tomtom ONE Review
About this review
This review covers the features and operation of the tomtom ONE, it only touches on the use and operation of the application that does the routing and mapping - i.e. tomtom Navigator 5. That will be a review on it’s own at a later date.
The review unit was supplied by tomtom in Australia and I thank them for the opportunity to review the device.
Introduction
The tomtom ONE was released in Australia in February 2006 and because we in Australia tend to lag a little when it comes to new product releases the product specifications and all of the detail about the device were already well known.
On paper there didn’t seem to be any reason to buy the tomtom GO 300 and the device was eagerly awaited buy many potential buyers of a Stand Alone GPS personal navigation system. Compared to the GO 300, the ONE has a slightly faster processor, a smaller overall size, the same Navigator 5 software and lastly (and this is what really set the ONE apart) a SiRF111 GPS receiver built-in. The difference in signal acquisition and ability to hang onto a signal is such a large increase over the SiRF11 models that I couldn’t see any reason why buyers would get the GO 300. I still think this is the case but overall the difference is not as marked as I thought it would be.
One of the best things about the tomtom units is that they all run tomtom Navigator 5 software. In my opinion this is probably the easiest and most intuitive software available on any GPS device currently available which makes it perfect for those people who want a simple yet effective GPS system in their car. The Navigator software is very comprehensive and whilst there are some features missing that advanced users might miss, for just entering a route and selecting Points of Interest it is arguably the best there is. If you want or need track logging, coordinate entry (Latitude and Longitude) or parameter specific readouts, such as fastest speed and trip computer functions, for example, tomtom hasn’t got it. Although the new version 6 software due in June July will have a lot of these. For most users tomtom Navigator is all that they need and want.
What’s in the Box?
The ONE comes nicely packaged in an Orange and Silver box and contains everything you need to get going. In fact it is so easy to setup (like all the other tomtom models) that it really takes longer to unpack than it does to setup and start using it. I still highly recommend that new users thoroughly read the quick start manual followed by the manual included on the CD at a later date. Not doing this might mean you wont get the best out of the device.
The box contains the Unit itself, a SD card with maps and the application preinstalled, a CD which also has the maps and application incase a reinstall is required later, a mount, an in-car charger, a USB cable for connection to a PC and a product registration card (similar to a credit card).
Noticeably absent is an out of car charger – however these can be purchased for about a third of the price that tomtom charge at any Dick Smith or similar electronic store. In fact it may be very likely that you have one of those units at home – I have several left over from the many gadgets I’ve had over the years. The unit is simply a 5V DC transformer with an industry standard 4mm (or thereabouts) plug.
Physical Use
Once you have unpacked the pieces and selected a spot to place the mount your ready to go! This is where the differences between the GO series and the ONE begin to show up.
Firstly the power on LED is on the top of the unit, not good, because you cannot see it in operation and hence there is no easy way of knowing if the ONE is receiving power from the charging cable. The battery status can be checked by tapping the lower portion of the screen but a simple repositioning of the LED would have made this unnecessary.
Secondly the power cable is positioned underneath the ONE and hence the cable connector (a right angle connector) will be sitting on the dash. When removing the ONE, for example when parked in a shopping centre, the cable must be removed if you want to stow the ONE in a safe (ie not visible) place. The GO series had the connection built into the mount so this was not required.
Thirdly the unit does not turn itself on or off according to whether there is power supplied to the in-car charger. It requires you to physically turn the unit on and off each time. The GO series sensed this and switched on or off accordingly. This is no big deal but it was a nice touch on the GO series.
The ONE also contains a headphone socket, this is not included in the GO series and I guess it means that a headset or earphones could be connected to receive the verbal prompts – I haven’t tried this and to be honest I don’t think it is a particularly good idea either. Not only that but the position of the socket (underneath the ONE) would make it a pain to connect / reconnect if this is something you wanted to do.
If required the ONE also has the option to add an external antenna, although I would think it is highly unlikely that this would be required with the updated GPS receiver.
Battery life
The Lithium-ion battery has a nominal charge capacity of two hours, considerably less than the GO series which has five hours. Personally I don’t think this is a problem, in typical use the unit is connected to the charger whilst in the car and it only becomes an issue if you are using the unit outside of it. Of course if you don’t like cables all over the place in the car then two hours might be quite limiting. The battery (like the GO series is not user replaceable)
Speaker
Despite the ONE having a less powerful speaker I had no problems with the volume, typically I had the volume turned down to 70% because otherwise it was just too loud for me. I noticed that the verbal prompts sounded a little “tinnier” than the GO 300 but they were still more than adequate for the task they had to do. Given that the ONE does not play MP3’s anyway there is no advantage to having a better speaker system.
Bluetooth
A Bluetooth connection is possible with various phones, however in Australia there is no Traffic System as many parts of Europe and the USA have, so this part of the ONE is of little value over here. The One does not have the facility to connect to a Bluetooth phone for the purposes of making or receiving phone calls and or SMS messages. Only the tomtom GO 500 can do this in Australia (other models such as the 700 are not available here).
The possibility to download weather data and maps via GPRS is available on the ONE but given the costs to your service provider and to tomtom themselves I would suggest that doing anything other than the weather would be prohibitive from a cost point of view at this point in time.
Screen
An anti-glare screen is provided on the ONE however if the sun hits it directly either from the side or the back it is still quite difficult to see. The addition of a hood (when they become available from third parties) would be one of my first additions. In normal use the screen is bright and sharp and does its job splendidly.
GPS receiver
The ONE has a built-in SiRF111 receiver. Arguably the best consumer grade receiver available today for tracking and finding the grid of satellites that transmits position data over the globe. Rather than trot out a bunch of statistics and figures that show this, I think a real world example would make more sense for this review. The following table illustrates the advantages of the SiRF111 to the SiRF11 chipsets.
Bear in mind the test is not particularly scientific and does not show the other big advantage of the SiRF111 chipset, namely the ability to hang onto and find low strength signals. It is merely the results I get when I drive out of my driveway and time how long it takes for the tomtom screen to go from grey (denoting a fix has not been obtained) to colour. Nevertheless the results are indicative of what I generally get in normal use.
Application Use
As mentioned the ONE uses tomtom Navigator as the Navigation program that actually does the work (the unit is shipped with version 5.410).
Even relative novices can enter an address to find a destination and plan a route. I tested this with a couple of very computer illiterate acquaintances and in each case they were able to find and enter an address within minutes, in fact they all expressed surprise at just how easy it was. It is this core functionality that makes the tomtom a viable and useful piece of equipment. The application is designed for use on public road systems and combined with tomtom’s excellent verbal prompts make it quite easy to arrive at destinations that are unknown or unfamiliar. It is not designed for off road use where there is no map coverage. In fact most tracks and unsealed roads are not even shown.
The one fault I can find with the tomtom address entry is that after entering a suburb or city the street selection also shows streets that are not within the selected suburb. I’m guessing this is due to the fact that adjoining suburbs can sometimes be misnamed on the maps however I cannot see how streets 50 kilometers or more away can be relevant. For example entering Leichhardt as the suburb and Meadow Road as the street also displays Meadow Place in Kellyville and Meadow Place in Miranda. Both of these streets are many kilometers away. Worse still, those two addresses are listed before Meadow Road and requires a scroll or further letter entry to isolate the correct place. At least tomtom shows the suburb next to the street in those instances so that data entry errors are minimized most times. In some cases, if the street name is long the suburb is truncated and then it is not so hard to make an error. The best thing to do is to continue to fill in the street name to narrow down the available selections so that only a couple of possibilities are shown. Having said that all of the navigation programs I have seen have some minor problem with address entry and tomtom is by no means the worst.
Maps
The ubiquitous Sensis V12 maps are used within the tomtom units in Australia, so comparisons to nearly every other unit available over here are of no use in determining which product may better serve your use. The only exception I am aware of is the Destinator ND units which use maps supplied by MapInfo. All other devices in this category use Sensis maps.
Sensis claim around 97% of the population is covered by their maps, and like the mobile phone coverage there are large areas that are not mapped in this version. This is particularly noticeable in rural areas where MapInfo maps have a reasonable coverage. If this is critical to you I suggest you ask either the seller or someone else (MTekk for example) to look up any addresses you are interested in, before you buy to avoid any disappointment later on.
Routing
Tomtom provides a good balance of main roads and side streets and therefore provides fairly efficient routes – it does not seem to favour Main roads or Side streets unduly and generally I am very happy with the results it provides. The ability to preview a route is nice and can give you a fair idea of what the trip will entail, however this is only useful for short trips because the maximum speed that the preview runs at is 5X real time. ie a one hour journey will take 12 minutes to complete on screen.
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning of this review I could not see any reason why someone would buy a GO 300 in preference to a ONE, however if the signal acquisition is not a problem for you (and it isn’t for me) the GO has some nice touches like auto on and off, better placement of power cords, longer battery life and a better removal system. The speaker system whilst better on the GO is no better at delivering voice prompts than the ONE.
On the other hand if you will be driving in any of the major city CBD’s then the ONE with its SiRF111 receiver is almost a must if you don’t want to add yet another cable into your car via an external antenna.
One of the good things about the tomtom range is the large amount of software options available to you to modify the voices, add additional features, change the splash screen and generally customize the software to suit your needs (within limitations of course). A lot of this is available free over the internet and only requires a small amount of effort if that sort of thing is something you like to do. Out of the box the ONE does not included Speed and Red-light cameras. Some resellers will install these for you (if you ask) others will not, so be sure to check this if it is something you want, otherwise you will have to email tomtom or come to MTekk to get them.
The smaller dimensions of the ONE make it somewhat easier to place in a pocket, this is nearly impossible on the GO series.
Given the price difference between the GO 300 and the ONE (around $200 at the time of writing) I think the ONE is the clear winner when it comes to an entry level Personal GPS Navigation device. With street prices around the $730 mark (RRP $799) there is not much else that can beat it.
If you want a unit that is simple to use yet still contains a lot of features such as toll avoidance, detour re-routing, and other advanced uses the tomtom ONE should definitely be on your list.
Discuss it here
You might also be interested in Destinator PN, CoPilot5 and tomtom GO300
|
I rate the tomtom ONE at 7.5/10 |