TomTom 6 – A Near Perfect Navigation Solution
It’s simple, it’s easy and it just plain gets you where you want to go!
Introduction
Finding the right solution is not an easy task with the number of navigation programs on the market. It is especially hard once you get ingrained with a particular program because you tend to have expectations for the new program to perform tasks like the old one. Early on in my mobile experience I started with one program that was originally designed for laptop use but eventually a PDA version was developed. Although it was not the easiest solution, it worked and worked well so I used it for years but eventually I started to look for a better solution that would allow me to more easily create an accurate route on the fly and navigate me flawlessly to my destination. Although I did find a few solutions, I always went back to my original program after a period of time. I guess in the final analysis, it was the best even with its drawbacks in creating routes on the fly.
At CES this year I wanted to spend some time looking at GPS solutions. I tried to work a schedule that would allow me to see a variety of folks and chat with them about their products. For the most part, my schedule worked but there were a few I missed either because they were too busy or because I could not find them amongst the masses of vendors. When I stopped by the TomTom booth, they were incredibly busy so I decided to skip them and stop back the next day. To my surprise, the next day was worse than the first and unfortunately I had several appointments to keep so a TomTom visit was not going to happen.
I was disappointed but I was reasonably sure that I would have other opportunities but little did I realize that the opportunity would come on my way home. But by a stroke of luck, I met the director of product management as I was waiting in the airport. We had a terrific conversation with an end result of me getting an appointment to visit their U.S. Headquarters. So a couple of weeks after CES I visited the TomTom headquarters and was fortunate to have a meeting with their Director of PR as well as the Director of Product Management.
I was given an impressive overview of their product line. I will not dwell on it but I will say that I was very impressed enough so that I wanted to try the TomTom software but I did not want to try for a brief period of time. I wanted to use it on a daily basis with several devices over a couple of month period. If it was going to be a “total solution”, it had to become part of my daily routine. I had to be able to rely upon it in any situation I was in and at a moment’s notice have it provide me with a safe, fast, and an efficient means of navigation. Certainly my request was out of the ordinary for a product reviewer but they agreed and I was given (on loan) a TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 package containing the TomTom Wireless GPS Receiver and the TomTom 6 software and Maps for the US and Canada.
It is not my intention in this review to outline and discuss each feature offered with this very comprehensive navigation program but rather to share with you my initial thoughts and experiences with it.
Contents
I was given TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 Software & maps of the US/Canada on DVD as I left the TomTom offices. A two box package with one containing the software and the other containing the TomTom GPS unit had everything you want to make you device a complete GPS solution. The software box contained the DVD software, an ID card with the registration number, a manual and a getting started guide. The GPS box contained the GPS unit, an AC power cord with a variety of adapters for different AC outlet styles as well as a DC power cord for in-car charging. I liked that!
Interestingly enough, there were four different tips included for charging a variety of devices (Nokia, iPAQ, Palm and USB devices). They pretty much had all avenues covered!
Installation
Besides wanting to install the program on my “main device”, I wanted to install it on several devices that I had to see how well it worked on different devices and to see if there were any idiosyncrasies that might appear. I decided to use it on the Palm 750, Palm 700W, Cingular 8525, KJAM and lastly on my JasJar. Although all these devices were using Windows Mobile 5, my hope was to be able to try it on Windows Mobile 6 device if I was lucky enough to get a device with the new OS on it.
I had a few items to take care of first before I started to evaluate this package but finally I had some time and I started my TomTom experience. I had been using the Palm 750 on a regular basis so I thought I’d try it with that device first. Although there are a slew of compatible devices (Acer, Asus, Dell, Eten, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, HTC, Imate, Mitac, O2, Orange, Palm, Qtek, SFR, T-Mobile, Nokia and T-Mobile) listed on the TomTom site with several Palm devices listed, the 750 was not on the list. Memory was my immediate concern and the 750 had plenty as well as a 2 gig storage card so I chose this as my first device to try. So I opened the box with the software, took out the CD and the manual and began the TomTom journey.
In a “nutshell”, it was this simple. My device was connected to my PC, I inserted the software DVD, simple instructions appeared that were easy to follow and voila, in a matter of moments it was done! I downloaded the maps for the east coast of the USA, connected the TomTom GPS device (it was an automatic connect), activated the map using the automatic option and I was off and running. For those of you that have a desire to see the process, the following screenshots depict the installation.
TomTom Home
Part of the install is a program that is placed on your computer called TomTom Home. It will serve a variety of functions to help you maintain ease of use of your TomTom program; from getting the latest TomTom software to enjoying new services that they offer now and will offer in the future. The ability to do a backup of your TomTom, install additional maps or services and get free Traffic alerts sent to your your computer. What is TomTom HOME? It is a program that will enable you to get the most from your TomTom investment.
Time to start navigation
Overall, the install was a painless and relatively quick process. Upon completion, I removed the mini-SD card then reinserted it into my device. The program was automatically installed in main memory. Of course at this time I had not installed any maps so I went back to TomTom Home, placed a check on the maps I wanted and they were easily moved over to my SD card.
Note: The first set of maps I moved over to my device was just the Northeast US. Although the map size was small and the transfer was relatively painless, if you wanted the entire US on your memory card I would suggest doing a direct copy to your SD card … it is a lot faster. Shortly after using the Northeast US maps, I did copy the entire USA map to my device using a direct copy. Very painless and now I do not have to be concerned with having the right maps as I travel throughout the USA.
So now I had the program, the maps and it was time to give it a try. The first time you run the program there are some initial questions that you need to answer to setup TomTom Navigator. You pick the language, left or right handed operation, miles/Kilometers, the way you want time displayed, the voice you want to hear (there are several options to choose from then you download the voice from the CD. I chose Lori), set your Home Address and then you pick your GPS receiver and lastly, they ask if you want a quick tour (of course I said no, that’s like reading directions. I just wanted to see it in action).
When you pick your GPS receiver, the first option is the TomTom GPS which is the one I chose. I had already turned on the GPS device and paired it with my device so when I started the program it just connected. The first time I used it I had a clear sunny day and it immediately grabbed 10 satellites (with an occasional drop to 9) and displayed my position on the map … I was impressed. BTW, I had placed the GPS on my window sill and it grabbed the satellites easily.
Note: My first use of the program was with the TomTom GPS unit which was a very quick and easy install. Subsequent to my initial use of the program, I tried two additional GPS units that I had. Each was easily paired, installed and guided me flawlessly with the TomTom 6 software.
First trip (and more)
So the program was installed, maps have been added and the GPS device has been paired and connected.
It was time to try a few short trips to get a feeling for how it all works. I will say that initially I was a little uncomfortable but that was understandable because this was the first time using the program. My comfort factor increased dramatically after my first use and after continued use over the past couple of months, there is no question in my mind about this being the absolute simplest navigation program I have ever used.
With my position showing on the map, and an indication that no route was planned, I pressed the map and the Main Menu appeared. There are three screens that give a variety of choices such as route planning, setting preferences, TomTom Traffic (a separate paid option providing reliable traffic information in real time), favorites, advanced planning, itineraries, browsing and viewing the map, and a feature I liked a lot … call number. Call number will give you the phone number of a POI and will dial it for you. A very useful feature while on the road!
I pressed the "navigate to" option where I was given several options to choose from. Since it was close to dinner, I chose the Point of Interest icon and then “POI near you”. I picked the restaurant category and entered my favorite Chinese restaurant. Well, it is only 4 miles away and I certainly knew how to get there but it was a test (and I was hungry). After entering just a few letters of the name, it appeared in the list. Pressing on the name, a route was calculated instantly … trust me, it was FAST!
I went out to my car, placed the GPS on the dash and I was off. The tracking was amazing! As I drove along the route, “Lori” guided me making sure I took turns when I needed to and I soon found myself at the front entrance of the restaurant … so I went in and enjoyed some delicious food and of course I had a special Chinese drink. It was good … very good!
If you recall, when I set up the TomTom program, I had to enter a Home Address so when I left the restaurant I pressed the "Navigate to" icon and pressed the Home icon. An instant route was planned and I was off with Lori again guiding me flawlessly home. My first experience was a good one. It was easy to pick a route using the POI category, instantaneous in calculation (clearly longer routes will take more time), and flawless guidance. BTW, it gave me the best route too!
Over the next several days I took a series of short trips (all to places that I knew) to see how well the navigation worked. In most cases the route that was calculated was the route I would taken and the few that were different were shorter than the route I would have picked. Although they were shorter, I wanted to travel via certain roads so I was able to easily insert a "via" and the routes were adjusted to fit my preference. This option was important to me especially on a long trip. Often I like to travel certain roads and even though another route is shorter, there is a comfort factor that needs to be satisfied and the “via option” provides that.
Getting used to the interface
Becoming comfortable with the interface is critical for being able to navigate to a place “on the fly”. You may not need directions to a particular area but then all of a sudden something happens where directions are needed and you need them fast. Of course, I could read the manual but I like to see just how intuitive a program is and prefer to read the manual only if I get stuck. My guess is that most folks are like that too.
So how easy is the interface? At first I thought it was a little unclear but then again I realized that I was comparing it to what I had been using for years and then I remembered a comment from the Director of Product Management about their intention was to design an interface that was easy and intuitive so I decided to wipe from memory my past experiences and look at this as if it was the first GPS program I had ever used.
So what do we use a navigation program for? Well, basically we want to navigate to a particular location that we generally have no idea how to get to. So when you start the TomTom software and after it connects to the GPS, a map shows with your location and a comment indicating that no route has been planned. If you start to drive, the software will track where you are going. Tapping on the map will bring up a Main Menu that contains three screens.
The first item on Page one is an icon labeled “Navigate to…”. That made sense to me! That is why I have the program; I want to “Navigate to…” a destination. Pressing on the icon I was given several choices (Home, Favorite, Address, Recent Destination, Point of Interest, GPS Position, Point on map, Latitude/Longitude, TomTom Buddy, or a Contact) all of which made sense. These 10 choices were divided over two screens with the first screen having those items that I would expect most folks to use most of the time.
Over several trips, I tried each choice except GPS position, Latitude/Longitude and TomTom Buddy and found them to be very easy to use. In addition, in the event that a route had to be planned while driving, most can be done “on the fly” with reasonable ease.
Once a route is planned, the “Find alternative” option becomes an active icon in the Main Menu. This is a very useful feature especially if there is an immediate need to calculate a different route in the event there is construction, an accident or just if you choose to travel a different route. I have used it several times and have been impressed with the alternatives it has calculated.
TomTom Traffic is an extra service you can purchase enabling you to determine if there is a traffic event that might affect your trip. The ability to determine the length of a delay and then have an alternative route calculation can prove to be very valuable. I have tried the traffic option while driving to Boston and found it useful in making the decision to travel an alternate route.
If you travel to a place often and you want to add it as a favorite, the Add Favorite button stores the places that you want to travel to again. You can create up to 48 Favorites. If you want to add more than 48, TomTom suggests that you make additional POI categories and then add some of your Favorites as POIs.
The Change Preferences button brings you to 5 screens providing you with 25 options to make your experience better. The Night Color option has been my most used option followed by the Change Home Location button. I find it extremely useful to change my Home Location if I plan on staying at a location for several days. It just makes returning back to my hotel easier no matter where I am. The Show GPS Status has been my third most used option. I like knowing the number of satellites I have acquired as well as my speed, direction of travel and my current Latitude/Longitude (don’t ask why, I just find it interesting). It is a very comprehensive list but most (if not all) are very intuitive.
The 25 Change Preferences options are as follows:
Use night colors / Use day colors
Turn off 3D display / Turn on 3D display
Safety preferences
Enable/disable POIs
Turn off sound / Turn on sound
Volume preferences
Manage Favorites
Change Home location
Manage maps
Manage POIs
Planning preferences
Toll road preferences
Compass preferences
Change Map Colors
Show GPS Status
Keyboard Preferences
Name Preferences
Status Bar Preferences
Set Units
Operate left-handed / Operate right-handed
Hide tips / Show tips
Change Voice
Change Language
Reset factory settings
Ask Arrival Time
Page two of the Main Menu provides options for Advanced Planning, Browse Map, Clear Route, View Route and Itinerary Planning. For me, the most used options on this page have been the Clear Route and View Route. The View Route provides five options including viewing a text version of the route as well as the ability to see key portions of the route as images you can scroll through.
Page three has several options that I have found invaluable and as a result have used continuously. TomTom Weather is a FREE TomTom Plus service that will get you the latest weather for you current or final destination (or any point in between). Press the weather icon and you are given 9 choices to show the weather for. It is cool (feature wise) and fast! The other option that I have used frequently is the Call Number. Pressing this button will give you the ability to find a POI number. You pick the POI, it will locate the number and give you the option to call that number … very useful option!
The Main Menu is well designed to provide you with the ability to navigate easily to whatever destination you choose and what I have genuinely enjoyed is the ability to adjust your trip “on the fly”. The sub-menus are extensive and I believe it would serve no purpose in showing each one other than to confuse you with a massive number of pictures and descriptions. Suffice it to say that when you press on an icon, you are led through a methodical process of defining your route in a very simple, easy to follow process. You have the ability to easily adjust the route if you want (or need) to make a change and as the need arises, each feature becomes very clear as to its purpose … I liked that!
With almost three full months of use, I have stayed with this program and have not even thought about reverting back to my “old standby”. For me, this was huge! I had decided that I would try it and if I liked it, I would write something about it. Well, I like it and I like it a lot! It does exactly what I want it to do … navigate me easily to an address that I do not know how to get to and probably more importantly, it will safely guide me back home after a trip. For me, most trips that you leave on are during the day and the return trip is generally late at night when it is dark and sometimes hard to see all the landmarks you found on the way. TomTom 6 has returned me home each and every trip safely.
Is it perfect? No, there are a few (very few) items I am somewhat disappointed in. The biggest issue is the POI database. Although it is good, my experience has found it missing several major POIs. For example, if I choose the Boston area, one would think that you could easily find Fenway Park …yup, you can! As well as Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution … yes, it is there! So naturally, finding the TD Banknorth Garden, home of the Boston Celtics, Boston Bruins, and many other sports and entertainment events would be easy … wrong! It was not to be found! There were several POIs that I could not find and there were several small places that I was surprised to see …. go figure!
Sometimes adding a “via” to force the program to route you a specific way is difficult if you are using the option “Point on a Map”. Each option for adding vias is easy but if you want to add a via and do not know the exact address but rather know the spot on the route; the small screen size makes it difficult to navigate to, especially if the trip involves a great distance. However, it is NOT an insurmountable problem and can be dealt with but takes a little time to accurately place the “via” you want.
Of course, to deal with a route change, if you know the road you want, just take it. The program is so good that it instantaneously recalculates the route when you leave a planned route and it will flawlessly continue to guide you along your way. However it will tell you to turn around to get you back on the original planned route but eventually the voice guidance recognizes that you are NOT going to change and it will adjust the route and guide you where you are going.
What was I really impressed with? Just about everything but in particular….
The Maps! I have traveled extensively in the past three months from Maine to Pennsylvania and countless places in between. Not once was there a road not there and not once was I ever in a situation where I did not know exactly where I was. They are good … very good!
Voice Guidance. I have been used to voice guidance but not voice guidance this good. TomTom 6 lets you know in advance that a turn is coming to prepare you with a warning that a turn is approaching then when it is the time to turn, it will tell you to turn now.
Itinerary Planning. I used this feature extensively on a recent trip to Pennsylvania and found it to be an invaluable resource to use. Prior to the trip, we planned where we were going for each day of this four day trip. I added the places we wanted to stop and then saved our itinerary. When we started our trip, the program calculated the route to our first destination and when we were ready to move on, it calculated the remaining distance and time to the next destination. It was very cool and worked very well.
What else did I like?
The screen display was excellent providing me with virtually everything I would want to know at a glance. Besides zoom buttons for getting a closer view or zooming out for a better perspective of the route, the name of the next major road (and road sign information) is prominently displayed at the top of the screen. A big help especially when in places you are absolutely unfamiliar with!
In the lower left hand corner of the screen is the next instruction and next to that and slightly below is the name of the next street to turn onto. Tapping on the “next instruction” will repeat the instruction if you need to hear it again.
In the lower right hand corner you find remaining trip time, remaining distance, and your arrival time as well as the strength of the GPS signal. You can go into the Preferences Menu and adjust what is displayed via the Status Bar Preferences.
A Fun Experience
Recently I traveled to Seattle Washington to spend a week attending the Annual Microsoft MVP Summit. After I got off the plane I took a shuttle bus to my hotel and of course I had the GPS on. I had already set the hotel address as my NEW Home so as the bus traveled toward downtown Seattle, I was able to see the route we were traveling and more importantly, I was able to see on the screen how far away it was. It was an absolute feeling of comfort knowing exactly where I was and how much further I had to go. I liked it!
Like all trips of this nature you get time to spend on your own to visit the city you are in. Seattle is a "walkable" city so I decided to take some time to see some of the "sites". I planned a route, turned on my GPS, placed it in my pocket and used my device to guide me to a variety of places that I wanted to see. It was fun but I found a very interesting feature about TomTom 6 AFTER I took my walking tour.
I set an itinerary of places I wanted to walk to and had pretty much set the trip to take me in almost a full circle. When the trip was near to the end, I was at the bottom of the street that I originally walked down. Of course I expected that the guidance would take me back up that street but it would not. It kept trying to have me move down a block then up a parallel street. That was dumb I thought! Why can’t I continue walking on the street I was on …. so I continued up the street and it continued to get me to turn. But I was stubborn and it was not going to take me out of my way so I continued to walk up the hill. Of course I was thinking that there was something drastically wrong with the program or possibly the GPS receiver so I just kept on walking not paying any attention. I arrived at the hotel and all of a sudden it appeared as if the GPS had "straightened out" its idiosyrancie and all appeared to be fine.
Later that night I was sitting in the hotel and was perusing the features of the TomTom program and all of a sudden I saw the feature called Planning Preferences. The option that was checked was "always plan fastest routes" and just below it I saw a choice "always plan walking routes". It was like a bolt of lightning struck! All of a sudden it hit me what had happened. I quickly got up and walked outside the hotel to the street I had walked down originally … it was a ONE WAY street! Of course the program did not know I was walking so it was guiding me to a street that I could legally drive up. I laughed!
Conclusion
There is no question in my mind that TomTom 6 was designed for the user that just wants to “get there” and “get there” easily! A simple interface provides ease of use giving exacting directions using comprehensive maps. It took me just one trip to “get to know” the interface and as each trip followed, it became more and more like second nature. Of course if I took the time to read the excellent manual in the beginning it would have been a much faster process in understanding the built-in intricacies of the program … but what fun would that have been?
I’m thrilled with the program, its ease of use, its excellent maps and its flawless navigation “on the go”. It worked perfectly on each device I tried it on and although as of this writing I was unable to try it on Windows Mobile 6, I would imagine that it will be fine. I will follow-up with Windows Mobile 6 operation as soon as I have it in hand (which should be soon).
Can it get better? Absolutely!
I would like to have the ability to customize the menus so that I could arrange the items the way I would like to see them. Clearly there are items that are used once and most likely never again but there are some that are used every day and it would be a huge improvement to have them all on the same page. However what I use and what YOU might use most likely would be different because of personal preferences. The ability to have a menu appear that was customizable would be a vast improvement for ease of usability.
For example, the options I use the most are Navigate To, Find Alternative, Clear Route, Itinerary Planning and Exit Application. It would be nice to be able to arrange the icons in a Customizable Menu based upon individual usage so you could easily (and quickly) navigate to them “on the fly”. As it is now, those five options that I use span the three pages of the Main Menu. In addition, it would be nice to be able to add an item that was on a sub-menu (i.e. Night Colors) to a customizable menu system if it was a frequently used item. That’s it! TomTom should add a customizable menu item on page one of the menu system called "frequently used items" enabling you to add those items YOU use most frequently. My guess …. we will see that option in a future version!
With that aside, I do not hesitate to recommend this program for your navigation needs. It’s simple, it’s easy and it just plain gets you where you want to go!
Pros:
Accurate Maps
Voice Guidance
Itinerary Planning
Call Number
Excellent Option Menus
TomTom Home for updates
Cons:
POIs could be improved
No Customizable Menu System
Rating:
4.9 out of 5
Cost:
TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 $299.99
Software & maps of the US/Canada on memory card
+ GPS receiver
TomTom NAVIGATOR 6 $249.99
Software & maps of the US/Canada on DVD
+ GPS receiver
(A little searching on the web can yield some great prices)
You can visit TomTom here to see all of their PDA/Mobile GPS products
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