I am a bit of a driving mong sometimes especially if I am driving somewhere unfamiliar, I tend to panic if I'm not sure where I am going so the tomtom one is an absolute godsend to me!

The tomtom one is a gps satnav or satellite navigation system for use in cars, trucks, vans ect. The satnav uses satellites to pinpoint your location and track your movements. There are maps built into the system allowing you to choose a destination any where in the country and the satnav will plot a route and send you on your way (maps for europe and other countries are available at an extra price), so if you are going somewhere you have never been before this beats the hell out of trying to navigate there using a bog standard map, especially if you are driving alone and don't have someone to shout out directions to you!.

The tomtom one itself is a small black and silver box about about 3 inches by 3 inches and around half an inch deep. The front of the satnav is almost entirely taken up by the satnav screen (which is a touch screen) and the back has the speaker and a groove in it so you can attach it to the windscreen suckerpad. The tomtom comes with a suckerpad mount for attaching it to the windscreen, a car charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter, a computer installation cd and a usb cable to plug it into your computer.

The tomtom one is very easy to use, it obviously comes with detailed instructions but the use of the device is pretty intuitive. Upon turning on the tomtom one you will be shown a location map of where you currently are (takes a few minutes to locate the satellites and work out your location) and an arrow to represent your vehicle (you can change this arrow to different colours or to car shapes if you like). To plan a route all you need to do is touch the screen which brings up the main menu and touch the navigate to option, you then get a variety of options to help you locate the destination you wish to travel to the options are as follows:
Home - this has to be set so not available the first time you switch the device on
Favourites - again these have to be set, but useful if you travel frequently to several destinations
Recent destinations - obviously you wont have any recent destinations if this is the first time you have used it
Address - you can input postcode or street address of where you are travelling to
Point on map - this will bring up a map that you can scroll through and pick your destination, useful if there is no address for it or if you don't know the address
Lattitude/longitude - useful if you have a paper map of somewhere, can input details straight from map Last stop - again will be nothing there if this is the first time you have used it
Once you have chosen your destination the satnav will calculate a route for you, once calculated it will give you a distance and an estimated time it will take you. you then press done and well that's you done, you are ready start the journey.

The tomtom one directs you using has on screen directions as well as voice instructions. The on screen directions are depicted by a big green arrow, eg if you are to to take the next left, a big green arrow will be shown going up the street on the left you are to drive up. The voice instructions tell you vocally where to go eg "cross the round about, second exit". You are usually told each instruction twice, once a bit before you have reached the roundabout, junction ect and again just as you reach it. If you are on a motorway you usually get 3 warnings that your exit is coming up to make sure you get the right one and don't miss it!

he tomtom is also very useful if you take a wrong turn somewhere, it will realise you have gone the wrong way within a few seconds and will recalculate the route for you. If there is no way to recalculate the route it will ask you to "turn around when possible", I have had a few of those in my time, yes it is possible still to go the wrong way even with a satnav!

If you are not one for voice instructions you can turn them off or you can turn the volume level up or down so you can still listen to the radio and be able to hear the instructions. You can also change the voice, there are a couple preloaded onto the device but others can be downloaded, including comedy ones such as darth vader or homer simpson (you need to pay for these though).

While driving your route, the tomtom one displays the time you are expected to arrive at your destination, the time left until you arrive, the distance left and the distance until the next turn or roundabout. It also displays your speed and what the speed limit is (don't 100% rely on what speed limit it says as it can be wrong especially if the speed limit has been changed recently). If you are travelling over the speed limit the speed display will turn red and you can set it to bleep at you if you like.

The tomtom one can be plugged into your computer and it links up with the tomtom home software programme which needs to be installed on your computer. This allows you to update the maps, very useful as roads are changing all the time (the tomtom will also remind you from time to time to plug it in if you haven't for a while). You can also purchase extra maps or voices (I haven't bough any of either of these so I can't comment). What I have purchased is "saftey camera" (speed camera) warnings. This cost me £19.99 for a years subscription, I have let my subscription lapse which means I no longer get updates but still have the cameras on my maps, just not an up to date list of them. The tomtom one warns you about these cameras well in advance so you can slow down if you are going too fast. It warns you with a loud klaxon type sound (I nearly had a heart attack the first time I heard it, so its pretty unmissable) and it flashes on screen the speed limit. I would say this is well worth the price, definitely much cheaper than a speeding ticket!

The tomtom one also has a variety of other features. This includes its "help me" section. It can give you directions (both driving and on foot) to and also phone numbers for the nearest hospital, garage, doctor, police station ect and phone numbers for break down services such as the AA. There is also a basic first aid section and a "where am I?" button, very useful if you are broken down somewhere and need to tell someone exactly where you are.

Overall I would whole heartedly recommend a tomtom to all drivers, especially if you drive long distances or are likely to drive to different places you haven't been before. I was give this as a birthday gift a few years ago, but a it will probably set you back around £100 to get a tomtom of your very own, definitely money well spent!