TomTom Navigator 3 GPS kit

I purchased this Tom Tom Navigator 5 for approx 200 GBP two months back. I am an IT Consultant and am required to go to different client's sites at different locations. At first I used to print out the directions from mapquest or theaa.com and then try to follow these, but always I used to lose or miss out in between and land up searching again. This procedure was difficult if I was traveling alone as its difficult to hold that piece of paper and look out for directions etc.,

So I finally decided to go in for the Navigation software and I had heard that TOMTOM is the best in the market. Now I had to decide in TOMTOM which one I have to choose. I finally decided on this model since I already had a Zire 72 Palmtop (Bluetooth enabled) which I could use for this purpose.

This package contains

- Bluetooth GPS Receiver
- Car Charger
- SD card with pre-loaded maps
- Quick Start Guide
- Manual
- TomTom plus CD
- TomTom Code Card

TIP: If you are planning to go in for this, please check if your existing PDA/Palmtop is compatible with this software !!

Installation
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The installation instructions are cleary given in the instruction manual. You would need internet access to obtain the code for registering the product first time. You will have to visit www.ttcode.com for getting the activation code. Anyway I would like to go into the details as this procedure is already detailed in the instruction manual.
It took me half an hour to complete this process. The first time I was not able to get any display when I clicked on that icon, I had to remove the card and re-insert it in the slot and then I was able to see the screen. Not sure whether this was the problem with the card or the PDA.

Menus & Features
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Navigate to
Find Alternative routes
Tom Tom Traffic
Add favourites
Advanced planning
Browse Map
View Route
Itinerary Planning
TomTom Weather
Download Extras
Call Number
Guided Tour

Change Preferences
-Use Night colours,
-Turn off 3d Display
-Turn off Map display
-Hide POI
-Turn Off sound
-Volume Preferences
-Manage Favourites
-Change Home Location
-Manage Maps
-Manage POI

I am not going to touch upon all these features but some of them which I regularly use.

Navigate to
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When you are planning a route you have the option of entering the street name, house number etc., or alternatively you can directly enter the Post Code. You have the following options for determining the route.

Only the fastest
Only the shortest
Only avoiding Motorways
Only walking routes
Only bicycle routes
Only at limited speed

These options give you the flexibility which you be looking for, if you are walking or cycling or you want to avoid Motorways etc.,

Home Location
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You can specify your home location by clicking and choosing the current GPS position. This option appears when you are doing the first time installation itself. You have the option to change the home location if you want to.

Favourites
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In this option you can save all your favourite destinations so that you can select navigate to and then select the destination from your favourites. This saves time of entering the details of places where you frequently travel to for eg., Office, Library, ASDA etc.,

POI
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Point of Interest are the locations which might be of interest to you like Parking, Petrol pumps, Restaurants, etc., You can choose to display any of these POI on your route and you can also specify at what distance you want to receive a warning or information about an approaching POI. Say for eg., you can set up in such a way that you receive a warning and an indicator on the map of an approaching Petrol Pump 180 yards before etc.,

How to Use
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The GPS receiver is connected to the Palmtop through the Bluetooth technology. I have learnt to switch on the GPS receiver first and after a few minutes to switch on the Palmtop. Also when exiting, please ensure not to switch off the Palmtop, you need to switch off the GPS receiver first, Exit the application from the Palmtop and then switch it off.

Once the route is planned, it starts telling you clearly in advance when you have to take a right or a left etc., There is only one standard female Voice which is available all additional voices can be downloaded for a fee from their website. IF you happen to take a wrong left or a right, it will recalculate and tell you how to proceed. The time taken to recalculate is not that fast. I am not particularly happy with the speed this gets computed. It could have been faster.

You have multiple options to choose the volume, display of maps etc., which can be easily setup and changed. All the details are listed in the instruction manual and also displayed in the product tour.

Downsides
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1. Maps get outdated easily. There is an option for downloading updates from the site, but I did not find any updates for the recently purchased product and I had faced couple of problems especially on M25 where the map was showing a roundabout ahead whereas there was a straight road in front of me. There is a location on the site which can be used to communicate such errors to the company, but how would you be able to remember the exact location to report this problem ?
2. The TomTom traffic, Speed Camera locations etc., which gives the traffic news and jams are available for additional service fees which you need to subscribe to. This may costs from anywhere from 60 GBP p.a. onwards.
3. Once in a while my Palmtop gets reset, I am not sure whether this problem is which my Palmtop or due to the TomTom bug.
4. Sometimes it takes 5 to 10 minutes for the Palmtop to get the GPS signal, it says GPS signal lost 10 seconds ago etc.,

On the whole, I am satisfied with this product but hope the manufacturers improve or rectify the downsides of this product. Will keep this updated with other findings which I come across during my usage of this product.

Thanks again for reading…. Any inputs and feedback are welcome…..!!!!**************Updated on 26.08.2005**********************

Just found out from the site that there is an upgrade which is available for an additional fee of EUR 59/-

The following maps are included in the TomTom NAVIGATOR 5 upgrade:

* Great Britain
* Germany, Poland and Czech Republic
* Austria and Switzerland
* Italy
* Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland
* Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg
* France
* Spain, Portugal and Andorra

Also TomTom uses the latest and most complete maps from the world-leader in digital mapping, TeleAtlas.