TomTom 6000 Review - now I've got to use it

[Master.of.Mischief]

I’m sure if you’re reading this then you have probably read my initial review here (https://www.tomtomforums.com/threads/tomtom-6000-review-my-thoughts.30646/). This I wrote when I had used it for a couple of days. But since I have been using it for a month and have got to use it a lot more then I can write a more in depth review of the sat nav.

The first big trip I took with this was up to see a friend in Oswestry and I’m in Stotfold in Beds. This would take about 2 ½ to 3 hours. So I set it up and got it pointing my way.

To type in your destination you press the menu button at the bottom left (3 little dots) and select ‘Search’. You type in the post code and you can then select from that if you want to go to the area or you can type in the POST COSE then then HOUSE NUMBER. No idea why it’s reversed like that but then if you think about it it’s always really been like that. You type in the post code, it searches for the road, you select it then you type in the number. So not majorly different, just weird.

The route calculating is extremely fast. It took little less than 3 seconds to decide on the route it thought best. You press ‘Let’s Go!’ and you’re on your way.

Some points here to note that I found strange.

On my 950 if there was any traffic on the journey it would show you on the right hand side. It would display all of the hold ups and the time it estimated that it would take on top of your journey. The 6000 software does, sort of! Instead of cramming all the jams onto the line it shows them as you’re about to approach them. In my case I think that the line was 30 miles (if you had a longer journey then line would be 40 or 50 miles, shorter then you’d probably see the whole route on that line). This was quite annoying as I thought that my journey was going to have no traffic but about 50 miles in the little traffic warning popped out from the top and gave me a rough time of how long it would take. I’m not too sure if it ads this into the time you’re going to reach your destination though, so if anyone knows, please tell me! But it does tell you how long the traffic jam is, how long it should take to clear it, and how long you’re going to be before you actually come up against it.

It doesn’t tell you if you’re going be going over tolls, and that is annoying. In the menu you can either have it avoid tolls or go through tolls. It doesn’t let you decide on the day, so you have to know if you’re going past a toll booth or you’re going to get caught.

In conclusion the software is not as good as it should be but I think most of you know that. If they made software that was as good as the actual product then it would be a blazingly good sat nav!

 

[canderson]

Yes, traffic delay is incorporated in to your ETA. Further, while it does not show all of the traffic in the traffic bar for a long journey, you should see the indication for delay time up above the bar there. That's the total cumulative result of any issues, not just what's currently displayed in the bar itself.

If I understand your meaning for "It doesn't let you decide on the day":

We have similar issues with day of week and time sensitive roads, both for direction and for tolls. I suspect it is going to take a long time for TomTom to sort out how to embed that sort of information in their maps, and even longer to actually map out all of the rules and exceptions for the many roads that have these issues.

Alternately, if you meant that it doesn't let you decide whether or not to use/avoid tolls for a given trip, yes, it can certainly be done -- it just no longer has the 'Always Ask' button that we preferred that causes the question to remain visible until answered. It actually does ask for every trip if set to not avoid tolls -- but you get only a banner at the top for a brief time and a that brief time to confirm/deny toll road use. I'm still a fan of the old yes/no/ask method as you had it on the 950. The device would refuse to navigate until the question was answered if set to 'Always ask', so it never snuck in and out without your notice as it might do now.

 

[Master.of.Mischief]

Yes, traffic delay is incorporated in to your ETA. Further, while it does not show all of the traffic in the traffic bar for a long journey, you should see the indication for delay time up above the bar there. That's the total cumulative result of any issues, not just what's currently displayed in the bar itself.

If I understand your meaning for "It doesn't let you decide on the day":

We have similar issues with day of week and time sensitive roads, both for direction and for tolls. I suspect it is going to take a long time for TomTom to sort out how to embed that sort of information in their maps, and even longer to actually map out all of the rules and exceptions for the many roads that have these issues.

Alternately, if you meant that it doesn't let you decide whether or not to use/avoid tolls for a given trip, yes, it can certainly be done -- it just no longer has the 'Always Ask' button that we preferred that causes the question to remain visible until answered. It actually does ask for every trip if set to not avoid tolls -- but you get only a banner at the top for a brief time and a that brief time to confirm/deny toll road use. I'm still a fan of the old yes/no/ask method as you had it on the 950. The device would refuse to navigate until the question was answered if set to 'Always ask', so it never snuck in and out without your notice as it might do now.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, I'll have a closer look next time I use my 6000 and update my review as per your responce.