TomTom for visually impaired?

[mew]

My visually impaired son has an ancient TomTom that was not a bad GPS for him. He is thinking about getting the XL 335TM and wondered if initial instructions are like Garmin's "Walk to highlighted route" (which are totally useless for him).
From what we read voice commands are good on this model.

 

[canderson]

Wow - I am trying to imagine using a GPS for that kind of navigation and the consequences of how a TomTom works upon that use model.

Can you help us out just a little bit by explaining his expectations? A TomTom will attempt to put you on a road at all times for navigation. It doesn't have a really great 'pedestrian' mode because the maps do not include information about very many walking paths.

Unfortunately, the units with the very best pedestrian maps available (and best battery life, something you need to consider carefully in the purchase) are handhelds that do not have spoken instructions. They employ only beeps to indicate the next required 'turn'. I refer to Garmin units that can be pre-loaded with '3rd party' maps from the OSM project. Contributors to that mapping system include many walking paths, often detailing them for paths in parks, etc.

Here's where those maps are available if you're curious:
http://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php

Can you give us a better idea of the kinds of areas in which he'll be using a unit like this, and perhaps some idea of his level of impairment?

 

[mew]

Thanks for you speedy answer. Although walking paths would be great, it's more for use for walking in the city or on country roads. He has some residual vision (very limited field of vision, 20-200 acuity), so he can see high-contrast, white on black or very large print. Battery life is a serious consideration. What is it for this model or the average battery life for GPS units like this?

 

[canderson]

If you get three hours out of any of these automotive units when brand new, you're doing very well, and none of them are designed take standard swappable cells. Battery life goes down from there.

Handhelds will usually hold up for an entire day with decent batteries, and you can always swap in another pair of AAs if need be.

The gotcha as I see it is spoken directions + poor battery life vs. no spoken directions and good battery life with swap option.

The alternative is to use an automotive unit with an aux battery pack connected to the unit's USB cable. You can buy aux battery packs for MP3 players and the like, and a few of them actually have decent capacity. You plug these aux packs into the wall to charge them, and when on the move, you plug your device (GPS, in this case) into the aux pack. IF you decide to go that route, you will most assuredly want to pick a unit that doesn't have a permanent suction mount or some kind of special docking base to get to the USB connection.

 

[mew]

That info re: the aux battery pack is really helpful - thanks. One more clarification. What are TomTom GPS's initial instructions when starting out on a road? Do they say, for instance, "Turn right and go..." or do they say "Proceed to high-lighted road"?

 

[canderson]

A TomTom tells you what way to go from right where you are. If you're not already on a road, it will say something like "In 150 feet, turn left" to get you from a parking lot to the road.

 

[Andy_P]

A TomTom with "text to speech" voices will also say things like "After 200 yards, turn left onto Station Road" followed by "Turn left, Station Road" as you get there.

 

[canderson]

Forgot to address one item - The EasyPort mount of the 335 models don't require the mount for power, and use a very common mini-USB connection - works for your purposes. Also, I see that the XL340TM may be even less expensive if you shop around. For MOST people, we recommend against the "Easy Menu" units due to lack of certain other features (e.g., navigate to coordinates), but in this case, it might well be that the 335 with the Easy Menu is a better choice than the 340 with the standard 6 button menu.

 

[mew]

Thanks so much - this has been really helpful. I think we'll give the XL340TM a try.

 

[canderson]

WAIT! Again, while we we discourage the 335 and it's EasyMenu system for many users, it is only because certain features are missing - but those features are probably not useful to your son, and the simplified menu structure may be of benefit to him. In his case 335 may actually be a better choice - a rare thing amongst most users.

 

[mew]

He is a little concerned about the lack of ability to navigate to coordinates, but maybe we are misunderstanding the usefulness of that. So the model you suggest is XL335TM? I just looked at that and see that is has this Fold & Go EasyPort mount on the back. Is that bulky? And can I see somewhere how the menus compare?

 

[Andy_P]

That mount CAN be removed.

 

[canderson]

Much depends upon what he can do with 20-200 vision. If he is able and needs to enter coordinate data (e.g., N39º55.382 W104º59.331 or N39.42562º W104.35562º - either style works) then the 340 will be preferred.