Customer Reviews

TomTom GO LIVE 2535M 5-Inch Bluetooth GPS Navigator with HD Traffic, Lifetime Maps, and Voice Recognition

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

UPD(Nov 2011): I thought I will update this review a little bit. Everything below still remains true. The only major change is that now the major competitor seems to be the new Nuvi series. Garmin finally made dramatic progress with their TrafficTrends and the routing on Nuvi 3490 is very similar to what IQRoutes on TomTom would give. I say below that if you live in a big city, you need TomTom. This is no longer a rock-solid statement. Garmin has created a viable alternative.
If you want a connected device, the choice is easy. At the moment 2535 is the only decent device on the market.
If you don't care if the device is connected or not, it's a tough call between 2535 and Garmin 3490. 2535 is still faster and a bit better and more stable in routing , but the gap is not as huge as it used to be. Given that Garmin 3490 has a better UI, it's a hard choice and boils down to your personal preferences. Personally, I will keep both for some time. I trust TomTom a bit more. Garmin is more usable.
The worst single thing about TomTom remains their "myTomTom" website and plug-in. This is the most ridiculous piece of software I have to use which has more bugs than features.
Besides LIVE functions, TomTom's main advantage remains "Map Corrections" feature. Even though map quality is lower than the maps that come with Garmins, you can make corrections like disabling roads, changing turn restrictions, etc. On Garmin you are effectively stuck with whatever Navteq provides them and map updates are painfully slow (custom avoidances don't help). As I say below, on top of map corrections there is also map share, i.e. ability to use corrections submitted by other users. It will work on older TomTom models, but is not available on new ones because of myTomTom...

I also had battery issues and after 6 months of usage TomTom replaced it with a new device with no questions asked. My respect for that.
That's all for the update. The rest is the review as of April.

Overall, a nice device. I'll mostly concentrate on comparing it to Garmin Nulink 1695 as these are the best connected devices on the market. You can check my feedback on 1695 for additional details. Significant part of this review will be generic to any Garmin vs TomTom comparison, so I'll start with LIVE services to knock down the essentials.

Both units do a good job, both offer 1 yr of free services, traffic, google local search and weather.Garmin seemed to be a bit faster but TomTom is ok.
Local search: same functionality on both. TomTom's presentation of results is a bit friendlier.

Weather: TomTom offers weather "near you", "near destination" and "near other point" that can be your POI or a recent destination. Garmin only gives "near you" or near a pre-defined city. TomTom gives more details, Garmin gives sunrise and sunset times. Garmin also offers weather radar for $30 a year. I like TomTom's version more. Miss the radar, but I can get it for free from Intellicast app anyway.

Gas prices: TomTom allows to search prices nearby, cheapest in area, of cheapest on route. This is much better than what Garmin has to offer. Garmin gives "as of" date for each gas station which helps to eliminate stale information. Overall, TomTom is better.

Speed cameras: allows you to view speed cameras and report on-the-fly. It comes for free on TomTom and costs ~$40/year on Garmin. Garmin's reporting is a bit easier.

Traffic: a big plus is that traffic information is received almost immediately and you don't have to wait for FM traffic information to get to your device. Other than that, I haven't seen much advantage of Live trafic compared to ClearChannel FM subscription. Even though traffic acquisition is almost instantaneous on a connected device, the quality of FM data is sometimes better. At one instance FM traffic on my older Garmin warned me about a traffic on NJ turnpike while I was 60 miles away. It took took more than an hour for this incident to be reported through HD traffic on TomTom. The info came too late for the detour to be optimal and incorrect location of the traffic jam made suggested detour useless. On the other hand, when I approached NYC 40 minutes later, HD traffic worked flawlessly, while FM traffic for NYC area was not acquired until I was 10 minutes away from home and successful avoided the traffic using TomTom HD data. This is just to illustrate that there is no "best" traffic at the moment. Both FM and HD can be right or wrong. As I've said before, the only obvious advantage of HD traffic is no delay for available data to get to your device.
Other than using traffic data for navigation, Garmin offers two excellent ways to see traffic in your area or in different cities: you can view color-coded traffic map or list all traffic incidence by distance. TomTom kind of has the same options but compared to Garmin they are too painful to use to be useful. It's a matter of representation only. As for using traffic data for optimal route planning, TomTom is very good.

Other things: Garmin offers local event search for art, music and sport events + movie times + flight status. I actually thought that searching movie times on Garmin was faster than on a smartphone and I liked the flight status option.

Live services summary: TomTom has a bit smaller set of Live features, but those that are available are more user friendly and offer more options. Connection seems to be reliable, delays acceptable.

Now some generic comparison. As I've said, most of it should apply to all new units from TomTom and should be similar to what you might read in reviews for other units.

Screen: bright and clear 5''. Initially I was in favor of smaller screen sizes, but after using Nulink for a while became a big fun of bigger screens. This unit has pretty much the same form factor as 1695, but looks and feels better.
Same cable (with removable connector) is used to connect the unit to USB port or to an in-vehicle DC outlet. In contrast, Garmin requires a separate proprietary USB cable to connect the unit to a PC and requires dashboard mount to connect the unit to the charger. TomTom's dashboard mount is a bit more reliable, while Garmin's is somewhat easier to detach.
Touchscreen is good, but typing is sometimes painful. Garmin and Go 930 are a bit easier to use. It could be my personal thing as other users tend to like the touchscreen a lot, but I tend to make way more typos on TomTom 2535 than on any other touchscreen device I've ever used in my life.

Navigation and route planning: this is where TomTom rocks and Garmin so far was not able to catch up. Thanks to IQ routes the ETA is very accurate. On busy streets you need TomTom if you want to get an accurate estimate of the arrival time. On highways Garmin performs equally well or better.
I have my favorite test routes in NYC that include different boroughs and road types. Here is a sample result of TomTom vs Garmin comparison.
Route 1: Estimated TomTom 22 min, Garmin 20 min, Actual driving time 30 min all due to traffic lights)
Route 2: Estimated TomTom 15 min, Garmin 9 min, Actual driving time 16 min
Route 3: Estimated TomTom 31 min, Garmin 27 min, Actual driving time 50 min 12 minute of bridge traffic that both units didn't know about + 7 traffic lights.)
Route 4: Estimated TomTom 38 min, Garmin 28 min, Actual driving time 39 min
Route 5: Estimated TomTom 16 min, Garmin 12 min, Actual driving time 15 min

I care a lot about accurate estimated travel time because it is necessary to calculate an optimal route. This becomes critical in densely populated areas where there are multiple ways to get between two points. For example, looking at travel time estimates for route 3, one might decide to take Garmin's route because it's estimated to be 4 minutes faster. In fact, following Garmin's directions would make it a 60, rather than 50 minute journey since it underestimates the travel time.
Overall, as you can see, TomTom's time estimate is not perfect either, but in many cases it comes pretty close to perfection.

Route calculation is quite fast, but not quite the immediate recalculation TomTom initially promised. Recalculation is reasonably fast but by no means immediate. Can take 30 seconds or more on a 30-mile route if you missed a turn and keep driving in the wrong direction. This is usually not an issue and recalculation takes just a few seconds if you're not far away from home or if there are not too many roads in the neighborhood. This is still much better than what Garmin used to have with their version of IQroutes.

Map display in browse map mode - I would say on par, meaning equally bad. If you own an older Garmin unit, like 2xx or 7xx series, you will have to suffer for a few weeks before you give up and accept the new look.
Map display in 3D mode (navigation) - Garmin has more clear indication of the next turn. TomTom often shows a more realistic curvature so that you can use the map on the screen to anticipate a sharp curve at night or in law visibility.
Overall, I think I like Garmin's representation more, except when I'm on mountain roads.

Voice prompts - a bit better on Garmin. Always right on time. You can't miss a turn if you listed to Garmin's voice prompts.

Voice recognition - works quite well on 2535. Not available on Nulink. The only problems I have with TomTom's voice recognition is that I can't make it understand 4-digit house numbers and that response time is a bit slow and it usually takes a few seconds for it to prepare for voice recognition. One just has to acknowledge that user interface is slow on this unit and one needs to be patient.

Lane assist, junction views and arrows indicating next turn - much better on Garmin.

Ease of use - on par. Just a few examples: selecting a new state is painful on Garmin. Avoiding/non-avoiding tolls for a given route requires multiple clicks to get through the menus, while TomTom just has an option to ask whether you want to avoid if a toll road is on the route. Saving a new favourite location, viewing the name of the city your are in, browsing POI is much easier on garmin. In general, TomTom made a step forward from 930 to 2535. Similarly, Garmin made a huge step backward when it introduced 1xxx and all subsequent series. As a result, in terms of usability TomTom and Garmin are on average the same, but details vary, so you might want to choose what is important for you.

Avoid part of route: available on TomTom, not available on Nulink(but implemented in newer non-connected 24xx series of Garmin GPS). This is a very useful feature to have.

Map corrections: you can make basic map edits for yourself on TomTom, like changing direction on a 1-way street. With garmin you'll have to wait for at least 6 months for the change to be reflected in the map update.
If you look at the main image of 2535 that TomTom posted here on Amazon, you will see a screenshot where a vehicle is driving on Chambers st in Downtown Manhattan towards Broadway. Ironically, several months ago Chambers street has been made one-way in the opposite direction. This is where map corrections come very handy. And by now I spent like 40 minutes bumping into similar issues and correcting them on my device. On older units you would have "map share" feature that allow you to accept corrections submitted by other users even if not verified by TomTom. On 2535 however, map share and many other features are currently disabled. Essentially, they've taken out a feature that is available on older and cheaper units and for the last 8 months (since the release in Europe) promise to re-enable it. So far it costs me 40 minutes of my time and I expect there will be more. This is one of the factors that influenced my rating. Don't get me wrong, Garmin users don't even dream about anything similar, but TomTom had it on older units, so it's reasonable to expect it now.

POI search and categorization - better on Garmin, might be frustrating to find the right category on TomTom.

Map update: free for tomtom, $80 lifetime for Garmin.

Now the downside for 2535: the response is sometimes sluggish. There is a visible delay between the moment you click and icon and the moment the screen changes. It might be less than a second, but enough to make you think that the UI is not fast enough. If browsing multi-page search results, moving to the next page might take a while, especially when a vehicle is in motion. Similarly, if you tried google local search and couldn't find what you were looking for, there might be a 10+ second freezing time after you hit "cancel".

Comparison with TomTom Go 930: I'm not sure that at this stage it makes sense to update from 930 to 2535, unless you really want google search. 2535 has an updated user interface, but also fewer customization options. For example, speed limit indicator turns red when you are driving +5 to speed limit. There is no way to modify this behavior on 2535. I don't see much improvement in route recalculation times either.
All you're getting is a fancier look and restricted capabilities. Not worth it.

Also, as you probably know, no map updates, no voices and no extras can be installed on 2535 at the moment. TomTom released European version more than 6 months ago saying that update functionality will be available in the future. 6 months later the future is still not there.

To summarize: esthetically I prefer Garmin, while TomTom offers superior navigation. You can be happy with Garmin away from big cities. In fact, on a trip to North Carolina Outerbanks I used my old Garmin (255W) more often becase of amazing ease of use and a slightly better ETA on highways. However, you need at least some TomTom device if you're going to drive on NYC streets.

I've rated TomTom 2535 as 3 stars for now. Mostly because of
- sluggish response
- no immediate route recalculation
- no updates.

TomTom has a track record of making improvements with software updates. It's not impossible for this unit to get 4 or 5 starts from me in the not-too-distant future. Regardless of the starts, TomTom is the best in route planning and with connected traffic this device supposedly offers the best routes on the market.

The TomTom GO 2535M Live has a lot of useful features that my older and more moderately priced Garmin Nüvi 255W and Garmin Nüvi 260W does not have.

The voice recognition is quite useful as it allows you to enter commands and addresses using your voice (after pressing the little microphone button). This makes it safe to change destinations and settings as you are driving. If you suddenly find yourself low on gas (my gas gauge is unreliable) you just say "Navigate to nearest gas station". On the other hand I have an accent and I have problems getting the TomTom to understand addresses I state. On the other hand I have the same problem whenever I call any customer support system using voice recognition. A tip: you have to make sure that it says "listening" at the top of the screen before you start speaking. It takes a few seconds for "listening" to show up.

I found the Google based local search feature to be nifty. Neither the TomTom nor the Garmins could find a Greek restaurant I was looking for. However, as the restaurant was on internet I found it that way. I should say that I like the Points of Interest feature on the Garmin better. This particular feature is harder to use on the TomTom.

Live Services featuring weather reports (local and elsewhere), local fuel prices (list cheapest first), up to date traffic, safety/speed cameras, and Google based local search, etc, are terrific services that makes the TomTom shine in comparison so my cheaper Garmins. I have gotten speed camera tickets in the past so that feature is useful. I think speed camera tickets will sooner or later be a common thing on our highways. The TomTom GO 2535M Live also has other functionality that makes it safer and more useful than my cheaper Garmins. You can also allegedly turn it into a car phone via blue tooth, which is a feature I have not tried.

Unlike my Garmins it also asks me whether I want to go on the toll road, use the hover lane, etc. You can easily configure it to always take the specific actions or never if you don't like these questions. However, I like the fact that it always considers toll roads, hover-lanes, traffic, accidents, etc, when creating the route and allow me to select.

I think it is nice that you get the Live Services for free for one year and that map updates are free. I believe this is not true for Garmins in general (old or modern). To download the latest and greatest you have to go to their web site and create an account and download software. This was pretty straight forward and it worked. However, sometimes the software crashes (exception error). I liked browsing their web site. I could see if there were any accidents in my old home town in my native country Sweden, and there was (last time I looked).

The TomTom GO 2535M Live has a fairly large screen (5.6 inch) and is a little heavier. The fact that it is larger is both good and bad. It takes up a little bit more of the windshield real estate (but not too much) but it is also easier to see that way. I liked the fact that it is easy to zoom in and out using the slider and that you can just drag the map in any direction using your finger. Otherwise, I found the TomTom GO 2535M Live to be slightly less intuitive than my Garmins but I did not feel it was a big deal.

One thing that annoyed me a little was that the TomTom GO 2535M Live had a tendency to turn my taps into double taps (more so than my Garmins). Instead of "Main Street" I get "Maiinn Street". Backspacing too often makes it slower to get an address in. However, unless you are driving, typing in the address is easier than using voice recognition. Sometimes the TomTom GO 2535M Live takes longer to find the satellite signal than my Garmins and search functions (for example points of interest) seem to be somewhat slower too.

Overall I am quite happy with the TomTom GO 2535M Live but I have no experience with the modern top of the line Garmins. I am just comparing with what I have. $350.00 is a little steep, and I am not entirely sure I would buy it (I got it for free). However, overall I think this is a good product that I can recommend.

 

The TomTom Go 2535M is a good GPS enhanced by the Live Services feature which includes HD Traffic, Weather, Lowest Gas Price search, Google search of local businesses. I've bought 2 GPS units (Garmin Nuvi 765T and TomTom XL-S) in the past and this is best one that I have used. My review is based on using this GPS for 3 weeks on my 30 minute commute which is roughly the average commuting time in the US and a good mix of highways and local roads.

My review below is broken into a few sections that critique the basic functions and the special features. In short, I found the basic functions worked nicely and the Live Services (HD traffic, local search, etc) add a lot of great features but at a cost after the included 1-year term expires.

BASIC FUNCTIONS
===============
All of the features found in a typical GPS are handled nicely for the most part.

NAVIGATION
- Quick Start-up: When you turn on the TomTom Go 2535M, your location is quickly determined (less than 30 seconds on average).
- Quick Re-calculations: Within seconds, if you deviate from the pre-planned route, this GPS will quickly find your current location and re-plan your route. (My old Garmin Nuvi had a habit of announcing it was "recalculating" after I deviate from a route. You really won't notice it here).
- Lane Guidance : When there are multiple lanes, this GPS will direct you which lane to drive by highlighting the recommended one on the screen.
- Free Life Time Maps : No new maps were available at the time of testing, but the website looks very clear and the process looks simple. Built-in maps cover the US, Canada, and Mexico.

SCREEN
Large, crisp 5" screen that is bigger than an iPhone's or iPod Touch's 3.5" screen. The touch screen is accurate and responsive to your fingers. Unlike some GPS units that frustratingly misread your input, this GPS really responds to your touch (It's basically like an iPhone's conductive touch screen instead of a pressure sensitive one like the old Nintendo DS). The only drawback is the processor sometimes shows a slight lag between your touch of a key on the virtual keyboard to seeing the input on the screen. Not as fast as an iPhone but not a big deal.

DESIGN
- The dock attaches nicely to your windshield. I haven't had the dock fall off while driving. There is a twisting mechanism by the suction cup that forces out more air, making it more secure. This is much better than my old TomTom XL-S which fell off all of the time. (No more licking suction cups). A magnet in the dock provides a secure connection to the GPS.
- The design of the TomTom Go 2535M is stylish. The back has a metal finish instead of the generic black you see on most GPS designs.
- One minor gripe here is the power button is always lit red when the power is on. It's on the top of the GPS so your windshield catches a bit of this light in the dark. It won't affect your driving... more of a slight nuisance.

BLUETOOTH (Hands-free Calling)
The Bluetooth connection provides hands-free dialing with your cellphone. Search results are integrated to allow you to call a business you've found by touching a button on the TomTom Go 2535M screen.

PROBLEMS WITH BASIC FUNCTIONS
=============================
I encountered problems with the basic functions.

NAVIGATION
- The included Text-to-Speech voice (which announces streets by their full names) has some issues with pronunciation. It reads "Crossing" as "Creek" and "Bridge" as "Branch"". So this can cause significant confusion when you are traveling to unfamiliar areas. My guess is that in the GPS database, "Crossing" and "Bridge" are saved as "Cr" and "Br" respectively and the TomTom Go 2535M is misinterpreting them. I am hoping a firmware update will fix this problem but cannot find one so far.

MENUS
There are lots of sub-menus. If you're thinking of buying this for a person who is not tech savvy, you may want to look elsewhere. Even though there are built-in tutorials, the menu hierarchy is unintuitive at times. Finding how to do simple functions like adding another stop on your route can take some getting used to. The many tutorials that are built-in seem like a band-aid (and unless you turn them off, some of them can pop up while you are driving).

BLUETOOTH
It took over an hour of trying, but I finally was able to pair my 2 year old (non-smart) Samsung Alias 2 phone. I have had no problems pairing the same phone to Bluetooth headphones (Jabra and Plantronics), a Bluetooth Speaker (Motorola T325), and my other GPS (Garmin Nuvi 765T). In my case, the discovery mode for my phone timed out too quickly and I had to force it to STAY in discovery mode in order to properly pair with the TomTom Go 2535M. This information was not in the instructions of TomTom website. It should not be a problem for most people since I didn't see other complaints online. *** UPDATE 5/26/11: After I turned the GPS off, it remembers my phone but won't connect with it. I'll contact tech support and see if they can help me here.

SPECIAL FEATURES
================
The Live Services is a convenient bundle of features that include HD Traffic, Google Local Search, Weather, and Fuel Prices. Twelve months of these services are included. After that expires, it will cost you $9.95/month (or $5/month if you pay for a whole year in advance). The TomTom Go 2535M keeps a record of when you first activate it to start calculating the 12 months. (Note that other TomTom models may only include 3 months of these services).

Live Services work right out of the box. After the 12 months is finished, you will need to connect it to your computer and enter credit card information to renew your subscription. If you are buying this GPS for your non-tech savvy relative, expect to provide some tech support at that point. It should be relatively easy (you connect your GPS to your PC or Mac after installing the TomTom Home software on your computer) but some people may have problems using basic computer accessories like USB flashdrives.

Important Note: As of 5/26/11, the coverage of Live Services is limited to the US. There is no coverage in Canada.

HD TRAFFIC
-----------
Having used the FM powered traffic feature in my Garmin Nuvi 765T which had very slow updates, I love the improved speed and accuracy of the cellular powered HD Traffic in the TomTom Go 2535M. As soon as you plan your route, this GPS will search for traffic updates on your route and will update you in less than 2 minutes. It then informs you of the distance to the nearest traffic jam on your route and how long the delay will be. This information is also summarized on a vertical bar on the screen. If there are other traffic jams on your route, it will also display that information. Additional traffic updates occur every 2 minutes. If a quicker route is found than your planned one, the GPS will ask you if you want to take that other route. (Slight word of caution: I did take an alternate route one time suggested by the GPS which directed me to go perpendicular through 4 lanes of congested traffic. I wasn't able to take the short cut without significant risk).

I was impressed that the HD traffic system was aware of traffic on some secondary roads as well. The accuracy on busy highways is good. Sometimes it matches the realtime estimated travel times down to the minute.

The improved accuracy over other GPS units is due to the quicker cellular network connection instead of the FM connection found in other GPS units (like the garmin Nuvi 765T). It's not perfect though. Sometimes I did come across a few short traffic jams on bridges and highways without any warning from the GPS. When traffic jams last for several minutes, you can expect that the HD traffic system will kick in and update you.

Note that another model (TomTom Go 2525TM) has lifetime traffic reports whereas the model being reviewed here only includes 1 year of traffic reports. But models that offer lifetime traffic use the slower FM traffic network mentioned above. (Some lifetime traffic GPS units such as the Garmin Nuvi 765T include pop-up banners ads the size of fortune cookie fortunes).

GOOGLE LOCAL SEARCH
--------------------
This is a handy feature if you don't have an iPhone or other smartphone. You can use Google to search for businesses nearby you (such as the nearest pharmacy). Some GPS units already do that with pre-programmed information. The bonus here is you can also search by a business name. So you can ask it to direct you to the nearest Starbucks. Search results include a convenient button on the screen to call that business if you've paired your cellphone to the TomTom Go 2535M for hands-free calling.

Search results work overall but are not fool-proof. When asked to search within a certain part of the city, results outside the intended area are included and sometimes even put those at the top of the list. Adding to this confusion is addresses are not immediately shown in the results so clicking on the top search result could take you away from your intended search area. Don't expect to use this feature while driving.

FUEL PRICES
-------------
This is a great feature for looking for the lowest gas prices nearby you or on your route. It can help you pay for the $5/month needed to continue Live Services after the included 12 months expire. One handy implementation of Fuel Prices is when you have your route planned, tapping on the Live Services tab will list your cheapest gas price on your route. The type of gas station is also listed in case you are particular about which brand of gas you use.

VOICE RECOGNITION
-----------------
By pressing the Voice Recognition button on the screen, you can use your voice to ask the GPS to navigate to an address. The voice recognition accuracy is fairly good (and much better than my non-smartphone). It's still not full-proof and it may be safer and more accurate not to use this feature while driving. My slight gripe is a programming oversight: if your trip involves a toll, you will be prompted if you still want to take the route or not... but you cannot answer with your voice at that point. This kind of defeats the purpose of using your voice in the first place. (If this happens to you, disable the toll prompt in one of the sub-menus will make this problem go away).

CONCLUSION
============
This is a very good GPS with great features. The deciding factor for you may be the price of the Live Services bundle (HD Traffic, Google Local Search, Lowest Fuel Prices) after the 12 months of included services is over. The cost of continued use of this data service is $9.99/month if you pay by the month or $5/month if you pay $59.99 in advance for a year of service. (I spoke with a TomTom service rep on 5/25/11 who told me that they may switch over to only offering the $59.99/month plan). If you can get more than $5/month of benefit from the data service by avoiding traffic, having more productive errand runs, and saving fuel cost by being directed to the lowest gas prices in your area, then the data service can pay for itself and this may be the GPS for you.

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Please read my new comments on this device at the very end.
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If you're like me -- then you are probably confused between buying a Garmin or Tomtom -- and the internet searches are of no help with evangelists on both sides.

I went with Garmin 1490LMT last year, but exchanged it recently for this Tomtom GO 2535M Live. And I am glad I did. This is by far one of the best GPS devices out there (and at a quite affordable price).

Having taken this Tomtom on quite a few of my long/short distance trips - from Boston to areas in New England; New England to NYC, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. Here are my observations:

POSITIVES/PROS
1. The arrival time calculated is eerily accurate.
I-95 from CT through RI till Boston is usually crowded with vehicles especially during summer beach season. Even with all of that, the arrival time this device calculated going to a parking garage in downtown Boston was accurate down to the minute! It said 5:18 Pm, and we pulled in right at 5:18!
Speeding through empty roads late at night from Boston down to CT -- I decided to see if I can beat it. I did do that by a paltry 3 minutes.
The Garmin never was able to do something like this, because it constantly adjusted the times! But having a reliable arrival time helps a lot with planning, so Tomtom definitely wins here.

2. The routing is one of the best I have seen.
Passing through congested areas, this GPS automatically re-routed me. Attending an event scheduled to begin at 6:00 Pm in downtown Boston on a weekday - I got multiple calls from relatives saying they are stuck in heavy traffic. 4:30 Pm in Providence and this GPS showed me 5:18 Pm -- panicked Mom on the telephone saying "you guys are still in Providence!! You will miss it!" --- but I wasn't late! For the same scenario with Garmin I was late quite a few times.

3. The BEST voice recognition
Imagine this -- the radio's playing, the AC is on full on a hot summer day, and not to mention that I have an accent. Yet, when just for kicks I decided to speak the full address in a single sentence -- it picked it up perfectly in one try.
If the Garmin is famed for excellent Bluetooth connectivity, then Tomtom GO 2535 Live's voice recognition beats any competition by a wide margin.

4. It announces your routing information.
Tomtom announces your routing information with expected delay. This is a nice re-assuring thing to know. It is usually along the lines of "Your arrival time is xxx, you have 5 minutes of delay on route. You are driving on the fastest route possible."

5. No drifting of vehicle.
On Garmin 1490LMT, a major annoyance personally was that if you take an exit off your path -- say for Food/break -- the vehicle pointer usually drifted along the original route after you have taken the exit for some time before the GPS recognized that you were off-course. This probably has to do with the GPS accuracy limits on the Garmin -- but nevertheless this was very perceptible and annoying (not to mention the ear-screeching "recalculating" after that for every turn from the exit)!
The Tomtom picks this up faster than the Garmin - also it does not screech "recalculating".

6. Intuitive spoken road directions.
The voice on Tomtom is more natural than 1490LMT; and it also announces road directions in an intuitive way. On a busy intersection island, which is like a roundabout but not one, the Garmin always announced "Turn right and then Turn Left" for going straight through -- actually this is a misleading direction -- since turning right immediately puts you on the route to the right. Tomtom correctly says to hug the intersection and go straight through. Almost all other directions on Tomtom are more natural to the ear.
Having said that the Garmin was more vocal than Tomtom -- although unnecessarily so.
Both Garmin and Tomtom handle going through actual roundabouts really well.

7. Routing Options are offered.
Tomtom asks you that your route has a HOV/Car pool lane, and if you would like to use it to calculate the route and timings. This is something the Garmin never did.
This was very important in Seattle -- where not being in the carpool lane versus being in one -- made a huge difference in commute from Sammamish to downtown (20min in HOV on I-90 versus 1hr45min in non-Carpool lanes)!

8. The Live services are the icing on a good cake.
The live services of traffic, weather and Google search were very good to have on the Tomtom. Running out of fuel, you can simply speak "take me to nearest gas station" and it does it with ease.

9. When stuck in an emergency -- the Tomtom gives intuitive messages.
A flat tire on I-84; 20 miles from Scranton - the Tomtom's "Where am I?" button gave a clear direction that I read out to AAA. "I am at xxx west bound highway I-84 between Exits 10 and 11."

NEGATIVES/CONS

1. The software "MyTomtom" is absolutely horrendous on a Mac.
If you own a Mac - be prepared for MyTomtom to freeze, stop communicating with the device, randomly quit, or even just abort connection to the device. It took at least 5 MyTomtom re-starts for me to finish updating the Maps on my Tomtom.

2. The screen is NOT as bright as Garmin.
However, I have noted that this more to do with the vivid color scheme used by Garmin, versus more muted Color scheme on the Tomtom. There are options for color schemes on the Tomtom and this is not really an issue at all. Since the screen is very visible.

3. There is visible lag when typing.
Typing the name of the street/city/state can be painful as the interface jerkily responds. But this is more than offset by the excellent voice recognition.

Having said all of the above -- I am absolutely happy with my purchase, and would gladly recommend it. I have not had access to Garmin's 3790 series -- and so cannot speak for it. But 3790 also comes with a price tag that I simply cannot justify for a travel device.

For the price the Tomtom GO 2535 Live gets you the best routing, arrival time, and loads of features. And frankly, a GPS should do its primary function very well (after all, if push comes to shove - a GPS with Picture Viewer, Music player, etc... are all waste if it cannot route you properly) -- and just for that I am very happy with it.

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SEPTEMBER 2011 UPDATE

So now having taken it on a few more really long trips, a few things have forced me to retract my earlier rating.

Here's what has happened:
1. Driving 75MPH on Interstate 80 west in Nebraska at night -- the device suddenly rebooted with a bright white screen. (Major Driving hazard!)

2. It kept rebooting for the next 200 miles -- no help at all -- it only started up properly around 100 miles from Denver on Interstate 76.

3. Driving in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Custer, Wind Cave and various towns in Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana -- driving on a straight road, the GPS suddenly gets confused and asks you to take turns in unknown directions. (A very big hazard!)

4. Many permanent road closures have not been incorporated in the new map or via HD traffic -- For eg. Near Omaha where there is HD traffic -- I-29 is closed for about 100 miles due to flooding -- but this device had no idea! It kept me routing through it.(Presumably this closure has been there for a month!)

5. Speed limits on Interstate 90 through South Dakota is completely wrong! For a long stretch out of Rapid City it says the speed limit as 45 or 65 MPH --- whereas the whole stretch in South Dakota right up till Sioux Falls is 75 MPH.

The device really seems to go loopy with no Live Services connection -- areas where there are no Cell Phone connections.

I have updated the device with the latest maps and software using MyTomTom.
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I bought this TomTom GPS as a replacement for a Garmin 1350t. The Garmin worked ok, but I couldn't update the maps with their lifetime map update card, a problem for another discussion. Garmin is just history to me now.

This TomTom is pretty amazing and gives me way more than I thought I needed in a GPS. Voice Recognition: Love it, it's flawless about 95% of the time so far, and when it's not sure it tells you and will show alternatives on the screen, asking you to pick number one, or two, etc. Some streets sound very similar (Elmhurst Way/Amherst Way)so I don't fault it for not being 100%. I had voice recognition problems the first few days I had this until reading a reviewers comment that you have to say the house number, street, city and state in one continuous string with no pauses in between as you would make in normal conversation. When I tried that suggestion it started to rock.

The Google Live search I've found really helpful, even found some restaurants in my own area I didn't know were there. Being able to just tell it to drive to the nearest gas station is nice too. I travel around the country for work a lot and drive a lot of rental cars, but usually take my own GPS because I know how to use it and haven't had such good luck with rental GPS units in the past (I won't detail that unfortunate late-night scary neighborhood incident in Houston trying to depend on the Hertz GPS). Anyway, the Google Live feature has been great so far finding restaurants and stores in unfamiliar areas and I find I'm using it a lot. You can search for all restaurants, or be more specific and ask for Thai or Mexican, or seafood to narrow the search. There's supposed to be list of hundreds of stores in memory you can say "drive to..." and off you go. I haven't tried that yet.

HD traffic is pretty amazing I've found. I use the GPS a lot even when I know exactly where I'm going for info on arrival time and traffic problems. My old Garmin had traffic, but I was usually stuck in it when it finally notified of a delay. I got in the car yesterday, told the TomTom "drive to work", after a few seconds it told me there was a 3-minute traffic delay after 8 miles. As I got closer to the office it pinned the delay down to tenths of a mile, and showed on the screen where the problem was exactly - really impressive. It did underestimate the delay time quite a bit, though.

I found connecting to the TomTom site quick and easy, I haven't done a map update yet but it looks like it will be easy to do. You can purchase alternate voices for $12.95 on the web-site, too as an alternative to the standard ones included. Homer Simpson, Sylvester the Cat, Darth Vader, Dennis Hopper and, I've heard Snoop Dog are a few of the choices. I don't know if I could handle Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam giving me directions early in the morning, though.

Overall I'm really happy with this GPS and I've told friends they should think about getting one of their own, in my opinion it's much better than Garmin.

 

The TomTom 2535 LIVE really rocks my socks. I'm a bit of a GPS geek, having owned 6 Garmins and 2 Magellan units in the past - this is my first TomTom. Here is what I like (latest firmware/maps as of today):

* Google Maps Local Search: Lets face it, the POI databases are always out of date (no matter the manufacturer)
* Traffic: Works fantastically in San Francisco
* Lane highlighting
* It's fast. The routing is very fast, the UI never lags, the boot time isn't bad either.
* Great Mac OS X integration for maps & firmware updates
* The voice instructions surprisingly get the spanish street names in the area correctly

Here's what sucks:

* The GPS still has a "beta" feeling to it. The unit has spontaneously rebooted twice after selecting a new route.
* Online support: The website still hasn't caught up to mentioning this model on several pages. For instance, it's not listed as supporting MyTomTom, nor are any of the carrying cases advertised as supporting this model.
* You can't (yet) install additional maps on the unit, such as for Europe. It's coming Real Soon Now(tm)
* The user-interface is non-intuitive for my wife and I, at least as former Garmin users. It's easy enough to learn though.
* The glossy screen - what the hell were they thinking?
* Does not come with a soft case to store in the glovebox (unlike my last Garmin)
* Voice recognition - it's great for popular POI's. "Drive me to Safeway" works for instance, but terrible for understanding addresses.

Would I buy it again? In a heartbeat. Do I trust it? Enough to be planning a 4-week road trip using it. I hope most of the beta-niggles will be sorted out before the GPS is obsoleted someday.

*Update 2 months later*

I like this GPS even more than I used to. It no longer feels so "Beta", and I've gotten used to the UI and the glossy screen. My only complaint now is that there appears to be no way to share your 'tracks'. I like to share what route I took on a road trip - this was trivial to do with my Garmin units.

 

Installation was easy and the safety suggestions for mounting this little device out of the driver's main line of sight to traffic should be followed to the letter. Like many electronic aides the TomTom makes a fascinating toy and improper mounting could distract a driver into an inadvertent game of "chicken". The last thing the world needs is another distracted driver.

On my pickup truck there is a backward sloping panel beneath the cigarette lighters. I was amazed at how effective the adhesive pad and lock-down holder cling to this area--my TomTom is easily accessible, out of the way and right beneath the power source.

The TomTom works best if one keeps it plugged in. When the battery is low, it shuts itself off and this could be awkward if you are relying on it to navigate.

I tested the TomTom on one short local trip before taking it on vacation, without bothering to get the free maps upgrade that is available online. The local route was actually the most challenging. I drove out to the farm where I board my horse and asked it to pick out the route home. There's actually a multitude of choices and all the roads are small. The TomTom did quite well. In the main it took the route that I know to be the fastest and most effective. However, it overlooked one short country road that cut the corner -- possibly because taking it involved an extra left turn. When I took the turn anyway, the device quickly reconfigured the routing.

The following day I was leaving on vacation. Although the route I was following was simple and well-known, I decided to use the TomTom, partly to check how it would get me to the interstate (at least 4 possible and plausible routes to different exits) and also to see how well the "traffic delay" and "search for cheapest gas" features worked.

Once again, the TomTom showed a bias for the larger, more heavily traveled road and overlooked a side street that shaved six minutes off the estimated time. An out-of-towner wouldn't have felt comfortable taking the side street--so I understand and even applaud the logic of the TomTom's route selection. If not the fastest route it was a route one could rely on.

The low-priced gas search was awesome--while it missed the really competitive truck stop area that I usually patronize it did offer gas at a quieter exit down the road that was only 4 cents higher. They do warn in the instructions that their data for the low price search is limited by participation. However, doing the search can give you an idea of what the best price should look like and if you see something lower on the way there, turn in and feel good about filling up!

The traffic delay situation was spot on. This worked well both on the interstate and in my destination city of Lexington, KY which was hosting an international equestrian event at its lovely Kentucky Horse Park. The TomTom picked up on all the usual commuter traffic snarls and also warned of the tangle on the road to the park. This really helped navigate and showed the usefulness of this nifty device. Even if one doesn't need a guide, one can always use a trusty co-pilot. I'm really happy with mine and now feel comfortable using it in places where I don't have so much local knowledge of the roads.

 

First off let me say that I was very unsure of this device and if it would hold up to my standards. I'm just going to mention the areas that have stood out to me as I have yet to find anything serious that I don't like about it.

Touch Response: I'm an iPhone user so I wasn't sure how the touch features would hold up. They are pretty amazing. A lite touch, or tap on the surface and it responds. We have a GO 630 as well and it feels like you really have to push the screen to get it to work. The 2535M Live however is very responsive to a gentle tap.

Voice Commands: another area that tends to make me want to cringe when getting ready to use it. Voice commands are usually terrible at best. So I went ahead and tried it with the general first command, "Take me home", worked wonderfully. I was asked to confirm then the directions took place. So far so good. As for the Blue-Tooth hands free, I don't use it as my car integrates with my iPhone and works so well that I would never use the TomTom for that.

HD Traffic: this feature really does work great. It tells me where the problem spots are as well as how long of a delay it might be. Wonderful feature that so far has been great. It really is nice how TomTom has advanced this service and made it very useful.

Click and Lock Mount: this is another feature I looked forward to but wasn't sure if it would be that great. It works just like they say it will. It's so very easy to dock your device. Another great feature.

So all around this device is great for me and what I want from a GPS. I look forward to using it for many years. Just one thing that might be an issue, a glare does hit the screen and can be annoying but not to the point that I can't stand it. The only other part that is non vital but something I wanted is the ability to put a different voice and car symbol on the TomTom. With it being so new this device does not have that ability yet. The my TomTom page says that this feature is coming soon but I really wanted these things as soon as I hooked into it. Come on TomTom let me put C3PO's voice on there.

Bought this unit to replace a Garmin 265WT (lifetime FM traffic). It's like day and night. The Garmin's FM traffic was accurate about 50% of the time, and took up to 20 mins to update; re-routing, when offered, was iffy at best. Guess how useful that is? Not very.

The TomTom receives traffic almost instantly via the SIM card. On a Friday-evening drive home through NYC area traffic it rerouted me three times.. and delivered me home at the originally estimated time. Stunning. Unlike the Garmin, it does not dramatically underestimate the amount of time lost to signalized intersections. I am not sure if that is due to a knowledge of local traffic conditions, or simply better estimating software.

There are elements of the interface that I preferred on the Garmin (including the maps). However, it appears that TomTom has continued to innovate whereas Garmin has been asleep. Not that the ideas are all that new.. anyone remember the Dash?)

I found the forums at [...] helpful in making my decision to buy this unit. Not sure if Amazon will allow an external link, but see here: [...]

 

I just received my Go 2535M HD unit yesterday and would like to make a quick review based on my initial setup.
Many users have suggested that they've had problems with updating or setting up their units.
It is my impression that they may be PC challenged.
First thing I did was plug the unit into my USB port and went to the provided TomTom web page printed on the included card
which had my lifetime traffic subscription number on it. Once you download the PC software, which is simply used to access the unit, it immediately was recognized on the website. It then advised me there was an update and I updated as requested. I then scrolled through the options(on the webiste) to activate my lifetime map update code. Once I did that, it then did a secondary update which took some time to finish. It took over an hour which is where I am a bit perplexed at the negative reviews about this. What's up with the impatience?????? The hour or so that it took to update my unit was absolutely not an issue whatsoever since I was able to go about my daily routine in the house (Cooking, watching TV, feeding the pets, showering, etc...) Why would someone have this idea that it takes too long to update, when you can easily do it at your own leisure? Actually, you're able to do the update and then just go to bed if you have to. Just check up on it, in the morning. Don't most people have their computers do their Windows updates during the late evening/early morning hours? It only makes sense.
So, as far as my initial review,...it went flawlessly!!!
Please disregard the reviewers who suggested there were problems with the updating taking too long. That's just senseless!

I'll be back with an updated review once I use the unit for a couple of weeks. :-)