TomTom - One GPS Navigation System Review

The TomTom ONE is what I could characterize as a slim and pocketable GPS. It comes with a standard 3.5 inch display which can show 64,000 colors. The display itself is quite nice; the colors do not shift much until you look at it from extremely wide viewing angles and it is plenty bright so that it will not wash out too much in direct sunlight. While the display does not automatically switch from day to night node, you can manually set night mode in three clicks. The night and day modes also have their own brightness controls so you can set it very bright during the day and very dark at night. There are also ten different color schemes to select from if you don't like the default colors.

I was skeptical of the mount at first. It is a really simple design with only one moving part, the ball and socket joint. This joint type allows you to tilt or rotate the display to any angle while suctioned to your windshield. Typically, I prefer these ball and socket type connections since they are easier and faster to adjust. However the TomTom ONE mount was just a little bit too tight and a couple of times I pulled the suction off the windshield trying to adjust the angle of the display. Others have criticized the mount for being too short. The face of the ONE will be about 3-3.5 inches from the windshield. This worked just fine for me, and in comparison the Nuvi mount puts the Nuvi about 3.75 inches from the windshield so there is only about a .5 inch difference between them.

Along the top of the ONE is the power button, and a charger indicator light. Good move to put the charge light on top where it will not interfere with the display at night. The speaker is on the back and there is an SD card slot on the bottom. (The maps come loaded on the SD card.) Unfortunately, the USB/power connector is on the bottom of the device. This is one of the few faults I have with the TomTom ONE. Putting the power connector at the bottom limits how low on the dash the screen can be. To accommodate for the power connector I need to mount the GPS an inch or two higher than I would otherwise. Having the GPS rest on the dash in addition to being mounted via the suction cup also makes the GPS more sturdy, but unfortunately you can't take advantage of that trick.

At 3.8 inches in width, one inch thick, and weighing about 5.6 ounces the TomTom ONE is highly portable. There is also functionality to create pedestrian routes so if you need to navigate by foot, the ONE will fit nicely in your hand or shirt pocket. Just watch out for the battery life which is a little short at about 2 hours