The Best Idea I've ever had
I drive all over the place because I work in promotions, and getting this GPS was the best decision I've ever made. It has vastly increased my productivity when it comes to errands and easily directs me around Boston, a city in which I used to hate driving with a strong passion. The text to voice is a very important feature, especially at intersections with a few roads coming in and I highly encourage getting a GPS with this feature. I've noticed that sometimes it has trouble connecting to satellites, but plugging it in to charge usually corrects that problem immediately. The volume gets very loud and though it's difficult to adjust sometimes, that small problem doesn't reduce my wholehearted recommendation of the 130S!
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Great GPS (TomTom ONE 130)
This is one of the best products and/or gadgets I've ever had the pleasure of using. From the day it arrived I turned it on (it was fully charged), and noticed how easy and intuitive it was to use and play around with. I thought maybe there was a problem with the contents when there were no user's manual that fell out when I opened the package. It didn't matter -- it was very easy to use. I knew that I could download the manual from the TomTom website.
I bought this GPS for planning our trip up to New York City. I did some searching and reading about a few different GPS's, and eventually ended up getting a low-priced but a newer model from TomTom. What finally helped me decide was:
1)portability (fits in shirt pocket).
2)support available on the Net.
3)simplicity of use.
First use:
Going to checkout the local parks near our home became so simple and nice, that otherwise would have been a difficult and time consuming task, with the unfolding and folding of maps, looking out for street names, or printing them out from Google Maps.
Extensive use:
Before the trip I entered all the restaurants and places we would like to visit as "Favorites". This is a trip from Virginia Beach to NYC (Manhattan). Never been there before, but with this gadget we weren't afraid to go just about anywhere we pleased. We followed the GPS to Delaware, caught the ferry to New Jersey, and reached our hotel with ease. This route was modified. The original route was given by TomTom to use the I-95 area, but we modified it to go our way which was very easy to do using the "Find alternative" icon.
Basically, we stayed in New Jersey going to Manhattan via the Staten Island Ferry (which is FREE), and back to our hotel in New Jersey. And we did this for a few days with the help of this GPS. We didn't bother driving in Manhattan, looking for parking, etc.
The hardest part about this whole trip was figuring out how to use the subway system. We even used our GPS to help us find out which way to go from time to time while on foot (thus the small size and portability). And it's great for a map reference. But I have to mention here that picking up the GPS signal while being surrounded by tall buildings out on the side walk is a little difficult. And I have to guess that it'll probably have the same effect while driving here.
Next, there seems to be some concern with the volume problem that I kept reading about. Ours was o.k. This GPS is very loud at its default of 70%! And clear! We had to turn down the volume while driving on the freeway -- it has a "Link volume to car speed" feature, which I think is ingenious, so it was louder on the freeway, then it gets down to its lower volume at lower speeds. The suction cup is nicely designed, and it's simple to take the whole assy. on and off to put away from vandalism.
There were fancier ones that mention the street names aloud, and ones that give you traffic information, and other things. But all I wanted was something simple and straight forward (turn left, turn right, stay on the left lane, etc. -- TomTom ONE 130 is perfect). Also I thought about getting the bigger 4.3" wide screen, but after using this it's not necessary.
Minor complaint:
One minor complaint is that when naming your "Favorites" it doesn't let you tap the cursor to any of its area, instead you have to erase the whole thing that has been highlighted or put the cursor at its very end. And when you want to give it a name and the address together, the number portion automatically gets inserted at the beginning which is annoying.
My solution: enter the name, and when entering the number portion, precede it with a special character like an asterisk then the number, then follow it by another asterisk, then the street name but without any space before it. Also I found it convenient to include the phone number on this whole line.
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Easy and Accurate!
After weeks of researching GPS devices, I finally decided to buy a TomTom. The price is better, TomTom includes Canada at no extra cost, and it is fast and easy to set up. So far, this device has been very accurate and I live in a very rural area. I am very happy with my purchase!
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