I was'nt sure if I should post this here or in the review section, but here goes. I bought a Tom Tom Go 300 a few weeks ago. Immediate impression; it was REALLY easy to use. I just plugged it in, typed in a place and went. For what I need from it, it works great. It lags a bit at times and if you already know where you're going, but you use Tom TOm anyways, you'll quickly realize that sometimes it'll take you on some roads that you probally dont even need to go on to hit your destination. It has some pretty good features, such as alternate routes, warning of toll roads, POI (Points of Interests) ie: restaurants, gas stations, parking lots, etc. The only downside I have seen from Tom Tom is the very SLIGHT lack of accuracy. Sometimes, for example, when I used Tom Tom to take me to Vishnu Tuning in Blackhawk. I typed in the address and went there. When it said "you have reached your destination", I look around and I noticed an adress on a wall that says 3400 when Vishnu is at 3600, which is about 2 blocks away. This has happened several times, where it has lead me a block or two away from where I was trying to go. Another downfall, i took my tom tom out of my car and brought it into my friend's sti the other night while we went togue. I quickly noticed that TOm Tom can't keep up with the car on the mountain. At times it would lag and I could'nt read the upcoming roads fast enough. Also, at times, it would read that my little arrow (the car), was OFF the road and then Tom Tom would blink out and then snap back into position. I believe the Tom Tom unit itself is too slow to compensate for the rate of travel we were going at on the twisty road. For the most part, for what I paid, I am pleased with this unit. I have gotten lost many times and it has helped me find my way home. If I steer off course from the Tom Tom, it very quickly re-calculates a new route for me. It's a great unit that's very easy to use and accurate for the most part. One more quick qwirk, I noticed that on some roads, it does'nt show a name, for instance, the road that my house is on is'nt in Tom Tom's database for some reason. Another small point that I dont like, is that it does'nt display the name of the exit, it only displays the exit number. Sometimes, it tells you the direction very late also. The display when you're going somewhere tells you how far you are from the next turn/direction, but it fails in that area to some degree. When it displays miles, ie: 2.4 miles, .5 miles, etc. it is very accurate. But once you hit shorter distances and it displays Yards, it's very INACCURATE. It'll tell you a turn is 200 yards away when it's really only like it's only about 20 yards away. Overall, I'd rathe this unit about a 8/10. There's some quirks about it that are at times irritating, but more the most part, it is a fantastic unit if you dont want to spend $1800+ for that in 7" dash unit.

Cliffnotes:

It's a great unit, but sometimes inaccurate (at times might be off by a block of two from your real destination). Very easy to use. When going certain speeds on twisty roads, it will lag and be inaccurate. Slightly late information (ie: exits, turns).. they could give a little more warning in advance. It's very affordable. The screen is very easy to see and read during the daytime or nighttime. Give the unit a 8 out of 10 overall for the unit. It's a great piece for the price.

Price: I paid about $400 bucks for it. It was $500 at Office Depot with a $100 mail in rebate.

I'll post pictures of it tonight or tomorrow of where I mounted it and what it looks like.

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Good writeup! I've been thinking about getting a GPS since my last trip where I rented a car with a GPS. That GPS was dead on everywhere I went in Denver!

Sounds like the Tom Tom is a little lower end, but for a much cheaper price. I'd be interested to hear what other people have experienced.

 

tom tom is okay... i like the alpine blackbrid

 

Tom Tom is by far one of the worst units on the market for portable navigations. As i have stated before, i work with the products every day and experience the good and the bad first hand. Get yourself a Garmin Nuvi350 and you won't be dissapointed.

 

great review. i'm actually curious about tom tom, since i'm kinda looking for something at that price range.

 

its all personal based opinions. i work with gps units and i unfortunately hear more bad things about tom tom then good. as far as signal, i have seen them have the worst. they have the least amount of satellites. but i have heard a couple good reviews too. as far as ease of use, depends on the skill of the person. i personally think most garmin systems are the easiest, but thats my opinion. i personally would never go with anything with garmin. most satellites, ive played with all units and think that they are some of the easiest to use and less complicated, give you a few more features for your money...


...just my opinion though

 

Before I went with my alpine in-dash I contimplated getting the blackbird, the nuvi and possibly something else. The only two that I actually liked ended up being the blackbird (#1 choice) and the nuvi (very close second). I didn't like the tomtom much at all. That could be because I'm partial to garman, alpine etc but it just seemed too simple and plain to me. The alpine and the nuvi also got great reception indoors which was impressive.

 

what model of the blackbird do you guys recommend? My sister is driving from CA to Missouri so she needs a pretty good one.

 

Nice writeup!

I was thinking about getting a portable GPS/Nav for my Evo. I've used a Garmin portable unit several times with rental cars, and I thought that unit worked very well. I actually liked it better than the factory unit in my Charger, but the wires stretched everywhere was kind of a bummer.

 

There is only one: http://www.alpine-usa.com/en/product...model=PMD-B100

The street price is about $699.

 

It's not the greatest navi out there, but it gets the job done. Someone at my work let me borrow his, and it got me where I wanted to go. Though, it's true that there is definitely laggyness and inaccuracy at times. By the way, I used the TomTom for the Treo 650 (not the actual system itself).

Good write-up by the way.

 

Tom Tom is only big because of the great advertising to people who have never had a GPS device.

 

NVM The Link was Wrong

I think i am Gonna go with a Blackbird, Due to the Docking Capability, So later I can Have a Sweet Flush Indash Navi. i love My super Stealth Ideas.

 

I am ready to buy one of these units. So far, noone here has anything bad to say about the Garmin Nuvi350. How much is it and is it's speaker loud enough to be heard over my engine??

 

Garmins seem to compare with Tom toms but they are Much more Expensive than a Tom Tom. And Tom Tom are usualy Loud from what i have Read, actualy Are the Loudest While still maintaing clarity.