Customer Reviews

Brand New Real Time Mini GMS/GPS/GPRS Car Tracker

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I just purchased this GPS for a trip to Boston after my old GPS was stolen. I was looking at price and this one was on sale. My old GPS was purchased for a similar price but it voiced the street names. In my opinion not telling you the name of the street to turn onto makes this GPS hard to use.

When I connected online to update the maps I was not offered a free update, but was offered 50% off to bring the two year old maps up to date. This service cost me an additional $40. Maybe I was scammed into paying for something that should have been free with the "30-day" map update guarantee...

The GPS itself is cool. I never had a problem getting a signal and the personalizing options are nice. I like the screen view, except that the street names are too small to read while driving and are not voiced. It did give accurate directions. However, it's frustrating to have two exits close together coming up and all the GPS says is "Turn right here" - Is it exit 13A or 13B? On more than one occasion I took the wrong right and had to be redirected by the GPS.

At least the GPS did not continually tell me, "turn around at your next opportunity." Instead it would calmly redirect me around the block. Overall, I like the TomTom. However, I did make a mistake in purchasing a GPS that does not voice street names. I would not buy this model again and recommend that you put high importance on voiced street names.

A very good solid GPS unit - and at a very good price here on amazon. Such a good price that it is less expensive to purchase a dedicated new one for the USA/Canada than to purchase the maps from [...] for my European unit. (Ridiculous!)
If you are considering the 130 think about spending a few more dollars to get the text to speech for street names in the 130-S TomTom ONE 130-S 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Navigator. Even though the street names are pronounced in a weird way it is one more way of keeping your eyes safely on the road.
I find the menu structure very intuitive. It is very easy to input a desired address quickly and just get there. As mentioned in other reviews if you make a mistake or decide to take a different route it doesn't get angry at you but just recalculates a new route on the fly. The easyport mounting system is super and compact. You snap the suction cup onto the windshield and then turn the dial to increase the suction. It has never dropped off the windshield for me even going from high to low altitudes, freezing to balmy temperatures. If you choose the 130-S with text to speech you will want to stick with the default voice because it allows for street names to be synthesized/pronounced. But if you choose the 130 try out the voice of Kathy from Ireland. Outside of having an aphrodisiac effect she says things like "second exit off the roundabout" or "Take the motorway". Highly recommend these GPS units.
Ah yes, the only other thing you might consider is a protective carrying case sized for this unit for when you take the GPS out of the car into the house at night or for packing the unit for business travel. TomTom One Carrying Case and Strap for One 125, 130, 130s, 140 and 140s (Black) If you have not used the unit in a while you should plug it into your PC to charge it up the night before. Also to update the maps using the included software.

I'm talking about a different Tom Tom GPS than this model but here was my experience overall with this brand.

First, their so called GPS kept locking up on me frequently. I would have to wait until I got back home to hook the thing up to the computer and reset everything.

Second, their service was abysmal. They never fixed the problem. They just kept feeding me the same, pat, out of the manual answers.

Third, I took a chance and paid for advanced maps software thinking that maybe this would resolve the issue once and for all. Not only did the new software also freeze up frequently, Tom Tom never got it working once properly over the next three weeks of back and forth, almost daily correspondence. When I finally got fed up and asked for a refund (just for the new software), I was told it was past their two week policy of allowing refunds.

I gave them plenty of chances to fix their product and they screwed me over.

Completely unreliable product, one of the worst support experiences ever, and an unethical company to deal with.

I've since bought a Mio GPS (in Europe) and a Garmin GPS (in North America).
Both proved to be very reliable products.

I have had 3 Garmins over the years, and thought I would try a TomTom this time (for my daughter). When I tried to update the system to the latest firmware and maps, it took me many hours and 2 calls to tech support to get things straightened out. The system appears to have had a flaky storage unit so when the updates tried to get installed, it would fail after 90-120 minutes. After several attempts, I contacted TomTom and was told to try running chkdsk against the unit. Errors and bad sectors were found and corrected. Attempted to install updates again, and after 100 minutes, the updates failed again. Called TechSupport back, was give more things to try (deleting files manually, etc) and after running chkdsk 2 more times, I was finally able to get the data to load.

My daughter tried using it for a few days, and said she would rather have her Garmin C330 back, because she did not like the way that the TomTom worked and the screen was too small, so I sent it back to Amazon and ordered a Garmin nuvi 260w for around the same price.

Bought it at Walmart. Have had the TOMTOM One 3rd edition since 2008. Worked well all the time. Tried to update maps (free service) on TomTom site. After the update GPS screen froze. I spent 1/2 of one day on line with Tomtom tech service support. Reinstalled all files to no avail. Then told "Sorry, there is nothing more that we Tomtom can do". I find it interesting that the GPS unit was working until I tried to update it. After the update the unitwas frozen. So it is a software issue not a hardware issue. Tomtom just said sorry and offered me a $10.00 voucher for the purchase of a new unit. I believe that they screwed up my software and do not care that they did so.

Oh well, just go buy another one.

I suggest that if your TomTom is working do not connect to the TomTom site via your computer. Leave it alone. Do not mess with it.

This is a poor way to get more sales of TomTom units by TomTom screwing up your installed software
and then claiming that there is nothing more that they can do (ya right).

No offer made by TomTom to repair it.

Buyer be ware.

Drive on.

Robert Morrison

I got this thing and I have a few things I like about it and a few that I don't like. Things I like- for starters this is a very accurate gps. My parents own a different brand gps that is like 50 yards off so when you are driving in Dallas and have to get off on an exit that's near several other exits, it becomes a pain. The TomTom is right on and I love that. I also like that you can add different voices and correct maps. This just makes it a little nicer.

Now for the things that I don't like. My biggest gripe is the user interface. If I am looking for say a Best Buy and I just want to look and see where the closest one is or if there is one in the next town, I can't do that without first choosing the city, address, zipcode, or intersection that it is in. So if you are on vacation and want to look up and see what's around you can't. Deal breaker for me because I do that sort of thing alot and the reason I wanted a gps was to cut out having to plan my trips out. To me it kinda defeats the purpose of having a gps if you have to know the address of where you are going. The whole system feels limited in that respect and is not user friendly. Next thing that I don't like is the 30 day map guarantee. It is a lie. I activated and registrated my TomTom and was offered the map at a small discount. The map actually cost more than the gps did. Next is the fact that there is no expandable memory on this device. It has enough memory for the map and a few extras, but if you are wanting to have all of your extras on the device you may not have enough room for them all. Lastly, I don't like the rerouting it does. If you need to go around something it does that well enough but if you choose different route it will just start taking you way out of the way. I put in an intersection and it had my estimated arrival as a little long for actual time so I put alternate route and it took me more than 80 mi out of the way!

Functioning parts of the gps such as the screen and speaker are fine. The touch interface is a little difficult for me with xxl glove size hands but that's not anything against the gps. Sometimes, when trying to scroll around the map, it bogs down and gets really slow, but I don't use it for that much.The touch screen is a bit slow, nothing like an iPod touch. The brightness of the screen is adequate and I have never had any gripes about it. The speaker goes from mute to blaring. My truck has a pretty loud exhaust and the gps can turn up loud enough to hurt my ears over the exhaust. It doesn't matter if you are hard of hearing or not the speaker is great either way.

OVERALL: If you are going to use this unit to get from point 1 to point 2 with no in-between, you will love this gps. If you are like me and you want it for use from point 1 to point 2 with unplanned stops everywhere in between and maybe off of the route too, you will pull your hair out before it's all said and done.

I got this at a good price and using it out of the city is fine but in the city can be a nightmare.
Trying to work out the exact turn off when junctions are that close together so easy to go wrong. Coming back to Brooklyn late one night I wanted to go over the Brooklyn Bridge as free but it directed me so far near to Battery park then sent me round and round in circles until I got so fed up paid the toll for the battery tunnel.
Working out a route avoiding all tolls can add hundreds of miles but you need to be aware that a bridge over the Hudson in NY state may only be $1.25 so pointless avoiding this.
Out on the highways fine, but in the city a better model would be the one to go for.

Three weeks after I bought a TomTom for my dad, I downloaded the TomTom ONE software to install the latest map for him. The software erroneously said that I was not eligible for any updates. I went back to check the web site, and it plainly said "30-day Latest Map Guarantee", but every single time I tried to get the latest map, it said I had to pay $70 for it. So I called TomTom a few days later and told them about the problem, but a couple of remarkably rude customer service reps dismissively told me they would not help me. They acknowledged that I was entitled to a new map and that the software screwed up but said that, because of "company policy", I was required to call TomTom within 30 days of purchase in order to fix the problem. And because it was now 32 days, it was tough luck for me, even though I tried to download the new map within 30 days and the only reason I couldn't was because their software didn't let me. Net result: I couldn't get a single map update, despite having paid for it. I couldn't believe it. So buyer beware of cheap gotcha tricks like that. I'm never buying a TomTom again.

I recently purchased this used, like new device over a month ago. Unfortunately i was not getting a gps signal no matter how long i left it on. One time i left it running for an hour and 30 minutes while my friend used his cell phone for us to navigate and still no signal from tomtom. i was very disappointed because until then i really liked this device it was perfect for me . now i'm not sure what to buy, garmin, magellan or another tomtom. from all the reviews i have read all brands give some sort of inconvienence for our convienence,,,,go figure.

I have used Tom Tom GPS' for over 6 years. This One 3.5" is adequate but tiny, if yours works. They used to be an excellent company. Based out of the Netherlands, their US office in Concord, Mass. provided top notch, excellent support. Now their tech support is in Mexico where English is at least a 2nd language and their technical competency is fair at best. Calls to their corporate office in Concord, MA are now met by an answering machine and no calls are returned. I sent in a defective GO 930 and was sent a refurbished unit that was inoperative. I returned it and was sent another refurbished unit which was defective. After being told I would be sent a new unit, after returning the 2nd defective refurbished unit I received another refurbished unit. I am promised, again, that the 4th unit will be new and working. I have sent a letter to the CEO in the Netherlands. Will be surprised if I get a response. This company does not care about the customer and does not deserve your business or support. Find another company to patronize and get the best deal you can. Avoid Tom Tom!