TomTom is Fun-Fun

This review could have seriously been broken out into at least two parts. I just really wanted to tell you what I think of the TomTom GPS. I know it’s long (and well worth the read) but to help you along, I’ve highlighted some points, bulleted others and underlined the awesome stuff. 

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GPS was never really been my thing. I used it once on a road trip to see my dear friend Casey (@mooshinindy) in 2009 when another UrbanMom, Ali (@alimartell), and I travelled to Indianapolis with our friend Karen (@karensugarpants) and borrowed my Dad’s GPS unit. 

We named the voice “Gretchen”. 

Gretchen wasn’t very helpful. 

Gretchen instructed us to make a U-turn in the middle of a four-lane road. 

Gretchen’s voice was much like nails on a chalkboard, and after hearing her say, “RECALCULATING” numerous times we decided Gretchen just wasn’t cutting it and followed our Google Map directions instead.

I don’t think Gretchen was a fan. 

But the feeling was mutual, don’t you worry. 

When I was contacted to try out the brand new TomTom GO 2405TM, I was a little leery. I mean, after Gretchen? Who wouldn’t be? GPS can be finicky, distracting and irritating, right? 

I’ve heard numerous complaints about various GPS units and their maps not being up-to-date, not showing newer subdivisions, not finding rural properties, etc. What’s the point if it can’t even get you from A to B? Google Maps works just fine and gives the directions one needs.  

Or so I thought. 

The TomTom GO 2405TM (TM standing for Traffic and Maps) comes with Traffic updates too, people. Traffic updates that can tell you the shortest route and help you get to your location faster. 

Skeptical? I was too. So I took it out for a test drive: during Toronto rush hour traffic. (Okay, I had somewhere to be, but I thought it was a perfect chance to try out the traffic updates.) To give you an idea: it can take anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours to get clear across the City of Toronto in rush hour traffic – that’s on a good day. My goal was to get to the middle from the west end of the city, and I had a narrow window of one hour. 

I won’t lie. I was sweating it just a little. 

I programmed the destination while watching TV the night before. Picked the city, street and house number in a minute flat – it prompts you with the closest possible match with each letter making it that much quicker. I’ll be honest: I kinda suck when it comes to reading instruction manuals, and by suck I mean, I don’t do it. With this TomTom, there literally is no guess work, they’ve simplified everything to the point where you’re completely comfortable with operating it straight out of the box. 

I set out on my trek along my normal route. I had set the GPS to let me know approximately every 5 minutes if there were traffic delays and the voice (whom I have yet to give a name, though the GPS calls her Samantha, for real) relayed that I was indeed on the fastest route and would experience a 11 minute delay. As I approached the area known for slow traffic “Samantha” announced that there was indeed a faster route and asked would I like to take it. Though there was only going to be a 7 minute difference in arrival time but I figured, why not? What’s a review without a little adventure, am I right?

We (we being me and the GPS, of course) took a jaunt off the highway to a couple city streets and then onto a different highway. I sat on that particular road (the 401, for the locals) for about 2 exits (which was really unavoidable in this part of the city) and then left for city streets again. Aside from a short stint on the highway and some traffic lights, there was virtually no stop in traffic on the route decided by TomTom. 

I was pretty much sold. 

A few weeks later my family and I went to get our Christmas tree at a local-ish tree farm where you venture out into the bush and chop down your own. It’s apparently every man’s dream to be walking through the brush wielding a buck saw with two small snotty and cold children in tow. 

I digress. 

When I pulled the directions from the tree farm website they stated specifically not to rely on GPS directions as many units have lead their operators astray. 

I took that as a challenge (and brought the Google directions for back up. There was no way I was having the can-you-please-just-stop-and-ask-for-directions fight and it be my fault. No thank-you). 

This TomTom GPS got us directly to our location without a single glitch. No trouble finding the rural property, and the same thing when we headed out to visit friends 3 hours away over the Christmas holidays. They live in the middle of nowhere. No word of a lie; you have to drive 20 minutes just to find anything remotely resembling a store, but TomTom got us there.

• Great up-to-date traffic giving the user the opportunity to chose the faster route or stay where they are. Sidebar items indicate if there is an incident ahead or if it’s just traffic. 
• Awesome at finding rural properties using fire numbers and road names. 
• Very user-friendly. VERY. 
• Options to turn off turn-by-turn voice navigation, change voice and map views
• sleek design, great sized screen, strong suction for window or optional disc to mount on dash

Some perks of the GO 2405TM:

Bluetooth Compatibility
If you have a compatible phone you can use your TomTom to make and receive calls using Bluetooth technology. Pretty awesome, right? It won’t interfere with navigational instructions. 

Advanced Lane Notice
While traveling with the TomTom GPS, the voice will announce something along the lines of, “In 300-metres, turn left, then turn left” indicating the next direction way in advance. It also indicates if you should move to another lane in preparation for a turn coming up. The only gripe I have about this feature is on the highway, in order to keep you on the highway, it was telling us stay left on approach and at each. and. every. exit. ramp. We ended up turning off the volume driving through the city because there’s an exit ramp EVERY 2 KILOMETERS. 

Speed and Traffic Camera Indicators
The TomTom has options to allow the user to choose if they’d like to know about traffic camera locations, etc. I’ve set it to indicate if there is a camera at an intersection; all it does is a short “ping” sound on approach just to give you a heads up there is a camera in that intersection so, you know, you can choose to conduct your illegal U-turn or roll through a red on a right-hand turn elsewhere. Nice, huh?

Maps and Accuracy
And you know what? It’s true. I compared the TomTom model to a 3-year-old version of the next leading competitor and there really is a difference in the amount of coverage. Granted, the other one is a few years older.  Its owner did purchase the lifetime maps update so they *should* be on par regardless of the unit’s age. 

Overall? I am sold. I really enjoy this TomTom GPS and continue to use it even on my regular commute to work, particularly for the traffic option.