We recently bought a TomTom Mobile 5 Sat Nav. Here are some thoughts:
We first tried my brother's TomTom 700 and liked it, but we wanted to be able to use it for cycle touring and the size and battery consumption ruled that out.
Then we discovered there is a version for Nokia mobile phones. It is also cheaper. It includes a small separate GPS unit that it communicates with via bluetooth.
In the car we have the phone, a Nokia 6680, on one of the simple vent clipon mountings. The GPS unit just goes on the dash under the windscreen. With a cigarette lighter dobling socket we can charge both at the same time.
In use in the car we have found that it works better for us than the full size model. In our Citroen C8 the windscreen is so far away that fitting, touching and viewing the TomTom 700 is tricky. Being closer the smaller display is still fine and anyway when driving the voice directions are all you need.
We have both used it when we have been driving alone and we have also used it with the whole family. We have used it mostly for journys to places we have never been before. We have not taken a single wrong turning on those journeys. Today we found a new bypass which was not in the map, but it was so obvious that it was not a problem.
We have not yet tried it on the bikes as we have not been out far since getting it. We have got a portable Silva solar charger to use on them as TomTom tends to use the phone battery pretty quickly (combination of Bluetooth, screen and loudspeaker I guess). We expect to mount it for the stoker to operate on the Trice X2 tandem by mounting it on the back of the captains seat which means it will be easy for the captain to hear.
Conclusion.
More fiddly to setup than a dedicated unit. But much smaller and cheaper so suitable where portability and flexibility are an issue. Also a lot more secure as you don't have to worry about leaving it in the car - it fits in your pocket. It does not replace paper maps for deciding where to go eg for a day out, but it gets you there and back very easily.
Checkout this new website. GPSice.co.uk you can download free tomtom voices, splash screens, map colors etc.
Mark
Posted by: Mark | Saturday, June 24, 2006 at 02:12 PM