Go, Go, Go, With the TomTom Go Car Navigation System
The TomTom Go is a rather small package which contains
everything you need for automobile navigation. It's designed as
a ready-to-go product with software, maps, and car mount that
works straight out of the box (well, almost). Let's take a look
at what it can do.
It does require a little set up. Connect the unit to your PC,
load one of the CDs, and choose the region you intend to travel.
Now we come to the first handy thing about the TomTom Go. Other
brands limit the region choices to only one configuration.
For example, your choice may be Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.
That's fine if you plan on staying within that region. But what
happens when you want to travel to Illinois, too? This can often
be a problem because data (map) storage space is limited. It is
likely that uploading that additional region requires a larger
capacity data storage card which means extra bucks. The TomTom
Go allows you many choices of combinations of states so it is
very likely that one of the choices easily covers where you are
going without extra hassle and expense.
After an easy car installation, it's time to tell it where to
take you. There are three main ways to start navigating. You can
enter an address, use the map and point to a place on the touch
screen, or select from the thousands of points of interest
(POI). Some of the POI categories are: food & drink, shops,
parks, airports, and lodging.
Other navigation options allow you to go home, go to a recent
destination, or a "favorite." A place you may go to over and
over again can be saved as a favorite.
The loud and clear voice directions will say, for instance,
"turn left in 200 yards." It will again announce the maneuver
closer to the turn. All the time, the TomTom Go is displaying a
map of your progress. It has your choice of 3D or 2D views with
different displays for day and night use.
TomTom has built in a lot of customizing. There are several
choices of voices in different languages and you can program the
unit to give you additional voice prompts such as distance since
departure or time to instruction. You can make it left--hand
friendly or change the map colors. You can even flip the display
180 degrees in case you need to mount it upside--down.
The negatives? This item is not for geeks. In other words, it is
limited in its technical aspects -- it was designed for the
consumer. For instance, there is no choice for fastest/shortest
routing or navigating by longitude/latitude. I also found it
lacking a number of points of interest.
Overall, the TomTom Go is a well thought out piece of gear. It's
available online in the range of $550 to $800 US. Go to TomTom Go
GPS review for an even more detailed review.