- Joined
- Mar 3, 2012
- Messages
- 47
- Location
- Stotfold, Beds, England
- Country
- TomTom Model(s)
- Tomtom GO 950 Live, Tomtom 6000
I have been looking into buying a new Tomtom for a few months now as my 950 Live was coming to the end of the subscription service for both maps and live updates. Instead of spending nearly £100 for more subscriptions I thought I'd fork out an extra £150 for a 6000. As a warehouse worker I do sometimes go out on the road delivering, and cover around 300 miles a day. Looking at a map to find a small warehouse in the middle of nowhere is not economical. My 950 is about 6 years old and still going strong. It's defiantly got more years to give and has provided and excellent service. I think I have used it almost every week since first getting it. It does crash once every month or so, but after a quick reboot, it's back to normal.
I'd been looking into getting this model ever since it came out, but the initial comments and reviews put me off. However since I had some 'spare change' left over from last months pay packet I decided to take the plunge and get it. I decided that if I didn't like it then I would just flog it on eBay or give it to someone else.
I am still going to keep my Tomtom 950 for backup, but it doesn't have the live services or the latest map.
Upon opening the box I was greeted by this mammoth 6" sat nav. Very minimalist and very well designed. It feels like the materials used are of quite high quality and if my 950 is anything to go by its going to be very rugged as I've dropped that thing more times than I care to imagine. The touch screen is glossy and does pick up fingerprints quite easily. The plastic case is a smooth grey matte finish not like the 950 that has a rubberised feel and a matte screen. The speaker is behind a metal wire mesh. The metal back is what the magnet on the car mount clips onto. The magnet is very strong so it won't fall off suddenly.
The bottom of the 6000 has a USB port, a port that the dock sits in and a microSD card port. The car dock port looks very similar to that on my 950. I have a USB to dock cable that I use when I mount the 950 in an air vent mount so I don't have it obstructing my window. It might fit the 6000. We will see!
All that comes in the box is a very simple instruction pamphlet on how to update your Tomtom, a car window mount and a USB cable. No case, nothing else.
When I got it home I turned on the 6000 and was greeted with a completely different interface to what I have been used to. Instead of a 'Where would you like to go' all you can do is perform a search. But you can type in what you like and it should find it.
I connected up my PC to the 6000 and downloaded the MyDrive software. Basically this is a different program to the MyHome software as your browser is what is going to be interacting to your Tomtom through the MyDrive program that sits in your system tray.
I was mildly disappointed when some of the updates didn't install at first go, I kept at it and eventually it did install. Takes a little while but it does work eventually. Turning off the 6000 completely (more on this shortly), unplugging it, plugging it back in and turning it back on did the trick. PLEASE NOTE that the GPS and Traffic do not work when it's plugged into the computer. I don't know why this is. If anyone knows a reason, please tell me.
The on/off button at the top serves two options. One is to put the 6000 to sleep or turn it off completely. If you're going to be using yours a lot then just whack it into sleep. If not, use shut down. Turning it back on from shut down take about 30 seconds, waking it from sleep is almost instant.
I would advise you to get a decent memory card as the memory built into the 6000 isn't that big if you're going to be downloading more maps. The supplied Europe map was nearly 6Gb and the UK map that I wanted to install didn't fit. You could if you wanted to, uninstall all over maps and only have on what you are going to use, but the MyDrive software is very insistent that you stuff everything on your 6000. It will automatically install maps on your SD card is there isn't enough space on your 6000 memory.
After fully updating and going through the menu, it's very easy to use once you get past the idea that whilst this is a very expensive piece of kit, not much in the way of bells and whistles comes loaded.
You don't get Bluetooth connectivity, no custom colours for your maps, no custom sounds, no custom car icons (I used to have a little i10 as my icon as that is what I drive) and no custom start up and shut down images. I have also head that you can't upload personal POI files as of yet.
Getting past all this, I dug deeper into the menus and found not much else. There are some small customisations like menu colour change but that it.
The screen is very beautiful. Bright and sharp. Unless you're really blind then you'll be able to see everything clearly. If you can't then you need to give up driving.
That evening I was going to Milton Keynes for a night out so I decided to test the 6000 out then. I typed in the post code and the routing was very fast. I had to make one stop first to collect a friend. The directions on screen are very clear, you can change the size of the directions it shows you to take on screen. You can have it on the largest size and still see the route you're taking clearly on the big colourful screen. I don't have the voice guidance on as if I want to go another way it sounds like my other half is in the car with me telling me to turn round repeatedly.
On the right of the screen is the time remaining/distance to go/time etc. It shows you a bar and points on that bar if there's any speed cameras/traffic jams/petrol stations. These can be changed to show what you want. You can't however have the bar anywhere else on the screen, and you can't have distance and tome remaining shown together. You can have either or, or have them cycle between each.
It routed us round traffic jams and closed roads. It did try to take us through a closed road but that had literally just happened.
All in all I'm very happy with my device. I was disappointed at first that there wasn't much in the way of customisation however it's a Tomtom Sat Nav, not a phone. You buy it for one thing and one thing only, to instruct you where to go.
Would I recommend it?
Sort of! If you're like me and absolutely must have the top end, then go for it. It might take a while to get used to it but it will work as intended.
Hopefully the Tomtom program makers will add more stuff in the future to allow us to change how we want it.
I'm very happy with it and will defiantly get my worth from it.
I'd been looking into getting this model ever since it came out, but the initial comments and reviews put me off. However since I had some 'spare change' left over from last months pay packet I decided to take the plunge and get it. I decided that if I didn't like it then I would just flog it on eBay or give it to someone else.
I am still going to keep my Tomtom 950 for backup, but it doesn't have the live services or the latest map.
Upon opening the box I was greeted by this mammoth 6" sat nav. Very minimalist and very well designed. It feels like the materials used are of quite high quality and if my 950 is anything to go by its going to be very rugged as I've dropped that thing more times than I care to imagine. The touch screen is glossy and does pick up fingerprints quite easily. The plastic case is a smooth grey matte finish not like the 950 that has a rubberised feel and a matte screen. The speaker is behind a metal wire mesh. The metal back is what the magnet on the car mount clips onto. The magnet is very strong so it won't fall off suddenly.
The bottom of the 6000 has a USB port, a port that the dock sits in and a microSD card port. The car dock port looks very similar to that on my 950. I have a USB to dock cable that I use when I mount the 950 in an air vent mount so I don't have it obstructing my window. It might fit the 6000. We will see!
All that comes in the box is a very simple instruction pamphlet on how to update your Tomtom, a car window mount and a USB cable. No case, nothing else.
When I got it home I turned on the 6000 and was greeted with a completely different interface to what I have been used to. Instead of a 'Where would you like to go' all you can do is perform a search. But you can type in what you like and it should find it.
I connected up my PC to the 6000 and downloaded the MyDrive software. Basically this is a different program to the MyHome software as your browser is what is going to be interacting to your Tomtom through the MyDrive program that sits in your system tray.
I was mildly disappointed when some of the updates didn't install at first go, I kept at it and eventually it did install. Takes a little while but it does work eventually. Turning off the 6000 completely (more on this shortly), unplugging it, plugging it back in and turning it back on did the trick. PLEASE NOTE that the GPS and Traffic do not work when it's plugged into the computer. I don't know why this is. If anyone knows a reason, please tell me.
The on/off button at the top serves two options. One is to put the 6000 to sleep or turn it off completely. If you're going to be using yours a lot then just whack it into sleep. If not, use shut down. Turning it back on from shut down take about 30 seconds, waking it from sleep is almost instant.
I would advise you to get a decent memory card as the memory built into the 6000 isn't that big if you're going to be downloading more maps. The supplied Europe map was nearly 6Gb and the UK map that I wanted to install didn't fit. You could if you wanted to, uninstall all over maps and only have on what you are going to use, but the MyDrive software is very insistent that you stuff everything on your 6000. It will automatically install maps on your SD card is there isn't enough space on your 6000 memory.
After fully updating and going through the menu, it's very easy to use once you get past the idea that whilst this is a very expensive piece of kit, not much in the way of bells and whistles comes loaded.
You don't get Bluetooth connectivity, no custom colours for your maps, no custom sounds, no custom car icons (I used to have a little i10 as my icon as that is what I drive) and no custom start up and shut down images. I have also head that you can't upload personal POI files as of yet.
Getting past all this, I dug deeper into the menus and found not much else. There are some small customisations like menu colour change but that it.
The screen is very beautiful. Bright and sharp. Unless you're really blind then you'll be able to see everything clearly. If you can't then you need to give up driving.
That evening I was going to Milton Keynes for a night out so I decided to test the 6000 out then. I typed in the post code and the routing was very fast. I had to make one stop first to collect a friend. The directions on screen are very clear, you can change the size of the directions it shows you to take on screen. You can have it on the largest size and still see the route you're taking clearly on the big colourful screen. I don't have the voice guidance on as if I want to go another way it sounds like my other half is in the car with me telling me to turn round repeatedly.
On the right of the screen is the time remaining/distance to go/time etc. It shows you a bar and points on that bar if there's any speed cameras/traffic jams/petrol stations. These can be changed to show what you want. You can't however have the bar anywhere else on the screen, and you can't have distance and tome remaining shown together. You can have either or, or have them cycle between each.
It routed us round traffic jams and closed roads. It did try to take us through a closed road but that had literally just happened.
All in all I'm very happy with my device. I was disappointed at first that there wasn't much in the way of customisation however it's a Tomtom Sat Nav, not a phone. You buy it for one thing and one thing only, to instruct you where to go.
Would I recommend it?
Sort of! If you're like me and absolutely must have the top end, then go for it. It might take a while to get used to it but it will work as intended.
Hopefully the Tomtom program makers will add more stuff in the future to allow us to change how we want it.
I'm very happy with it and will defiantly get my worth from it.
