Customer Reviews

TomTom GO 2435TM 4.3-Inch Bluetooth GPS Navigator with Lifetime Traffic & Maps and Voice Recognition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is my first dedicated GPS device. My husband has a 3-year-old TomTom and I've been wanting one of my own for a long time. I'm a textbook girl - not good with directions - at all, but this TomTom goes beyond mere mapping. The traffic alerts have shaved 30-60 minutes off my commute DAILY and I have been evangelizing this GO2435 to everyone I know since I got it. I commute over 50 miles each way, every day... and cut through the Dallas area to get to work and home. I've repeatedly found the local traffic reports on the radio to be utterly worthless the vast majority of the time. By the time they report an incident, I'm already stuck in it... not so with the traffic reporting on this GPS. It's amazing. This is my personal "eye in the sky" that gets me where I'm going - and does so quickly, avoiding traffic delays.

There are pros and cons with this device, but there have been 2 software updates since I got it and some things have already improved. I'm greatly anticipating getting the fun voices such as Homer Simpson for the device - but the GO 2435 is so new, they're still working out the kinks with the software so that the voices will work on it. Previous versions of the TomTom used a desktop software for PC & Macs called HOME. This new model and future new models use a new software called MyTomTom - which relies heavily on your web browser. After buying the Homer Simpson voice on TomTom's site, I couldn't get it to work, so I called Tech Support. Everyone was so nice - awesome support! I was informed that this was a feature that was 'coming soon' and they sent me a free case because of the frustration I had with fiddling with my computer for hours trying to get the thing to work when it wasn't ready.

The default voice on the TomTom is Samantha - a very easy-to-understand voice that tells you when to turn right, stay in the left lane and when you've reached your destination. Clicking on Services in the settings area lets you listen to traffic updates if you want details, but you sometimes have to strain to understand Samantha, because she speaks the traffic too quickly.

I successfully paired my iPhone w/ the TomTom and made a call using it - but was underwhelmed by the process. The sound quality was great, but it is not a user-friendly interface for making calls unless you've only got a handful of phone numbers in your address book. Via bluetooth, it synched all my iPhone contacts (over 700 of them) to my TomTom, and the tiny scrolling area just made it pointless to try and find the right contact to dial. I used my iPhone to make the call, but spoke through the TomTom. After 2 days of playing with that feature, I unpaired the device and deleted my contacts from the TomTom... it was just too annoying.

Through exploring all the settings, I've set up my TomTom's car icon (an arrow by default) into a Beetle and can now see points of interest that I want to see on my display. At any time, I can see at a glance if there are restaurants or ATMs near my location, without fiddling with the device while driving.

I still use Google Maps on my iPhone to find the address of a location - if I'm looking for a Chili's, for example, near a friend's house 50 miles away, I can use Google Maps to type in "chili's" along with a zip code and I can see the address - but I use the TomTom to get me there, not my iPhone... and it's so much more accurate on turns!

I got the TomTom app for my iPhone about a year ago and have used it several times. I have a 3GS and perhaps I would get better performance out of an iPhone 4, but issues I had w/ the TomTom app for iPhone were battery life (iPhone battery drains even while plugged in if using the app) and when the iPhone is constantly checking for incoming messages and push notifications are coming in - things get slightly delayed. I found the app on the iPhone was accurate within several feet with a slight delay that made me miss turns now and then. With the dedicated GPS device, however, it appears accurate within inches and there is not any travel-interfering delay.

For those who have never had a GPS device, let me tell you - this is the thing you've always needed, but didn't know it until you've used it. If you get distracted and miss a turn/exit, or you decide to take a detour to go to the bathroom or grab a quick snack, you don't have to 'start over' with your mapping - the TomTom replans your route immediately once you've deviated from it, to get you back on track from wherever you are. While speed limits in the city aren't always known by the device, speed limits for major highways are - so you will see your speed on the display and if the posted limit is known to the TomTom, it will flash in red if you're exceeding it.

I have a number of criticisms for this device. Being an iPhone user for 4 years, I'm in love with simple, quick, intuitive interfaces. The menus in the TomTom can be a bit cumbersome. While the crew that programmed the iPhone app did a great job, there are some things with the menus on the TomTom that make me want to scream in frustration... which is why this is not a 5 star review. While any device has room for improvement, the interface in the settings needs to be cleaner. There needs to be a feature to delete a single favorite, not all or nothing. I should be able to speak my response when I'm asked if I want to take the toll road or use the HOV lane, instead of reaching over to touch the screen while driving. I live out in the country and sometimes the TomTom will tell me to take a road that I happen to know is not passable without a monster truck or a four wheeler if it has rained in the past 5 days - there is currently no way in this current model & software version to correct maps... although this is another 'coming soon' feature.

I have high hopes that these are features that will improve, as I've already seen software updates and when you call tech support, the staff seem extremely savvy with the devices and very knowledgable of the features available with each model... and their toll free support does not connect you to a foreign land where you cannot understand the techs or vice versa.

Despite my criticisms, I can't tell you how much this device has literally changed my life. I thought my iPhone was the only technology I "had to have" with me wherever I went - but the TomTom is now also part of my Swiss Army Knife of tech that I must have at the ready.

I cannot overstate how incredible the traffic reports are and how much time out of my life this gadget has saved me from sitting in traffic and burning diesel! While driving during rush hour, I will frequently get a white screen with text show up, along with Samantha announcing, "Traffic has changed. A new route has been found that is 32 minutes faster. Would you like to take this route?" You can then click "No" or "Yes" on the touch screen, OR the microphone will beep and let you say "yes" or "no" without touching the device and Samantha confirms, "taking faster route."

Before getting this TomTom, I wasted countless hours sitting in traffic... and that rarely happens now. The TomTom is not a crystal ball - accidents can happen just a mile ahead and like anything in life, this is not 'perfect,' but it is amazingly awesome.

It comes with an ingenious mounting kit. The suction cup has a circular grip around it that lets you turn it to attach it... and it's not going anywhere once you do that - no surprises with the mount falling off the windshield. The charge cable, which contains the dongle required to receive free traffic, has magnets on it - so the cable 'snaps' magnetically into the mounting cradle and your TomTom magnetically 'snaps' into place when you lay it on the cradle... no fiddling with cords or worrying that you haven't seated the device properly. The whole kit is so well executed. It's just a beautiful, classy device. I have a case for the TomTom, but it sadly doesn't come with a case - I highly recommend this as a supplementary purchase. GPS units are frequently stolen from vehicles - you should not leave yours in your car.

I initially mounted the cradle on the windshield, then moved it to the driver's window. Dissatisfied with both locations, I bought the weighed bean bag mount so I could have it closer to me (being short, I have short arms - and I have a very deep dashboard) instead of dislocating all of my parts while lurching forward to reach for the display when I needed to touch/click 'yes' or 'no.' Mounting options will vary by car and driver. I like having the device right in front of me, above the steering wheel, so I'm not turning my head to look at it while driving and so I can drive and keep the turn directions in my periphery without blocking my view. For me, the beanbag dash mount was the best solution. If I go to a mall, not only do I take my TomTom with me, I stick the beanbag mount under the seat so thieves do not 'assume' that I have a device to steal hiding in the car for them.

The generous 4.3" display really lets you see everything you need to see. Ingeniously, upon sunset, the display goes into night time view and upon sunrise, switches back to daylight view so that your eyes are not strained. The high resolution display and sharp graphics make everything easy to read - no guessing or squinting is necessary. I'd recommend getting familiar with the device BEFORE driving with it - even if you're sitting in your driveway at home for 30 minutes playing with it - it just helps to know where to look on the display for what information. It's also a learning process. After a few days, I need only glance at the screen and I immediately know that I've got a right turn in 10 miles, what road I'm on and how far up ahead there's a traffic delay.

There is no monthly fee for the traffic or maps with this model - just free map updates and traffic for the life of the device. What a Godsend! As a Mac user, I'm not used to having new devices have good software for the Mac side - but they've done a great job. My husband uses Windows 7 for his older TomTom and I use a Mac (running Snow Leopard) at work and at home - and the MyTomTom software is rock solid and continues to get updated.

Even though this is my first dedicated GPS, I already know that I am a TomTom customer for life. Yes, it's just that awesome.

First the positive:

The bluetooth connectivity to a cell phone (although this is not suppose to be the core feature of the product) turns out to be the most useful feature. When driving, talking through TomTom is much easier than using the bluetooth ear piece.

The traffic monitoring feature has saved me time couple of times over the past three weeks of use. When TomTom detects a heavy traffic on 101, it informs me of the heavy traffic and suggests an alternative route. On those two occassions I followed the suggestion, I learned that I actually did save about 10 minutes on typical 40 minute route. The realization came from the traffic updated provided on the radio. From my detour to the destination, the traffic reported average delay of 25 minutes while the alternative route from TomTom took 15 minutes.

Now the not so good:

The onboard map does not seem to be comprihensive. Of about 15 addresses I tried to used for navigation, about 5 were not in the map. Several different variation like 7th, Seventh, 7 th, etc. informed that such address did not exist. On one occassion where the street was split across a highway, it look me to a wrong side. When the map has the information on the address, it works great. But, I found myself getting frustrated a bit too frequently and pulling out my iPhone to get the map I need.

The web interface has a bit of problem as well. TomTom website indicates that it has an update. When I connect TomTom, it tells me that the device has the latest update. A week or so later, I see on the website again that it has an update. When I connect TomTom, again I got informed that the device is up to date.

Overall, I do like TomTom because of the bluetooth phone connectivity, good traffic monitoring, and useful interface (interface works well when address is known). But, I gave only three stars for the frustration I encounter because TomTom does not have the necessary information too frequently and website fools too often.

I have used several GPS units over the past few years. I started with a Garmin, which was great, then Magellan, then my cell phone. I liked the Garmin, most, until I got my cell phone, and so I returned it. I just got the TomTom, and frankly, was never really impressed with what they had to offer....until now. Quality of materials appears very good. I was not happy to not have a suction device for my windshield. Having the the disk mount on my dash is and advertisement to theives that I have a GPS and a chance for them break into my car and look for it (even though I do not keep it in the car)....so....I do not mount it. Now, I should mention that I LOVED my cell phone GPS. Traffic updates, etc., it was great, and included in my plan for no extra charge! Great. I was happy. Well, today we went to Staten Island (from Westchester), NY....about one hour and twenty minute drive. So, a battle of the GPS's was a no brainer. The controls on the TomTom are not really as intuitive as my old Garmin, but a hair better than my cell phone. The voice recognition is something else. It's amazing! It understood what we said with the windows open and driving at a pretty quick rate! Even my favorite bluetooth headset cannot do this. My wife and I were VERY impressed. Back to the battle.....I should note that today was the bike marathon, and we could have potentially gotten caught in a TON of traffic. Both GPS units took me pretty much the same way, but the TomTom had the more accurate ride. Unfortunately, both also took me through the crossbronx expressway, which is notoriously horrible and always backed up, on the way to NJ. On the way home, the TomTom brought me back the same way, and my cell phone brought me back a different way. Wanting to avoid the crossbronx on the way home, I followed my cell.....as I was doing that the TomTom informed me that there was a delay with its current route and asked if I wanted to change my route. I said yes, and it went the same way as my cell. The TomTom CONSTANTLY gives you instructions. It's annoying....I didn't really like it, however, my cell phone gave me very little, and going through New Jersey, I like the TomTom for all of it's reminders and guidance. The TomTom also informed me that there was a delay, but we were still on the fastest route......and what I REALLY like is that it told me how long the delay would last! That is a nice feature, especially for someone who does not want to be stuck in traffic. I feel that we put it through its paces and I think that it really did a good job. So much so, that my wife has decided to keep it....I'm stuck with the cell phone. You get lifetime traffic and 4 map updates per year for life, so keep your code to update your unit! It also has an option for traffic cameras! SWEET!

My only real problem is the lack of intuitive control.....and it is not completely lacking but enought to make this a 4.5 instead of 5 star review. Scrolling through the different maps is a little sketchy at first, and also a bit confusing, especially when I never had to read the directions for my cell or for me Garmin. Still, I rate the TomTom better than either of those. This is a solid unit, and it is spot on. If you happen to get pulled over for speeding, you better shut down your unit, because as I said, it is spot on....it matched my speedometer perfectly. Very impressive. Also, while my cell phone and the TomTom give the same directions some times, I found that the TomTom gives a more accurate ETA. I don't give out 5 stars easily, and this is as close to 5 as I can give without actually notching it up. I would easily recommend this unit over the other brands that I have used. Look no further folks, you have found your GPS!

I've had a TomTom 2435TM for a couple of weeks now and use it just about every time I get in the car, even when driving to work or back to home. I'm not using it to navigate in those instances, obviously, but I am having it pay attention to traffic for me so that I don't have to. As a result, I'm able to listen to music, relax, and enjoy my commute a lot more.

I also use it several times a week to navigate to customer offices. The navigation steps are really accurate. I've only asked it to check alternate routes a couple times, but that worked really well, too, and didn't take too long.

The travel time estimates are also very accurate, including decent guesses regarding traffic delays.

The onscreen keyboard for typing in city and street names is a bit small for my fingers, though. It makes me think maybe I should have gotten the 2535 instead.

The colossal disappointment with this device is the poor software support. Some advertised features don't actually work yet because they haven't even been implemented. Others act like they should work but don't. The most important of which is that map updates have never worked for me. It takes over an hour to download a new map update, and then the process of it transferring onto the device blows up with the unhelpful error message that something has gone wrong.

There aren't any support documents providing steps you can take to fix the problem, because there is no fix. Tomtom customers are waiting in limbo for the company to update their software to the point where it actually works.

Bottom line, the device is great including the traffic feature. And the traffic feature is free from ads, unlike Garmin's equivalent. But the lifetime map updates are currently pointless because map updates aren't working. Maybe next year Tomtom will get their act together. But it doesn't seem likely to be fixed any time soon.

UPDATE: The software update feature continues to not work on my Windows 7 main computer, but it does work when I use a dusty old Windows XP laptop. I have never heard a peep out of Tomtom support on the ticket I opened through their website trying to get the software to work correctly under Windows 7 64-bit.

Additional complaints: When lane guidance kicks in, you lose visibility into how much further you need to travel or how long it will be until you arrive. That's annoying particularly because there's no way to get out of the lane guidance and make it give your normal display back until you drive past the interchange. Also, several stretches of freeway on my normal commute give me guidance for every single offramp for a 6-mile stretch. So it's always telling me "In 1 mile, keep left. Keep left." And the unit keeps telling me I have less than 1 mile to go before my next turn, even though I'm simply continuing on down the same freeway. That behavior just started happening with the latest map update. I would revert back, but then I would once again be getting frequent nag messages that my map is out of date.

I both love and hate this GPS.

I owned the earliest generation of TomTom because at that point in my life, I was traveling to rural Vermont every two months. It mostly did the trick, although it once sent me out of the way so far that one of the reasons I bought an Android phone was to have access to Google Maps.

When this product became available via Amazon Vine, with the inclusion of Lifetime Map Updates, I decided it was time to give TomTom another shot. Alas, even after calls to tech support, uninstalling, reinstalling, and actual work on my laptop to enhance its performance, I cannot seem to activate the code which would provide those lifetime map updates. The infernal "internal server error, please try later" message that tech support assured me occurred due to server changes at TomTom did not indeed resolve itself...even with the addition of a four-day grace period.

I believe I've devoted close to four hours on trying to get this device up and running as promised. Yes, the maps are up to date for now, but the benefit of the lifetime of updates was the product's primary lure. Without them, I see no point in investing even more of my time, particularly in that my Android phone with Google Maps seems to get me where I need to go.

While I'd love to have a working TomTom so that I can devote my Droid to other apps like Pandora on road trips, that doesn't seem likely at this point.

I had a TomTom XL something for about a year, but didn't bring it on a trip to the East coast where a hurricane canceled my flight and had me drive a rental car from Maine to North Carolina. If I wasn't such a gadget freak I could have just used my phone, or, God forbid, a map, but this seemed like a great excuse for an update. I have always been annoyed by the resistive (plastic) screens on GPS units and really wanted to try out one of the new capacitive (glass) ones. So, I overnighted this guy to my hotel and took off in my rental car.

The GPS did a great job, but we're really at a point now where _every_ GPS will get you where you need to go without much drama. It's the little things, I'd say, that make this unit stand out from previous TomToms and the new Garmin devices. First off, the screen really is nice. You're not going to want to go back to a plastic screen after using this bad boy. Taps register quickly no matter how light, addresses are about 10 times quicker to type in, and the reflections and viewing angles seem about on par with previous screens. I've heard some people complain about viewing angles, but in my experience you can look at this thing sideways and be just fine.

The mount is also fantastic. You wouldn't think it would matter, but it's so easy to put the GPS on and off its mount that I find myself grabbing the GPS and brining it to my lap when I want to type in an address, then popping it back. Going back to leaning over the dash with a single outstretched index finger would be a bit painful.

The big complaint a lot of people have is the experience when you plug this thing into your laptop. I had an issue (in that, it didn't work at all), but using Firefox instead of Chrome fixed it completely. Still, it would have been nice for the documentation to say somewhere, "Oh, and you're going to waste about an hour of your life if you don't use Firefox." Better yet, Chrome is a pretty standards-complete browser; just make it work, TomTom. From what I can tell, the new MyTomTom software is not really "just a web app". It seems like the main app runs as a native application, then you use the browser for the main user interface. It's a good idea, actually; this way TomTom has to maintain separate Mac and Windows native app daemons, but all the UI stuff can be shared. The tech support was a complete joke, however. The guy knew what was in the user guide that shipped with the device and that was it. He just kept telling me to do the same basic install procedure that I had already done. I finally figured it out myself after trying another browser, but it would have been nice to have my issue escalated to someone who actually knew something.

So, how does this guy compare with the new Garmins? I'm not sure, really. But I have seen those Garmins in the store and they look pretty fantastic. They're super thin and look like something Apple would make. They are also more expensive and display ads if you use the traffic features. I suppose they would be nice if you wanted to take it out of you car (though, they still use an old-school mounting system that will make that difficult) and carry it around, but who is in the market to spend over three hundred dollars on a GPS, but doesn't own a smart phone with navigation? I want a GPS to live in my car, at all times. This TomTom looks like it could be 8 years old. I'm sure there's a risk of windows getting smashed and it getting stolen, but at least it isn't as thin as a pencil and super sexy.

When I'm travelling I'm often either unsure of or want to change my intinerary or destination. Since I prefer not to have to stop to reprogram, I was looking for a voice-controlled GPS. The voice control funtionality of this unit is marginal. It responds well enough, but to activate it you need to push a button the screen. Entering addresses is easy since you can speak in phrases, but finding something by name or even category is either unavailable or extremely limited. The voice control on Garmins is far, far better. And then, when entering information manually, the touch screen keyboard is so sensitive that I get the wrong letter more often than the correct one.

I do like the speed of startup on the Tomtom, route finding is quick and the

route selection is very good. The multi-gesture control on the map view is very impressive and scanning the map is easier on this unit than any other gps I've seen.

I would consider Tomtom if I was looking for a manually controlled unit, but it doesn't compete for voice control function.

I was so excited to get this product to review. I needed a new GPS, and TomTom's products looked pretty good.

The good:

- This GPS finds the satellites faster than my old one did.

- The display is really crisp and pretty.

- It switches automatically from day to night mode, which is pretty cool.

- The traffic info can be kind of cool. I'm not sure how useful it is, because usually when it's told me there's a traffic delay, it's said I was still on the fastest route. But maybe for a really gnarly traffic delay, it would be handy.

The annoying:

- It turns itself off when I shut off the car, and then I have to manually turn it on again when I start the car up again. (My old GPS would turn on automatically when I turned on the car.) This is a pain in the butt.

- The keypad (when you're typing in a point of interest to search for, for example) is not that responsive. Typing in business names can be really irritating.

- Sometimes this unit doesn't know where things are, that it really ought to. Like, I was one mile away from Wal-Mart and I told it to find me a Wal-Mart nearby, and it didn't find it.

The REALLY annoying:

- One thing that attracted me to TomTom is that celebrity/character voices are available to download. It's silly, but I was excited about that. I wanted to download Mr. Burns (from "The Simpsons"). And how freaking cool would a GlaDOS GPS voice be? Seriously? I would happily pay for that. Well, the downloadable voices are available for most TomTom devices, but not for this one. The website says they will be available "soon." Apparently, it has said that for a long time. Grrr.

Overall, if you need a GPS, this is not a bad choice. But if you want those downloadable voices, check and make sure you're getting a model that can use them.

If you are as intimidated as I by all the latest electronics whose instruction manuals only a 12-year-old can understand (one good reason, at least, to have children) or, worse, don't even include manuals (have you bought a standard cell phone recently?), then you will have the happiest of surprises when you receive this product. If you understand the word "tap," and if you know how to type - that's it!!!

I wish I had the expertise and/or a previous experience with a GPS device to be able to compare this product to others. This is a new world for me so I would advise you to also read some of the more knowledgeable and helpful reviews. All I can say is, for those of you who were also dragged screaming and crying into the 21st century (trite, but true), have no fear. I can't imagine anyone having any trouble getting this little jewel up and running.

My only complaint is that it's so much fun to experiment with, I've been burning a lot of expensive gasoline playing the game of "Let's see how to get from here to there." Yes, I'm joking - kind of.

I've been a Garmin user for years, but wanted to try out their competition. This little gps has a nice profile and a good viewing area for their maps although sometimes it seems a little too crowded on the screen with how much information it wants to show the user.

It does have a different viewing method than on the Garmin, but it was workable. Some of the controls are difficult to find though if you're just trying to go through the menus to figure things out.

However I was not happy with the gps. I live in Kansas City, MO, while we are a growing city, with new subdivisions being created gradually but constantly it often couldn't find addresses of places that have been around for at least 10 years (how long I've lived here) including my parents home which has been around over 40 years. It gave wrong directions more than once, taking me to the wrong place when I entered the physical address. Also it couldn't find a lot of established restaurants.

But, yes they do have updates which take like 2 hours install and are frequent, but even the updates aren't correcting these blatant issues.

Since we had so many issues with the GPS in the city we are familiar with we had no desire to depend on it and fully get lost in another, unknown place.

I definitely can not recommend this GPS.