115 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
Has everything you need
I had been using an older Garmin GPS in my car for some time. It wasn't a street pilot, it was a Garmin III. I bought the TomTom Go 300 and can't believe how good it is.
The TTG 300 includes everything you need: Detailed maps of the USA on the 1 GB SD card with those maps and additional maps on CDs. It has mounting hardware, power cords, etc. but you...
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
Disposal Item - No repair available from Tom Tom
Overall I liked my Tom Tom Go, until it was 15 months old and went blank refusing to turn on. It was dead. I called Tom Tom support and they said send it in. I did, they called and said it was out of warranty, which is 1 year. I agreed, how much to fix it? Sorry we don't fix them, we through them out, no repairs. But, we'll sell you another one for only $300. And, it will...
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
I had been using an older Garmin GPS in my car for some time. It wasn't a street pilot, it was a Garmin III. I bought the TomTom Go 300 and can't believe how good it is.
The TTG 300 includes everything you need: Detailed maps of the USA on the 1 GB SD card with those maps and additional maps on CDs. It has mounting hardware, power cords, etc. but you probably know all that.
I am impressed with how well it picks up the satellite signals. My Garmin would never pick up a signal inside the house, and it would often not find one on a cloudy day. The TTG works fine in both cases.
The voice is clear and loud (adjustable) and you can have it give you a new instruction at any time. It will navigate to an address, a nearby "point of interest" (bank, airport, park, hotel...). And it will find alternate routes if you hit a roadblock or just don't like the suggested route. You can tell it to build routes that are fastest, shortest, for biking or walking. You can avoid tolls or not. I really like the choices.
I think the screen is easy to see and the screen updates are plenty fast.
So far the map data has been fairly accurate. Around my home town I notice that some roads that are 3 years old are missing, but I would expect that. The TTG will show you on the road even if the map data is a little off. In other words, it will snap your position to the map road even if you drive off it a little. But if you go far enough off a road, it will show you exactly where you are (in the middle of field or whatever).
The menus are very easy to use. Much easier than I expected. You use the touchscreen to pick a city, street, address, and you're off. It does have the 3-D view of the map which is similar to the view out your window, but I still prefer the typical 2-D map view. You can see more streets that way.
The point of interest database has lots of places. I don't know the exact number of categories but I would estimate there are at least 25 categories (banks, airports, rental cars, amusement parks, gas, theaters, courthouses, police, hospitals, doctors, dentists, border crossings, zoos, etc.) And you can create your own categories and add places. I did not find a list of ATM's, however, and this would have been useful.
You can also view the satellite signal strength, battery life, and actual Lat/Long. I wish you could enter a Lat/Long as a destination, but alas, you cannot.
As other people have said, it is very difficult to see in bright sun. At times, I have to reposition it to reduce glare, but this inconvenience would not stop me from buying it again.
I have not used the bluetooth feature and can't really see myself paying for the subscription feature.
Overall, it is a Very Powerful navigator. It comes on when I start the car and goes off when the car stops (because the cigarette lighter goes off). It is very easy to use and very easy to follow. I actually want to take more trips now just to let the TTG figure out the best way to get there. And now my friends all want one. I see Garmin now has a similar model, which I haven't tried. But I would still buy the TTG again if I was shopping for one.
Update 4 months later...
I still like the unit and its functions, but as others have said, the map data and routing is disappointing at times. It always got me where I wanted, but half the time it seemed to take me the longer way. It seems to be reluctant to put me on a freeway for short trips, even when it is faster. And I haven't really compared this to another brand, except for the system in the the Audi A4, which does seem to do a better job: Even knowing what side of the street your destination is on. But that is not an after-market system. So if I was shopping for an after-market system today, I would most likely still buy the Tom Tom for the features, but I would take a close look at the routes is suggests while driving.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
Overall I liked my Tom Tom Go, until it was 15 months old and went blank refusing to turn on. It was dead. I called Tom Tom support and they said send it in. I did, they called and said it was out of warranty, which is 1 year. I agreed, how much to fix it? Sorry we don't fix them, we through them out, no repairs. But, we'll sell you another one for only $300. And, it will be the same model you have, no upgrade to current model.
I think this is a real rip off. I spent about $650 USD for this and it worked 15 months, then throw it out when it breaks.
Be aware if you buy Tom Tom products. They do not offer reasonable support.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
I am a property claims adjuster for a major insurance company. My territory is the Eastern half of Pennsylvania. I spend a lot of time in the metropolitan Philadelphia area. I originally purchased (years ago) a travel program for my computer. This was horrible! I had to keep my maps with me at all times and it typically sent me the wrong way down one way streets. I then began to use Map Quest. It was ok. At times it was confusing or would misdirect me. I frequently got lost and had to check my street maps on a regular basis. I would regularly get lost when going from one destination to another. It was very difficult to read instructions, pay attention to the trip odometer, while trying to drive and pay attention to traffic. I had considered getting a GPS, but thought they were expensive and difficult to use. I also thought that you had to pay for a service and download maps all the time. But then another adjuster showed me this model and just how easy it was to use.
I can't imagaine doing this job without the Tom Tom GO! My friend showed me once how to use it. I briefly read the directions and I was up and running! It took me about a week of being on the road to get used to it, and to trust it. I stick this on my windshield just under my rear view mirror. The screen size is just right, not too big to obstruct my view, but not too small. I have not had any problem with glare, however it is a little difficult to see when you have sunglasses on. I have only had problems with losing the satellite signal in tunnels and on one spot on the PA Turnpike Rte 476N. The signal comes right back seconds after exiting the tunnel and the unit picks up right where it left off.
The instructions are clear and easy to understand. And by watching the "car" moving on the screen, I can see ahead of time where I have to go. I often ran into problems finding side streets where the signs were faded, bent, missing or blocked by trees. It is great to be able to see the names of the streets in advance. Driving around from one destination to another is a snap and I can't believe how much time I have saved by not getting lost! If I hit a detour or a traffic jam and get off the route (or I miss my turn) it will automatically re-route me within seconds. I can also plan ahead if I am aware of a traffic jam. I can touch the screen and have it give me an alternate route in advance. And wherever I end up, I just tell it to take me home and it does.
I took the Tom Tom GO 300 with me on vacation to Florida (we rented a car). I had read a review where it said that it would take about 10 minutes to get a location/signal when turning it on after travelling great distances and found this to be true. I did find the same problem as other people- some of the newer roads were not on the map. But I still never got lost and that was great. You can save your hotel as a favorite address and never lose your way "home." It was also great for finding gas stations, amusement parks, restaurants, etc. My 9 year old son loves to watch it and tell me what streets we have to turn on.
I always know where I am, how far I have to go to the next turn, how far I have to go in my trip and what time I am expected to be there. Barring any traffic problems, I have found it to be very accurate. I shopped around at various stores testing out similar Garmin and Magellen models and kept coming back to this one. My husband is a skeptic and does not read directions. I showed him how to use this in 10 minutes. Now he uses it for his own trips (when I am not using it of course.) The portability makes it easy to take from one car to another. I bought a medium sized camera bag to store the unit in. I just detach the entire unit from the windshield and put it in the camera bag (still attached to the windshield mount.) This makes it easy to carry in and out of my house (I was told to avoid extreme temperatures to prevent damage to the LCD screen.) It also gives me the ability to put the bag in my trunk when leaving my car while in the city. I have been using this unit daily since I got it for Christmas (4 months ago). I have found the windshield mount to be quite easy, convenient and stable. On only 2 occassions, the unit could not locate an address, one of which was a 10 year old house, and had to use MapQuest as back up.
Overall, I think this unit is great and have recommended it to many people. I can't imagine how I did this job without this unit! This is mandatory equipment for anyone who spends a lot of time on the road.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
First, I returned my GO 300 after a week of trying to justify why I should keep it. This product is superior in almost everyway to other similar products except its Map Data is very very inaccurate and the routing is terrible.
1) I tested this unit to route from work to my home and it generated a route that requires me to go through about 20 stop lights when I know the correct route is through 2 freeways and a total of 3 stop lights.
The Tomtom generated route is about 26.1 miles while the freeway route is around 26.4 miles. I would be ok with it if I chose the shortest route but I chose the fastest route. Even using services such as Mapquest, Expedia or Google maps suggest that I use the freeway
2) I've lived in my place for 6 years now and off my road, there's is an exit to the freeway. On Tomtom, it had to route me an extra 3 miles to get me on the freeway because the map doesn't show an on-ramp. This is terrible.
3) Testing alternate routes from Chicago to Cleveland went from 360 miles to 480 miles because it actually took me through Michigan first! yikes.
4) On exits in Michigan where there is one highway number but mulitple exits (17a, 17b, 17c, 17d, 17e), Tomtom is incapable of telling you which one to take. All it'll say is take exit 17. That's not acceptable.
5) Exiting highway N S E W. It is incapable of informing the driver of taking highway N or Highway S. Like I-55 in Chicago, it's not capable of informing the user to take I-55 N or I-55 S. It just says, stay right and take 55. Most other products I've used works in a more accurate and detailed manner.
I wish they had used the same map database ( NAVTEQ ). Overall, I'm very disappointed with this product. It could be a superb product if its underlying data weren't so flawed and outdated.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
I decided it was finally time to get myself a GPS navigation system for my car. I went into the store and had the clerk help me choose one. I had only a few requirements...
1) It would have to be something that can be easily moved between cars and could be removed and brought inside.
2) It had to be easy to use.
3) It had to offer voice prompts.
4) The maps had to be upgradable.
5) It had to be reasonably priced.
The clerk recommended the TomTom Go 300 as the one that would fit my needs. I compared its features with others and decided that it was indeed the one that fit my requirements.
When it came to ease of use, I couldn't believe how far along these devices have come. I left the store and got into my car, tore open the box, entered my home address, stuck it on the windshield, and was happily being directed home. Here are what I consider the strong advantages to this unit.
1) It's small and extremely portable. The rechargeable battery means that for short trips (an hour or two), you don't even have to plug it into a cigarette lighter in your car.
2) The screen is very visible and easy to see. Even when I had it mounted in my convertible (with the top down on a bright sunny day), it was quite easy to see the screen and get directions.
3) While I don't expect the directions to always be the fastest or shortest routes (roads do change frequently, new ones are built, map info is inherently out of date), it surprised me by picking out good routes that avoided toll roads.
4) It did a wonderful job of recalculating my routes when I left the chosen route and took my own. If there's a turnoff or on-ramp that isn't displayed, or if you know that a certain road will work better for you than what is recommended, by all means, take it. Once you deviate from the path, it immediately calculates a new route based on where you are.
5) It's VERY portable. Since it has rechargeable batteries, is small, and light, it's even possible to bring it with you while walking through a city and have it guide you.
6) It uses SD cards to store its data. While a hard drive lets you store more data, a hard drive is also very mechanical and can fail more easily than an electronic SD card. Also, SD cards are getting so large now, you can easily (and inexpensively) have one with 2GB of storage (approaching the storage capabilities of hard drives).
7) The 3-D navigation view is surprisingly easy to follow. It's wonderfully easy to glance at its screen and see your exits and turns coming up in the distance.
I sat back and tried to think of disadvantages to this unit, and here's the ones I came up with...
1) I can't comment on durability or tech support. I haven't needed to call tech support yet, and haven't dropped it or abused it in any way to make a determination on durability.
2) It has a suction-cup mounting arm that affixes to your windshield very securely. It can be a tad tricky getting it onto the arm. You have to apply it at an angle, make sure it's perfectly straight, and apply more than just a little pressure to get it to snap into place. The arm can be tricky to remove from the windshield should you want to move it to a different car (the arm really grabs onto your windshield and doesn't want to let go).
Those are the only faults I can find as I've only used the unit for a week now. But all in all, I found the device to be great. It does exactly what I want it to do (get me to places without having to resort to printed maps from online sites) at a very reasonable price.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
I purchased a TomTom navigator system based on good experiences with renting cars with Magellan's Neverlost. The Magellan unit was expensive and I found the TomTom had a superior user interface, was portable and less costly. So I purchased the TomTom Go.
I can't give enough praise to the user interface. It is very intuitive. The graphics are large and easily read from a distance. Its speaker delivers loud and clear speech. Being able to put the TomTom in my pocket and have it guide me in a city while I'm walking is a plus. The battery lasts 4-5 hours.
All of these advantages though, are overshawdowed by an error-ridden map and POI database that is incomplete and old. Some examples from my trips:
- It seems 50% of the POIs in the database no longer or never existed. Conversely, TomTom misses 50% of the existing POIs.
- On every trip, TomTom will not recognize a stretch of highway. TomTom thinks I'm driving through a meadow or woods and constantly tells me I need to get back on the highway. Fortunately, TomTom's volume will mute.
- TomTom thinks some interstate entrance ramps are clover-leaf instead of stoplight, guiding me to turn in a wrong direction.
- Monticello may be Thomas Jefferson's famous home near Charlottesville VA, and featured on US currency, but TomTom cannot find it.
- In southern MD, TomTom guided us to a farmer's house instead of the desired restaurant three miles away.
- In Alexandria VA, we needed to find a hospital. TomTom guided us instead to a restaurant, four miles from the nearest hospital!
- Heading to a friend's wedding near Hilton Head SC, TomTom guided us to a continuous loop through a remote neighborhood 15 miles from the destination. We had to stop at a gas station and ask directions. This was the final incident that lost my confidence in TomTom.
Now I'm back to using paper maps and written directions. I use TomTom as a secondary device mostly for tracking and measuring distance. If I could do it over, I would purchase a Magellan.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
The TomTom Go 300 is an excellent product that has more features than disadvantages.
Here are my thoughts which might help you. I try to be more specific on those features that are not mentioned frequently in bulletin boards.
1. The easy-to-follow instruction sheet shows step-by-step installation instructions. However, the suction-mount lock shown on the sheet is different from the actual one that came with the unit.
2. Very quick startup. I was able to make the basic settings and get a GPS signal in a couple of minutes after opening the box. However, mounting and dismounting the unit to the suction-mount takes a little more time to get used to. Just one observation on the Clock setup: the date, hour, and minutes settings all have the arrow button. The AM/PM however does not have any indicator that it can be changed by touching it. The included suction mount has a padded bottom so you can sit it on the dash while suctioned on the windshield glass.
3. Setting the destination: The points of interest database is impressive. There are about 60 categories and you can still add some more. Only problem is the POI selection always asks for Category. So, if I wanted to go to Home Depot, for example, and I don't have its address, I'd still have to go to the "Shopping" category, then I can search for "Home Depot" within that category. Other Navigation systems allow me to enter "Home Depot" directly, without having to enter its category.
There is also an address entry feature. You start with the City/State or ZIP, then the street name, and finally, the number or a cross street. There's a keyboard you can use for typing entries. A lot of time, I end up pressing the wrong letter because the keys are too small. Names appear as you type. However, unnecessary letters do not disappear as you type the name (just like those on Magellan units) -- I find this less intuitive.
Once an address/POI is entered, the unit will ask you if it's ok to take toll routes. This handy feature can also be set so that it always use toll routes to satisfy other route criteria entered.
I did a test by entering a route beginning in an address in San Francisco, CA to another one in New York, NY. The GPS unit took a while (about 1 minute vs several seconds on much shorter routes) to calculate the route. Probably a processor limitation.
I have yet to try itinerary planning.
4. Navigation: When driving, the display does not tell you the street you're on. Just the cross streets, the next turn and POI's, if any, depending on the map preferences setting. There are features that allow you to avoid roadblocks like traffic or construction, as well as the auto re-route feature.
5. Power: The unit comes with a built-in battery. Power can be obtained from the lighter socket of the car or from a wall outlet. I intend to use this navigation system on several cars, so it sits on the dashboard and plugged into the 12 volt connection in the car. After switching it on just once, it automatically turns on when I start my car, then off when I turn the engine off. This is a very nice feature.
6. Audio/Sound: I like the speed-sensitive volume. Not too loud, not too soft.
7. Displays: The nightmode mybe useful to some users but I'd still like to see colors especially because when driving, I just glance at the screen every once in a while. So I would like to recognize what is being displayed right away. There's brightness adjustment as well. Another setting you can do is to rotate the image. This feature allows you to install the unit anyway you want.
8. Maps: A little outdated. My house is 2 years old now and they still don't have it on the map. Tech support told me they are still working how to address this since they get a lot of calls/emails regarding this issue. I don't mind anyway. Even if the map does not yet show my street, it still points me to my exact location on the map with reference to the nearby street.
I like the map display feature that allows you to drag the map so you can see more (just like google maps). There is also a "Show Route" animation feature which allows you to see your path of travel.
10. The features of this NAV system either match or even exceed those found as OEM on cars, which as everyone knows, cost thousands of dollars. One disadvantage though is you have to either dismount the GPS unit or remove the suction mount altogether when you leave your car in either a dangerous area or in areas of extreme temp due to condensation build-up on the windshield. It causes the mounting hardware to lose suction. Another is the lack of voice activated commands, which is an expected shortcoming on NAV systems at this price range.
11. Ergonomics: You can mount it at eye level but the reach is not that good. I guess it depends on which car you are driving. It's a long reach for me from the driver's seat of my Honda Odyssey. Not to mention the touch screen, where you cannot feel the buttons while driving. So a safe data entry requires pulling over. The keyboard options (QWERTY, Alphabetical, and the other probably European) help. But since the screen is not large enough to handle a keyboard, the keys are very close together and it is very easy to mistype a letter.
12. Included Accessories: I think they are useful. The case is a little thin for the unit. I would prefer a thicker one for better cushioning protection.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
The Tomtom has great features. But I returned mine. First, the maps are very dated. This makes it iffy at best. It has terrific potential, if it worked. You can use a PDA stylus on the map sitting at home outside on batteries to plan a trip. It's amazing. But I wanted to plan a 600 mile trip myself using it's internal maps and waypoints. But I tried a local test first. I used roads as waypoints, main roads. This way I can force the Tomtom to use MY routes. I did not like it's choices, since it is a dated map database. I set up a local route, and started to follow it. It took me to the first road/waypoint no problem. But it would not go past the first waypoint. I would go down the road (first waypoint) then it would tell me to take a u turn!. I did. Then it said take another u turn. It had me going in circles. Perhaps it's not made to use roads as waypoints, but all indications it gave were that it would. The manual was no help. Support was no help. So it went back. I have ordered a Garmin i2. Hope this is ok. I have taken the same trip from SE FL USA to SC USA with a Garmin C330. The Garmin has maps that you cannot update, but got me to my destination no problem.
I don't recommend this TomTom. Do research. Go to manufactures websites and look at unit manuals.
Hope this helps.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
I bought a Tom Tom Go 300 a few months ago. It works as advertised 95% of the time. It almost always gets you to the right street but will usually be off by 50 or 100 yards from the specific address. It sometimes mistakes the shortest route for the fastest, guiding you through city streets when a highway via a longer route would be faster. New roads are not in the data base. Restaurants a year or two old are missing from the "points of interest" data base. When searching for the nearest gas station, it may guide you to one that closed 6 months ago. Sometimes this GPS will tell you to turn where there is no road (shows roads that don't exist) or shows a road 50 or 100 yards from where it really is, directs an illegal U-turn or a wrong-way turn on a one-way street. One reason I bought the Tom Tom Go 300 rather than Garmin C330 was the claim by a previous reviewer that with the Tom Tom Go 300 you can enter an itinerary of several addresses (e.g., if you are a sales person going to ten addresses in a city) and that the Tom Tom Go 300 will compute the shortest or fastest route to all 10 addresses. The Tom Tom Go 300 does NOT do that: You can enter an itinerary of several addresses, but it will give you directions to each of the 10 in the order you entered them, not in the order that will get you to all 10 via the shortest or fastest route. This GPS does work the minute you take it out of the box, insert the SD card, and turn it on - you have to choose your language (English, Spanish, French, etc.) but no programming required. The USA data base takes up almost all of the provided 1 GB SD card, so to load maps of Western Europe I needed to buy another 1 GB SD card. East Europe & Russia maps are not yet available for the Tom Tom, according to Tom Tom Customer Service on October 28, 2005. One advantage of the Tom Tom Go 700 is the larger capacity of the hard drive. However, I've found the amount of RAM and 200 MHz processor in the Tom Tom Go 300 quite adequate: When you don't follow its directions it computes a new route within about 5 seconds. The suction cup windshield mount works great. So does a sticky pad on the dashboard if you have a flat place to sit the GPS. The 5 hour battery life claim seems to be accurate: When traveling I take the 110-240 volt a.c. charger but don't take the car charging cord. Despite its limitations, I'm finding I no longer want to go anywhere without my Tom Tom Go 300.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This review is from: TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDd (Electronics)
This GPS comes with US map on the SD card and Canada map on the included CD but never the twain shall meet.
By car I'm a few hours from Canada and several days from the eastern US but I can't swap out the faraway eastern US part of the map on the TomTom Go 300 for a nearby Canadian map. It's either all Canada or all contiguous US. This is a major functional flaw if you live near the US/Canada border or live further away and like to take cross-border trips.
Oh, and if you do decide to swap out the US map, be sure to save it on your computer first - TomTom doesn't bother to provide a backup on the CD so if you don't first make your own backup before changing to the Canadian map you can't later get the US map back.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
(
Saving...
