Home > Consumer Reviews > TomTom ONE Traffic Europe 22 - v4 Satellite Navigation -Western Europe Traffic Edition

Had this a few days now after my TomTom Go 910 began failing to charge. Please to see they use a small USB which is more robust and the holder isn't the connector either which will make it more robust.

I've gone from the larger screen to the small one but it hasn't made any difference. Maybe it's because I also bought the vent mount which is a good option as there's no marks left on the screen and it brings the TomTom closer making it easier to use.

The Traffic option is good although not perfect. As soon as I got out of my road it gave me a 15 minute delay update and re-routed me. Great! Today it could only take me through the jam though as it didn't receive the update until I almost arrived at the queue. That's probably due to the broadcast being late though. If there's nothing you can do but go through the jam then you're no better off but it's nice to know how long the delay is likely to be which the device gladly informs you of along with the distance to the jam. If there's 2 jams it will tell you about both, although only give details on the first.

The mapshare is a great idea. It updated only when I used the option to trust many people who had made the same change but weren't confirmed by TomTom. From what I've found so far they are accurate. I've also done a couple of my own which is great.

As for tracking the satellites it does it very quickly. It takes seconds rather than the minutes it took on my Go 910. Great improvement.

I have noticed that if you put too many POIs in then the software does seem to slow down and your car can be ahead of TomTom where I missed a turn as a result. I removed some POIs that I really didn't need (still leaving a lot on there though) and it is fine now.

As a tip, remove the TomTom Speed cameras and download some from elsewhere. They are so out of date. I think it's worse to not have them mentioned and think the database is up to date. Better you know it's all up to date so you can be warned properly.

It differs from the Go 910 in the following ways

One =>
Small screen
Better Mount
good software
slows up with too many POIs
Traffic included
Map Corrections

910 =>
Large Screen
Fiddly Mount potentially damaging
slow to start
20 Gb disk with music player included
Have to pay a subscription for traffic
No map corrections, you're stuck with TomTom updates

In summary, a great unit, small, convenient, quick to start, great for traffic. Just make sure you don't overload it. I prefer it to my 910!

Took the unit on a trip today and it performed well.

The Screen
Small but pefectly formed, does the job well with good clarity.
I was considering the wide screen model but as it is not a TV there is no
need for WS.

The Software
Easy to use, you do not need to be a computer wizz to work it out. A quick look at the manual and a tinker with the menu and you are off.

The Mount
Good construction, I was driving on a cobbled street and the unit stayed firm on the window.

In summary a great toy for the money, it makes you want to drive more and use the car for more than to get you to work and back. You still need common sense and read the road signs too.
The traffic feature is a good addition but makes your dash look a little messy with the extra wires. A minor gripe but thought I should comment on everything.

I had a TomTom Go 710 a couple of years ago which I returned after it wouldn't switch on when it was 2 months old. So far so good with this one. Based on my previous experience and mixed reviews on Amazon I simply couldn't decide which SatNav / TomTom to buy so in the end I went for a budget one. Having read reports about contents being wiped when maps update the first thing I did was copy the TomTom contents to my PC. Having said that when I came to update the maps it worked fine. The TomTom comes with a USB PC connector, Car Charger Lead and Traffic Antenna Lead. I bought a seperate mains charger for a couple of quid seperately. The memory is internal ( no SD card).

I purchased this as it stated that it covered Western Europe as we were travelling to Spain and Portugal this summer 09. We inputted a street address in Porto and set on our way from Spain. We travelled on the motorways without a problem but when we got to where it took us in the centre of Porto we were at completely the wrong address. We travelled around asking people and looking for the address nearby only to find the street was 3 miles from where we were in Porto. This cost us around 2 hours, much stress and a tour of the centre of Porto speaking to many interesting people. 3 days later we made our way to Lisbon, put in the addres which it recognised and set off. When we got to Lisbon we got to where it took us but the address was not as we had inputted. We travelled around and asked many people but in the end had to pay a taxi driver and follow him for 3 miles to the address. Once again another couple of hours in the centre of a major city. When we got back we called PentagonGPS who we purchased from. They said that we were 'naive' to think that Portugal would be fully mapped???? Considering the system took the address and then took us to a completely different street 3 miles away on 2 occasions - I don't understand this statement. If it hadn't accepted it then fine but why sell it saying it covers western Europe including Portugal? You would think they had managed to map Porto and the capital Lisbon by now???? Not impressed and it makes you wonder what other cities aren't mapped properly on this system - but as PentagonGPS say - 'don't be naive' when you purchase this system!!!

We've now owned the TomTom for a couple of months, it's got us out of a couple of sticky situations - and also tried to get us into a couple too!

I'll go into more detail about the pros and cons below. I should also mention that ours is the Traffic 31 which we bought from a well known UK high street retailer on a better-than-Amazon deal at the time.

First though, a quick response to the earlier one star reviews. The traffic dongle works just fine in our car, wherever we have been. Attach the antenna suckers to the screen and it picks up the traffic details within a minute or so (I've read elsewhere that it uses Classic FM for the info). We have no memory issues with the maps on the 31 version, but perhaps the 31 has more memory anyway.

Now for the pros...

- As a navigation device it definitely does work. It has got us to every destination we have asked it to around the South West and Wales. It even suggests handy routes around town that we did not know about.
- It is especially useful if you miss a turning because it recalculates a new route almost instantly - which would be a real pain to do if you were the only person in the car and working from maps.
- It is very easy to use for the basic function of navigating to known addresses.
- The suction mount works very well, holding the unit secure on the screen, removing easily, and taking up very little space in your bag.
- Connect it to your PC and you get regular software updates (although not maps, which they charge for).

And the cons...

- Don't forget to drive the road first and the satnav second! This would apply to all of these units, but in the first few journeys with the TomTom I found myself looking at the unit all the time and relying on it entirely for directions. After I got sent down a few narrow lanes and restricted turnings I realised you must not do this! Have confidence in the road signs because they are accurate.
- The maps are strangely out-of-date in some cases. Considering this is supposed to have the 2009 maps on it, much of central Bristol is inaccurate, for example the diverted road around Cabot Circus is not on there and you keep getting "turn around when possible" messages. Whereas the A-Z and Google Maps (who also use Tele Atlas data) are very accurate. Proof again that you should drive the road not the satnav!
- Traffic updates are of limited use - more often than not they are an hour out of date, and recalculating the route suggests you take the same road anyway! We were at a standstill for about 2 hours on the M5 a few weeks ago, the traffic dongle could not help up since the road was backed up beyond the junction it suggested we come off at.
- Some of the more advanced functions are tricky to use, for example browsing points on the map and marking them as destinations.
- Battery life is ever so slightly disappointing at around 2 hours, you need to have the charging cable to hand for anything longer than a short run around town.

Overall I would heartily recommend this unit - I rarely use the traffic dongle, and haven't been into Europe yet, but it has made getting around so much easier.