Thursday March 28, 2024

TomTom One 3rd Edition GPS Review

First Impressions
The first thing I noticed when removing the packaging was that the TomTom was slightly thicker than I had expected. Not that it really makes any difference, but I was expecting it to be more along the lines of a PDA in thickness, when instead at its thickest part it's probably double the thickness of a PDA. To be fair, unlike something like an XMRadio device, the TomTom's antenna is internal, plus there's built-in speakers and electronics to drive the touch screen. Overall the TomTom is a pretty sexy-looking device that won't look out of place in your vehicle.

Initial Setup
I'm inclined to believe that if there was no manual included with the TomTom, just about anyone who has used a VCR could figure out the interface and be on their route within a few minutes. There's no calling-in to register the device for a subscription or calibration, you just turn it on and it's ready-to-go (though you might want to install the TomTom ToGo Software to download the most recent firmware version & map updates). I barely read anything in the manual, that's how easy this device is to operate. Just enter the destination address, TomTom calculates the fastest route & you're off. When you're ready to customize the device more to your liking, then you can get into the advanced options -- but if you never configured anything else on the device and just entered destinations, you would do just fine!


Vehicle Installation
I usually find the trickiest part of buying a new gadget for my vehicle is figuring out the "sweet spot" of places to mount it in the vehicle -- picture Jim Carrey in The Cable Guy, searching for the most optimal place to install the cable the wall. Well okay, maybe I'm not that extreme.. but I want it to any addition to my vehicle to look nice and not get in my way. TomTom provides a suction cup mount for your windshield. If you don't want to mount it on your windshield, there's an adhesive disk that can convert the windshield mount into a dash mount (always nice to have options). Now maybe it's just me, but I've never really liked suction cup mounts. First of all, I don't really trust them for hanging heavier (not to mention expensive) electronic devices and have had bad luck with the suction giving out when you least expect it. In addition to this, depending upon where you mount it on your windshield you may be obscuring your field of view or make a mess with wires. I was hoping my experience with the TomTom would be different..

My first true road test for the TomTom was a 2 hour trip to my Grandparents over Thanksgiving. I used the suction cup mount and mounted it low on the windshield, figuring if it fell at least it wouldn't fall too far. It was pretty cold outside and the suction cup didn't seem to be holding too well, so I ran it under some water quick to get a good seal. It held for about an hour before giving-way and it was re-mounted several times but always ended with the same result. I had to ride with the TomTom sitting on my leg the remainder of the trip -- making it difficult to read the GPS while driving.

Using the dash mount didn't go much better. With the dash mount, you're actually still using the suction cup, but instead of suctioning to the windshield you suction to this smooth circular surface that has adhesive on the reverse side. Because of the temperature, the adhesive didn't want to stick to the dash -- but even if it did, the windshield-converted mount is really just useful for the windshield. It doesn't let you pivot the TomTom, so if you have a dash that is angled slightly, you can't adjust the angle of the screen. All in all, I had exhausted my out-of-the-box options to mount the TomTom in the cold weather. I finally got some Hoop-and-Lock Superlock™ fasteners from RadioShack, and after realizing my car needed to be warmed up for it to stick correctly, I was all set. I'm wondering if I would have had the same luck with the suction cup mount if I had installed it in the summertime instead of the winter. Either way, installation was a success.

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Comments:
TomTom One 3rd Edition internal memory flaw..
Posted 11/20/09 1:54PM by Anonymous Techdoser
I had my TomTom One 3rd Edition for about 18 months before the internal memory went bad. Now it won't do anything. I thought a neat mod project would be to replace the memory with a SD or microSD slot to upgrade to removeable memory with more capacity.. Interested?