You have reached your destination!

So, I’m visiting Washington DC with a group of coworkers and draw the short straw to drive the rental car. After a week of backseat advice, missed exits, merges, and onramps, I have developed a strange tick and growl a lot. At that point I vowed to never drive out-of-state again, and had to buy lunches for many of the coworkers who were no longer talking to me.

Then came tomtom, good things do come in small packages. My wife broke the news to me that we were moving her parents across the county, and I had been elected to drive the moving van. With this news, she handed me a small box with the tomtom portable automotive GPS inside. My world was changed forever.

Tomtom comes out of the box almost ready to go. The only requirements for the user are to insert the SD memory card with the preloaded maps and push the power button. Once activated, there is a short setup that personalized the device for you. All activity is done by touch screen that is designed for ease of use and with icons that are clear and easy to see. When tomtom was removed from the box, I was dragging my wife out to the car within 5 minutes to go for a drive.

Tomtom has excellent graphics with photographic maps and selections for flat or 3-d viewing of your travel. While selecting a destination and using the device to drive is SIMPLE, there are many advanced features that blew my mind. With a little experience and hands on use (who has time to read the manual, and if you need help, tomtom has built in tutorials onscreen) I charted out a trip across the entire United States with an itinerary that made a dozen site-seeing stops. The feature I most enjoyed during the cross-country trip was the “points of interest” option. In the memory are preprogrammed many destinations, gas stations, airports, movie theatres, shopping centers, motels, and more. With a simple push of the button you receive a list of and or all of these items and your current distance from them.

Tomtom also is bluetooth capable and can be linked through your cell phone to give traffic updates, weather, and map updates. I was a little disappointed in that I could not seem to get my blackberry to sync with the system, but tomtom ALSO links to your computer for updates and downloads from the company website. For a small fee I downloaded the voice of John Cleese of Monty Python fame to give me directions. (We now renamed tomtom to JohnJohn.

While I find it difficult to list all of the technical aspects of this item, I can testify to the love I have for my little tomtom. I made a follow up trip to Washington DC and with the help of JohnJohn not only cruised the spider web of east coast highways with ease, but because of the small size, you can place the device in your pocket for walking directions as well. After my purchase, I shared the item with my mother who does not like to drive alone because she often gets lost and stopped driving after dark altogether. She and dad both bought their own tomtom and gave one to my brother for his construction business. This simple little item has given my mother a freedom to travel she has never had her entire life.

Top ten reasons to buy TOMTOM

1. The size of this gps unit is much more compact that many of the other products out there.

2. The actual photographic topical maps make it very easy to select a destination on a map that you may not have an address for.

3. The touch screen is VERY well designed and responds well with one finger even when driving.

4. The icon graphics are large and simple to understand.

5. Bluetooth to your cell phone updates live traffic and weather. (make sure your phone works with this first)

6. You will have to take my work for this until you try it, but it is so fun to play with!

7. Ease of programing. Even my mother can do it!

8. Online updates for voices, maps

9. Can plug into your PC and view maps on larger screen while in full function mode.

10. This is directed at my neighbor across the street and the other two houses down) So you an stop taking mine and have your OWN!

CONCLUSION

I have found the tomtom to be very user friendly and when unplugged from the car the battery lasts for hours. The device is very small and convenient to carry and use, but is quite rugged and well built. The touch screen is very well designed and responds well to my chubby little fingers. Directions are clear and given both visually and verbally, with updates and notice of what is coming in advance. But, most of all, it is SO fun to play with. I would highly recommend this product to everyone.