Review: TomTom One XL GPS

SPEEDY: The TomTom One XL in-car GPS is quick to start up and get a signal.

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Compact and light weight with a good sized 4.3-inch touch-screen, the TomTom One XL is easily read from the car dash even in bright sunlight.

Operating the TomTom One XL is simplified by the use of its large on-screen icons leading you through its impressive range of navigation features.

To get from A to B, you may enter the street address, an intersection, city centre, or point of interest.

You can select a location from Favourites or from the “Recent destination” list. The One XL can calculate routes by fastest time or shortest distance, with or without motorway.

There's also a bicycle and pedestrian routing option.

I really liked the “help me” menu that details emergency/breakdown/medical/vet information and phone numbers closest to your location. It even has basic first aid instructions.

The 3D maps on the Tomtom One XL seems a little flat and plain compared to some competing brands. Though what it lacks in visual 3D wow, it more than makes up for in an impressive wealth of information tagged to the map.

It’s up to you how much of the information you will see on the map.

Details can include phone numbers of restaurants and accommodation, to the location of fixed speed cameras. just to mention a few.

All this information can be updated via software package supplied with the TomTom One XL and an Internet-connected PC.

From cold start it would (at worst) take 2 minutes to lock into the satellite network while driving through the cavernous streets of Wellington city central, though once it had a lock we never lost signal, even when stormy conditions and very heavy rain prevailed.

You may also download some data files from the TomTom website that let the GPS unit know what satellites to expect in the skies and at what time. This makes start-up much faster, better than any other GPS I have seen to date.

The TomTom One XL is $599 from electronics shops.

- © Fairfax NZ News