TomTom ONE 3rd Ed. - USA

As I sat there on Thanksgiving, looking at all the Black Friday ad's I realized THIS was the year to dive into the world of GPS. Being my first GPS unit, I researched all the various brands and models and decided I wanted to stay in the $100 - $200 price range, and the TomTom ONE Third Edition accomplished that.

After ripping open the package, the TomTom ONE is already charged and after answering a couple of short on screen questions, it's ready to use immediately.

* * * In The Box * * *
So, what's included in the box? The TomTom ONE Third Edition includes the GPS unit, one (1) Car charger cable, one (1) USB cable (for connecting your TomTom to your computer), one (1) Windshield Holder, one (1) Adhesive disk for dashboard mount and all the necessary documentation (except for the full-blown 50 page manual, that's available on TomTom's website at: http://www.tomtom.com/lib/doc/one3rd/refman/TomTom-ONEv3-en-US.pdf).

* * * Trip Setup * * *
The TomTom ONE is very easy to navigate around and setup trips. Tap the screen once to view all the menu options, select Navigate to... then choose if you want to go Home, to one of your personal Favorite locations, to an exact address, recent destination, or Point of Interest. Most of the time you'll select Address and then simply enter in the City, street name and then house number. Each of these menus contain an auto-complete feature, so as you're typing the city name, the TomTom provides possible options so you can just select it instead of typing the entire name. You're now ready to start your first trip! The options and preferences for setting up a trip are endless. You can specify if you're going to be walking, biking, driving, if you're looking for the shortest route or fastest route, if you want to avoid freeways, etc... I personally find this procedure very easy and fast to follow. Granted, it may be a little work while you're driving 65mph, but I setup my TomTom before I leave the house.

* * * The Trip * * *
Now that your first trip is programmed you can begin driving. The TomTom is very easy to read at day and night and provides different displays for you to manually change between. By default, once you begin your trip it shows the map view. This view is very helpful if you want to get a birds eye view of the area to see the roads around you or any preferred Points of Interest (gas stations, ATM's, pharmacies, parks, zoo's, etc.). However, I personally found this view to be a little more difficult to view while driving, so I always use the Browse as Text view. This view is just like using MapQuest or Google Maps, except it still talks to you and tells you all your turns. It shows line by line each step of the way with directions and street names. I also like this because one of the preferences is to show this view with the distance to go until the next step. For example, if I have to make a left turn on 4th Avenue it will display a graphic for the left turn, 4th Avenue (the street name along with any other info, like Rt. 68) and finally I set mine up to show how much longer till that step (using my current GPS location). So, it will show 1.3M (for 1.3 miles till I have to turn on 4th Avenue), but as I'm driving, it will automatically change to 1.2M, 1.1M... 150 yards, etc. This way, you can get an exact feel for where to turn.

The TomTom ONE also makes it very easy to change your route. Make a wrong turn? No problem, the ONE will automatically recalculate your route. If traffic is too bad or you want to avoid a specific road, simply tap the Find Alternative... in the main menu to change the route that is currently planned. From here, you can:

1) Calculate an Alternative route - this will calculate a new route using totally different roads to reach your destination.

2) Avoid Roadblock - Tap this if you see a roadblock or a lot of traffic ahead. You then have to choose how much of the route ahead you want to avoid.

If the congestion suddenly opens up, simply tap Recalculate original to return to your original route.

3) Travel Via - Tap this button to change your route so that it passes a particular location, perhaps to pick someone up on the way.

4) Recalculate Original - Tap this button to return to the original route without deviations to avoid roadblocks or traveling via particular locations.

5) Avoid part of route - Tap this button to avoid a part of the route. Use this button if you see that your route includes a road or junction you don't like, or which is well known for traffic problems.

* * * Additional Features * * *
Before buying the TomTom ONE, I did a lot of research to determine some of the good and bad things this unit may have or be missing.

1) Text to voice - After reading many reviews for different GPS units, one of the biggest complaints I saw was that the processing time to pronounce the street name took too long, therefore people would miss their turn. The TomTom ONE simply announces "In 50 yards, turn left" as opposed to "In 50 yards, turn left on 4th Avenue." Since I set my TomTom up to show the detailed route as text, I'm completely fine with the way the ONE operates.

2) Traffic - For an additional charge, the TomTom ONE can monitor traffic and automatically recalculate your route to avoid any traffic jams. While this is a great feature, it requires an RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver (available as an accessory). Higher end models include this receiver in the box.

3) Upgradeable Maps/Points of Interest (POI's) - With the use of TomTom's HOME software (see below for more details), you can easily download any new maps and/or POI's. TomTom also offers a community where you can share your map and POI corrections. For example, I used my ONE to show me all restaurants in the area. You can then click on the name of the restaurant to bring up the details about the place (name, address, phone number, etc.). Upon going to this restaurant, they had recently closed. So, I marked it closed on my ONE and upon syncing it with TomTom HOME, this information was sent on to TomTom and others. You can configure your HOME software if you do or do not want to accept these changes, but it's a great feature and it allows you to add/modify your own POI's, road names, route corrections, etc.

4) Interface - The interface for the ONE is very easy once you get used to it. There is nothing on the screen that says Click Here for blah, blah, blah... You just have to know where to tap to get you where you want to go fast. For example, tapping the bottom left corner of the screen (where the navigation instruction appears), it will repeat the last spoken instruction and is also used to change the volume. When driving, the interface includes a 2D/3D view and a lot of important information is displayed on the screen, including: Zoom in/out, current position (on the map), the next major road, direction for the road ahead, the name of the street you're on, trip information (trip time, remaining distance, estimated arrival time), GPS signal strength, time, speed (mph).

When getting into the options and preferences, all the menus are very easy to understand and navigate through. The buttons are large so you can quickly see what to tap to continue.

5) Battery Life - After fully charging the battery the ONE seemed to only last a couple hours before it started flashing at me, notifying me to charge it. I've never let it get 100% drained, so I'm not positive how long the battery really lasts, but if after a couple hours it was warning me to charge it, I wouldn't plan a long trip without the car charger.

6) Screen size - While the ONE only has a 3.5" touchscreen, it's big enough to view when mounted to your vent or dashboard. However, those with larger SUV's and a deep window, might have more of an issue seeing the screen.

7) Physical Size - The entire ONE unit is approximately 3.8" x 1" x 3.2" and weighs in at a whopping 2 pounds! The size of the ONE is great! Since these are a high theft item in many areas, the size of the ONE allows you to easily stick it in your coat pocket, glove box, center console, etc.

8) Voices - The ONE comes with quite a few male and female voices to choose from. However, if you don't like these, you can use the HOME software to connect to the internet where you can purchase celebrity voices. If you choose to use the ones included, they are all easy to understand.

9) Multimedia Capabilities - Many GPS devices allow you to store MP3's (music), digital pictures, etc... on the unit. The ONE does NOT offer this. Not that big of a deal for me, my car stereo already plays MP3's and I don't need to look at pictures while I'm driving.

10) Time to get signal - The first time I turned on my ONE, I was in my basement and I thought it took a few minutes to find the signal. After connecting my ONE to my computer and downloading all the patches, one of them was to fix this and helps the unit find the signal faster. The next time I used my ONE, it was in a terrible snow storm and I found the signal in under 15 seconds.

11) Bluetooth Integration - The ONE does NOT include any Bluetooth integration. This is one of the few negatives I found with this unit. Having Bluetooth would allow you to connect your phone to your GPS device to make calls and automatically dial your phone for you.

12) Voice Recognition - Some of your more expensive units offer Voice Recognition which allows you to physically say, "Go Home" and the GPS unit will automatically display your trip (completely hands free). The ONE does NOT offer this feature and therefore you have to manually type everything in. While this is a nice to have, this type of ability costs a lot more than the TomTom ONE's price range.

13) Computer Connectivity - TomTom HOME software is a free program that allows you to connect your device to your computer (using the included USB cable) where you can download any new maps, voices, POI's, update your TomTom with the latest software, make backups, set a password and even use it to enter your trip (as opposed to typing on the TomTom unit). HOME also allows you to add/remove files from the GPS device, like voices, maps, etc., as well as managing any TomTom services and subscriptions. These are just a few of the things you can use the program for.

14) Mounting - The ONE includes a strong suction cup for mounting to your windshield and a plastic disk that you can stick to your dashboard and then mount the suction cup to that. They both work very nice, however, I wanted mine to be closer so I wouldn't have to reach when driving and I could see it easier. Therefore, I purchased on Ebay a vent mount which is made to fit the TomTom ONE and it works great. If interested, try doing a search on Ebay for "Car Vent CUSTOM Car Mount for TOMTOM ONE 3rd" (Seller: mfauls / Store: MF X2). I am not affiliated with this guy at all, but he has a great product and I just figured I'd pass it on to other ONE users.

* * * Conclusion * * *
As an entry level GPS device, I couldn't ask for anything more. I absolutely love everything about the TomTom ONE Third Edition and I find it very easy to use and navigate. So far, I haven't experienced any issues with the ONE sending me on a wild goose chase or out of the way. When needing to get from Point A to Point B, it did the job and it did a GREAT job at it! I would highly recommend this product to anyone in the market for a GPS unit.