TomTom ONE XL

Tomtom Sat Nav? You want to read about its useful features and not the gimmicks. What's worth having and what's not? The difference between the Tomtom V2 and V3.

Now I'm no expert, to be honest I was a first time buyer on a budget and only previously had experience of a friends Navman F20 before buying my own tomtom 10 days ago.

I set out as you are probably doing now reading all the reviews on different makes and finding people talking more about battery life and suction ability rather than what it can actually do.

Step one, it eventually hit me that the only way to avoid disappointment and really find out its full features is to go to the manufacturers website and download there product manual if its available.

Four real must have features I would say on any Sat Nav worth having are:

* Map scrolling, where you can use your finger to look around a map as you please. (To at least review the route the sat nav has picked for you to take instead of blindly following it)

** Itinerary Planning where you can plot multiple waypoints say if you want to go from London to Liverpool Via Cardiff is an extreme example.

*** A roadblock feature. This is an easily accessed button that allows you to re route your journey quickly and automatically to avoid the route you're on for next 1 mile, 2 miles or 3 miles. Ideal if an accident happens and the roads closed or if you're stuck in miles of traffic you can just take the next exit and go around it and rejoin your original route further down.

**** A basic built in speed camera layout. So many of them have it you would be foolish to not get one with it built in. Even if it is slightly out of date.

As I stated I had used the Navman F20 which is now quite cheap to buy at