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| TomTom ONE XL 4.3-Inch Widescreen Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of the U.S. and Canada | 
 enlarge | Brand: TomTom
Category: CE
List Price: $299.95
Buy New: $139.99
You Save: $159.96 (53%)
New (21) Used (3) Refurbished (4)
Avg. Customer Rating:  233 reviews
Sales Rank: 30
Color: silver/black
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: Unknown
Batteries Included: No
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 1.2 x 4.7 x 3.4
MPN: 1S00.080
Model: 1S00.080
UPC: 036926016559
EAN: 0636926016551
ASIN: B000PCBVA6
Release Date: May 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 You get what you pay for January 7, 2008
I now realize just how young this technology is. This was my first purchase of a GPS Nav device and I am not impressed. It doesn't recognize some logical routes to locations and the ETA is always grossly exaggerated. Key function utilization requires navigation through a number of menus. Also, the manipulation of the active screen for such things as panning both in general or for a planned route is not user friendly. It all boils down to: "you get what you paid for".
Excellent, with minor quibbles.... January 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I got this as a present as I apparently have a reputation for getting lost. I call it creative navigation myself, but I digress....
I was able to get the TomTom up and running in about 5 minutes. The interface is very intuitive and well laid out. If I any complaints it's the lack of a mute button and no way to schedule an automatic switch to night colours but these are minor quibbles (3 clicks and they're done).
The TomTom I received has the very latest maps dating to Novemember, what really impressed me with the maps is they are even more accurate than the official state maps Florida puts out. I have yet to find a road that the TomTom has not heard about.
Navigation is quite accurate, I do like how it'll remind me when there's a fork on the highway to stay in the correct lane and thus avoid having to quickly merge over in traffic. If I have one complaint, I wish it would notify me a little sooner about when my exit is approaching - 1 mile = less than 60 seconds at highway speeds.
The complaints I have involve one major gripe and several minor quibbles: The control your TomTom on the desktop app. actually locked up my TomTom completely, it would not even turn on until I hit the reset button. Fortunately, none of my configuration was lost (and I had already made a backup). The minor gripes: leaving the GPS off for a couple of days means a 2-3 minute delay whilst it finds the satellites again, other GPSes I've played with don't seem to have this issue; $50-80 for a new map? are you kidding me??; the documentation on the SD card slot is non-existent; finally, I wish the company offered a decent external antenna for when I'm using the unit indoors - I was able to build one myself from spare parts that works great but it would be nice if the unit came with one.
I do not have a cell phone so didn't try out any of the "Plus" features.
Final verdict: A great unit at a great price that justs fall short of perfection.
 Mixed feelings on TomTom one xl vs. garmin nuvi 250w January 2, 2008
25 out of 25 found this review helpful
Well, I've had a tomtom one xl and a garmin nuvi 250w for two weeks now and have tested both out in Canada and the US, both on streets I am very familiar with and in areas I've never been before. They both cost exactly the same when I bought them so that isn't a consideration in my evaluations. My feelings on both devices are mixed. A quick rundown of winning points for each is given and then I will go into more detail below. I still haven't decided which one I'm going to keep (I still have 10 days to return the one I don't want).
Garmin Wins: Battery Life, Mapping System, Screen clarity in sunlight, Windshield Mount
Tomtom Wins:
Features, Voices, Satellite Acquisition
Details on some of the above:
Itinerary planning - Garmin only lets you program one waypoint, but Tomtom lets you save iteneraries. It's not a true route planning system where you can program several stops and it will tell you the best route taking them all into account, however it will let you program multiple stops so that after you reach one it will direct you to the next. With Garmin the only way to accomplish something similar would be to go to your first destination and then go into favourites and then click the next place you want to go. I like though how if I have some regular stops on a regular route, I can save that itenerary with a name and it will be saved until I delete it. Garmin has no option close to it. Even if you use the faves option I listed above, it won't save that route for future use so it would all have to be redone and you'd not only have to try to remember every stop, but you'd have to punch each in individually again, whereas tomtom will have it saved to go back to with a couple clicks. Plus you can add to a tomtom itenerary later so if you find a new fave stop you can add it in or delete parts of an itenerary you don't want in there anymore.
Voices - Garmin gives you a choice of different languages, but I have yet to find a way to get different voices on the Nuvi 250W. It gives me an American English voice and that is it. I have looked on their website and even hooked up my nuvi to the WebUpdater tool they have and it has no other voices avail. that I can find. The tomtom one xl has quite a few voices to choose from to begin with, plus you can download for free a bunch of fun voices off the internet. I currently have Yoda and Darth Vader taking turns giving my husband and I directions.
Battery Life - Garmin easily wins in this regard with approx. 4-5 hr. batt. life, Tomtom only lasts a couple of hours.
Garmin's screen is easier to see in bright sunlight and the windshield mount is more reliable.
Size - both are small, but garmin is slimmer which is good if you want to put it in your pocket. Tomtom has a bit of a bulge in the back (not huge by any means but still not flat like the garmin. The bulge is handy if you want to stand it up in front of you though.
Satellite acquisition - Garmin satellites can locate me inside my house, garmin I have to go outside to get a signal. Kind of a pain when you want to program a route and have to go out in the freezing cold on your porch or to sit in your car to wait for it to acquire a signal. I like the convenience with the tt one xl of being able to sit inside my house and put in a location and see the directions while still warm and cozy sitting on my couch. Then I can turn it off and when I go to my car the info is all set to go and I already have perused the directions to get an idea of the steps in my route. Also sometimes even outside the garmin takes a few minutes to acquire a satellite, whereas the tomtom always acquires a satellite within seconds.
Detours - tomtom comes out on top again. Garmin lets you hit a detour button and gives you a new path to follow, but tomtom lets you choose how far you want to avoid something. So for example, if road "W" is the best one to follow to get to your destination, but there is construction for a couple blocks, you can choose to avoid that route for just that period where there is construction, and then get back on it. The garmin gives you a whole new route that may or may not get you back on the original road.
Other misc. pros and cons - tomtom comes with a usb cable, garmin does not and considering how cheap they are and that it is necessary for charging if you want to charge from your computer, I think Garmin really cheaped out on that one -- tomtom lets you use a qwerty keyboard format, garmin does not -- tomtom lets you search by zipcode, the garmin makes you enter street name and number
Navigation - both units get you from point a to point b in my experience thus far, though the majority of the time the garmin seems to take the most direct and logical route, whereas tomtom seems to lead you a bit astray to get to your destination. However there have been a couple times when the tt brought me to the doorstep of the place I was going when the garmin was a bit off. Overall though I do feel safer taking the garmin's directions. Tomtom apparently does have some kind of map downloading/sharing feature but I haven't checked it out yet. That may be a great feature and help if you can download maps from others who know the backroads better than a computer system ever could.
So right now I am having a tough time deciding which one to keep because they both have their pros and cons. Both get you where you need to go for the most part, but I do feel the garmin navigates better, which is why you buy a gps right? However the tomtom picks up satellites quicker and more reliably thus far and that is important too when getting somewhere. The tomtom seems to come out leaps and bounds ahead of the garmin in options and features though and that is what is hanging me up on the decision. If my garmin had the features my tomtom has or my tomtom had the navigation system my garmin had the decision would be a no-brainer. Luckily I still have 10 days to decide which one to keep, but it's going to be a tough decision. I think either one would be a good choice though in the end, just different pros and cons to each.
Works okay but has several design flaws and bad support January 2, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I bought this unit three months ago because I was moving to a new state and didn't want to spend a lot of time being lost. It's been very helpful in getting me around, but I've had more than my share of frustrations.
What I like about this unit: display is easy to read except in direct sunlight; user interface is pretty easy (although it has flaws that make you wonder if they ever bothered to look over the shoulders of real users to see what they do -- more below); and audio instructions are loud and clear, even to my old ears.
But what I don't like about the unit and the company's support is a longer list. First off, I found it weird that its default keyboard layout is alphabetic. You can easily configure it to QWERTY instead. Second, when you use the "Back" button while setting up your destination by address, it takes you back one step further than it should, forcing you to make the same entry twice.
But the biggest problem I've had is that the unit no longer avoids unpaved roads. I used their website to ask for help, where I also found several design flaws. If you fill out a form, make sure you save everything you type because if you have to hit your browser's "Back" button after their website says you made an error in filling out the form, the form will have lost EVERYTHING you just entered. Also, the error will have been caused by bad design in their form, not because you're a dumb user.
Anyway, TomTom's support desk informed me that to configure the unit to avoid unpaved roads, I have to select the "Toll Roads" feature. Huh?!? Okay, I tried that but there's nothing in there about avoiding unpaved roads. TomTom's help line informed me that if I've "updated the unit," there's no longer any way to configure TomTom to avoid unpaved roads at all. They "regret" any frustration this may have caused, and they gave no indication that they have any plans to fix it.
Once you get past the initial euphoria of getting where you want to go -- although it's sent me to some dangerous backwoods roads where I should have had a 4-wheel drive -- you find a lot of other annoyances. For example, it doesn't tell me which side of the street my final destination is on. And when I have to make a turn where there are multiple turns close together, it fails to direct me carefully to the correct one. Also, this unit does not say the name of the street that you're supposed to turn on.
Too many reviewers haven't lived long enough with their TomToms before posting their reviews. I should have read all the reviews for all products more carefully before I bought this unit. Even though my unit is 3 months old, I'm going to see if I can return it. There are better ones available.
Tom Tom One XL December 31, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this for my self for Christmas. The large screen is nice. Entering destination points is easy but it took me a few minutes to fiqure out how it wanted the data entered. (Street name first then then street number) It has a tremendous amount of menue options but the one thing I have not been able to find is a way to cancel navigation. That would be very helpful if you change your mind because it will keep trying to direct you to that destination.
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