Customer Reviews

TomTom GO 510 4-Inch Bluetooth Portable GPS Navigator

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I have been using my TT 510 for more than a month, with over 2000 miles of local and cross-country travel, mostly without the need for a map. Our family now has three of them, all working properly right out of the box, and we love them.

But the manual is sparse and not indexed. Some of the data entry procedures are peculiar and require experimenting to get right. (If in doubt, or you can't find a particular icon, back up a couple of steps.) There are some amusing program quirks: a "Main Street" address may throw you into a nearby town, rather than the one you have specified! That happened to us in two different locations in Massachusetts, once from Concord (to Acton) and once from Reading (to Tewksbury).

The data base entry for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel must have been a little wrong, because the display showed us moving along in the water parallel to the bridges, despite good signals! The unit repeatedly recalculated the route while trying to deal with that problem. A similar thing happened on the Wright Bridge, eastbound on Rt 158 to the Outer Banks of NC. Amazingly, the TT projected our motion through the tunnels without receiving any signal, plotted out "progress" on the display, and instantly found our location again as we emerged!

The TT does not always respect numbered routes, and sometimes put us on local roads through residential neighborhoods when the path seemed to be a little straighter than the official highway. In local traffic there were a couple of inexplicable times when it directed us into the wrong lane for an approaching turn. The projected arrival times are sometimes quite accurate, but in some cases have been very wrong for no apparent reason.

On a couple of occasions when a unit did hang up, we reset it, but had to use a sharp pin or a thin needle because a paper clip doesn't fit into the tiny (and well hidden) reset hole. My wife once borrowed an earring from someone nearby to reset hers, and now keeps a safety pin stuck in the cloth case!

The windshield mount works well when you remember to retract the clamping ring when setting the suction cup, and then to tighten the clamping ring fully, and the TT is easy to fit to the mount once you learn to thrust it deep enough onto the stem.

Those minor nuisances aside, we love the TomTom. The display is easy to use and brilliantly arranged for driver convenience. I give this amazing product 5 stars because I would not hesitate to get another one, and most of what it does is just fantastic! It has been especially valuable for finding unfamiliar local addresses and for getting onto and off of Interstate Routes in unfamiliar places, normally a special pain for cross-country travel. When you deliberately depart from your planned route for a detour or a different plan, the TT quickly recalculates a route for you without really cursing, so we have had no difficulty that way.

One remarkable feature of the display is the way it shows nearby streets and roads that are hidden behind trees, as along the Jersey Turnpike and some of the other highways that are landscaped to appear isolated.

We found telephone support available and very helpful when we needed it once. We picked this GPS unit partly because it is compatible with our Mac computers, but haven't yet had occasion to hook it to one.

I've had this unit for about a month now, took it from New England to CA and it performed perfectly. Bluetooth and IPod connectivity are great. The custom voices (from John Cleese to Mr T) are a hoot. The unit does crash sometimes (i.e. fails to turn on) but a quick reset is usually all that's needed. In the rare cases the unit has trouble locking onto a GPS signal, I'd recommend downloading the QuickGPSFix software through the Bluetooth wireless data link. That usually helps the 510 locate the GPS signal. The other thing to keep in mind too is that Tom Tom is a UK company, so tech support is a bit hard to reach and the services are somewhat Euro-centric. For example, they still don't have the real time traffic service for North America. Otherwise, this a a fine unit. I have heard of some quality control problems when this unit was first released, hopefully this has been resolved with the latest batch.

I have had my TomTom GO 510 for about 10 weeks now. What a fantastic system! Two weeks after I got it, I took a trip to a very distant large city that I had never been to. Not once during that trip did I have to look at a map! Every time I went somewhere, I just put in the destination address and the TomTom took me right there - without fail. When roads were blocked, it helped me find alternate routes. When I needed to find a place to eat, or a gas station, it found something very well for me. I have enormous praise for this system. Of course, I wasn't always sure that I was taking the most direct or desirable route, but the system sure got me to where I wanted to be. There are some features that haven't tried, such as PLUS services, weather, and traffic. They require cell phone services that cost extra that I'm not willing to pay for. That said, I am still very high on this system and I have numerous friends that have borrowed it or are waiting to.

Although I love this system, there are some real disappointments with it that I'll try to highlight. Maybe the most bizarre flaw with the system is that the time display is almost always wrong. Granted, it has to be able to get a valid satellite signal to synch the clock, but even when the system is getting valid locations, the clock seldom synchs. When it does synch, it's almost always to the wrong time zone. It's a GPS system for heaven's sake - how can it not know what time zone I'm in?

I have been in some very rural areas and the system always knows where I am once I'm there, even on the roughest, unpaved, remote roads. However, I've had a hard time finding my way to those remote locations. To navigate there, the system requires that you put in the city and state. However, for some locations, there is no city, and when I put in the closest city, it couldn't find the location I was looking for. Once I was there, it knew where I was.

In my travel, I wanted to go to Pike's Peak. It wasn't identified as a Point of Interest. Odd.

The display could be better. In bright sunlight, it could be difficult to see. A brighter display would help under those conditions, or maybe a hood or shade of some kind. Otherwise, the display brightness was just fine. It would be nice to have a larger display. Us baby-boomers' eyesight may not be what it was in the past and some of the lettering was quite small. We could well use a larger display and many have the buying power TomTom should consider.

The most irritating thing about the TomTom GO 510 was the mounting mechanism. There's a button on the front of the system that's supposed to release the system for engaging or disengaging the system from the windshield mount or the computer dock. However, the button seems to have little or no effect, and the system snaps onto both in a way that feels like you're forcing it and it's going to break easily. It's very unsettling.

The documentation for the system is lousy. There's very little detailed technical information about how to use it. The documentation for mounting the windshield mount and for attaching the system to the windshield mount is all pictures - not one word - and the pictures aren't intuitively obvious what they mean. There's no explanation of the colors on the display. Sometimes roads are red, sometimes white. Land features are different colors, with no explanation. I could find no information on how maps are updated, if at all. That's a big disappointment. There's no system registration process so we can be notified when updated maps are available.

Apparently, maps are contained on the SD card. The SD card easily pops in and out with just a touch. However, when installing or removing the system from the mounts, it's way too easy to accidentally touch the SD card and pop it out. It could be easily lost. Seems like there should be some kind of safety catch or door to prevent accidentally losing it.

Finally, the system didn't work well with my cell phone - a Motorola V710. My contacts wouldn't synch and text messages wouldn't work. However, TomTom does caution that all cell phones are not compatible.

Notwithstanding these flaws, I'm still very high on this system. I like that it can be easily moved from car to car. It generally works well and gets me where I want to be. I'm satisfied with that.

Contrary to the many reports that this thing does not work. This GPS does work and works very well. It has a nice 4 inch widescreen that displays the route in great detail. There are also many options, ones that could me turned off and ones that could be turned on.

The first time I turned it on it took about 2-3 minutes to acquire a signal, which felt like a year. However, subusuqent starts takes much shorter amount of time and the POI database works much better than the POI in the previous generation of TomTom.

One complaint though, the mount for the car is kind of weak, and the thing shakes and it seems like it's going to fall off anytime , and as a result, the power cable disconnects itself at random times.

Pros
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- Very easy to use interface
- Screen brightness is very good even in strong sunlight
- Volume & clarity of instructions are very good
- 3-D map is very intuitive, gives you the feel of being in a low-flying plane, giving you a clear view of what's ahead and to your sides
- GPS is very powerful, and sometimes even works indoors. Never lost signal in big cities.
- Starts up fast, and locks onto satellites in less than half a minute at the most
- Includes map of all USA (I deleted the Canada part since I don't use it)
- Included software allows you to backup the data and software on the SD card to your hard drive, for future restoration if needed
- You can enter destinations in different ways (zipcode, city center, address, cross-streets)
- Comprehensive list of POI - came in handy a few times.
- Recalculates routes if you miss turns without any fuss
- Includes Windshield mount, car adapter, USB cradle, AC adapter, manuals and the device of course. Nothing additional needed.

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Cons
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- Bulkier than TomTom One, which is less expensive, but has only a 3.5" screen
- Bluetooth connection to phone, while interesting, is not worth the trouble. I found it easier to just use the cell phone's speaker phone. While the TOmTOm's speaker is occupied by a phone call, directions will not be given, which makes sense, but this means you could miss turns
- Some streets are marked differently (egs. Avenue vs St vs Blvd) than say, Google maps. So, I had trouble entering data a couple of times, and had to use the cross-street method.
- Twice it voice-prompted me to take turns which were against the 1-way posted. Thankfully, it was daytime, so I saw that it was a 1-way & ignored the directions.
- Doesn't play mp3, but that's not what I bought this for, so its fine.
- Road construction instruction cannot be downloaded, unlike in Microsoft Streets & Trips for example.


Conclusion: I love it, and friends who've used it also were very happy with the simplicity and elegance of the maps and functionality.

I have had my TomTom go 510 for almost a month yesterday I made my first long trip and used it. The 510 preformed well. However the Preloaded Maps from Tom Tom are out of date by many years. eg, the address on my Home changed almost 6 years ago,the TT 510 could not locate my home or any other areas that have changed their address due to E-911 are unavailable also. There are NO Current Updates on TT web site to correct this problem,So Bottom line is this,the 510 works well but maps are really out of date,so if you buy one do your self a favor and buy a current road atlas at the same time. I will return my TT 510 to the seller this morning for refund and buy a New Road Atlas.

I'm very impressed with the ease of use and the acuracy of the data, unfortunately it was a little too up to date on one trip and tried to get me to take a road that was not yet opened (it was scheduled to have been completed 3 months prior to my trip). I was able to select an alternate route elliminating the not yet open road and arrive at my destination.

I bought this unit two weeks ago and i am impressed with the ease of use and accuracy. Tom Tom mailed me the updated Maps on DVD (instructions were very clear to update the maps), i got it in couple of days, they are also sending me the windshield mount (it falls off the windshield), i was a bit skeptical about this unit after reading reviews but I really liked the wide screen with better resolution. Bluetooth setup was a breeze, worked with my RAZR phone with no problems,imported all my contacts from phone, hands free calling is very easy with good sound quality, directions are very clear and accurate, voice quality is very good.
I need to get used to POI (one need to figure how to filter the data quickly). Unit get GPS signal within minute or two sometimes longer if you leave the unit i car in cold weather. Based on my usage of two week i would recommend this unit. Adding favorites is very easy (up to 42) after that it will be added into POI. Battery life is around 4 hours. could be charged at home or in vehicle.
Only TOM TOM gives two years warranty on their GPS unit most of other brands have one year warranty.

I live in a remote, rural area (private dirt road) which doesn't show up on TomTom maps, but as soon as I get to the gravel road, TomTom kicks in and gets me to my destination accurately, depending on my choice of type of routing. The original maps that came with the unit insisted on taking me down an unmaintained section of the gravel road, but the newest maps get it right. I had trouble activating the new maps, but TomTom customer service was excellent, and spent 45 minutes with me. BTW, I got a live person in less than a minute! POI's are a bit sparse, but lots are available on the Internet. I punch in an address, and it guides me there. I am "directionally impaired", getting worse with age, and this unit gets me there every time. I love it.

I bought this unit for my father. He doesn't speak English, and TomTom is the only unit that can give directions in the language he needs. The unit speaks 36 languages. Another nice point about TomTom is the large 4-inch screen, which is important to an older person. Similar-sized Garmin (Nuvi 660) is a lot more expensive.
But that's where the nice points end, and the problems begin. First, the unit can only be mounted on the windshield. Neither TomTom nor aftermarket manufacturers produce brackets that would allow you to place this unit on your dashboard - it's physically impossible. This creates two problems: 1) windshield mounting is prohibited by some states, and 2) windshield mounting is not suitable for cars where the windshield is far from the driver.
But all of that is relatively minor. The real danger are the maps (and consequently the instructions). My father drives in New York City and New Jersey. When we first received the unit, it couldn't find my father's home in Brooklyn. Given the street address, it insisted he lived on the other side of the town. We overcame that with using intersection instead of the street address. The really serious problems, however, happened in Jersey. The unit seemed to have no concept of "all turns from the right lane" (or "jug handle left"), and kept instructing the driver to make regular "city-style" left turns from divided expressways. My dad will hopefully always ignore these instructions, but I'm always worried. The worst, however, came when the unit sent him against the traffic on a divided expressway (Route 46 in NJ). Luckily I was in the car and knew this particular area well enough to prevent him from getting hurt.
The unit did come with an offer of free updated maps. For $6 S&H we got a disk in the mail (took 3-4 weeks). We picked the map we wanted on that disk("US and Canada"), and copied it onto the SD card that came with the unit. The instructions were non-existant and it was not easy to figure out exactly which files to copy. But we did it. Unfortunately, these new maps changed virtually nothing (again, I'm talking NY-NJ area). The only change we noticed was that the unit placed my father's street address in a different (but just as wrong as before) part of Brooklyn.
We are keeping the unit because of the language, but I am really worried that one day my father might follow those directions too closely. For myself, though, after having done a lot of research, I have decided on Garmin Nuvi. 350 or 360, since I don't need the big screen.