If you plan to travel by car through more than one or two countries within the EU then this is the software for you.
I have recently got a satellite navigator software + pda bundle, but because it was bought in Holland the only map they had was the Dutch map. Not much use for me here in the UK.
I then purchased this Tomtom software and I can say that despite the high price it is well worth the money! The instructions when driving are very clear and the 3D map is very easy to use when driving. The main screen shows you a map of where you are, the roads around you and the route you need to take as well as showing your next 'move', that is, 'turn right', 'go straight', 'turn left', 'take the exit', etc and the name of the next road you will enter.
It also calculates your speed, your estimated time of arrival, how many minutes left in your trip, etc. You can customize it to 'speak' in many different languages including English, Dutch, Portuguese, French and many others. Furthermore, you can also set the map with different colour schemes, which is very handy when driving at night so the colours are a bit less bright.
Other additional features (you need to pay for this) let you know the weather of your destination in advance, the traffic of your route, make phone calls if your device allows you and many others.
The advantage of this over the main Tomtom unit is that it has maps for the whole of the Western Europe. The maps are:
-UK Holland Belgium Luxembourg France Germany Italy Austria Switzerland Spain Andorra Portugal Denmark Sweden Norway Finland Poland and Czech Republic
You can't use all the maps in your memory card in one go unless it's a HUGE card. On mine I keep UK and Benelux (Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium). Whenever I go to a different country I need to use my pc to change the maps on my memory card.
Overall this is a wonderful software and it is exactly the same as the normal Tomtom units but you use it on your (supported) phone, pda, pocket pc. It will work in most gadgets that run Palm Software and the list of supported units can be found at www.tomtom.com
Apart from the price and the initial confusion when installing my first map the software is wonderful and I recommend to anyone who need any map for Western Europe.
I got my PDA and gps units as a present, but the software from Amazon for £150. Apparently, however, the software is no longer available from Amazon. You'll just have to find it somewhere else!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
(+) Large clear menu for touchscreen. Quick setup to navigate to postcodes. Clear driving instruction. (-) Poor POIs, Lack of route preview. Missing villages. No cam preview found.
(+) Cheap compared to standalone, removes the need for seperate sat nav (-) No post code only search but this can be resolved with adding a house number of any house
You might need to use the "Edit review"/"Write a review" link below the Product and Review title above to add more information about the software. How much memory is required for each map? How do you actually change the maps? You say it was difficult ~ can you make this less difficult for the rest of us by talking us through the process? What instructions came with the software ~ and how did you modify them to make this more helpful? I use a Garmin StreetPilot i3. Updates available via their website and Maplin Electronics! ♥♥ ! ~ ........................................................... ~ jes ~ ! ♥♥ !
weetoon 03.09.2006 12:57
As one who is always getting 'lost in France', this sounds very handy indeed.
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