Home > Consumer Reviews > TomTom ONE XL T Europe

I read a lot before purchasing this. There are a lot of TomTom users who bought a Garmin and were not impressed. This made me purchase the TomTom. However, I saw a Garmin working and I feel I should have bought that. I'd like to stick up for the Garmin (which most people don't seem to).

Yes, the Garmin has very jerky screen updates. But it appears to be better in other respects. The Garmin I saw was quick to show the traffic information, it was clear and you could get the whole country. It did everything that a sat nav should do. Re-routings worked, finding shops, restarants, etc. worked. It navigated and got you there. The traffic information worked - this was important to me.

I bought the TomTom because it had traffic information and lots of people seem to think that the user interface is better. Read their reports, they are probably correct in what they say. The TomTom does work as a sat nav. However, these are the things that I do not like:

(1) The traffic information is, well, "broken" is the polite version. "$£$%^ed" is more accurate. I have only ever seen it report a 1 minute traffic jam (I have sat in one for 30 minutes though). That means it will never route around a traffic jam because a 1 minute jam is never worth avoiding.

(2) There are lots of complaints about the traffic not picking up a signal. In my vehicle it works. That is, it works when you run from the internal battery. When you plug in the TomTom the traffic doesn't work. I suppose that is fine if you always have a journey less than 2 hours.

(3) The display of the traffic is very poor. In the Garmin it seemed to be 2 presses to get an overview that included big, visible traffic warnings. Not so on the TomTom. It was a 1 pixel white line through road on my map. If you want the overview you have to press the "-" key lots of times. Oh, and the TomTom keeps putting it back to the "zoomed" view so you have to fight the TomTom to get an overview. There are other ways, buried in the menu system but they are equally poor in their traffic presentation. You are likely to "be" the traffic problem by the time you have worked out that there is a traffic problem.

(4) It found 83 traffic problems when I looked last night (Sunday). 83! On Sunday night (yes, and I was in one of them). However, each one appeared 3 to 5 times, so there were really only about 20 traffic problems. If you want to scroll through them all it is a little tiresome pressing the button 83 times, only to find them all repeated... But it gets worse. When the traffic information updates (every 30 seconds) it puts you back on the first one. There is no way you would get to the end.

(5) When you put the map on "night mode" it blinds you when you go in to the menus (because they are full brightness). Nice.

So. If you want to get a sat nav because the screen updates smoothly then this is the one to get.

If you want the traffic to work and you want to plug it in then buy something else. (The Garmin that I saw worked and was plugged in).

If you want to be able to interpret the traffic information then do not buy a TomTom.

If you want to be able to route around traffic jams then do not buy a TomTom.

Will I send it back? I'm not sure yet.

Would I buy it again? No, I'd risk the Garmin next time.

I bought one of these recently and have been using it daily. It's easy to use and has proved invaluable. No problems so far.

Just taking this back after 24hrs and have spoken to a number of people (wish I'd done that before) who did the same. Developed major problem which is apparently common and not fixable. Avoid.

As this was a replacement for a stolen item, I knew exactly what to expect & it was, as I expected, ideal for the job. Good, clear route instructions & value for money

I think the large screen on this TOMTOM ONE XL is great, I found it easy to use and have recommended it to friends