Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A Tribute To My Dad For Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dad. Late as usual I suppose. Thank you for giving your life and dreams to provide for us kids when we needed it most.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

TomTom One - Worth its 1lb weight in gold!

Tom_Tom_Best_Price_Review

Technology designed to do a number of things: phone, internet, gps, music player - will usually do all of them only reasonably well. But a device that is designed to specialize in one of the above will generally do that task MUCH better. This is definitely the case with the TomTom One 140-S GPS device.Overview

With the advent of faux-GPS available on Smart Phones today, many people, including myself, believed the stand-alone GPS device to be obsolete. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I discovered that when I travel overseas and don't wish to incur mammoth data charges, clumsy map books from a "petrol garage", or ask directions in a language I don't speak, I have relied on my TomTom One GPS to bail me out and help me navigate unknown towns and cities.

The following review will give a basic look at the hardware and software of the TomTom One and will apply to the following TomTom One models: ONE 3rd Edition, ONE 130, ONE 130-S, ONE 140, and ONE 140-s - all of which utilize essentially the same hardware technology minus cosmetic, aesthetic changes from the 3rd edition (fatter and more square 3.5" screen casing) to the ONE 140-s (slimmer and more rectangular 3.5" screen casing) and software technology 140-S (features text-to-speech - announcing streets and Points of Interest) vs ONE 3rd edition (No voiced street names and POIs receive a "chime").

Whats In The Box

I wish I could start this review on the right foot, but I can't. Here is one of the few negatives of the TomTom One Line. You will receive the GPS unit itself, a USB Car Charger and USB cable, an Easyport Mount (Windscreen Holder for the ONE 3rd Edition), and last but not least, Documentation - Quick Start Guide and Accessory leaflet.

Conspicuous by its absence is the wall charger that EVERY Electronic Device should come with, even stingy old Apple provides a very basic wall charger for its products! Not so with TomTom ONE. You can use the USB cable to charge the device on your laptop or home computer and the device will charge while running from the cigarette lighter, but if you are at a motel and don't have your laptop, and the car is parked and turned off safely 3 floors below, you're out of luck for charging this thing. It also does not come with any thin flimsy faux-leather case that even cheap $8 Sunglass purchases come with! Not to fear, I've found aftermarket GPS cases for about $7 and the discount stores.

I picked up a $5 USB wall charger and found it to charge this unit just fine. *WARNING* Do NOT buy this accessory from TomTom or from Radio Shack, they will hammer your wallet for $40 or $50 to buy the actual "charger" and its completely unnecessary. The USB wall adapter and TomTom supplied USB cable work just fine for my unit.
Specifications (for all models mentioned above)

Screen Size is 3.5"
Screen Type is 4:3 LCD
Screen Resolution is 320 x 240 Pixels
It weighs about 140 grams (about a pound)
It has an internal non-removable battery that is rated for 3 hrs
Memory - Internal Flash Memory only 2GB no SD slot!
Hardware

I'm a big guy and this GPS device fits in my hand well, but it would not fit into a smaller person's hand. (My wife hates carrying this thing around.)

It has a power button on the top and a mini USB port on the bottom (ONE 3rd edtion has a traffic antenna port on the bottom that works with FM radio - traffic antenna is an additional $125 accessory)

The back contains the speaker for voice instruction.

I've saved the LCD on the front for the last observation. Before the iPhone came out, the touch LCD was amazing technology that seemed to work so well. Now that I've had an iPhone for a couple years, the LCD response and lag can be a bit frustrating but ultimately does the job. Without going into the software here, it basically requires a quick 'pop' of the finger to register an entry and is sluggish to register when attempting to "zoom" or scroll like you would Google Maps on an iphone.

It has an internal GPS sensitive chipset that often times requires a precise position on your dashboard or hand to properly pick up triangulation accuracy. Think of it like the old days where sometimes you had to hold the rabbit ears of your TV set and stand on one foot when trying to get M*A*S*H to come in 'just right'. Once the satellites lock on your TomTom, you're in. I've rarely ever seen this GPS drop the satellite link unless I've done something obvious like driven into a tunnel or parking garage.

A negative here is there isn't an SD slot for expansion. You are stuck with the scant 2GB internal flash Memory forEVER! The problem here is that one map set: US/Canada or Western Europe etc, will use up all 2 GB of that space which means you have this horribly complicated process of wiping the GPS and trading out for the alternative map EVERY time you leave your main map area. Believe me, this process is a pain because the technology is USB 1 and the transfer time is an over night endeavor.
Software

The software is where the TomTom really shines. It comes preloaded (in the U.S.) with U.S. and Canada maps with most additional countries running about $79 for each map.

Like the earlier units you get:
• turn by turn voice directions
     The volume can be set to auto-adjust to your vehicle speed.
     I have been through downtown LA about 20 times and the ONLY
     times I have successfully navigated the tangled mess of off and
     on ramps without a reroute has been when I've used this TomTom.
    
• automatic rerouting when you miss a turnoff (intentionally or unintentionally
• Fast Navigation
     Several months ago I had this TomTom working directly next to
     my iPhone 3G GPS and the TomTom gave directions well before
     a turnoff whereas the iPhone GPS lagged behind to the point
     where it gave instructions (non-voice) well after I had already
     passed the turnoff - definite advantage TomTom
• Fairly reliable and updated maps
     This can be user generated (most up-to-date but only somewhat
     reliable) or TomTom generated (behind the times but very
     accurate)
• Find POIs near you, or near destination, etc
     I have used this here in the States or overseas to find ATMs, gas
     stations, and post offices, etc which can come in VERY handy in a
     city you don't know very well. On this 140-S unit, it will voice the
     POIs you've selected as you near them. On the ONE 3rd Edition,
     you can set it to chime as it nears a selected POI.
• Saved destinations for future use.
• Set Routes for Driving, Walking, Bicycling - Fastest, no freeways, etc
     I walked around Paris with this GPS in my hand and set it to find
     the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. It kept guiding me
     along strangely LONG routes until I discovered that I needed to
     set it to "walk" routes and not "drive" routes. The TomTom was
     paying attention to one-way streets that are all bypassed in "walk"
     mode. VERY handy once again.

The 140-S adds the following features:
• Advanced Lane Guidance
     Now detailed information about complex freeways (like downtown
     LA) and the ideal lanes to maintain your particular route of travel.
• Text-To-Speech
     This is just a minor "add" as it now allows you to have street
     names and POIs 'spoken' which the older models cannot do. I
     don't find that this feature is necessary, so you could save a few    
     bucks and get the older models which do not run this version of
     software.
• IQ Routes
     This utilizes compiled user data of average speeds on a given road
     at a given time and then passes that information on to your device
      if you select "fastest route"
Conclusion

Technology designed to do a number of things: phone, internet, gps, music player - will usually do all of them only reasonably well. But a device that is designed to specialize in one of the above will generally do that task MUCH better. This is definitely the case with the TomTom One 140-S GPS device. If I need to do some serious navigation and don't want to continue looking at my iPhone for instructions, this is the device that has saved my bacon time and time again.

I paid about $100 for this device and considering I no longer stop for directions or to buy maps or waste hundreds of dollars in time and/or gas driving or walking in circles. I would count the benefits of this GPS in the thousands of dollars - 1 pound GPS device equal in value to 1 pound of gold, even with the stingy box offering and sometimes glitchy screen!
Pros: Price, Map Accuracy, Software, Fast Navigation, POI locators.
Cons: Poor LCD map touch response, No wall charger or case! Expensive accessories, No SD EXPANSION!
The Bottom Line: If you need a device to help you navigate an unknown concrete jungle or spaghetti bowl of freeways, this is your GPS!

Recommended:
Yes