I just got a TomTom One, and used it for about an hour so far on some secondary roads. This is my first standalone navigation unit, although I've had a handheld Magellan for most of a decade, and have used a navigation system that runs through my laptop computer.
I got the new version without the SiRFStarIII (this one is Hammerhead, right?). Some people seem to refer to this as v3 and others as V4, so I'm not sure what to call it.
Compared to my previous experience, well, the Magellan, is almost useless for road navigation. The PC-based GPS is much better, but still doesn't compare to the TomTom. Despite the small size, the TomTom's user interface is better, and the TomTom GPS functionality itself is much better.
Specifically for the TomTom:
Getting everything set to run was much more involved than I expected. Not that it was difficult, but there was a bunch to set up, what with authorizing the map set, entering the time (why doesn't it do this automatically?), etc. So, a bunch to do, but easy.
The GPS is amazing. As I pulled out of the garage, it got its initial fix in the time it took me to wait for the garage door to close. And once it had the signal it never wavered, regardless of tree cover or speed. Even last night indoors, it had 4 out of 5 bars.
The display and voice prompts seemed to be slightly out of sync with the actual location. It seemed that the location displayed on the screen was where I was perhaps 50 feet prior (depending on speed, of course). I wonder if the Hammerhead chipset's leeching off the main CPU doesn't allow it to keep the display up-to-date.
The maps were very detailed and accurate, at least that I've seen so far. I was impressed that it was able to tell me to take the 2nd and 3rd exits from the two traffic circles I had to go through. However, at one intersection I was told to make the second left; I have no idea what it thought the first one was, since there are only two roads in the immediate vicinity.
I'm a bit less impressed with the routing. On the large scale, I can see why it made most of the choices that it did. It isn't aware of the rush hour traffic patterns in the area, so what would appear to be a no brainer on the interstate is to be avoided at certain times. I can deal with that.
But there were two things that bothered me. First, since I disagreed with some of its choices, I went ahead and did my own thing, and let it recalculate the route as I ignored its command to turn. It seems that most of the time, its solution to the recalculation is "Turn around when safe", rather than giving any weight to my current direction of travel.
Second, there is one area of maybe 1/4 mile square where two roads meet at a T, and a third creates a triangle between them. An oddity of naming has it that this third road is the "main" road; if you take this road, then at its end there's a stop sign; make a right and the new road has the same name! The road that goes straight is called the bypass.
I was approaching the bypass from the other side, yet TomTom told me to pass this intersection and take the main road. Its route would not only be longer, but also take me through two lights and a stop sign, compared to just a single light if done my way. There is no conceivable criteria that should lead to the TomTom route: it's longer distance, longer time, more complicated, and avoids no restrictions that might interfere with either trucks or bikes. So I just can't fathom what it's thinking.
Hardware wise, the unit seems pretty good. It's solidly constructed and doesn't look like a toy. The mounting hardware works fine -- there's no way that suction cup is coming off -- but the bracket the device slides into is too tight. There might be a glitch in the touch screen, I'm not sure. A couple of times entering addresses, it seemed as if the device thought I'd clicked Done when I hadn't, but maybe this is just a matter of getting used to it.
So far, I'm pleased overall with the unit.
I got the new version without the SiRFStarIII (this one is Hammerhead, right?). Some people seem to refer to this as v3 and others as V4, so I'm not sure what to call it.
Compared to my previous experience, well, the Magellan, is almost useless for road navigation. The PC-based GPS is much better, but still doesn't compare to the TomTom. Despite the small size, the TomTom's user interface is better, and the TomTom GPS functionality itself is much better.
Specifically for the TomTom:
Getting everything set to run was much more involved than I expected. Not that it was difficult, but there was a bunch to set up, what with authorizing the map set, entering the time (why doesn't it do this automatically?), etc. So, a bunch to do, but easy.
The GPS is amazing. As I pulled out of the garage, it got its initial fix in the time it took me to wait for the garage door to close. And once it had the signal it never wavered, regardless of tree cover or speed. Even last night indoors, it had 4 out of 5 bars.
The display and voice prompts seemed to be slightly out of sync with the actual location. It seemed that the location displayed on the screen was where I was perhaps 50 feet prior (depending on speed, of course). I wonder if the Hammerhead chipset's leeching off the main CPU doesn't allow it to keep the display up-to-date.
The maps were very detailed and accurate, at least that I've seen so far. I was impressed that it was able to tell me to take the 2nd and 3rd exits from the two traffic circles I had to go through. However, at one intersection I was told to make the second left; I have no idea what it thought the first one was, since there are only two roads in the immediate vicinity.
I'm a bit less impressed with the routing. On the large scale, I can see why it made most of the choices that it did. It isn't aware of the rush hour traffic patterns in the area, so what would appear to be a no brainer on the interstate is to be avoided at certain times. I can deal with that.
But there were two things that bothered me. First, since I disagreed with some of its choices, I went ahead and did my own thing, and let it recalculate the route as I ignored its command to turn. It seems that most of the time, its solution to the recalculation is "Turn around when safe", rather than giving any weight to my current direction of travel.
Second, there is one area of maybe 1/4 mile square where two roads meet at a T, and a third creates a triangle between them. An oddity of naming has it that this third road is the "main" road; if you take this road, then at its end there's a stop sign; make a right and the new road has the same name! The road that goes straight is called the bypass.
I was approaching the bypass from the other side, yet TomTom told me to pass this intersection and take the main road. Its route would not only be longer, but also take me through two lights and a stop sign, compared to just a single light if done my way. There is no conceivable criteria that should lead to the TomTom route: it's longer distance, longer time, more complicated, and avoids no restrictions that might interfere with either trucks or bikes. So I just can't fathom what it's thinking.
Hardware wise, the unit seems pretty good. It's solidly constructed and doesn't look like a toy. The mounting hardware works fine -- there's no way that suction cup is coming off -- but the bracket the device slides into is too tight. There might be a glitch in the touch screen, I'm not sure. A couple of times entering addresses, it seemed as if the device thought I'd clicked Done when I hadn't, but maybe this is just a matter of getting used to it.
So far, I'm pleased overall with the unit.
