TomTom One-- Cheapest way to Sat Nav system (TomTom One XL Europe)

Name: ma_siddiqui

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Product:	TomTom One XL Europe
Date:	14/01/07 (3766 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Touch screen, portable and easy to use/install

Disadvantages: Gives wrong directions/ poor battery life

I bought the TomTom One some eight months ago. I had some experience of using a navigation system as my previous car had one built in and I became quite dependent on it.

Cost
I had bought a new Audi A4 sometime in 2003 and remember paying around 1000 Pounds extra for the built in sat nav system. It was a bad decision and would recommend you not to make the same mistake.
But for my recent car, I was determined to do the research and then buy a Sat nav system, so I spent two days going around all the shops and searching the net to compare different Sat nav products and prices. I finally settled on the TomTom One because I personally found it to be the best value for money out there at the time. I ended up paying only £220 after playing the large chain stores off against each other at the time. But presently it can be bought for less then 170 Pounds.

Reasons to buy

1. Easy to use and install: You can take it out of your car and put it into any other car in a matter of minutes. One just needs to plug in the car charger into the lighter socket and connect the cord to the sat nav. It’s that simple to install. Using it is as simple and has a touch screen and one just needs to select or give the postcode or the street number. It also as a memory where you can feed the addresses or post code. You can also select the last 10 destinations.
2. Cost: As mentioned above. It was the cheapest and most cost effective Sat nav with touch screen.
3. Portable: It can be used in any way. One can use it in any car or can also carry it while walking.
4. Usage: It can be used anywhere in UK as well as in Europe or US (but one has to buy a extra SD ram Card which contains the maps of different countries). It comes preloaded with UK map SD ram card.
5. Blue tooth option: It has the blue tooth and wireless option as well for updating of software.

TomTom comes with a cable for charging, using the lighter socket of the car and it comes with the user manual, the sat Nav device and s SD ram Card. This is the basic Sat nav available in the market. It also comes with a adjustable TomTom holder which can be fitted anywhere in the car within minutes. There is also an option of going for the information package which gives you all the information regarding the traffic conditions and speed camera. One has to pay monthly charges for it. But can use it for free for the first month. This is not really useful for me so I haven’t gone for this option.
You have the option of entering both an address and a postcode to find your destination. You don't even have to put in a street so if for instance you fancy a day out in Milton Keynes you can just select 'Milton Keynes' and then 'City Centre'. Once there you can select 'points of interest' and then 'car parks' and it will take you from your front door to a car park in the centre of Milton Keynes for instance. There is a section in the navigation menu called 'points of interest', with this you can select services such as petrol stations, cash machines, hotels, cinema's - the list go's on forever, when you select the service you require it lists all of them in that area nearest first, just click on the one you want and it will take you right there. It even has every airport in the country on it.
When you select your destination it even gives you an estimated journey time to complete the route that is pretty much spot on every time (10 minutes either way due to traffic etc), the best thing about this feature is that you can program the route the night before and know what time to set off in the morning. When driving if you miss a turn it will tell you to turn around, if you don't it will work out another route for you to get you back on track.
You don't only have to use the TomTom one in the car as it will also give you a route with cycle paths and pedestrian routes for if you are on a bike or walking.
Once you buy your TomTom One the accessories are endless, you can buy an ac power charger that works on a UK, American and European plug sockets. We have even bought a map of the USA for it on SD card (Maps of all countries are available, just take out the UK map and put in the country you desire). We even have a proper TomTom One carry case for it.
Since buying the TomTom One we have recommended it to all our family and friends and all who have bought it have been very happy with it.
Up to date this is one of the best value for money products that I have ever bought and we could not now live without it, you can even update it via the internet so it will never be out of date.

Drawbacks
As this is a basic model from TomTom, the following are the disadvantages
1. One needs to buy all the extra accessories. It does not come with a mains power adaptor, which means that if you want to charge the device at home you will need an extra cable at extra cost (around 10-15 Pounds). Actually this should have been included. Similarly you need to bus extra SD ram card for every new country.
2. It has certain software bugs, which means that if you give only the post code, it may take you to a wrong place. I have faced this problems few times, where it works inaccurately. It works better if you give the street name as well.
3. It cannot identify certain one ways or U turns. This has happened with me that my TomTom was telling me to enter a certain street which was one way. So it definitely needs a better Map and street knowledge. It needs continuous updating.
4. This is not exactly a TomTom drawback, but a human. The usage of Sat Nav makes you really dumb, as one is so used to it and gets dependent on it that one looses his sense of roads and streets.
5. Very poor battery life, I have to keep it connected to my car charger all the time.

Overall, it is a good device if you are traveling to a new place and have no idea about the map and direction or if you hate reading maps. One can plan better, as the TomTom also gives you the distance and time to reach the destination.

Summary: It is a handy device to people who are new in certain area or country