TomTom XL IQ Routes edition Europe

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http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/handhelds/0,39030065,49302080,00.htm

Reviewed 23 April 2009

Reviewed by Brett James

With the GO Live series now firmly established, TomTom has updated its mid-tier XL range with a similar look and feel. The TomTom XL IQ Routes edition Europe, priced at around £200, now benefits from the company's IQ Routes and advanced-lane-guidance technology, and subtle changes have also been made to the interface and overall design, making this sat-nav a more tempting proposition.

Positives
The 109mm (4.3-inch) screen sits behind an old-fashioned frame, but the display copes well in bright conditions and the bland slivery-grey colours of the previous model have been replaced with a stylish black finish.

Around the back of the sat-nav, you'll find a large speaker that pumps out a respectable amount of volume and clear voice directions. Also on the back is an EasyPort car mount. When the sat-nav's not in use, you can close this mount to keep the device compact.

TomTom has rehashed the interface with the same lush icons sported by the GO Live series. When tapping the on-screen icons or entering destinations, we found the touchscreen extremely responsive, both when holding the sat-nav in our hands and when driving.

Additional favourites also make a reappearance, such as Map Share, a multi-route planner (now available online too), full post-code searching, and the ability to add your own custom points of interest. You can also now tag contact phone numbers onto points of interest, and set on-screen icons to appear and alarms to go off when approaching a particular place.

The large speaker, under the EasyPort mount, produces clear voice directions

The map view, adorned with various directional aids, is easy to see when driving. As well as new support for automatically switching between day and night modes, this sat-nav has borrowed a few enhancements from the GO Live series, including new point-of-interest icons, speed-warning symbols and advanced lane guidance for motorways.

The most appealing feature of all is the IQ Routes technology. It takes into consideration several real-world factors when calculating routes, including the day of the week and the time of day that you'll be driving. We found this technology did a good job of making our route more efficient, both when we were driving on a Sunday evening and when we were driving at rush hour on a Monday morning. Initial route calculations are also relatively quick, and the QuickGPSfix technology helps with the initial location acquisition.

Negatives
The map view may incorporate enhancements from the GO Live series, but it still remains relatively sparse graphically. Also, we occasionally questioned some of the choices made by IQ Routes, showing that the technology is still developing. And, without a Traffic Message Channel (TMC) receiver included as standard, this sat-nav can't take into consideration any traffic conditions.

Only the newer Fuel Prices service has been transferred over from the GO Live range, so there's no Buddies, Local Search with Google, HD Traffic or Weather service. As with most of the software, Fuel Prices depends solely on the TomTom Home PC-based software for updates, as this sat-nav lacks Bluetooth support.

Safety-camera alerts generally work well, but there were a few cameras missing on our test route and one was incorrectly identified. Updates and the camera-correction software go some way to compensating for this, however.

Voice directions lack text-to-speech support and the device has no optional upgrade path. Also, while driving, we found that route recalculations were slower than we would have expected.

At £200, this sat-nav is reasonably priced, as it includes European maps and a three-month safety-camera-updates subscription. But, when you discover the lack of a mains adaptor in the box, the cost of a TMC receiver (£50) and subscription charges after the trial period expires, the price can start to add up.

Conclusion
The TomTom XL IQ Routes edition Europe may appeal to those who don't need all of the features or are deterred by the expense of the GO Live series. But, if you add on the cost of a TMC receiver and subscription services, the price quickly adds up, and you're left without text-to-speech support and Bluetooth. But, overall, this is a solid sat-nav.

Edited by Charles Kloet