XL Classic 250 or Via 220?

[tuffyntilly]

I have a question for the forum. I have a TomTom One (3rd edition) and I'm thinking of replacing it. I have narrowed my choices down to XL Classic /250 with Tom Tom Home2 or Via 220 with MyTom Tom. With my old One Edition 3, I can add itineraries from both within and from Tyre, but so far, I cannot find any concrete evidence that either of my two choices for a replacement device can do this. Does anyone have any advice regarding this and also general advice on either model.

 

[dhn]

Neither device has Itinerary Planning.

The XL Classic is a basic model with reduced functionality. You can add a custom menu to add back some features, including Itinerary Planning. See here for the information:
http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=136159

The Via 220 also does not have Itinerary Planning. The best you can do is add 3 waypoints to a route but you can't save the route as an itinerary. Also, MyTomTom, in my opinion, is more problematic than Home. None of the current models (Go or Via) can do IP.

If you plan to use the device only in your home country, maybe the Classic. But the 250 has only 1 gb storage and no sd slot for future map expansion.

 

[tuffyntilly]

Thanks for your reply.
So, with all this in mind, I'm now looking at the XXL540, any opnions?

 

[dhn]

Grab one if you can.

 

[tuffyntilly]

I can get one for AUS $129. I'm just a bit concerned with the screen size in a small car. Otherwise it sounds like the one to get.

 

[dhn]

I don't think a 5" screen is going to be a problem. A bigger concern is what the internal storage size is. The North American 540's came in 2 sizes: 2 gb and a World Traveller edition that I have and, at one point, held both the complete North American map AND Europe.

No longer, now has all of North America and just a western_Europe zone on it.

But I took it to Italy a few years ago and the rds-tmc antenna worked fine there.

 

[tuffyntilly]

Thanks for your help. The Australian version only comes with 2Gb of memory which should be enough for my requirements. One final thing to check, does it have the ability to do an itinerary within itself and or using Tyre. This is very important when traveling some of our outback roads. Once again, thanks for your help in deciding, it has been quite a maze to negotiate.

 

[dhn]

You can create an itinerary without the need for Tyre. The 540 has that functionality built in. A total of 48 waypoints per itinerary and as many itineraries as the storage allows.

And the best thing, since the 540 is a Nav2 device using Home, is that the user can access the file system on the device using Explorer and do stuff like manual backups, etc.

 

[tuffyntilly]

That's what I wanted to hear. Thanks

 

[Mike UK]

Hi dhn, I was interested to come across this thread in relation to the best TT model for itinerary planning. Could you please comment on the relative merits of the 750 Live and XXL 540?

 

[dhn]

I believe both models have true Itinerary Planning. Meaning, up to 48 waypoints per itinerary and you can save/retrieve itineraries.

None of the newer Nav 3 (such as your Start 60) or Nav 4 devices have true itinerary functionality. Max waypoints is 3 or 4 and itineraries cannot be saved/retrieved.

 

[Mike UK]

Thanks for your immediate reply. Having bought a Start 60, I am now well aware of the limitations of the Nav 3/4 devices! It is for that reason that I have been looking to buy a Nav 2 unit on e-bay. I found https://www.tomtomforums.com/threads/tomtom-model-feature-reference-updated-11-2-2011.21826/ extremely useful. As far as I can make out, the main advantage of the XXL 540 is the larger screen size (5" v 4.3"), while the GO 750 has the advantage of a SD slot. One thing that I was wondering was whether the XXL 540 TM WTE had lifetime map upgrades for the European maps as well as the US maps?

 

[dhn]

If you buy the device in Eurpoe, ONLY the Europe map has lifetime map updates, not North America and vice versa.