We have had our TomTom 510 for several months, it was a treat to ourselves as we were constantly getting lost or turning
up one way streets when finding hotels or going to for days out. We paid about £280 punds for it then (as we had some
discount codes for PC World), you can now get them for about £260 before any discount.
The device which is quite small (but quite chunky compared to the new slimline models that TomTom are starting to
introduce) has a very sharp colour touch screen, a power button on the top left, and a dock connector and SD Card slot
underneath - the maps are supplied on an SD card.
In the box as well as the device itself and memory card there is the car dock (which has a locking sucker), a desk dock, a
desk (3 pin charger), a car charger (works off the cigarrette lighter) and a nice little protective case (which just holds
the device itself not the dock or charger.
The TomTom 510 is very feature rich but still really simple to use. After the initial switch on (which follows a few hours
charge) you need to set the time, date, whether you are going to use the device right or left handed and which voice you
want the instructions read in (there are a couple of standard make and female voices and you can download extra celebrity voices but these aren't cheap and to be honest don't sound much like the relevant celebrity either).
After that the TomTom is operational. There are many way to input a destination, post code and building number, enter a name of a city or town centre or input a motor way junction or even an attraction such as Alton Towers - with all inout being via the touch screen and any location can be added and saved as a favourite so that you don't have to go to the trouble of re-entering postcodes and such like.
There are also a wide range of options that can be applied to the route planning such as avoid motorways, avoid road tolls, use the shortest route, us the fastest route.
Once the route is planned a little overview map is displayed, tap the screen and you then get a 3d view of where you are currently, this updates in real time as you drive and is very accurate, showing bends in the road, other roads in the area (along with the road names / numbers) and points of interest such as petrol stations, hotels etc (these can be configured so other things such as churches, pubs, resturants and may more things can be shown). Also shown on the maps are static speed cameras and the speed limit of the road- very hand.
Also shown is the distance remaining until the next action has to be taken (i.e turn left), this is shown as a symbol plus the distance in miles and then yards (altough this can be configure to be kilometers and metres), the instructions is also read out with the speaker being amply loud and clear enough. Each direction is read a number of times, once a little while before and again just before you need to take the action, this can be a little annoying but does help stop you forgetting what was instructed. If you do make a mistake then the TomTom automatically recalculates the route, there are a few occassions where this results in 'Please turn around when possible' but this is only when the alternative would take you many miles out of your way.
The TomTom Go 510 has built in bluetooth which is a handy feature. Pairing up with your mobile is very quick and easy after which you have the option of downloading your whole contact list to the TomTom so that they are there to be used for making a call. Also many of the points of interest (Hotels, pubs, resturants etc) have a phone number stored against them so you can call them - very handy for booking a table or finding somewhere to stay.
All in all this is a great device which I highly recommend - it is dependable and well made, a real life saver at times, the only small gripe I have is that if it hasn't been used for a while and can take a long time to find the inital GPS signal.
23.11.2007 13:08
.¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸Great Review .¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸ :o) Lisa x
09.11.2007 06:38
I think put a celebrity voice onto one of these would do my head in.
08.11.2007 18:11
Great review - nicely written