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| TomTom GO 920 Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator | 
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| Brand: TomTom
Category: CE
List Price: $449.95
Buy New: $295.99
You Save: $153.96 (34%)
New (26) Used (3) Refurbished (4)
Avg. Customer Rating:  107 reviews
Sales Rank: 763
Color: black
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Tracks: Unknown
Batteries Included: Yes
Native Resolution: 480 x 272
Display Size: 4.3
Includes MP3 Player: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 4.6 x 0.9 x 3.3
nv:Type: Receiver
Display: LCD
Expansion Slots: SD Card
Battery Life: 5 hours
Special Features: Bluetooth
Special Features: FM Modulator
Special Features: RDS-TMC traffic compatible
Special Features: 4GB internal flash memory
Special Features: Integrated Microphones And Speaker
MPN: 1M00.980
Model: 1M00.980
UPC: 636926018319
EAN: 0636926018319
ASIN: B000VLHN9E
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 TomTom 920 Go: a GPS with European, USA and Canada maps December 24, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Let's back to the primary question: why should i buy the TomTom 920 Go GPS? Personally i do not really care about the MP3 player, the bluetooth features and all the fancy features all current GPS provides (if i want such features, i buy specific devices which provide an high quality for a given features, e.g., a real MP3 player). So i bought the device for one major features: THE MAPS! With the TomTom 920, if you travel in Europe, in the US or in Canada like i do, no need to buy extra maps, everything is included. And i check the accuracy of US, Canada and French maps, this is pretty good.
After that, i also had the opportunity to check few other features:
- Connection with the cell phone via bluetooth: it works just fine with my cell phone.
- MP3 player: works just fine too, the integrated speakers are not that good but who is expecting something else in a so small device? Moreover you can plug the device to your car music system if you have an input for MP3 player.
- Voice recognition to enter your destination: kind of useless, the input typing directly the address is so efficient that i do not see the interest of such a feature. Moreover, i do not enter addresses while driving (too dangerous), i always plan my trips in advance so it is not a problem to type addresses.
- capability to personalize the voice that gives you the directions: kind of fun. :-)
Therefore at the end, if you are looking for a GPS device with a maximum of maps (i.e., a real GPS device), this choice is i think the best choice currently available. Other features are fun but not that useful. If you do not need those maps, buy a cheaper device that will work as fine as this one.
 Good product ruined by the usless mount system December 22, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This could potentially be a perfect product if the mounting system is improved upon. TomTom should take note from Garmin on the mount. The Garmin mount is the best in the industry. Another gripe is the computer voices and the speaker quality. TomTom products have terrible computer Voice quality. Garmin is much better at this. I have to disable the announce street name feature because of such poor quality of sound. So i stick with human voices and don't have text to speech or street name annunciation. My last gripe is that the 920 lacks the very important "view screen upside down" feature that my cheap TomTom ONE has. Got a brand new tomtom GO920 as an upgrade for our tomtom ONE. And was very surprised to find that it is lacking one of the most important features to us that was on the much cheaper and simpler TomTom One. This is very important in my application and for my business. This was a purchase of many TomTom 920 devices for my business that now have to be returned because they are unusable for our business.
Lots of Potential, Does Not Live Up to Expectations December 16, 2007
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
After waiting two months for my TomTom 920, it finally showed up. While there are lots of good features about the unit, there are enough disadvantages to make you think twice about purchasing this unit.
As with another reviewer, I live in Hawaii. As he described, the unit does not work for Hawaii-based address formats. I contacted e-mail support and this issue and within 24 hours they responded with the following:
"Thank you for contacting TomTom Customer Support regarding addresses in Hawaii. Unfortunately there is no work around or fix for this yet. We have been getting a lot of feedback about it though, so hopefully the software designers and map database people will add a - button or at least allow all five digits to be entered, but we don't have any information on whether they are working on this issue."
So they know about this major flaw, but apparently Customer support and Developement don't talk to each other.
Another major disappointment is battery life. While I intend to use the unit in the car most of the time, I also wanted to bring it with me when walking or touring with me. The battery life is advertised at 5 hours, but I can barely get 2 hours out of it.
The Point of Interests in the unit, as least for Hawaii, is incomplete. For example, the brand new Queens Market Shopping Center in the Waikoloa Beach Resort area in the list, but the Kings Shops Shopping Center, which is essentially across the street and has been there for years, is not listed as a shopping center. I also noticed gas stations and tourist lookout points that appear in the maps, but don't exist in the real world. Also, I noticed that a lot of resturants were not listed.
The touch screen is a little hard to use, especially when you want to zoom in and out the Browse Map section.
I really want to like the unit, as it has many nice features (see the other reviews and the feature list), but until TomTom can update their software, I can't recommend it to others.
TomTom 920 beats Garmin 750 - but map quality is poor December 15, 2007
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
I tried a Magellan early in the fall. Didn't like the routing or the "hangs" so returned it. (Amazon has great service). I ordered a Garmin Nuvi 750 but didn't even bother to try a road trip. Routing from Hollister to Carmel CA it chose a route through some back roads that I know is very slow. Adding a via didn't help -- it took me through Monterrey and Pacific Grove on 68 instead of simply following 1. Routing a trip to Nebr, but going through NM, it wanted to route me to LA to stay on freeways. Adding highway 58 from Bakersfield fixed that part, but it then chose a really strange route to get to to that point. With enough messing around I finally got a good route. If I hadn't known how I wanted to get there, I might not have known how bad some of the choices were. (I use DeLorme Street Atlas as my standard) I got the TomTom 920 yesterday. It handled both of these correctly with no effort, and even gave the right choice for a route I used in the fall (Newport RI to Poughkeepsie NY)
TomTom 920 has plenty of features, and that might be a problem for some people. Yes, there is room for improvement in the user interface. (These companies apparently haven't heard of objective testing of interfaces....)
Voice recognition is more or less OK, but keyboard entry is as good as or better than others.
Update 12/25....
Voice recognition is actually very good. Routing is good, although "fastest" route isn't accurate because of the assumed 60 mph average speed.
The map quality is even worse than I expected based on feedback from others. On a drive from CA to NE via I40, I25, I76, and I80 I found that 3 out of 3 motels weren't in the right place, A Starbucks didn't even exist near the location selected, a retail site was off by over a mile. I did successfully find a couple of places, but more than a 50% error rate just isn't acceptable. It doesn't matter how good the routing is if it takes you to the wronge place.
I'm glad I bought this through Costco and can return it without a restocking fee. I'm lowering the rating to only two stars.
Good value, but ALOT to improve upon December 5, 2007
126 out of 131 found this review helpful
I've spent the past few weeks picking out the "best" portable GPS unit. Features in particular that I was looking for are Text to Speech, MP3 player, FM Modulator (transmitter) and Blue Tooth phone capabilities.
I purchased the Garmin Nuvi 660 (about 4 Bills), Garmin Nuvi 680 (about 5 Bills), and the TomTom Go 920 (about 4 Bills) to sample with the intention of returning the other two. My ultimate decision was the Garmin Nuvi 680. This review will be, in large part, a comparison between this and Garmin Nuvi's 660 and 680, but here is my review of the TomTom Go 920:
MAIN PROS
The GO 920 is VERY FEATURE RICH for a relatively low price. It was (and still is) promotionally priced at Costco at $399. In terms of navigation and mapping options, it has FAR more alternatives than Garmin's Nuvi 660 and 680. The two main features that it has over Garmin are Voice Address Input (speak addresses and it takes you there) and Map Share (making corrections to maps as you're on the road to share with others). The Voice Address Input works better than expected. It asks you a city and after you name a city, it lays out a number of options that you can confirm by saying "One" or "two" or "Three" based on where the city falls on a list. If it misreads your words, you simply say "back" and you can start over. It has maps of Europe which for many, is a make it or break it feature. The search time of points of interests is VERY fast - I would dare to say that its twice as fast as Garmins. There were a number of points of interests that I found on the 920 that I couldn't find on the Garmin. Over time, I imagine that the 920 will have FAR more POI with the mapshare technology. Another feature that I LOVED about the 920 is that you have the option to change the keyboard from an ABC to a QWERTY which makes keying things in MUCH faster.
OVERALL DESIGN:
Overall, great quality product. The materials feel solid and expensive. In fact, it felt much more expensive and "polished" than Garmin's units. From a sleekness standpoint, its well-designed and relatively compact. I really liked the fact that the SiRF-Star III antennae was internal and doesn't protrude out like the Nuvi. One thing that Tomtom should have done is include some kind of carrying case. Tomtom even reminds you to take it with you every time you turn it off. The least they could have done is provide some protection for your device. Garmin throws in a nice leather case to protect your $500+ investment.
My main complaint about the design is the mounting mechanism - it's absolutely useless. The suction cup mounting unit is probably the most primitive system out there, and although Garmin uses a similar concept, they have a much more effective mechanical solution that results in a MUCH stronger attachment. Realizing that it would likely fall, I used rubbing alcohol to clean the suction cup and the window, AND I used water to between the surfaces to improve suction. It STILL fell off within 2 hours of use (thats not a gamble you want to take for such an expensive gadget). MOREOVER, the TOMTOM does not incorporate the traffic antennae or the USB charging device into the mounting unit. Once you hook the unit onto the suction cup mount, you have to proceed to plug in the USB cable and antennae on the bottom of it. When you're done using the 920 and you want to take it off, there is no "quick release" button or anything. You just have to pull it up off of the mount and then proceed to unplug the USB cable. Horrible design mounting design.
EASE OF USE
This was THE deal breaker for me. Unless you're pretty tech-savy, using this device is an absolute nightmare. There are 3 screens of the "main" menu. Under settings, there are 8 screens worth of options. If you want to access your phone book to make a call, you have to go through 4 screens. If you want to cancel your current route, you have to go through 4 screens. You can create a "quick shortcut menu" from the main navigation screen, but again, you have to program it to choose what you want. There are numerous options available in terms of navigating that Garmin lacks such as avoiding certain roads and providing alternative routes. Moreover, you can pick a host of multiple destinations and it will guide you to each one (although it doesn't calculate the most efficient route such as Garmin Nuvi 760). But these features are WELL hidden and not very intuitive.
QUALITY OF NAVIGATION AND MAPPING
In my tests of using both the Nuvi 680 and the Tomtom 920 together, the Nuvi consistently chose routes that made more sense and would consistently save anywhere from 2-5 minutes over 30-40 minute trips. The announcement of turns and directions were provided in time for you to change lanes or to prepare for turns (a problem that the Nuvis need to work on), but it seemed that the Nuvis would give more frequent directions. The Nuvis announce directions in on 3 levels ("turn in X miles", "turn ahead", and "turn"). The 920 would give directions as needed, but sometimes, its nice to have a vocal reminder because the screen display isn't that great. There is probably some feature to adjust the frequency of directions, but I couldn't find it. Reception on the 920 was good, but not as good as the Garmin Nuvi. The flip-out antennae, despite being a hassle and hideously ugly, is more functional and effective. Driving through downtown LA, it took the 920 an extra 30 seconds to grab a signal when the Nuvi took about 5 seconds.
The mapping image is done MUCH cleaner on Garmin. The 920 has a more "realistic" layout of overpasses, roads, and parks, but as a consequence, the text is smaller and harder to follow. You have a number of color schemes to choose from, but none of them are anywhere near as clean as Garmin's. You can't see merging roads and freeways as easily as you can see on the Nuvis. The 920 provides alot more information such as ETA, distance remaining, time remaining, current time, current speed, the distance until the next turn, and reception. Thats all fine and good, but when you're driving, trying to find a destination, Less is really more. You CAN, however, cut out some of this display options under settings (if you can figure out how).
MP3 PLAYER
It works. You can connect the 920 to your computer and move about 300mb of music onto it, but I would recommend using an SD card (I used a 2gb card, but I've heard you can use up to a 4gb). You have to create a folder titles "Mp3" on your SD card and put your music in that folder for it to work. It has a pretty good search function, looking for artists and albums. Nevertheless, Garmin's was much more "MP3 player-like." On the Garmin, if you paused it, you can turn the device off, and it would start off where you left off. On the 920, if you turn it off, you have to find the MP3 again and it starts off from the beginning of the song. Overall, the MP3 player works. I would say that its essentially a wash when compared to Garmin.
FM MODULATOR (TRANSMITTER)
I'm in Los Angeles where there are virtually no open signals. The best signals in LA are 88.3 and 88.5. The strength of the transmission is VERY weak (although comparable to Garmin). In fact, unless your antennae is in the front of your car or integrated in your windshield, this feature is likely to be useless. But if it does work for you, I would say that works pretty well. Compared to Garmin, however, MP3 volume is substantially lower. Changing between FM and Internal speaker takes about 4 screens, but you can program it off of the Shortcut list. The MAIN shortcoming of this feature is when you use your bluetooth phone. Basically - it was not designed to transmit your conversation over your car stereo. See Below:
BLUE TOOTH PHONE FEATURE
It took me a couple of tries to get my Motorola RAZR V3 connected to the 920. I had to turn my phone off and turn it back on to get it to work. Once it was connected, it worked fine. Accessing the phone on the device isn't as intuitive as the Garmin, but its functional, and again, there are tons of options. You can set it to pick up automatically, or after a few seconds. Sound quality is pretty good. The person on the other side said that that the voice was clear, but it sounded "small." BUT... HERE IS WHERE IT FALLS WAY SHORT OF GARMIN - if you have the modulator (transmitter) activated, the phone DOES NOT run the conversation over your car stereo speakers. It mutes the music/navigation, and it turns on the internal speaker on the 920. If you're going 80 mph on a freeway, good luck trying to hear what the other person is saying through the tiny little speaker. The Nuvis have a MUCH more integrated system where it mutes your music/navigation, and plays the other side of the conversation over your car stereo so that you can hear. Sound quality is MUCH better on Garmin.
TEXT TO SPEECH
On the 920, you have a number of options of voices. If you're willing to stick to "In a quarter mile, turn Left," you can select a "human voice" and the vocal quality is great. It really sounds like someone is talking to you (in fact, its a real person who is recorded). You can even program your 920 to use your own voice. If you want your 920 to speak out street names, you're going to have a hard time understanding what it's saying. It seemed like about half of the streets are glitchy where the voice COMPLETELY butchers the pronunciation. You can find a video on Youtube of someone making a correction for Mapshare, but as it is now, I would say the text-to-speech technology on the 920 is sub-par. The Garmin does a much better job.
CLOSING
Although it seems that I hate the GO 920, I actually things it's a great device. But when you're comparing it against the award winning Garmin Nuvi 660 or 680, it pales in comparison. The 920 has a number of creative options that Garmin doesn't even bother with, and with all of those options, the only way to put them in the device is to make a very elaborate menu system. But when you're dealing with a navigation unit that you'll be using while driving or while stopped at a red light, LESS IS DEFINITELY MORE. Ease of use becomes one of the most important factors when you have about 3 seconds to get to a menu and select an action. Had I never used a Nuvi, I would have loved the 920, but the fact is that Garmin figured it out alot better than TomTom.
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