The new TomTom ONE 130 and ONE 130S come to the market at a time of intense competition and high expectations for the major GPS makers as they vie to marketshare and the attention of the millions of shoppers who are discovering the wonders of not getting lost and actually getting to where you want to go without stopping, backtracking or imagine that, asking for directions at a gas station. The TomTom ONE 130/130S are the refreshed face of the TomTom ONE line that continues to bring big player GPS features and quality to the market at entry level prices. The units slim down in 2008 with an ultra thin look, and an innovative mount, dubbed the EasyPort. Fold flat profile and a twist to adhere suction mount make the EasyPort different in the GPS world. With the addition of the "S" designator, you get a nice bump with Text to Speech on this unit, something that I continue to advocate for if you can afford it.
The new TomTom ONE XL 330 and ONE XL 330S come to the market at a time of intense competition and high expectations for the major GPS makers as they vie to market share and the attention of the millions of shoppers who are discovering the wonders of not getting lost. When you can afford it, there are some nice bonuses to having a widescreen GPS which include a better overall view of where you are going, easier input of data (i.e. your destination's address), and just pure readability of the whole interface. I'll explore the advantages below. I recommend widescreen GPS units if you can afford it.
The TomTom ONE XL 330/330S are the refreshed face of the TomTom ONE line that continues to bring big player GPS features and quality to the market at entry level prices. The units slim down in 2008 with an ultra thin look, and an innovative mount, dubbed the EasyPort. Fold flat profile and a twist to adhere suction mount make the EasyPort different in the GPS world. So, while a widescreen GPS may take up some more room, you won't be penalized too much considering the thin profile of the unit.
With the addition of the "S" designator, you get a nice bump with Text to Speech on this unit, something that I continue to advocate for if you can afford it.
The TomTom 930 is the new top of the line TomTom that is starting to gain some steam these days in the stores. TomTom has folded in Historical Average Speeds into the GO 930 to make the unit more accurate in setting travel times, especially when traffic is concerned. While TomTom's map supplier, TeleAtlas is teamed up with Inrix, and has the ability to fold their traffic speed data into the Map offering, TomTom went out and grabbed their own historical average speeds from users like you and me. If you agreed to submit anonymous user data when you sync'd your TomTom to TomTom HOME, you sent up some data that presumably included some road speed data; including traffic hot spots and slow downs. We will see how broad the coverage is and how it affects our usage of the unit.
Other than the TomTom IQ Routes, the unit offers "Lane Guidance" which shows you what lane to be in when the going gets tough on the highways.
The TomTom 930 still encompasses a lot of features that were rolled into the GO 930, including membership to the MapShare community, a Map guarantee for up to date maps for the first 12 months that you own the device, enhanced positioning that helps to track your position through an accelerometer when you enter tunnels, Bluetooth Handsfree and voice address input.
I have been lucky enough to have been driving around with the TomTom GO 920T, their latest top of the line release that was unleashed onto the GPS market barely a month ago. The unit offers a pretty significant slug of features, wrapped in a nice but modest looking widescreen package. At its heart, the TomTom GO 920 is a very capable navigator, complete with North American and European maps pre-loaded, a bright widescreen, a high sensitivity receiver, TMC Traffic feeds (standard on the 920T; optional on the 920), Bluetooth handsfree, a remote control, and a voice activated control capability for address inputs.
The new GO 920/920T also have the ability to do dead reckoning when the unit loses a signal, like when you are going under the big dig tunnel in Boston, so it tells you where to go despite having lost a signal. Like the TomTom GO 720, the TomTom GO 920/920T has the ability to record your own turn commands through an easy interactive menu, making the navigation a lot of fun, especially if you used kids as your voice talent.
The TomTom GO 720 is a solid product introduction that offers not only some feature improvements, but some innovative steps that shows TomTom positioning itself as an innovator in the GPS marketplace. TomTom is not afraid to step up and maintain its position in the upper echelon of GPS manufacturers. With this introduction, it is more obvious that TomTom is willing to develop products and software for the US market, where they previously brought over a nearly unaltered Euro product. The change is welcome and will make them more competitive in the US market where growth rates are still well north of 50% per year.
The TomTom GO 720 at the base is a widescreen GPS navigation system that has a SiRF star III chipset and text to speech capabilities. The unit comes with North American maps. The unit also offers MapShare, a program to allow users to make minor alterations on their units, submit those changes, and if elected receive changes from other users who use MapShare. The TomTom GO 720 also has a fun feature to make your own recordings for the verbal navigation commands. Finally the unit also features a “Help Me!” button that allows users get access information to quickly get help from police, service stations and hospitals.
PCMag has published their review of the TomTom ONE XL. They gave it an overall “Good” rating and noted that it lacked text-to-speech (TTS) capability, which is reserved for their higher end units. The TomTom ONE XL is their basic device in the now more popular widescreen package. PC Mag found that it did a good job routing to desired locations, and came with the familiar TomTom interface that has become more popular in the US market.
I have reviewed the TomTom ONE XL, and agreed with everything Craig Ellison said here in his article for PC Mag. I think that the TomTom ONE XL is a solid unit, and with the newest version of the TeleAtlas maps, a lot of those nasty kinks are worked out. The $399 price point is a tough one to beat for a widescreen unit. PC Mag smartly compares the TomTom ONE XL to the Mio C520. I already reviewed the TomTom ONE XL and my Mio C520 review is just around the corner.
On my recent trip to TomTom, I was able to play with the new TomTom GO 720 and wanted to give you my first impressions. The TomTom GO 720 was recently announced, and while it’s not yet available to the public, it will be by the end of July/Early August. I think there are a couple of things going on with the TomTom GO 720 that are worth noting. Gone is the big form factor; thin is in. The big news item that was associated with the TomTom GO 720 release was the MapShare program which should allow users to have some limited input initially on the maps, allowing you to input on the correctness of the maps and share those corrections with others.
The TomTom GO 720 is not just about MapShare, or its slim form factor. It's got a lot more.
The TomTom ONE XL is the follow-up widescreen version of the successful second generation TomTom ONE that was launched last year. Since the TomTom ONE was launched, the GPS world has gone widescreen, and like I had predicted, the widescreen version of the flat form factor TomTom ONE was a sure-fire sequel. For those who are familiar with the TomTom interface, this won’t be a big change from what you’re used to. TomTom has captured the key elements of success in a widescreen version that give you just a bit more to love on the dash as you’re traveling to your destination.
So with the new wider TomTom ONE XL sporting a widescreen and the new TeleAtlas maps, I thought I had to give the unit a try, and try it right away. I liked the TomTom ONE when I reviewed it last year, and only had a few minor complaints besides the lack of accurate maps. The TeleAtlas map issue has been broadly fixed in my point of view, having used the Mio C220 for the last couple of weeks which is loaded with the new maps.
The 4.3 inch screen should give a better overview of the road ahead with more streets and information on display. The TomTom ONE XL is also traffic ready and can receive traffic feeds via the TomTom PLUS services via your Bluetooth phone. It features QuickFix technology that allows it to find satellites fast (as long as you connect it to your computer once per week).
I look forward to checking this unit out over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more impressions on the TomTom ONE XL.
The folks at Pocket Lint have their impressions up on the new FM transmitter Mount for the TomTom GO line (510, 910), which takes the FM transmitter and stuffs it into the mount. Great idea and it sounds like they liked the execution overall. They liken the unit to the Belkin iTrip for the iPod where the small attachment allows you to send audio over to your car stereo. The issue that I have run into is simply that I can't find empty space on the radio dial that stays empty for long since there are so many broadcasters around here.
TomTom engineered the unit to play your music over your stereo, with interrupts for turn directions. With some caveats, they say that the TomTom FM Transmitter GPS Mount is "a great addition to what is already a great [GPS]."
TomTom: Compare the TomTom ONE vs. GO 510 vs. GO 910
A lot of people have been writing in asking about what TomTom they should buy, and asking about the comparison between the TomTom ONE versus the TomTom GO 510 vs the GO 910. The TomTom ONE that was recently released pretty much in time for the holidays last year, is a strong GPS system and is a flat, pocketable device. Overall, I think that it's a very good choice. (You can read my review of the TomTom ONE). The TomTom GO 510 and the Go 910 are not flat, but offer some features you can't find in the TomTom ONE. All come with the SiRF star III chipset for higher accuracy in tough conditions.
The Tradeshow CeBit 2007 is coming up in Germany, and if s go as I expect, TomTom will be announcing some new GPS units there, making these very capable units drop in price as we approach the launch of the new GPS units at CeBit 2007.
The TomTom ONE was recently announced with much hoopla here in the US, and then TomTom decided to send the new smaller form factor back to the Euro-land where the TomTom ONE debuted last year with a slightly larger form factor that did well in the market. They learned their lesson well; small form factor with basic features at an affordable price rocks (even without an MP3 player). Well, I have to say that the TomTom ONE does rock, it’s small size and sound feature set make it a solid contender in the market. I found the interface easy to use, and the unit easy to travel with.
Review: TomTom ONE Arrives for Review at the GPS Lodge
The new TomTom ONE arrived for review today at the GPS Lodge. We're pretty happy to have it in house for a while, and luckily enough we are on the road this weekend so we'll be able to give it a good workout. It's small, and will be easy to bring with us. Recall the TomTom ONE is a thin, pocketable GPS navigation system that was announced last month and just recently hit the shelves in plenty of time for the holidays. The TomTom ONE should be on a lot of wish lists this year.
CNet has posted their review of the TomTom ONE after getting their hands on one. My hunch is that Bonnie wasn’t too happy to have been scooped by Craig Ellison over at PC Mag (See our post) who had a TomTom ONE to review before the press release last week. Anyway, CNet has taken a look at the TomTom ONE GPS Nagivation System and has similar conclusions, simple, easy to use basic GPS system that gets you there in style for a decent price.
TomTom ONE 130/130S Full Review
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