Customer Reviews:
 one of the BEST things I've ever bought! August 24, 2008
No, this is not a PERFECT device, but considering how little I paid for it (seventy bucks after rebate, refurbed model) I am extremely pleased. It has paid for itself countless times in just the two months that I've owned it. I have used it for medium road trips of 800 miles, and cross-country trips of 1800 miles, and for city trips of less than 30 miles. I think I'm addicted to it...couldn't imagine ever going without a GPS unit ever again, esp. for those long road trips.
No, it's not accurate 100% of the time. More like 90-95%. And when it comes to pinpointing an exact street address on that street, accuracy is closer to 50/50, by my estimation. POIs are not that numerous unless you pay extra for them, and a lot of the free stuff that you can download from the TomTom website like locations of gas stations, are pretty much useless.
The best use for this device is when moving to or temporarily staying in a new town. It's also great for long trips to keep you aware of where you are on your journey distance and time-wise (seems to make the trip seem shorter to me), when trying to find a specific address, when wanting to experiment with different routes or shortcuts (the One re-maps your route automatically), and when forced to take detours due to construction or accidents or traffic jams. I just LOVE never having to squint at a paper map ever again!
I also figure that anything which will lessen my chances of getting lost thereby saving me time and gas and money, or my chances of getting into an accident (when lost one tends to be nervous and straining to see signs and landmarks rather than being attentive of other cars, pedestrians etc.)---is worth every penny!
Some tips:
1. Activate the onboard compass. It's very reassuring to know that you're headed in the right direction, esp. when you've totally lost your sense of direction.
2. Set the speed alert to a specified speed rather than by local speed limits, since the TomTom's records of local speed limits is accurate only about 60% of the time, and outside of major interstates, half of the time unavailable.
3. The 4 display gauges I found to be most useful and chose were time until destination, distance until destination, arrival time at destination, and speed. (Above 50mph, I found that the TT's mph reading was consistently 3-5mph above my car's speedometer reading, but nevertheless it's nice to see it in the center of my field of vision instead of looking over or through my steering wheel.
 EXCELLENT TOOL; VERY HAPPY August 22, 2008
What a great tool to have. I use it both when I know exactly where I'm going (to check TomTom and see if I agree) and when I don't know where I am. TomTom gets me where I need to go on every occasion. It screwed up in Boston so I gave it 4 stars and not 5 stars. I heard "you've reached your final destination" and I was on some street in Boston and where was the Westin? I was not happy. I drove aimlessly straight and saw a glimmer of something familiar and there was the hotel.
I agree that the battery life is not so great. Best to have cell phone already charged if you're going to be in the car with TomTom because there's only one cigarette lighter.
Yes, it does NOT tell you the name of the street to turn on. But THAT IS NOT A PROBLEM. TomTom tells you ahead of time "in 800 yards, turn right" and then at the top of the screen will be the NAME OF THE STREET. And you have the map with the BRIGHT GREEN ARROW showing you exactly where to turn. And then when you are AT THE STREET, it says "turn here" and says it AGAIN so you just KNOW when you're at the turn; plus the maps are pretty accurate as far as where the arrow is telling you to turn. Also, if you picked the wrong street to turn on, you'll see TomTom recalculating the route, so you can always turn around and keep going and wait for TomTom to say "TURN HERE." Or you can just listen to TomTom lead you to your destination from where you are. This time don't jump the gun and wait for TomTom to say "TURN HERE"!
I am very very pleased with my TomTom GPS. It's reasonably priced and very pleasant to use. I recommend it 100 percent. (I've had it for 5 months now and have used it a lot.)
Love it! August 21, 2008
I bought the TomTom 3rd edition & I love it! I use it primarily to deliver flowers around Cape Cod & I have to say that while I've lived here for over 40 yrs, we get orders for places/areas I've never heard of in our delivery area. I just put in the town, address and frequently ask for another route that does not take me on main roads. I have found places that were not in the Cape Cod Road Atlas! I would never have found them w/out this device. The only bad part is that a few more instructions included w/the product would be nice since it has taken me quite a while to figure out how to use it & I'm still learning. But overall, I'd highly recommend! PS: I did not install mine on the dash or windshield. I put it in a place I can hear it even though I can't nec see it. I would think having this on dash/windshield would be very distracting. I just listen to the instructions and follow them.
 Good Product With Weaknesses August 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've had a TomTom ONE 3rd Edition for about 2 months now & overall it's a fairly easy product to use & does navigate well. It's not unusual for it to say that you've arrived at your destination a half block away from the actual destination as there are quite a few map errors. Also, it does tend to route you via Interstate highways even if a different highway is more direct & much faster. There is a map correction feature that does take some getting used to as it's not overly intuitive. Probably the most annoying feature is that the unit has to be plugged into your computer's USB port when it's not being used or the battery will go completely dead within a week's time. I contacted tech support on this issue & was advised that this is normal. Other brands do not have this problem. The battery life is pretty good at about 2-2.5 hours. The navigation is pretty accurate & the map corrections are a real bonus. There is a lot of free content that you can download (voices, sounds, color schemes, etc.) to really personalize the unit. Overall it's a good unit--I bought it because it was listed in Consumer Reports as one of the best basic units for the money--but given the negatives I've observed I think I would probably go for a Garmin if I had it to do over again.
Pleased with purchase. August 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I received a 4.2" TomTom One for Father's Day based upon my son's extensive research into GPS units and this purchase was for my college age daughter for her birthday. It seems to be basically the same as my unit but has smaller screen and cost $100 less. Seems like a good buy. About the only complaint I have is that they won't save alternate routes to the "favorite" list.
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