48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
Easy-to-use straight out of the box, great satellite, inexpensive GPS!!
This is my first ever GPS navigator (I've used them before, but this is the first one I've owned): I've been meaning to get one for awhile now, and this is exactly the sort of one I would have picked out!!
It's relatively inexpensive, comes pre-charged and is supremely easy to use, STRAIGHT OUT of the box, (which is impressive!): you just follow the simple...
107 of 124 people found the following review helpful:
I have mixed feelings about this GPS
If you have never had a GPS, you won't have to relearn different menu options so from this perspective, this TOMTOM is certainly very functional and navigates as expected. Setup is easy. You just plug it in and follow the on-screen instructions. Select the language you use during setup (many are available). You also have the option to go through some on-screen...
This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What's this?)
This is my first ever GPS navigator (I've used them before, but this is the first one I've owned): I've been meaning to get one for awhile now, and this is exactly the sort of one I would have picked out!!
It's relatively inexpensive, comes pre-charged and is supremely easy to use, STRAIGHT OUT of the box, (which is impressive!): you just follow the simple on-screen instructions to set up the device for the first time, as well as to find local points of interest (restaurants, gas stations) or plug in directions of where you are going, and off you go! I particularly found it awesome that in the initial setup, you can choose not only the language, but also what language/voice to have it speak to you in: (I also believe you can download additional celebrity voices for a fee I think)...I set mine to the British woman, as I love British accents, and I find it hilarious & awesome: love it!!
My only and biggest complaint about this GPS device is that the spoken directions ONLY say things like 'turn left in 700 feet', 'turn left'...and I would like it to tell me 'turn left on main street'...while it speaks 'turn left' across the bottom of the screen is the street you are supposed to turn onto, but for the sake of safety in driving, I don't think it's smart to look away too much while driving, so I would MUCH prefer it would speak that out loud!
Other than my comment above, I absolutely love this GPS device! It is easy-to-use, easy to carry with (and not leave in the car), the satellite seems to work well everywhere I go (finding my location quickly): with full spoken aloud directions it would receive 5 stars, without it, only 4 stars, but I must say, I really love it!!
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
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GPS Systems have been around for a while now, but in the past I've never really been a fan. Most of the systems that I saw were either somewhat awkward (harsh sounding voices, ugly coloring, annoying chime sounds) or fiendishly expensive (observed in someone's Lexus I happened to be riding in back when I lived in Orange Country CA). My father got himself a relatively higher-end independent GPS (Magellan purchased in 2007) and has used it for some time, but I've never taken him up on his offer of borrowing it for my use. Since receiving this device, I have decided that this is the time when I make the switch to using a GPS from now on.
First of all, this device is on the inexpensive side (around $130.00) so it's naturally going to lack some features in my dad's Magellan that he paid closer to $400.00 for, but on the other hand enormous strides have been made in ease of use in the past two years. At least that's the way it appears.
For my test purposes I activated both his Magellan and my TomTom and compared them side-by-side while he drove. The Magellan picked up a satellite signal immediately, while it took about one minute for the TomTom to pick up a signal. This was less of a problem than you would think as te device still gave directions from it's previous map the last time it was turned on. In general, both devices gave identical directions, but my father's device said the street name, while my device simply said "Turn right." As twilight descended, both devices switched to night colors at exactly the same moment. The Magellan made a chime sound every time you took a turn. The TomTom did not. One thing I particularly liked is the more plain-English directions of the TomTom. For instance when the Magellan said turn left and then the street name, the TomTom said "At the end of the road, turn left." Personally I found this a little easier to understand and make use of after dark.
My father's GPS has a nasty green color scheme that I personally cannot stand, and it talks in a snobby sharp female voice that I find unnatural. My TomTom on the other hand has EIGHT color schemes and EIGHT voices to select from, all of them more soothing than the voice on his Magellan. I selected the U.S. coloring for daytime and Africa for nighttime, and absolutely love both (the daytime looks like a modern map you might by from Rand McNally and the nighttime looks like the computer read-out from Ghost in the Shell). The TomTom also seems slightly more 3D to me, but your preference may vary. The female Irish voice I selected is incredibly soothing and never grating. I look forward to downloading more voices to try out (celebs anyone?).
The directions of both of the GPSs are accurate as I mentioned, but the Magellan has some features the TomTom does not. The Magellan allows you to choose a route based on shortest time, or most use of freeways. The Magellan, on the other hand does not allow you to choose multiple routing options (other than alternate route) for your primary trip, but does allow you to set a time you would like to arrive at the destination (and if the device sees that you repeatedly say no to the option it helpfully offers to stop dispalying the message asking and make your default no). One feature that my father liked in the TomTom was the option to navigate to a new destination by way of a previous one (which he either can't, or can't figure out how to do on his GPS). On the other hand, he liked how his good old Magellan would say street and freeway names.
When it comes to selecting a point of interest the two devices may be about equal, but I prefer the TomTom. I had a terrible time trying to find a resteraunt in our area on the Magellan because unlike the TomTom, it didn't suggest the correct city name for me when it mis-spelled it. It took about 5 or six steps to find a restaurant in the TomTom vs. 10 in the Magellan (in both I could not find it from close resteraunts and had to search by city). Also the Magellan listed GPS tables and other more technical information, but I saw no practical use for it. The TomTom had more features that actually seemed useful, such as changing the display of compass direction, safety features, horizontal or vertical display of information, ect. Of course if you can afford subscriptions to services such as traffic checking, ect. it can do even more, but most people will probably just use the out-of-box features.
All things considered, I would not have purchased the device my father did, but I find the TomTom well worth the money. While it doesn't give names of streets and freeways in spoken direction, I find this made up for by a friendlier interface that makes the right assumptions and is easy on the eyes and ears. Some people will probably also appreciate how it has a dial you turn to make its suction cup release from a windshield (so you can transfer it from car to car). The deal-breaker for some will be the lack of speaking location names in my opinion. Otherwise it's a stellar unit that is very well designed (it even has a cute little picture of you putting it away and an X over a picture of someone making off with the device like Santa Claus when you turn it off. I'm liking this device more all the time. Now to connect to the device website and download Dennis Hopper's voice direction..
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What's this?)
If you have never had a GPS, you won't have to relearn different menu options so from this perspective, this TOMTOM is certainly very functional and navigates as expected. Setup is easy. You just plug it in and follow the on-screen instructions. Select the language you use during setup (many are available). You also have the option to go through some on-screen tutorials and you'll be set to go almost immediately; just select navigate and plot your route. If you connect the GPS to the computer, you can go to the TOMTOM site and download one map update as long as it's within 30 days of purchase.
However, the TOMTOM website is not very intuitive and it was difficult to find the information I needed. My recommendation is to create an account FIRST, then once you find where to download the appropriate TOMTOM software, connect your GPS and LINK the GPS to your account to continue. Also, make sure you press the button on the lower right corner of the software before you disconnect the GPS so you don't get an error message to your screen. I set this up on a MAC system; I suspect you will encounter a similar but harmless error with a Windows system.
This TOMTOM has many more features than I'm use to but has the same basic functionality as pretty much any other GPS. The difference is in where you find that information. The reason I have mixed feelings is because this TOMTOM is so different from the 11-month old Magellan GPS I have. Also, there are a few features that just annoy me. For instance, with my Magellan I can press one button to find the route in text format. With the TOMTOM you have to make three selections to see the same thing - press once on the street name, then press once on the details button, then press the "browse as text option," and now you see the route in text format. Then when you want to get back to the map, you press done twice. To me this is very frustrating because when I'm navigating, I like to bounce back and forth between the map and the written route. However, I did not rate this GPS lower because of this since it's only my personal preference.
From a feature and option perspective, this GPS has a lot to offer. There are many points of interests (POIs), although the POIs are set up much differently than on my Magellan. There are HELP instructions on what to do if your car breaks down and what the rules of the road are for different states. In addition to the these features, you can edit your own maps, you can zoom in on them, you find the gas stations with the cheapest fuel prices (providing you subscribe to the TOMTOM daily fuel price updates), etc., etc. The reason I rated this TOMTOM three stars is because it offers too many selections making the system more complex than necessary, the screen is not as crisp as other GPS's I've seen, and some of the basic menu options are not as intuitive or as easy to get to as they are on the Magellan.
Update as of 12/05/09: I had my boyfriend try the GPS and he quickly became frustrated with the menu items and felt it was too complex. Although he was originally going to rate this TOMTOM 2 stars; he now agrees with my rating of 3 after he was shown some features. However, I had his 20-year old daughter try it and she loves the GPS and all the features it offers. For instance, she liked the ability to change the arrow into a car as you follow the GPS map and all the data that is displayed on the screen. She rates the GPS 4 stars only because the menus are sometimes a bit difficult to navigate. So it seems the younger generation might like this more than the older generation who usually don't prefer all the bells and whistles.
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
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This is my first GPS navigator experience and I only just got it today but I LOVE this thing!! It's so easy to use and even arrived charged and ready to go. You don't need any extra software or a service subscription. Just pull it out of the box and it's ready to use immediately. There's not much of a manual but you really don't need one. There's plenty of "tours" the TomTom offers to help you learn the ropes, and I would recommend taking the tours it offers but even if you don't, you will still be able to figure it out easily enough. (I love the touch screen though I think I may start using the stylus from my Nintendo DS; it's hard being super-accurate with the pad of my finger and didn't always push hard enough on the first try.) I also like how easy it is to get off the windshield so I can drop it in my purse and take it inside with me so it doesn't get stolen or freeze/melt in the car.
The driving experience was surprisingly smooth. I liked that I was able to choose the voice - there are several different male and female voices to choose from as well as different accents (American, British, Irish, and others available with a download)! The voice would let me know that I needed to turn after a 1/4 mile more of driving, and then at just the right time it would remind me again to turn.
The on screen display offers so much information without being too obtrusive or distracting. During my drive, I noticed that it was keeping track of my speed compared to the speed limit, how many miles I'd driven, how many more to the destination, etc. It even shows your exact latitude and longitude and how many satellites the GPS is getting info from (I was between 5 and 6).
Just for kicks, I asked it for directions on my way to the grocery store and it got them right. Then I asked for directions to a craft shop that I'd been to recently that's an hour away and it got those correct, too. What it did NOT get correct, however, was my home address. Our house was built nearly 4 years ago so not even all the online map sites know we exist yet so it wasn't exactly a surprise but it would have been nice to not have to go by the intersection instead.
I like adding "Favorite" destinations to make map requests quicker. I can't wait till I get it all filled up with destinations and setting all my preferences. This thing is going to be SO helpful!
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
This is my first GPS and I really didn't appreciate how nice it was to have one of these until I started using it. I first need to state that I have the Tom Tom XL325S version but I think the only difference is the set of maps preloaded on the device (US and Puerto Rico versus a unit with maps for US and Canada or Mexico).
At the time of this writing there are 8 other reviews here and I found them all helpful and accurate but I believe all have misstated one vital piece of information that is not made clear in the manual that comes with the unit:
--> *** the device actually does speak the street names *** <--- along with direction and turn distance.
The catch is that you have to have it set to a computer voice (under Change Preferences - Change Voice) that is labeled (under English US voices) as 'female computer (Samantha)' or 'male computer (Tom)'. While neither of these voices sound as nice as some of the other more soothing and natural sounding selections these are the only two voices (that I know of) that will verbalize the street names. There may be other that work in different accents of languages but I have not downloaded any to try. The other voices will verbalize turn direction and distance but not street names. I find that slightly unfortunate because I really like the sound of some of the other voices more but I also found that hearing the name of the street that I am supposed to turn on to increased my confidence that I was following the directions correctly. The computer voices are almost as nice as the other voices and I had been thinking of downloading a British voice since I like the accent but I'd rather hear the street names so I'll leave it on computer voice.
Some other nice trip planning features not mentioned in the other reviews is the ability to set your destination and then:
1. Browse the trip as text
2. Browse the trip as maps of the turns
3. Browse the entire route on one map (overview)
4. Browse the trip in demo mode - which will show you a preview of exactly what you would see and hear if you were really driving in your car at that very moment in real time or, more conveniently, accelerated time (up to 385% faster than real time).
While I personally found the screen selection setup to be fairly easy like any device with lots of features you do have to play with it a little to get past the small learning curve. For example: On the main screen that appears after turning the unit on...
1. Touching any part of the displayed map takes you to the main directional menu where you can enter a new destination, change preferences, add a favorite destination or get Help Info
2. Touching the lower left corner of the main screen brings up a volume slider control for the voice volume
3. Touching the lower right corner brings you to a map overview of your trip, the battery meter/charging status and the number of accessible satellites
Also when entering the destination address be sure to enter the city/town first, then the street name (without the number) and then the address number. And you don't have to type the entire name of the street because suggestions appear as you type and when you see the whole street name just touch that - it saves a few screen touches.
This GPS does offer the ability to add an accessory that would report traffic and gas station prices (both at additional cost) but I don't travel enough to justify the expense. I wish those services were free for the few times a year that I take a longer than 1 hour trip.
I have never owned any other GPS device so I can't compare/contrast the functions or ease of use to other devices on the market but I can say that I really like this GPS, it functions well, was a great value for the price (bought it on Black Friday 2009) and I think it's a good value even at a more normal price.
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What's this?)
The TomTom XL 325 is my first car-based GPS system and my second overall GPS system. I have owned a Garmin eTrex hiking unit for about nine years now. I don't have the knowledge to compare this to other car-based systems, but I'll mention what I like and dislike about it for that. I'll then focus on what I think of it for hiking use (which is a big reason that I got it). If you hadn't considered using this for hiking, you just might want to!
1. CAR NAVIGATION
As this is my first system for this application, I think that the TomTom is really cool! I'd probably think that about any of them are, though, so here are some specifics based on my experiences with it.
What I Like:
- Locks on to satellites within about ten seconds
- Recalculates routes in about two to five seconds if a turn is passed
- Multiple voices from which to choose, and the default (that I'm using) is easily understood and has variable volume settings
- Screen is easily viewable in the car when not subjected to direct sunlight
- The preloaded points of interest (such as restaurants and hotels) are quite nice
- Can overlay your own images to make it easier to find new places (more information below under "HIKING")
What I'd Change:
- When testing it during my drive to/from work, the calculated routes weren't that efficient (but they would get me there)
- I tried to select a navigation using an intersection, and if I picked the highway as the first entry, the unit locked up for about ten seconds and then rebooted (it did it twice, so it wasn't an isolated glitch). I don't know what caused it, but it seemed to run into an algorithm issue and just shut down.
2. HIKING
Here's where I really like this unit. The Garmin eTrex that I have has some great features (small, rugged, fairly easy menus), but it lacks an ability that I really wanted - overlaying of aerial or satellite maps on the display. I was eyeing the Garmin Oregon 550 3-Inch Handheld GPS Navigator with 3.2MP Digital Camera, but at over $400, I couldn't justify it. The TomTom isn't a dedicated hiking unit so it lacks some of the features, but it can overlay images, has a larger screen (but equivalent resolution), and costs quite a bit less. It's not weather proof, so the TomTom is more of a fair-weather type of hiking unit. Here are some details given my experience.
What I Like:
- Can overlay images, allowing you to see the terrain around you from a bird's eye view as you hike (I use satellite images from Google Earth). I can't emphasize enough just how excited I was to get this working (and it's very easy to do). This is an _extremely_ important and useful feature to me. Sometimes my dog and I have been at a local state park and gotten a bit turned around, and life would have been much (much) easier if I could have seen where the closest trail was to us. I normally know exactly where we are, but there are limited occasions when I've been unsure, and an overhead view would have let me know an easy way to go (as opposed to the difficult ways that we actually took).
- Can specify at which zoom levels the overlayed images are visible. So, you can have a less detailed image used when zoomed out, and more detailed images used when zoomed in. The images can also be overlapped.
- Unit size is nice and portable
- Screen size is excellent
- Menus and screen scrolling is easy for me to do, even when walking a trail and holding a dog leash
- Locks on to satellites within about ten seconds, which is much faster than the eTrex that takes a couple of minutes
- About two hours of rechargeable battery life. Because it locks onto the satellites so quickly, I only turn it on when I want to get a look at where we are.
What I'd Change:
- The screen has poor visibility out in the sunlight, even when not in direct sunlight. Shading the unit does help and makes it usable, but it requires some extra work and focus to see image details when it's even mildly sunny out. This is the only real complaint that I have about it.
- Not weather resistant. I doubt that a little mist would hurt it, but I won't be testing it out on purpose.
- The scroll bar used to zoom in/out on the overhead map view is a bit difficult to move one notch at a time
In summary, I think that it's a decent car navigation system and also a decent hiking unit. If you haven't considered adding your own images, you might want to. You can use it for hiking or just to make it easier to find your way around a neighborhood or downtown area. It's easy to do (search the web, or write me a comment and I'll provide info), and I think that it's a very useful feature.
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What's this?)
*The good:
Finds satellites VERY FAST. We live in a stucco house (wire covered and thus hard for signals to get through) and the Garmin and Microsoft GPS (for laptop) have to be propped in a window to lock in and often take five minutes. This TomTom locks in within 10 seconds inside the house.
You can download straight from Google Maps to this device. That is really useful.
You can download map corrections that others have made for free.
You get a free map upgrade if a new one is released within 30 days. It does take a while to download, with DSL it took mine an hour and a half.
You can pick the voice from a half a dozen for free and download many more online. Some are free, others require payment.
Mount is really clever, base suction cups to window but the unit can be easily twisted off and removed.
Comes with both car charger and USB charger.
Lots of preloaded places of interest. I was quite surprised by how well the TomTom indentified restaurants, gas stations, libraries etc out in the rural area where I live.
You can choose to allow the device to notify you when you exceed the speed limit, when near schools and for other safety issues. My children like changing the noises that the TomTom makes and notifying me that it says I am speeding.
The menu is not that complex. My thirteen year old can operate it without instruction.
*The bad:
Does not say the street names when giving directions. This is the biggest negative. It does show the name on the device, but the street name is not spoken.
We live on a gravel road. Every time we set up to leave it asks us if we really want to take an unpaved road. I spent half an hour online looking for how to change the default to allow unpaved roads and could not find how to change it on this model. So we have to "allow" it every time.
Battery life listed as 3 hours. Not a problem if driving (just plug in the device) but would be too short for long hikes.
*The ugly:
If you want traffic info you need to buy an antenna which is fairly expensive. And the traffic info is not available in all cities all the time (you can check the TomTom site to see where it is available. Where I live it is available during "rush hour". I do not really care about this myself, as where I live there is not enough traffic to be worth monitoring . However, if you live in a major city this may be an issue (go to the TomTom website to find out the info for your city).
Summary
I would give it 4.5 stars if Amazon allowed, half a star off for not saying the street names when giving directions. But the fact that it locks onto and keeps the satellite connection is a huge plus and makes me round it up to 5.
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What's this?)
I was excited to get the Tom Tom XL 325. I've used a GPS before, my mom has a similar model Garmin, and I've driven to New York from Birmingham, Alabama with that one. So I felt I had some experience with a GPS. I was with my mother when she got her Garmin, and we were able to pretty much use it straight out of the box.
The Tom Tom has not been quite as easy as the Garmin. I've only used it around our area of Birmingham, North Shelby County. Right off, our church/school (Catholic) was not listed. It's been there, in the same location, for well over 25 years now. However, the Baptist church that just moved in across the street was coming up at the same address! That was weird--I suppose someone from that church updated the maps online perhaps? But this was straight out of the box. While driving to the school, I noticed the library was listed in the completely wrong spot. Later, I discovered they also had the old library location still on there, from where it was located over 10 years ago. Very strange.
I found trying to enter in an address to be very frustrating. It kept asking for the city, which I had already thought was entered. Every time I used the back button (which I would think would take you back to the previous page) it would go back to the map, causing you to try and start the whole process over again. Very non-intuitive navigation of the system, and frustrating.
While heading across town to go to a meeting at yet another public library (that was listed as a point of interest, unlike our school), it told us to turn around and we weren't even out of the driveway yet. I purposely took a different route then the Tom Tom was suggesting, because I knew the traffic would be bad by a large shopping mall on that route. It took the Tom Tom several miles to get over that fact and stop telling me to turn right at every single street and neighborhood I passed, to turn around. It did have the correct directions from there however.
The other thing the Garmin does which the Tom Tom does not is call out the street names you need to be turning on to. It just tells you to turn left or right in so many yards/feet, which could be a problem. And everytime you turn on to a highway, it tells you to stay in the right lane: "Make a right and stay to the right"--I found that advice bizarre, especially when I know I am going to have to get over to the left to make a left hand turn.
This morning, I had decided to use it to pick up my daughter from the local Catholic high school--again, although the school has existed in Birmingham for years, and at this location for probably over 15 years, it was not listed as a point of interest, and it did not come up when I manually (and with the usual difficulty) entered the address. I plugged the thing into the computer to "update" the maps. Still, nothing. I am not paying for additional maps, and my mom's Garmin seemed to have a lot more info. right out of the box--and she doesn't even have a computer to hook up to. It did provide the correct directions, however, and corrected the route quickly when I went a different way, again, due to the heavy shopping area I wanted to avoid.
The Tom Tom seemed to lose the satellite signal quite often, and for know apparent reason.
This is not a bad device, it just isn't as good, in my humble opinion, as a similarly priced Garmin GPS. I'll continue to use it, and perhaps we'll get used to it. It had some great features--I liked the many points of interest and the way they're categorized, and I love the help option, which gives the nearest places to get help and distances if you have to walk. Great if you are in an area you're unfamiliar with.
Having a GPS is a luxury that we now take advantage of every day, just like cell phones. It's a good thing to have. The moderate price and possibility of useful downloads for traffic and such (most at a cost to the consumer, but handy if traveling and planning trips) are definitely worth the cost to some folks I'm sure. The Tom Tom XL 325 is neat little gadget.
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program(What's this?)
As with any electronic equipment, much depends upon your personal preferences. In my family we have 2 other GPS's, so I was able to compare this TomTom to the Garmin nüvi 350 and the Magellan Roadmate 1340. First concern is price, the nuvi is $250 more than the TomTom, and the TomTom $20 more than the Magellan.
The TomTom was the best of the 3 to set up; but then I found trying to set up how to find an address confusing, having to change 2 or 3 screens to get to the screen I wanted. I even had to download and print out the 61 page direction manual from the web site because the directions included were very vague, and even after using 2 other GPS's it was frustrating to not be able to figure this out and still after a few days of travel and use - to keep going back and forth to find the screen I wanted. I really had to struggle to get a shop address and find the directions to it. I have to assume it just needs much more practice than the others. I also found it harder to add these addresses to favorites, again it just seems to need more practice than the others
The magnification is hard to use, many buttons are small and the slide is almost impossible to control, much less do it quickly at a stop light. The TomTom also took almost twice as long as the nuvi to lock onto satellites, the Magellan a little less time than the TomTom.
One feature the TomTom has which is wonderful is the Help. Wherever you are you can press this button and find hospitals or other places to find any assistance you might need.
The TomTom also does not turn off automatically - when you have it plugged into the charger in the car, if you turn off the engine both of the other GPS's will automatically turn off the TomTom stays on which could lead to it running out of a charge.
One important thing a GPS can have is giving turn directions - telling you to move in the left lane on an interstate for a left exit is highly desirable to say the least, telling you that the road is a slight left, like a Y, instead of just left is what I mean by having better turning directions, that is my only complaint against the nuvi - that it only says left or right, besides price. The TomTom is very specific and shows which type of turn you need to take. The Magellen also is more specific than the nuvi on directions. However the TomTom does not announce street names nor label as many streets as the 2 others. The TomTom does not announce when you have missed an exit like the nuvi does by saying 'recalculating', it just does a quick change, personally I like knowing when I've missed something, but another member of my family wants to throw the nuvi out the window when it says 'recalculating'.
The TomTom has a bigger screen, but it is also the hardest to see in bright sunlight, the nuvi's shows the best in direct sun. The TomTom has a round attachment on the back which makes it harder to slip into a pocket or case. Even with the attachment off it won't lie flat. The nuvi came with a small carrying case which is wonderful to protect it if you slip it into your pocket. I really wish these GPS's came with a charger for inside the house, it is extremely handy; but at least they are readily available and not that expensive.
The conclusions I've come to is the TomTom is superior in giving turn directions. If maps and more detail of street names and simplicity of use is important and clearer speaking, choose the nuvi. The Magellen's maps are better and clearer than the TomTom and turn directions are better than the nuvi. The TomTom has more options for searches. All will get you there with some practice.
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This review is from: TomTom XL 325 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator (Electronics)
I've had this GPS unit for four months. Overall I like it -- it's sturdy and does a decent job with directions. I have only two complaints: (1) sometimes the map isn't entirely accurate, and on two occasions it has taken me to the wrong address (both times it was a map issue and not operator error), and (2) TomTom customer support is really, really bad. I ordered an accessory and they promptly charged my card. Four months and 14 customer support emails later (including the last one where I threatened to submit a chargeback request), they finally delivered the accessory. I will likely throw away the unit before ever dealing with TomTom customer service again, and I expect that my next GPS will be a Garmin.
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