- Robust (can be dropped lots of times in the car)
Cons
- Day / Night mode maps sometimes take a while to switch between automatically
- IQ HD Traffic feature doesn't always avoid traffic and is subscription based
- Limited voice recognition usage
- Proper map updates are not fre
VERDICT
It's great device despite the little issues. I personally do not know where I'd be without it (frequently lost or searching for places I don't go often I'll bet). It's great for pinpointing your exact locations to the door. Highly recommended for drivers (especially those with a poor sense of direction).
Thanks for reading.
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