When I bought this sat nav 3 years ago it was more expensive then what it is these days in Halfords. Also 3 years ago I would have a few more near misses with other xars due to being distracted looking down at maps!! The tom tom range has revolutionised my journeys and made travvelling easier and less stressful with my partner.
I chose a tomtom over garmin for example, because tomtom for me was the original model and was stylish compact and there were lots of updates avaliable at the time. The model I chose was the basic model, which was perfect for my weekly use as opposed to daily use. It was also within the price budget that I was willing to pay. I paid £129.99 for this model 3 years ago (as I came accross the receipt last week after filing receipts from christmas etc) but I think these days that is more priced around the £90
In three years, many models have come onto the market and though I have looked at them in passingm they do not offer anything bigger or better than what I currently have on my tomtom model. Like the old models and the new, both tomtoms are charged via the cigaretter lighter, and although I cannot speak for the newer models, the older ones do not tend to hold their charge particularly well, in fact probably for not longer than 15 minutes off their charge.
The screen is a good size and its easy to be able to see whilst driving. The attachment that keeps the tomtom to the window is not fantastic though, and often causes a distraction when it falls off during my drive. Unlike the sticky thing, the contrast of colours (mostly blue, green, grey, yellow and white) work well together to mean that the details on the screen are clear and easy to follow and do not distract when you become used to them (though at first they are quite mesmerizing and you feel the need to watch it as you pass road names and see if you can catch it out!) There are also day or night modes. The day colours are decribed as above, but the night mode is darker blues and purples. These are easily changed at the touch of a button, as are volumes to adjust (or a sync to engine noise, to get louder or quieter depending car noise levels), and also voices to direct you. I believe that celebrity voices are also avaliable to download to direct you, as are accents, for example, australian says "at the rotary take the first exit".
This tomtom also allows you to save your home location so you dont keep having to enter it. This is easier and more convenient and saves alot of time and chance of error. I can go somewhere that I do not know my way home from well, turn on my satnav and press a button that says direct home and off it goes. It is also easy to use and easy to find your way somewhere using it. This can be either from entering a postcode, a street name or a city etc. It is able to locate petrol stations and restaurants and fast food chains etc, and you can even store these favourites to direct you purposefully to them from the minute you leave your house.
I feel like Im rambling now so am going to stop! But this tomtom is fantastic and I would highly recommend