earthshift
"TomTom XL 335S Touchscreen GPS Navigation - Good "Budget" Device, Could Be Much Better"
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TomTom Widescreen Navigation Unit
< read all 2 reviewsTomTom XL 335S Touchscreen GPS Navigation - Good "Budget" Device, Could Be Much Better
-
Feb 20, 2010
- by earthshift
- posted in Sub5Zero | Redefining Performance
Rating:
The TomTom 335S GPS navigation unit has a nice sleek look, wide-angle screen and a brite, dynamic display. On balance, for the money, it's an excellent choice for general trip planning and in-town commuting. But it does have some issues that make it less than ideal. None are necessarily deal breakers, but taken as a whole, they prevent this GPS device from being a slam dunk.
+3
The interface is clean, with easy to understand icons and a logical menu system. But the touch screen itself is a bit slow to respond and the buttons are cramped, making it difficult to quickly input destinations. That said, once an address has been entered the device calculates routes quickly and efficiently. The points of interest database is extensive but the search results are returned as long lists of names with no other information such as street or city, making it difficult, for example, to locate a particular food chain in a neighboring town.
In fact the 335S has a built-in system known as IQ Routes which relies on anonymous user data (gathered when connecting the device to the internet via your computer) to provide more accurate time estimates and better navigation based on traffic patterns and actual speeds. The other nice feature is TomTom's Lane Guidance technoogy which offer better visual cues when navigating complex intersections and highway interchanges.
But there are a number of features I don't particularly care for. The graphics on the 2D and 3D navigation screens have no special visual appeal to my tastes, though their functionality is perfectly fine. I also have some hardware concerns as well. The power connection that runs from the cigarette-lighter to the bottom of the unit is especially difficult to snap into place, with a deep groove that felt like sticking a square peg into a round hole. And to actually snap the unit into the suction-mount felt like either the screen or the brackets in back were going to break off from the required force.
For the full article, please check out TomTom XL 335S Car GPS Navigation Review
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worked well at first, then it could never find the satellite a few months later. Then it got stolen.
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Ari Cox (earthshift)
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Feb 11, 2010
Last Login: Apr 29, 2013 04:30 PM UTC
Last Login: Apr 29, 2013 04:30 PM UTC
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About this product
Complete Widescreen Navigation
Features
* Text-to-Speech for Spoken Street Names
* 24/7 IQ Routes™ Technology
* Advanced Lane Guidance
* XL 4.3" widescreen
* TomTom Map Share™ technology
* EasyPort™ mount
* Help Me! menu
* TomTom HOME software
Comes with
Easy Port Mount - Your EasyPort™ mount folds neatly onto the back of your device, making the whole navigation package fit into your pocket, bag or glove compartment.
USB Car Charger and USB cable for in-car charging of your TomTom XL.
Technical Specs
*High sensitivity GPS chipset
*4.3 inch full TFT color LCD touchscreen (480 x 272 pixels, 64,000 colors)
*WQVGA
*4.7" x 3.2" x .09", 7 ounces with mount attached
*Internal Lithium-Ion battery (up to 3 hours operation)
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