This Christmas I received my first GPS device and found that it really is life-altering (at least to some degree). I have to admit that I once didn’t understand what the fuss was all about. I had Google Maps, like everyone else, and I could get perfect directions to anywhere I wanted to go. I thought the devices were mainly for tracking where you went, and I really wasn’t in to that. I was wrong on both accounts.
I was shocked to see how accurate the device was in determining how close I was to the next street. I couldn’t believe the device could tell how fast I was going. Even more, I couldn’t believe that when I plugged in the destination, it didn’t matter what turns I took it would re-build the route and adjust as I went.
Specifically, the TomTom One XL is great because it is just that — XL. I love the huge screen. Even though the screen is mounted on the windshield, I can see every bit of information very well and the large screen means large, easy to touch buttons (the controls are touch-screen).
I also love the bluetooth capabilities of the device, and that it can pull information down from my BlackBerry. I have been using the free trial of the traffic feature and I must say that it is pretty solid. It has re-routed me on a number of occassions based on traffic. It’s not without any setbacks, though, as it consistently routes me around a road that is always, every day, wide open. Somehow it is getting poor traffic info for that area, because without traffic enabled it will route me through the area.
I am fairly impressed with the estimated arrival time, too. I think it does particularly well if you are mostly on city roads. The wide variation in speed on the freeways can set it off as much as 5-10 minutes in a 15-mile drive (usually more like 3-5 minutes. But, still, I think that’s pretty good. TomTom claims that they are constantly averaging commutes (for the people who allow their device to communicate data back to them) to help make that time more accurate. I haven’t been able to tell if the traffic information affects the arrival time or not yet.
Coming up, I will talk about some of the shortcomings/flaws I see with the device, and later a poor experience with customer service (that I promised them I would blog about). All in all, as far as the device goes, I don’t think you can do much better.
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Tags: BlackBerry, features, review, TomTom One XL
