TomTom review

somewhereinla · #1 01-04-2006, 05:25 PM

I struggled about whether I should have gotten the BMW gps when I got my X. I finally decided not to get the option, mostly because of it's very limited features and the cassette player, I do love the integration but at $1800, I thought I could do much better.
Last week my girlfriend and I, decided to drive to Phoenix, spend the new year there and then visit the Grand Canyon(first time for me).

At last I had an excuse to get a new GPS. By that time I had looked at all of the options and brands for various GPS units, I narrowed down my search to two units, the Garmin C330/340 and the TomTom 300/700. Design wise, I liked the look of the Garmin C330/340 better, but after reading all the reviews, and playing with each of the units, I understood why the TomTom was on top of all the reviews I read. Better feature, better integration! My first choice was to get the TomTom 700, but I couldn't find one store in Los Angeles that had it in stock, so I got the TomTom 300.

The main advantage of the TomTom for me, is the realtime traffic info. it does require a subscription, but you get the 1st year for free. The way it works is it connects to you phone via bluetooth and download the traffic info ( you can also get weather and all sort of other things.) which is more convenient than the Garmin C340, which can only connect with an extra fm receiver(which cost an extra $200) that need to be connected to your car antenna, etc...

After Driving around 1500 miles, I have to say that I am more than pleased with the TomTom 300, it is very fast and full of features, downloading traffic info or weather is a matter of seconds, you can custom the colors of the maps, you get night/day modes, the entire maps of the U.S including all POI are provided in one SD card. You also get a CD for Canada. The whole unit is highly customizable, and dead accurate. Need to find a restaurant, all you need to do is enter the name (which most likely is already in the memory so typing the 1st few letters is enough) and voila, just follow the direction. The bird-view mode is great, especially at night, it's like having night vision, you can see on the screen what's ahead before you can see it "live", I love it. You can also see how far the next gas station is, etc... It also has a battery build in.

I highly recommend the TomTom 300, I paid $649 with a $50 money back and 1 free year of TomTom Plus which include Trafic info, etc... You can even get better prices online, but since I was leaving the next day I couldn't go the online route.

Happy new year to all.

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alpac · #2 01-04-2006, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by somewhereinla

I struggled about whether I should have gotten the BMW gps when I got my X. I finally decided not to get the option, mostly because of it's very limited features and the cassette player, I do love the integration but at $1800, I thought I could do much better.
Last week my girlfriend and I, decided to drive to Phoenix, spend the new year there and then visit the Grand Canyon(first time for me).

At last I had an excuse to get a new GPS. By that time I had looked at all of the options and brands for various GPS units, I narrowed down my search to two units, the Garmin C330/340 and the TomTom 300/700. Design wise, I liked the look of the Garmin C330/340 better, but after reading all the reviews, and playing with each of the units, I understood why the TomTom was on top of all the reviews I read. Better feature, better integration! My first choice was to get the TomTom 700, but I couldn't find one store in Los Angeles that had it in stock, so I got the TomTom 300.

The main advantage of the TomTom for me, is the realtime traffic info. it does require a subscription, but you get the 1st year for free. The way it works is it connects to you phone via bluetooth and download the traffic info ( you can also get weather and all sort of other things.) which is more convenient than the Garmin C340, which can only connect with an extra fm receiver(which cost an extra $200) that need to be connected to your car antenna, etc...

After Driving around 1500 miles, I have to say that I am more than pleased with the TomTom 300, it is very fast and full of features, downloading traffic info or weather is a matter of seconds, you can custom the colors of the maps, you get night/day modes, the entire maps of the U.S including all POI are provided in one SD card. You also get a CD for Canada. The whole unit is highly customizable, and dead accurate. Need to find a restaurant, all you need to do is enter the name (which most likely is already in the memory so typing the 1st few letters is enough) and voila, just follow the direction. The bird-view mode is great, especially at night, it's like having night vision, you can see on the screen what's ahead before you can see it "live", I love it. You can also see how far the next gas station is, etc... It also has a battery build in.

I highly recommend the TomTom 300, I paid $649 with a $50 money back and 1 free year of TomTom Plus which include Trafic info, etc... You can even get better prices online, but since I was leaving the next day I couldn't go the online route.

Happy new year to all.

I agree with you that now, with the quality and price of the after market GPS units, the price of the integrated BMW system is not worth paying. Yes the TOM TOM is a great GPS. I personnaly got a Garmin as a gift for Christmas and I am very happy with it. Very accurate and fast and I was able to integrate it pretty well in the X. I did not take the trafic info option. Let us know what you think about it.

Thunder22 · #3 01-04-2006, 06:09 PM

I have a garmin 2610 and 1010WINS for traffic

somewhereinla · #4 01-04-2006, 07:22 PM

I definitely like the Garmin design a little better and Garmin scores very well in all the reviews I read, I do own a gramin GPS which I use for hiking.
For the car, The TomTom features were more appealing to me, mostly because of the bluetooth integration. However I was very close to getting the Garmin. Also Garmin does not offer their software for the Mac, with TomTom I can bypass the PC and upgrade maps and POI with my phone.

AutoXer · #5 01-04-2006, 09:40 PM

Thanks for the review. I have been curious about the TomTom myself.

rangerfan · #6 01-04-2006, 11:24 PM

I'm thinking of getting the TomTom for use with my Treo 650 for my more frequent business trips to southern Florida.

LeMansX5 · #7 01-04-2006, 11:28 PM

I have the TomTom for IPAQ which i used very briefly. I think its version 4. Bluetooth fucntionality is very good. voice commands

xrandy · #8 09-03-2007, 12:51 PM

When I ordered my '06 X5 I wanted a GPS but was turned off by the additional co$t (GPS + CD Changer) - figured "what the heck, I'm a man! We never get lost!" :-)

But wait! My wife is always getting lost AND we now have fines for using a cell phone! (The X5 of course has Bluetooth.) The wife's '04 4matic C240 has neither bluetooth or a GPS. TomTom 510 to the rescue! Bluetooth and directions for only $359.00, YEAH!

Plus we can take on vacations when we rent - whata win win situation.

The only question is where do you put the thing? The 510 came with a window mount but we normally just stick the whole thing in the cup holder.

trueX5er · #9 09-03-2007, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xrandy

The only question is where do you put the thing? The 510 came with a window mount but we normally just stick the whole thing in the cup holder.

You can stick it on the window, or I guess the cup holder if that works, or you can try to place it on the top of the dash.

SANguru · #10 09-03-2007, 02:25 PM

I have a tomtom 910 that I use when I travel. It's feature rich and since it runs a hard drive, I have my favorite songs and stuff loaded on it.

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