TomTom - One XL GPS Navigation System Review

  We bought the TomTom One XL and have been very happy with it.  I've checked out one of the Garmin's and I feel the TomTom has more destinations and cities than the Garmin, which is why we chose it. 

  We had some problems with our unit (there was something wrong with it from the factory, it seems) so we had to call the customer support several times, and they could not have been better.  I think the great customer service people is probably one of the best things about TomTom.  Every single person we spoke to was knowledgeable and very calming and able to walk us through everything, which is exactly what you want when you're stressed out because you're having a problem.  I would not hesitate to call them about anything, and I feel confident that they would solve my problem quickly and pleasantly.

  As for features, I think it has everything we could want.  It's a bit bigger than the TomTom One, which helps when you're looking at the maps.  If you happen to make a wrong turn, it re-directs you so fast it seems like you're following the planned route!  There are a lot of different voices and map colors to choose from and you can even download extra ones for free from the TomTom website.  (There are some voices you have to pay for, but it's very clear which ones are free and which ones you buy).  We just wanted our GPS to tell us where to go, we don't need MP3 players or anything like that, but I'm sure there are TomTom's that have those features.

  We also purchased the additional UK and Ireland maps and were amazed to see that it has many roads all through Western Europe, because we figured we'd just get the UK/Ireland ones we paid for.  I did notice there were missing hotels and other points of interest in Ireland (I don't know about the UK), but as long as you have the address it will find it.  And it does have a lot of townlands that are not even on every map, which is really important because some of those little places are hard to find!  The TomTom One XL found all 4 locations that we checked on a Garmin and it couldn't find any of them.

  Over all, we're really happy with our TomTom One XL.  The only thing that I saw in another GPS that it doesn't have is separate categories for different types of food, like Chinese or Steakhouse, which is kind of nice, but not really neccessary for us.  All the good things about the TomTom One XL far out weigh that one limitation.  And the touch screen is pretty easy to use, but we got a little pointer like for a Palm Pilot and it's really helpful and easier to be really precise.  And we got ours on sale around Christmas, so it cost the same as a TomTom One, so it was a pretty good value as well.  We use the TomTom all the time, even just around the house when we're trying to find a nearby restaurant or find out how far away a store is.