18 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
Where Am I Tom? Tom??
Date of Review: Apr 2, 2009
The Bottom Line: Fairly easy to use and the speech instructions are very helpful. Rated Excellent based on price.
TOMTOM One XL-S
My Research
The prices have really dropped on many of the portable GPS devices including this model which can now be had for around $100 for a refurbished unit. And you guessed it, the price was finally right for me to jump in. So I'm a newbie GPS user and still learning the ropes but thought my review might be helpful to others who are also considering getting on the GPS bandwagon.
When I started shopping around for a GPS, I wanted a shirt pocket sized unit but was afraid the smaller 3.5" screens would be too small. I let that make the decision and moved up to the bigger 4.3" screen and am glad that I did. The XL-S is still physically quite small and easily fits in a glove box or console tray. Also, as I researched products, I quickly knew I wanted Speech capability and was pleased to find the XL-S also announces the Street names.
I also gave some thought to Voice Command where you can tell the unit where you want to go instead of having to type it in. But it kicks the price up on models that have that feature and I realized that I hate voice systems because I really have problems with getting voice recognition systems to understand what I'm saying - like voice dialing... Me: "Call Ann", It: "Call Aunt Martha?". Me: "No, Call Ann", It: "Call Cal Anderson?". Me now yelling: "No you blithering idiot, call Ann". It: "Call Blythe Nelson"... Ok you get my drift. So I'm going to save some money and frustration on that feature.
Other features promoted on some GPS are things such as storing and playing MP3 songs. Do we really need another MP3 player? I suspect I'm going to pick up a pack of matches and it will have a secondary feature to play MP3 songs. I don't need it. Now why don't they combine a good Radar Detector in a GPS unit? I mean it's already sticking on your windshield and wired for sight and sound. Seems like a natural to me but maybe it's just the engineer coming out in me but that's the kind of product I would be trying to do. Anyway, I'll cover some of the features that the XL-S has and the value they provide.
Product Overview:
Product Features
· 4.3 inch TFT LCD GPS Navigation Systems
· Preloaded Maps of US/CANADA/Spoken Directions ans Streets Names
· Touchscreen 480 x 272 /Help me Emergency Menu
· Memory 64 MB RAM/1 GB Internal Flash
· High Sensitivity SIRF Star III GPS Receiver
· Screen Size: 4.3"
· Touch Screen: Yes
· Voice: Yes
· Memory Expansion Slots: SD Card
· Battery Type: Internal Lithium-Ion Battery
· Battery Life: 2 hours
· Antenna: High sensitivity GPS chipset + jack to connect external antenna
· Special Features: Bluetooth
· Special Features: Spoken Street Names
· Size: 4.7" x 3.4" x 1.2", 7.4 ounces
In the Box:
· Car Charger
· USB Cable to TomTom plug. Special cable to connect XL-S to your computer
· Minimal Documentation
· Windshield Mount
Product Details:
Once you initiate your XL-S you can begin using it immediately. The windshield mount is easily installed. I suggest cradling the XL-S in the mount with the car charger attached as you identify where you want to mount the holder since you will need to lift the unit out and back in the holder from time to time. Since it's a suction cup, it's easily pulled off and back on if need be.
Tapping on the screen will bring up the main menu. It is 3 pages deep and has an arrow to go to the next page. The first page has several icons including the "Navigate to" icon. Tapping that brings up a second menu where you can select from icons for "Home", "Favorites" (that you've stored), "Recent Destination", "Point of Interest" (POI) or "Address". Tapping Address will take you to the next menu where you can select from several icons for "City Center", "Zip Code", "Intersection or Cross Street" or "Street & Number". If you tap "Street & Number" it produces a keyboard on the screen where you first enter the State and town. It automatically begins giving you options as you begin typing the letters for the town and quickly brings up the latest towns you've entered. It does the same as you start typing in street names and narrows the selection until you have the street identified. The same is true if you tapped "Cross streets or Intersection". Once you have entered the Destination, you will be asked if you need to arrive at a certain time. If you answer yes, XL-S will keep track of the time and display the status on your destination map as you travel.
You can also do advanced route planning. The XL-S will help you create the route and advise you of the travel time. You can select from several options including "Fastest Route", "Shortest Route", "Avoid Freeways" and others.
While in route, if you run into traffic problems you can tap the screen, go to the Menu and tap "Alternate Route" to find other options available to you. Or you can look for Points of Interest (POI) along the route by tapping "Find" at the bottom of the screen. This brings up several options including POI where you can select from a host of options including restaurants, hotels, gas stations, ATM machines and many more.
If you don't have a Destination, the XL-S map will show you the road/street you're on and a map of the area including upcoming intersections. Anytime the map is displayed, you can zoom in and out on the map by tapping the right side.
The Route Map screen will show the name of the street you're on at the top of the screen. It also shows the name of the next street you will be turning on to and distance. It will show the trip time and estimated time of arrival if you've chosen to display arrival time. Other options include Longitude and Latitude, GPS strength and Traffic if you're subscribed to that service.
From the main menu you can "Add Favorite". For example when you reach a destination that you want to store for future use, you can add this to your Favorites. Then on a future trip there, you set up a "Navigate To" route map, select Favorites, and pick this destination. This works for destination addresses and for POI's.
You have many options available to you under Preferences. One of the options is to display a 2D or 3D map. The 3D map gives the impression you are driving into the screen where the 2D simply shows the roads in a flat view where you can select North to the top or the direction you are driving always to the top. Other preferences adjust Night colors/brightness, Management of maps, POI's and Favorites, Set clock, change colors, voices, language and quite a few others.
TomTom Home is an internet site where you can update and manage your XL-S. I highly recommend logging on and registering on that site and then connecting your XL-S with the included USB cable. There you can upgrade software and maps (free for a limited period). There are lots of options available to you here. You can download voices for your unit including celebrity voices although some of them can cost between $6 and $13. There are tons of free ones though and you can listen to a sample before selecting. I'm using the stock voice that's already on the XL-S and in my case I picked an English female voice from the UK. She annunciates everything so clearly and doesn't get too angry with me when I miss a turn or choose another route.
There are a number of features available for use on the XL-S. Using your Bluetooth connection you can subscribe to Traffic updates for $60/year. These will then provide detailed traffic backups and other information on your XL-S.
Another handy feature is available from the main menu where you can select "Guided Tours" to give you a very good tutorial on how to use several of the features on the XL-S.
As you can see, this unit has lots of features and may seem a bit overwhelming or intimidating to use. But you can pretty much keep it as simple as you want or if you're really into programming, you can develop and customize your unit extensively using TomTom Home.
Other:
Of course the XL-S isn't perfect. I find it often slow to initialize when I first turn it on. I'm in a new neighborhood that is not on any GPS maps and wish I could ‘draw' a map of my location but I can't. I would think it could at least recognize and remember my latitude/longitude. I wish it had a "Learn" mode to track and store a route. I was also disappointed that it doesn't provide Altitude readings. I find that interesting when traveling in mountainous states.
[Corrected]
I initially thought that the XL-S wouldn't turn off automatically when you shut your car off. Turns out, this is an option. When you tap on the screen and go to the Menu selections, tap on Change Preferences and advance to the 4th page. There you will find Battery Saving Preference. You first have an option to turn off the screen between instructions. Next you have the option to Switch off when External Power is Lost. With that selected as soon as you remove power, a warning screen appears that XL-S is shutting down. You have a count down of 10 seconds to cancel the shutdown if you want to continue using the unit. I had not noticed this previously but in this mode as the battery is expiring, it will display a small battery icon in the lower left of the screen showing the discharge level. It comes on and off every few seconds but is not very noticeable.
Oh, as an aside, the other day I had parked at a restaurant in a side lot that didn't have many cars. On returning to the car I had a ticket under my wiper L but it was a ‘courtesy warning ticket' that I left items exposed that might invite a break in. I just noticed a similar note in the documentation on the XL-S so, be advised that it's not a good idea to leave the XL-S ‘permanently' on your dash or windshield.
UPDATE:
I ran some experiments on my XL-S and here is some additional data on the unit. First of all, the included car charger and the USB cable will both charge the XL-S when plugged into either power source. It takes about two hours to charge the XL-S. Unfortunately there is not a battery indicator to tell you when it's charged. As noted above there is a battery icon that periodically displays when it's about to die on you. Contrary to my earlier statement, you do not lose your personal data when the battery dies. My experiments show the battery life to be just under 3 hours. This was in a dormant (not moving) state so it may be less when there is more activity.
