TomTom One XL

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/handhelds/0,39030065,49291266,00.htm

Reviewed 25 June 2007

Reviewed by Mark Harris

TomTom is to sat-navs what Apple is to MP3 players, with the Dutch company being equally protective of its market-leading position. This latest pan-European GPS unit adds a handful of advanced options and slims down its waistline, but at the cost of some more standard features. It's available now for £280, or £250 with UK maps only.

Strengths
From the moment you switch the XL on, it's obvious that this is a class act. Powering up takes under 30 seconds and the TomTom's ability to latch on to the weakest signal, even through windows or under trees, is uncanny. If you're not locked on and navigating within 2 minutes, you're probably stuck in the Dartford tunnel.

The 109mm (4.3-inch) screen is bright, sharp and colourful. We prefer a slightly more zoomed-out view than the XL provides by default, but manipulating the 3D maps is extremely easy. The intuitive all-touch graphical interface is fast and clear. Search is especially simple, with a comprehensive full-postcode database that recognised all but our trickiest test addresses.

Route calculation (even between European countries) is swift, and route management is excellent -- you can review routes as a text list, images of key junctions or a fly-through, and add waypoints or rest stops easily.

Navigation is clearly shown and crisply spoken, with destination road names to help at complex junctions. Re-calculation after missed turns is equally impressive: there's little of the panicky 'make a U-turn' advice common on weaker sat-navs.

But it's in the extra features that TomTom really shines: the Home software for online updates and scenic route downloads; the ability to browse a map, with fingertip zooming, for when you suddenly hit a traffic jam; and the simplicity of setting up the XL for left-handed use, or with the screen upside down for more flexible in-car mounting. There are also animated guided tours of all key functions.

Add a Bluetooth mobile phone and the TomTom Plus service gives weather forecasts, reads text messages out loud and allows you to locate your TomTom-owning friends.

Weaknesses
As assured as the XL is, it's not perfect. Its habit of displaying a destination road-name in the top-right corner can be annoying, and the display would be helped by split-screen graphics, letting you continue to navigate while you adjust a menu.

The linkage of spoken volume to speed -- it gets louder as you drive faster -- is a nice idea but doesn't work well in practice. In our test Mini, guidance when stationary was almost inaudible. Having said that, it's easy to deselect this feature in the Sound menu.

More annoying is TomTom's habit of making you pay for every little extra. Traffic info requires a TMC radio receiver (£70) or an annual subscription (£28, or £35 with speed camera updates) for its service via your mobile. The most miserly accessory is £17 for an AC power adaptor to charge the XL when you're not in your car -- essential if you're planning to use the XL as a pedestrian, especially considering its unimpressive 2-hour battery life. This unit doesn't have a picture viewer, MP3 or video player.

Conclusion
The One XL reflects the fact that TomTom is a company dedicated to navigation. It works intuitively, reliably and near instantly out of the box, while retaining superb levels of flexibility and customisation -- albeit at a price. Route planning, calculation and navigation are all very well managed.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide