[s-cars] Navigation

[LsClmmr at cs.com]

In a message dated 1/26/2005 10:51:48 PM Central Standard Time, brucem105@
comcast.net writes: 


Just thought I'd let you guys know I bought the TomTom Go navigation system 
> (www.tomtom.com). I paid $639 delivered for the unit with the 256MB SD card 
> (1MB SD card unit, the Go Plus, is about $150-$200 more), and there's a $50 
> rebate going on now.


I purchased the TomTom Go in October 2004.  I agree that it is a very useful 
well thought out item and I am glad I own it. I have these observations:  

1.  I would buy the Plus...the complete US on the card not regions.  This 
allows
     trips across areas bigger that the regions given in the base unit 
without having
     to change maps.  You get a map of major roads for the complete US in the 
base
     unit but it's better to have the complete detail on the US..my opinion.  
You can
     not purchase the SD card with the complete map on it yet either. :-(
2.  The times calculated for a particular route are substantially longer than 
actuals.
     I posed a question to TomTom support if there were base speed 
assumptions
     that might be set to allow the unit to get closer to reality...but no 
dice.  I also
     understand for this group we might need warp speeds to be used.  On the
     plus side of this issue, the machine does adjust down the expected trip 
time
     as you move through your route faster than what it calculated at the 
beginning.
3.  You must be exact in your street names...Grant, S Grant, West Grant...in 
bigger
     cities you may be headed to an address you don't want if you are not 
careful.
4.   If you get to an area where the highway has been modified and the map 
does not
      reflect it...the unit gets a little wacky and starts telling you to 
turn, turn, turn.
      You just continue down the road till it positions you on a road it 
knows and then
      you are OK.
5.    The touchscreen is great...no buttons to deal with.
6.    I have yet to see how the maps get updated...I suspect I will have to 
buy them
       every couple of years.
7.    I have had it take me to a wrong tiny town....may have been operator 
abuse, but 
       I don't think so.
8.    I use the suction mount and won't use the supplied sticky mount for the 
dash.
9.    Support seems a bit slow and impersonal...not bad but could be better.
10.   I used a Hertz GPS unit last week and like TomTom much better.

This is my first GPS and even if it doesn't seem like it from my comments, 
I'd buy it again.

Les Clemmer
95.5 with 252K miles, some GPS guided.