Product Review: TomTom Navigator USA

Distributor
TomTom
150 Baker Ave.
Concord, MA 01742
978/287-9555
http://www.tomtom.com

Pricing
TomTom Navigator USA: $319
Street Network Data Source
Tele Atlas

Equipment Included with the Product

Six CD-ROM set with installation software and road maps for the U.S. GPS Receiver with Serial Cable that connects to PDA (Pocket PC)
Car Mount Kit including:

• Suction cup mount
• Air Vent mount
• Foot included for mounting car kit to the dashboard (adhesive & 4 screws are supplied)
• Power Adapter for powering your handheld device and GPS receiver that fits into power or cigarette outlet in vehicle.

Introduction
The TomTom Navigator is a personal navigation system that runs on a PocketPC-based personal digital assistant (PDA). For this product review, a Dell Axim X5 with a 400 Mhz X-Scale microprocessor was used. The TomTom Navigator is primarily used as an in-vehicle device for location assistance and route planning.

Getting Started
The TomTom user interface is loaded onto the PDA through ActiveSync, the bridge between a desktop computer and the handheld device for PocketPC units. Then, individual state maps can be loaded depending on the areas in which the user will be located. In addition, regional maps of multiple states can be loaded at one time. Once the maps are loaded, the user can proceed to choosing which map and navigation preferences, such as which Points of Interest (POI), color styles, or class of roads to view. The user can even select which type of voice style (male, female) will be used to issue audible turning directions.

The TomTom GPS unit is connected to the PDA through a serial cable. The cable has a “Y” connector that splits to connect with the PDA and to the power source. This connection process is straightforward and once the unit is powered up, it takes 2-5 minutes for the GPS unit to acquire the locations of the GPS satellite constellation nearest to your location, although the documentation warns that it could take much longer initially to acquire a signal. The GPS interface shows the relative position of the constellation it has found and the signal strength.

Features
Some of the features that the TomTom Navigator includes are:

**Ability to select a name for from Pocket Outlook and “navigate” to the address stored with the contact listing.

**Navigate to a list of Favorite Destinations that can be stored. This list can be input manually or selected interactively from the map.

**Interactively point to a feature, address, or POI on the map and store it as a favorite or immediately navigate to that point.

**Once the origin and destination are selected for route planning and the GPS engaged, the location of your vehicle is positioning in either a 3D perspective (see Figure 1) or map view (see Figure 2) of the route. Either map view will pan as your position changes.

**Voice commands are used to support the route navigation.

**If the driver takes a route not suggested by the TomTom navigator, the software will automatically recalculate alternate routes to the destination.

**The user can navigate to a “most recent list” of addresses (not necessarily added to the list of Favorites).

**Simply by pointing to a location on the map, the user can ask to find surrounding points of interest.

Figure 1 Figure 2

Pros
The TomTom Navigator does a good job of acquiring the GPS signal quickly. The presentation of the maps in 3D view is excellent and the voice commands are clear, although the Dell Axim speaker has only acceptable volume and clarity. The ability to quickly route to a contact in Pocket Outlook is a great feature for the mobile professional and the list of POIs is quite good. The menu items are clear and understandable and navigation through the menu is easy. The ability to switch from daytime to nighttime colors is a plus. Navigation along major highways was good and the position of the GPS cursor on the map to denote the vehicle's current location was also clearly displayed. Panning of the map with the movement of the vehicle was good and the software's ability to quickly recalculate a route, when necessary, displayed the results in a timely manner. The calculation of routes is quick and the route summary is a helpful feature (see Figure 3).


Cons
The integration of the maps with the GPS location was poor on some roads that should have been correctly positioned. On trials using this writer's home location to various destinations, the product showed the navigation along streets to be inaccurate and in some cases the GPS location was well off the highway. Consequently, the voice commands were incorrect and suggestions to alter the route were confusing. The roads along which the trials were conducted were approximately 13 years old and should have been correctly positioned. Older streets and major highways were correctly integrated. In areas where this writer relied on local knowledge to navigate streets, the TomTom Navigator showed incorrect names for streets and road positions.

There are many wires to connect the unit to the dash-mounted cradle for the PDA (see Figure 4). They interfere with access to radio or other dashboard instrumentation. TomTom understands this and offers a compact car kit that has a cradle/power unit that slides into a cigarette or other power outlet.

Figure 4

Conclusion
Much depends on the map data and accurate POI database. The software and navigation equipment performed as it should, but where roads were erroneously placed and street names were incorrect, the product delivered inaccurate navigation information. This was not a problem where major roads were concerned and the function of the GPS unit was excellent. TomTom has indicated that they are working with their map data providers to provide more improved information.

Also TomTom has announced a Bluetooth wireless GPS receiver product that will cut the cords away. This will be available in retail outlets.