Tom Tom One - First Thoughts

Michael Gartenberg | August 31, 2006, 05:54 PM

I love GPS systems in my cars. I've had one in the cars I've owned since 1999. Some have worked better than others (my first unit as a Microsoft Auto PC that cost nearly as much as the car and was a nightmare. The GPS was a tiny display and was awful. It would often tell me turn a block after I was supposed to and then go on a comical re-routing process that was always two turns off). Most recently I've been using the factory installed options on my cars but have liked the idea of standalone units for a lot of reasons. Many of then older units were bulky and hard to use, but the latest generation of devices really shine.

I've been using one of the newest ones on the market, the Tom Tom One, for the last few days and I love it. It's billed as a basic portable GPS unit but it compares very favorably with the more expensive built in unit in my car and some much higher priced standalone systems. I love the small size, (shirt pocket form factor) and the fact that it comes with all of the US and Canada on one SD card and the fact that it uses a standard USB connector to charge. Although it's billed as a basic unit, there are some nice high end features, such as the ability to pair with a Bluetooth phone and get real time traffic updates on screen.

Setting it up took about two minutes including installation. There's some desktop software as well but I haven't had the chance to install and see what how or if it improves the experience. Turn by turn direction were great, the screen nice and bright and accuracy dead on. If you need basic GPS functions, don't want to spend a whole lot of money and want a great out of box experience, this is a unit to look into.