No comments about TomTomOne XL Vehicle GPS Unit (Refurbished).

5 comments about Garmin 010-00517-05 StreetPilot 2820 GPS Navigator.

1. My wife and I just returned home from a 5,351 mile trip on our motorcycle. The trip went from California into Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. This GPS worked amazingly well throughout the trip. It provided lodging information and fueling information as well as complete directions for our entire trip, which I had pre-loaded before departure. Any changes we made enroute were easily entered while on the road.
   
   Addresses were easily found by typing the address into the 2820 and then punching "Go to". We never failed to find any address so entered. This came in handy for finding laundries and other places which weren't listed in the Garmin database.
   
   My wife carried a back-up map. On a couple of occasions early on, she doubted the GPS and we went a different way than where the GPS wanted us to go. In the end, we found that the GPS really knew best most of the time. As our confidence in the GPS built, we used it almost exclusively.
   
   The Bluetooth feature worked well with our cell phone allowing us to make and answer calls while riding the bike. We also had the XM Radio as well as MP3 tunes loaded on the unit. When tall mountains and trees blocked our XM signal, we simply switched to the MP3, which gave us ongoing tunes to listen to while traveling.
   
   All in all, this is a great product!



2. I bought this item several months ago and recently took it on a motorcycle trip to New England and Canada. I managed to hook it up with Bluetooth with my helmet and my cell phone which hung on my belt. Amazingly, it worked for cell phone calls going down the road in Toronto. The only drawback is that one needs to do a "reality check" for routes it may decide on. Some routes were out of the way or no longer in existence. A bonus was looking up the weather on areas I was planning to go to.



3. Going on my third season with the 2820, I can't imagine touring without it. Easy to use with gloves, big enough to see without reading glasses, accurate guide, and more. The connectivity can't be beat either, plus it is a very rough and tumble sturdy unit. I was very happy with the XM radio, and in the car I plug it into my auxiliary jack. I'm happy to report that there has not been one glitch or problem over 8,000 mile of bumpy twisties and harsh riding through the elements on my motorcycle. I had the Garmin Quest before upgrading to this unit. There is no comparison. The Quest was way too cumbersome in controls and directions and screen display to be very useful on while moving fast on the road, espically if you wanted to make changes to it on the fly. My only wish with this 2820 unit is that it wasn't so big. You don't want to leave an expensive unit like this on the bike when you stop, and, although it does fit in my jacket pocket, it's very bulky. Overall, I have been very happy with this unit and highly recommend.



4. After spending a few days researching GPS receivers that were good candidates for motorcycles I narrowed my list to the Garmin Zumo 550, Garmin StreetPilot 2820, and TomTom Rider.
   
   Although the Zumo 550 seems to be the more popular choice lately, I decided upon the StreetPilot 2820 because it has more features (ex: multiple via points on a route and a higher resolution screen).
   
   It is an excellent choice for a motorcycle --it can easily be operated with gloves on, it's waterproof, it's easy to read, and it can pair to two Bluetooth devices (in my case a Bluetooth helmet and my Blackberry).
   
   The maps that come with this unit are outstanding --I can fairly reliably tell the difference between paved and unpaved roads (something you can't do with Google Maps, for instance).
   
   I have found one bug with the device: If you're using the music player and attempt to voice dial a phone number, the Bluetooth connection gets flaky and I need to reboot the unit --I'm hoping a future firmware update will fix this issue. At least I've found a work around to this annoyance --if I manually pause the music and then make (and complete) the call and then unpause the music everything seems to work okay.
   
   Garmin technical support while I was trying to diagnose this issue was outstanding.
   
   I highly recommend this unit.



5. Until a week ago I owned the 2720. Unfortunately a map update failed and I had to send the unit to Garmin. The service folks from Garmin just sent me their latest streetpilot 2820 (free upgrade, just great). So, from being unhappy due to the failed update, I am now quite happy. Also, that took place within 4! work days. Dropped it off at the post office on Friday, got it back on Thursday moring the week after. Really quick.
   It is a great unit, just like the predecessor 2720, but now also has bluetooth and an audio book reader and MP3 Player (things I will likely not use). Bluetooth is great, though, for mobile phones in cars even though you will need to connect a speaker and micro.
   The unit does what it needs to do - get me where I want to go. Especially on a motorcycle. Waterprrof, with enough room to save half of the US and CAN (mine is a european unit).
   I used the previous version for 3 years and never has it failed to get me where I wanted to go. It is fast, has excellent routing, is VERY easy to use, the screen is large and very easy to read even under unfavorable lighting conditions and as I said - support is great and is located in the US or Europe, exactly where you are. No call centers in inner Mongolia or other such nonsense. Whoever had to contact a call center other than in your own country knows what I am talking about. But you will likely not need tech support, since it just works reliably and every day.
   If you need to have a unit for an MC this is the unit I would recommend. Even more so, since you can use it your car and on business trips, ...
   It does not come with a picture viewer, but that is useless from my point of view to begin with. The only drawback is the somewhat flacky reception of the GPS signal in difficult areas - namely skycrapers all over the place and narrow roads for example in Spain. Still I always arrived with minimum stress. Far better than what you would get built into cars at a far better price.

5 comments about Mio P550 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. Very poor Battery life. But worst of all is the tech support there are no vista drivers for this. emailed tech support they me to change my OS to XP. then I called tech support and was told they aren't going to put a driver out, because the unit was built before vista came out. Also, it's very hard to use the gps in progams other than Miomap. The PDA/GPS is a great idea but this is the wrong one to buy.



2. I did some research on this product before hand and I've been using it for a couple of months now. This product does exactly as it says it will do. The wireless works great. My kid likes to play the games on it. The gps works well, the unit starts up and loads quickly. ok to the cons..
   The gps sometimes takes 5 mins to find the gps which is kinda long when your waiting on it. But once locked it rarily lost signal, and if it did it would only be for a second. It says it has 11 million POIs. I found it didnt see streets or businesses that were built in the last couple years and I didnt see any way to update them. If I could go back, I would of still bought it. I am very happy with it. I put it in my cupholder, and slide it under the seat when not using.



3. The GPS is helpful, but at this point is the only way I can use the product. The company has not made a driver for windows vista and when I was forced to buy a new computer when my computer crashed I got a windows vista computer. I spent alot of money on textbooks for work to download on the ppc and I can no longer use them because of the incompatibility with my computer. I tried to contact the company regarding this problem, but they don't seem to care.



4. The worst equipment you could ever buy.
   Firstly, it didn't come with any navigation software. I imagine some versions may come but mine didn't. After that, Mio gives you no support to buy a software.
   Battery life is just about negligible. Every time I wanted to use it, it was dead, even without having it on with the GPS function.
   When I finally got a navigation software, it is so slow, it tells you to turn after the corners. It constantly is looking for its position and never catches up with your driving. Only good for walking.
   As a Grand Finalle, it froze completely and never goes beyond the splash-screen. Hundreds of discussion groups on the Internet tell you what to do but seems that nobody can get theirs to go again.
   
   In summary: never used it for anything good!!!



5. It's really a terrible PDA with so poor quality. I bought it in November last year. It stopped working when I used the GPS last month, and when I tried to restart it, it formated itself. I had to restore the system and the map. Then this problem occurs again and again. Whenever I plug the charger in, it stops working. After some days it recovers.
   I contacted the customer service of MIO, the agent let me try this and try that. Now I still cannot use it.
   I asked for a return or a replacement, but they said no way.

5 comments about TomTom Rider 2 GPS Navigator for Motorcycles and Scooters.

1. I bought the Rider 2 GPS last summer, to tour the south of France, from Paris. I'd travelled before with maps, sometimes missing offramps out of confusion (freeway signs here are only really good if you're a local, in which case you don't need them in the first place!!). After having used a TomTom GPS in a rental car to go to Italy, I decided to get one for my Speed Triple, for the pleasure of being guided from "above". The decision was made a week before my departure, so I didn't really have time to investigate the market. I discovered only Garmin & TomTom have bike-specific models, and that both were incredibly expensive compared to car units. Being used to, and pleased with the TomTom interface, I decided to buy TT. The first Rider 2 I bought would not connect to my Motorola Razr V3i, despite the help from the sales reps, and would refuse to turn on, even fully charged. After 3 (THREE!!) trade-ins, I had to leave for my 1 1/2 month vacation with my current unit, picked up the same morning.
   
   My first beef was to find that not only would it start trying connecting to my V3i, then fail, but I'd also have to use the cellular connection to obtain the updates, and 1 month trial of various options I'D PAID FOR!! This is totally stupid. If you're going to have to use a PC to save your SD card, let the PC handle further downloads and updates!!! It doesn't take being a racket science wiz to understand a DSL connection is more reliable than a cellular. Also, the fact you have to pay for updates, and options that should be standard, is preposterous.
   
   My second problem, is the fact that as long as you're moving, you cannot access/change routing information. That's totally stupid too. Even at walking speeds, the unit will accept no change of route, or any other modification. When you're on the freeway, or on city streets with no place to stop, this is really aggravating. I know it's supposedly for security reasons, but changing your destination to a favorite isn't going to put you in danger in most cases, stopping and starting on a road close to heavy traffic will. In any case, you can tap all you want on a car unit, so security obviously isn't a valid reason. In any case, I hate when an appliance is set to restrain my use of it, and not let me decide for myself when/if what I do is safe.
   
   3rd beef: sometimes, maps are obsolete from the start. When driving through Italy, I was directed to turn right on a freeway, in the middle of... fields!!! There was an offramp on my screen, miles from any actual offramps. Only corn fields, which had obviously been there for years, and weren't going to disappear in favor of a new road overnight. Really scary when you're on a schedule..
   
   Maybe I should have listed first the On/Off button. I have very strong arms & fingers, but the time & pressure (and numerous attempts) it takes to turn it on hurts my fingers each time. Needless to even think of asking my girlfriend to do it...
   
   The last unnicety I can think of right now, is the fact, if you're typing an address, the streets that pop up aren't entirely legible on the screen. It appears there's no way to view further past the first letters. This is really a bummer in France, where streets precede their name. Example: if you're looking for an address on Boulevard du General De Gaulle, all that appears on the screen is "Boulevard du Genera", so you have to type each and every letter in the name, or you'll get directed to another general's name, and, as there's no "back" function, you'll have to go through the whole itinerary planning procedure again to try to get it right. Total lack of user-friendliness, for a unit that's supposed to be usable by bikers, with gloves on.
   
   On the upside, missing an exit leads the unit to recalculate another itinerary very quickly, the reason exactly I'd bought a GPS. Arrival times are incredibly accurate, even on long trips. Screen maps are legible. The RAM fixing system is great, and solid, but props there go to RAM, not TomTom. The Scala system works fine, and is reasonably audible, although the choice of a higher pitched female voice, on full volume is a must, if you're going to be riding over 100 mph.
   
   If I'd had more time to choose, I'd have bought the Garmin Zumo instead. The price is too high for a GPS that's so poorly engineered. It does work nicely when it's all set up correctly, but not being able to take phone calls, use paid for updates, or use your PC to download data is unacceptable.



2. So I got the TomTom Rider 2 on special for a really good price and have been playing around with it for a week on the bike and in the car. I had some problems with it at first, thought I'd managed to brick it within the first day installing the latest software updates, but after some research and playing around I got it sorted out. (Hints: there's a paper clip reset hole on the bottom, and at least on a Mac you want the newer version of the desktop software, *not* the one they say is for the Rider, which probably actually means the 1st gen Rider.)
   
   Once I got all that sorted out and got the updates installed (thank Dog I backed the whole thing up before trying the update or I would have been screwed) it's been great! It comes with a Cardo-Scala Bluetooth headset, integrates with your phone (you can receive calls anytime and make calls when stopped), and will use the data connection on your phone to pull down weather and traffic info, and also locate other people you know with TomTom Rider units. It has no problem getting a GPS signal, even inside my house, it reroutes automatically, and includes RAM mounting hardware.
   
   Really my only complaint is that there's no built-in speaker so if you want to use it in a car you pretty much need to spring for their car adapter kit. (I tried hooking it up to another Bluetooth headset but it didn't work very well.)
   
   I think this will be a nice unit, especially for the price, and considering it comes with a helmet headset. It's got basically the same feature set as the Zumo 550, which is much more expensive and IIRC doesn't come with a headset.



3. we did have a problem with our product. but when we called the 1800# we got very courtious answers and no problems they came to our home and picked up our idem with no charge to us and we had a replacement in three days. its great .........



4. 1. I have owned a Rider for more than 18 months.
   2. The first one I had, the dock broke in Texas while I was riding Route 66.
   3. I called TomTom from Texas (I live in Calif) and asked them to FedEx a new one.
   They said no can do.
   4. Once home, TomTom sent me a new Dock, but... it took them 1 month to get it to me.
   5. After a while I started to notice that the Rider was not charging while in the dock and on my bike.
   6. They asked me to send them my Rider back with all the accessories.
   7. Then after 4 weeks, they sent me a new Rider, with no charger and no accessories.
   8. The asked me to send it back.
   8. After another 4 weeks, they sent me another.... new Rider... with all the accessories.
   9. The dock didn't charge.
   10. After another week, they sent me a new dock. It works.
   
   There are known issues with the docks and charging, but TomTom won't admit it.
   It's manufacturering issue. I'll let you guess where they are made.
   
   The Tom Tom rider is good, easy to use. But if anything goes wrong, you'll be waiting many weeks for a replacement.
   Ad of course the wait time on the phone, plan on an hour with each call.
   
   I probably would NOT buy another one.



5. The TomTom Rider 2 is too expensive, but essentially a good product.
   - Screen is visible in sunshine
   - Menus are easily accessible, you don't need to study the manual to work the box
   - Navigation quality is good
   - RAM mount works fine (Ducati 1098 - mount on steering damper)
   
   The only negative is the price. In terms of value for money, this is not the product you'd be looking for. Yes, RAM mount works fine on all bikes, but there is nothing magic about it. Yes, the navigation quality is good, and the screen is well visible. But again, is that worth 500 bucks?
   
   I suppose it's a niche market and that makes it worth it.

1 comments about Garmin nüvi 205 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. Ok..now I feel morally obliged to offer my review after reading so many other reviews to base my buying decision. The inner voice kept asking me to post a review even though it is boring like mowing somebody elses lawn.
   
   I have used nuvi 205 couple of times and find it really well designed. Garmin has tweaked the screen-interface and I must say that it really works in favour of the users.
   Users care less about mp3 and other cosmetic stuff provided in nuvi 350. All we care about is a smart GPS that guides us through the best route. 205 has all those ingredients!!
   
   Nuvi 205 does not have spoken street names but it does have voice guidance that says something like " turn right in next 1 mile". Users who typically find guidance through one of those green-freeway-signs are smart enough to figure the street name. Moreover, the street name is right on top of the screen. In my view, it is a waste of $$ to pay 100 bucks more for just yelling street names when it is right in front of you. Satellite acquisition and Route recalculation also seemed to have improved a bit. I have not used the traffic support and POI to offer any good comments. One little feature I find cool is the speed limit mentioned on the screen. This way user doesnt have to be on lookout for signs showing the limit. Of course, this is of little use to people who drive in left lane @ >70...
   
   And for those of you who think that GPS should offer more..205 does have photo navigation, customized car-shaped icons, world travel clock, currency converter, measurement converter, calculator.....I wouldnt really give big grades for having them..
   
   Hope that this review helps users..to navigate to the best GPS!!

5 comments about TomTom GO 930T 4.3-Inch Touchscreen Portable GPS Navigator with Traffic Reciever.

1. I bought this about a month ago as my first ever GPS. The mounting and operation are easy, the image crisp, and the voice-overs prompt.
   
   Some things, however, have bugged me:
   1) A recently opened section of I-40 in Greensboro, NC, simply does not exist on the latest map I downloaded. I can (somewhat) overlook small road omissions, but a transcontinental interstate?
   2) When starting in my garage (where the unit obviously cannot get a satellite signal) it often takes several minutes of driving around to finally pick up a signal, then occasionally loses the newly found signal for some time. This doesn't happen all of the time, and never lasts, but still frustrating.
   3) Battery life is very short. Basically, keep it plugged in whenever you're driving around.
   4) More of a personal gripe: Your speed is highlighted in red when you're speeding for a little while, even if only by 3 mph. I'm always speeding somewhat, yet always matching the device's estimated arrival; it shouldn't condone my speeding with it's arrival times while condemning it with it's Scarlet MPH.
   
   All in all, however, my first month has been quite a pleasure. The points of interest are great, and I actually find the voice recognition to be moderately accurate.
   
   As far as seeing the screen in daylight, I've not had the same problems as other reviewers. It could be the mounting location--mine is fairly high on the windshield to keep it closer to me; I think that I'm inadvertently allowing less sunlight to hit it as a result. Fortunately, the mount is simply a suction cup that can be remounted again and again.
   
   By far the most impressive feature is the calculation of travel times. I often finish 1-3 hour drives within 2 minutes of the device's estimated arrival.



2. Despues de usarlo por 3 semanas, encontre un problema con los parlantes cuando se expone al sol por largos periodos, se queda mudo, y se arregla solo cuando esta frio. pero no ha sucedido de nuevo.
   la coneccion del telefono es buena aunque necesita mas volumen ya que cuando manejas aun con las ventanas serradas hay ruido, pero funciona bien, yo diria que la pueden mejorar conectandolo al FM, con eso uno escucha las llamadas atravez de los parlantes del carro.



3. We haven't had much time to use this just yet but we had bought the GO 910 last year and really liked that one. We only bought this one because the other one had been stolen recently. I do like how the mount is much easier to use than the 910 and being much slimmer. Our 910 was very easy to use and I expect the same out of our 930; because of this I am sure if we ever buy another GPS it will certainly be a TomTom model.



4. Directions lead me wrong many times! Sometimes many blocks off. Once it even had me go in circles almost like the thing was playing a joke on me. The other day it even said, "you have arrived at your destination" while I was on a 4 lane road and the place was still a turn away further down. Also the arrows change directions on you out of nowhere. I'm not sure if the device is confused or it has some major glitches in it.
   
   The device also doesn't seem to pick up a lot of locations compared to many other GPS's out there for a lot cheaper. It also doesn't pronounce street or city names well at all. Yes, you can change the voice (I'll be doing this soon) but not sure if that will help or not. For instance, I live in Washington DC and it says "Washington" like, "Way shwing ton" with a long "a" sound. Very odd!
   
   It's also very sensitive to how you type in things. My husband went to find a Walmart and it kept saying it couldn't find it. After playing with it for a while, he realized you need to type in Walmart like, "Wal mart" with a space. If you don't type it exact it doesn't pick it up. Same with commas, etc. Yet regardless, it doesn't have nearly as many POI I've seen as other devices out there & doesn't pick up many side streets.
   
   The lane guidance is a joke. I live in a major city (D.C.) and have only seen it once. I would have much rather saved the extra $100 or so and bought the step down since it's not worth the money at all.
   
   Yes, some of these things may just be minor to some but when adding all these things together, it's not worth the price. There is better out there for less! Maybe when they fix many of the errors on this device it will be worth it. Until then, I wouldn't waste my money on it.



5. This is my second TomTom--also have the GO510. Very much like my 930T--the traffice feature here in DC is very useful. There is also a shortcut feature on the menu that brings up the functions you use most often on a single screen. However, there is still no "DONE" soft key on every screen so at time if you want to go back to navigating you may have to push the "BACK" softkey numerous times. Hugely annoying flaw that takes multiple unnecessary key strokes. The other incredibly annoying feature is that you can no longer navigate directly to a Zip Code, you must first enter the state where the Zip code is then enter the Zip code you want to navigate to. Not sure how they screwed that function up, but on my 510 you punch in the zip code without having to have the state in first. Finally, when it asks you for a zip code, it makes the numbers very small and difficult to touch but when you are inputting a house number, the number screen converts to large text numbers and entering each number is easy. Seems our Brit friends at TomTom could figure out every Zip Code in the US is numbers only and every one of them is unique to the Nation, not to a state. I'd likely buy this model again but not without doing more looking around to see if some other model didn't have a better, US-centric, interface.

2 comments about Mio MOOV 300 4.3-Inch Touchscreen GPS Unit with Optional Traffic and Text-to-Speech.

1. I need a GPS for my daugther, who got her driver license recently and have been calling home asking for direction often :-) After surveying the field I narrowed my choices down to: Garmin 260W, TomTom XL-S, and Mio Moov 300. The main selection criteria are:
   1. bigger screen
   2. text-to-speech
   3. all gps functions, none others (e.g. bluetooth)
   
   Since Moov 300 is fairly new and there aren't a lot reviews it is sort of a risky buy. However, since all 3 are pretty much the same functionality-wise, the tie-breaker came down to price. After a couple of weeks, here are some opinions:
   
   Pros:
   1. fairly easy to use (never read the manual).
   2. find satellites almost instantly (< 15sec), even inside my house. Note that performance might vary, I can only speak from my experience.
   3. Good text-to-speech, announce direction in advance. Again, I read some people complained it announced turns too late, but not yet to me. It usually announces twice, once to remind you beforehand, the other when the turn is near.
   4. fast re-route
   Cons:
   1. Battery is weak, less than 2 hours.
   2. Sometimes the route is devious.
   
   Overall, I consider it worth the money if you are not too picky.



2. This was my fourth GPS: I had early versions of Tom Tom, Garmin and Intellinav 1. This is by far worst GPS ever. I used it once, on my way from work to home. It gives directions to the next intersection only. In the city, it says: "in the next 100 feet go straight" every 100 feet. On the highway, it says "in one mile, keep left", every time there is an exit on right or the road has a curve. Finally, when I was on my street one block from home, it said: "turn right". I decided to return it. And it is impossible! The ANTOnline, which sells this device through Amazon, refuses to accept returns of GPS. Amazon supports their policy. I had to buy another GPS and keep this one as a reminder, not to deal with Amazon anymore.

5 comments about Garmin 010-00401-10 StreetPilot c330 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. Bought this for my wife because she liked my Garmin Street Pilot. Ease of use was very critical. This takes care of her problem of not being able to read a map. Have recommended to others, as well.



2. Two stars only because new technology has passed it by. Otherwise a great unit for the price.
   
   I have had this unit for two years. Garmin discontinued it last year and is not supporting it. I do know that Garmin is not supporting the software I suggest that you ask Garmin if it will provide a free map upgrade for a newly purchased unit. The unit is a solid performer and easy to read. I recommend the dashboard mount. It does not move around and is easy to store when you park. GPS' are the Number 1 "smash and grab" item. Just leaving on the windshield mount may be enough incentive for some one to smash a window to see if the unit was left in the car. This Garmin has a number of outstanding features. My favorite features are its easy to read screen and its long battery life. Depending where I am, it takes between 30 seconds and three minutes to lock onto a satellite. The steps to input a destination could be more efficient. There are a lot of neat features to explore. The POIs are limited and out of date. If you do not mind old tech (slower satillite connection) and maybe an earlier map version, this is a great choice.



3. Customer service rep and Superviser were the worst I have ever ran across
   All they did was telling Me what I did wrong
   Never did they ask what can We do to make this OK
   I can never tell every one I know or meet
   You will never have a problem with Amazon
   But product was great



4. Great product. I used this on the way to my boyfriend's house and I was amazed at how accurate it was.



5. The garmin is a great product. Amazon does a good job with the shipping and prompt delivery

2 comments about Navigon 2120 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator.

1. A well made, competitively price GPS unit.
   
   This unit is the same as the 2100 except that the 2120 has all the USA states (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico) and Canada. It comes with car charger and your choice of either windshield suction cup or dash-top adhesive disc for displaying your unit.
   
   What is MISSING in this particular product (and included as standard features on the 5100 and 7100 series) are...
   
   1.)A home charging unit
   2.)No instruction booklet or DVD. You have to go online to download a PDF file and go from there.
   3.)Neither accessory card is included; the Traffic Activation Service* and Zagat POI (points of interest) must be bought separately.
   
   the good...
   
   1.)the unit is well sized; my initial concern was that it was small, but once on the windshield it was big enough to easily read without blocking your vision.
   
   2.)easy to program routes with the ability to put in various way points in between your start and finish. (however, see con: 1.) below)
   
   3.)if you 'save' your destinations, way points, etc., you have the ability to 'rename' them; this may not sound like a big deal but you might find it more helpful to have the I-81 north of Harrisburg PA named as such (for ease of recall at a later date) than named the 'Veterans Highway' with no indication where it is.
   
   4.)I liked the snap in/out device that actually holds the GPS; this made the unit easy to put up and take down if you didn't want to leave the unit in your car while unattended.
   
   5.)3D viewing is available for all usages as are voice directions; larger, more detailed maps are used in larger intersections, cloverleafs etc.
   
   6.)the level of luminescence is variable for daytime/nighttime driving; a very nice feature as the daytime brightness is extremely bright at night.
   
   7.)There is a toll free phone number for customer support; I had a question about my unit and called 'support', after a couple redirects from the automated answering machine I was connected to a 'real' person...impressive.
   
   8.)once you register your unit online, any updates that are available for downloaded may be added to your unit through a computer connection.
   
   the cons:
   
   1.a)because there was no manual with this unit, learning to program this unit (although in hindsight, this was not particularly difficult) was more complicated that it should have been.
   
   1.b)in route planning, I found the unit invariably would find a somewhat different way to get from point A to point B than I'd expected. It would get me to my destination, but just by a different (and sometimes more circuitous) route.
   
   1.c)if you are following a preprogrammed route on this unit and you miss hitting a waypoint on your route, the unit will continually try to turn you around to 'hit' the waypoint (or until you delete this waypoint). A somewhat annoying feature. I eventually found it much more effective to put in short routes, rather than longer routes with multiple waypoints.
   
   2.)the accessory cards (Traffic* and Zagat's POI) are only useful in selected major centers.
   
   3.)the connector cord to the unit from the cigarette lighter charger went straight into the bottom of the unit. This means you need to have 2 or 3 inches of space between your unit and the dash top or else you could possibly kink the charger cord. Motorola makes a right angle adapter (SKN6182)that solves this problem.
   
   4.)the unit's battery (when used without charger cord) only lasted about 4 hours.
   
   5.)the computerized voice had an unpleasant tinny pitch to it and quickly became VERY annoying; fortunately, it can be turned off.
   
   Conclusions:
   1.)A reasonably priced, basic GPS that works well.
   2.)It is very useful in finding and directing you to particular spots once you are in the general area, e.g. a specific address, a certain restaurant, an ATM or gas station etc.
   3.)I found it less useful on planning long trips as it tended to suggest routes and turnoffs that were less than optimal for my chosen trip.
   
   Overall...4 1/2 Stars
   
   *Also, please note that if you plan to use the Traffic Activation Service you must use the in-car charger cord as it acts an the antenna to receive traffic information for both the 2100 and 2120 units.
   
   Addendum: April 28/08
   A new software version 1.2 has been released and is available for download from the Navigon website for registered owners of the 2100, 5100 and 7100 series. Hopefully this new software will improve the route selection process used by the GPS and make its suggestions more useful.



2. I purchased the Navigon Mobile Navigator 5 in Germany for use in Italy. I wanted a TomTom but they were out, so I purchased Navigon. What a waste. Not user-friendly at all--have to continually refer to manual for the simplest things as it just doesn't make sense.
   
   Had to call customer service in the USA just to get it to work (had to transfer an executable file...why do I have to do that?) I could understand it telling me to "turn right" when there is no road--because maybe that's what the Italian maps have told it. But no one else with different brands around here are having the same problem (TomTom and Garmin).
   
   I will never waste my money again with Navigon.

5 comments about TomTom ONE Portable GPS Vehicle Navigator.

1. I Bought this for my niece's graduation present. She is on her way this Fall to go to Law school and is not to familiar with Tenn.
   
   She was thrilled with it, and learned to use it quickly. She told me several of her friends want one now.



2. My 1st experience with gps took me to the Twin Cities to look at a used Jeep. I looked at the road atlas before I left my house in central Wisconsin and got an overall sense of which roads to take when I got into the Cities. I fully intended on bringing my atlas, but I forgot it. Oh well, I borrowed my dad's Tom Tom One. I knew how to get to the Twin Cities without a map anyway, and the TomTom had the address programed into it.
   
   TomTom got to the Twin cities flawlessly! I could have done that myself though. The problem was that the interchange for interstate/bypasses was being re-constructed in the city limits. The actual turn was opposite of what TomTom had in its maps. Things change, thats fine, it would not have been a problem had TomTom said "exit left I-490 North" instead of "exit left 500 yards" . It got me kind of lost, had I not looked at a map before leaving I would have been completely lost!! I ended up going with what I partially remembered from the atlas.
   
   I have since tried other gps units (Magellan Crossover) and found it far superior because it tells you the proper name of the street you are turning onto. Oh and the Canada map on the Crossover is much more complete. The road to my dads cabin is on does not exist accorind to TomTom. It may be better than nothing... sometimes.
   
   My dad has about the same opinion of the TomTom, in fact we borrowed it 4 months ago and he has not asked for it back! I purchased a Garmin gpsmaps 60csx after reading reviews here on Amazon.
   I liked the Magellan Crossover too when I used it, it was a hard purchasing decision.
   
   TomTom=DumDum



3. I just purchased the TomTom One portable GPS system. I have a very good internal sense of direction and I can read a map just fine but in New Jersey traffic, who can be bothered with that? I hate getting lost on busy roads and I often take long road trips to other states. This is a great device because it will talk you through your route, when to turn, it shows the names of the roads, etc. Another feature I love for road trips is when you get tired and need to stop you can push a button and the TomTom will show landmarks of all the local hotels and gas stations along your route. It will also show you local attractions and places of interest if you choose. I use it all the time, even at home. The funny thing is that we just built our home last year and because the development is so new it does not pick up on the GPS so when I turn down my road it just shows me driving into a dirt field! LOL. Other than that it is my most favorite new electronic device.



4. A good unit for the money. If you want basic navigation with a few bells and whistles, this unit will do the job. I haven't made a wrong turn yet.



5. If you want a good product stay away from Tom Tom products. I have used 3 different products from tom tom and maybe I'm a slow learner or tom tom has bad products, just stay away from tom tom so many better gps units to buy that are better. Not worth the money, bought a download and it turned out to be the wrong one and they will not fix the problem or give a refund. STAY AWAY FROM TOM TOM