13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Neat little Gadget - at great price and support
Date of Review: Oct 25, 2008
The Bottom Line: Great portable unit with great features at next to impossible price to beat
Never thought i would buy one of these devices as I know my way around town very well, take few road trip that i'm not familiar with, nor do i drive to work.
But I bought it as a toy as I still feel that i will rarely use it.
Now that i got one, i find it a very interesting toy that will help not just in driving. It will help you find things eg restaurants whereever you are. Even if you didn't drive there. So handy to slip it in your pocket/purse and use it as a guide.
The scary thing is how accurate these things are. It knows exactly the street you are on. if you are on a corner and you put your foot on the next street it will register it within a foot. Also, the screen give you data on the speed you are travelling with pretty good accuracy in addition to time of arrival. Neat to have.
Initially i thought the speech to text was manditory as i wouldn't know where to turn. The Tom Tom is fine without it esp given it's about $50 more to upgrade from the 130 to the 130S. The 130 warns you when you are say 500 metres away before you must turn. You will see the count down to 400.....100 to 0 metres so you know exactly when to expect to turn. No brainer .
This machine sometime even knows when you are in the express/collector lane on the highway as it tells you to keep left/right.
If you don't follow the route chosen, it will automatically adjust your new route used to get to where you need to go.
Navigating. Pretty easy once you get use to it.
Updating map & software. Easy to do. Install Tom Tom Home on computer then follow the steps to get the latest map (which you have 30 days to do from the time you turn on the unit). You can also add more points on interest from TT Home. You can add voices like Austin Powers etc..... for free on TT Home and also new pictures etc....... Also back up your Tom Tom to your computer's hard drive thru TT Home just in case anything goes wrong.
One thing i'm upset about this unit is the battery life. I prefer not to use the cigarette lighter adapter but as the battery only last less than 2 hrs sometimes you may not have a choice. According to some sites & professional reviews, they said the new model has 3hr compared to the older version. Mine is the newer version but only 2 hrs. Called Tom Tom Support but they said it should only be 2 and if someone said 3 - they are sorry.
Other neg is given the size of the screen, the keypad is a bit small. Esp if you have big fingers.The widescreen would help greatly for this but this increases the size and portability. This unit is sooooo small and sleek that it fits in your pocket no problems. The mount is good and easy to secure on your windshield. Great mechanism.
The sound is fine. Other reviews complained about low volume. My is loud and clear.
Overall, great unit esp price/size/features. No sense spending 1 1/2 to 2 or 3 tiimes the price. Technology will change so fast and these things will come down in price or the technology will change rapidly.
No need for MP3 or Video or Bluetooth. Buy an itouch with the money you save.
I was a non believer of this but now a believer esp for certain people.
I'm sure these things will drop in price during the Xmas rush
These are going for $139 on sale now.
