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TomTom GO 300 Portable GPS Navigator with Maps of US Pre-loaded on SDdUser Review: - Poor support for defective mapping engineIf TomTom's maps fail and you submit a bug report, the nice support site sends you to TeleAtlas's site which promptly CLOSES the support request. It took two requests before I realized I was being redirected away from TomTom's site. The real problem is not with the maps (which is a good thing), but with the mapping engine (determine how to find a point on a map). I submit the request to the main support group only to have those bozos close the request saying that the problem is with the map. At this point I don't care who is wrong since neither TomTom nor TeleAtlas will say who owns the mapping engine. This stupid device failed when I needed it the most, driving in New Jersey! The TomTom Go 300 cannot map roads that are broken, see bug submission below for more information. So, why two stars? - It fails when you need it - I could scroll around the working map and find the right street, but then I need to stop in an unsafe state .. er .. I mean place and use the device like it was my trusty AAA map. - Support does not read bug reports (I want that job with zero accountability please!) Does it work? Yes it does and it does work very well when you have a nice clean streets with a good map. It does take some time to find its GPS often, but its tolerable. It manages to lose signal with tree cover (seriously, I can still see the sky). Moral of this review: verify with an online map service BEFORE driving to unknown places. Defeats the prupose? No. TomTom Go 300 did find my way around some detours in NJ near Trenton and get me into the parking garage saving me time and frustration (the prupose of this device). Updates: After using TomTom Go 300 for a few months I have seen more problems than I care for. I have recommended everyone in my family to not buy TomTom products. The map for my area, King of Prussia, PA more than two years out of date. It got my dad lost going to a hotel which is 1.3 miles away from me. In some areas, you will fall off the map. The most annoying new feature is TomTom alterate route functions. I am headed to a fork in a road in the middle of nowhere. TomTom wants me to take the "long" way to my destination by switching from the State Route (meaning Route 1 or Route 66) that I'm on to the another State Route at the fork. The thing is, if I tell it not to take the other State Route, the damn device will tell me to turn around!! Once I pass the fork it keeps telling me to turn around. When I choose to re-run the routing software from where I am, it figures out a new route completely passing the road that I need to take. The road is on the TomTom map, but it won't take it until I get on to it. WHAT GIVES? Bug Report submitted to TomTom ------- TomTom Go 300 v6.150 The mapping engine is BROKEN. It cannot handle a road that is broken into several non-contiguous sections. The city, Pennsauken, gave several distinct streets the SAME name! Destination: 3401 Cooper Ave, Pennsauken, NJ 08109 If you map the destination on any Internet site and scroll around, you would see that: [...] All points map to real locations but are not on the same physical road. They are on different roads by the same name in the same city. The TomTomGo 300's map actually has these locations on it, but is UNABLE to map to anything but the first OCCURANCE of Cooper Ave: 7200 Cooper Ave, Pennsauken, NJ 08109 Trying to find the intersection (cross street) of two streets Cooper Ave and Park Ave does not work even though the TomTom's map clearly shows that they do intersect. TomTom can only see the intersection of Cooper Ave and Derousse Ave. That area has several other streets, Sherman Ave for example, that are also non-contiguous. User Review:  - Good potential, but nastyThe Tomtom has great features. But I returned mine. First, the maps are very dated. This makes it iffy at best. It has terrific potential, if it worked. You can use a PDA stylus on the map sitting at home outside on batteries to plan a trip. It's amazing. But I wanted to plan a 600 mile trip myself using it's internal maps and waypoints. But I tried a local test first. I used roads as waypoints, main roads. This way I can force the Tomtom to use MY routes. I did not like it's choices, since it is a dated map database. I set up a local route, and started to follow it. It took me to the first road/waypoint no problem. But it would not go past the first waypoint. I would go down the road (first waypoint) then it would tell me to take a u turn!. I did. Then it said take another u turn. It had me going in circles. Perhaps it's not made to use roads as waypoints, but all indications it gave were that it would. The manual was no help. Support was no help. So it went back. I have ordered a Garmin i2. Hope this is ok. I have taken the same trip from SE FL USA to SC USA with a Garmin C330. The Garmin has maps that you cannot update, but got me to my destination no problem. I don't recommend this TomTom. Do research. Go to manufactures websites and look at unit manuals. Hope this helps. User Review:  - TomTom's a winner!Received the TOMTOM 300 before date promised in perfect condition even though the box was dented. ( Good packing! ) I have used the TOMTOM to go from NYC to Monticello, NY and from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and home to NYC again. The TOMTOM performed flawlessly in Philly guiding me to the sites I wanted to visit and back to my hotel. I also tested it on routes I knew to see how it would route me if I deviated and it came through with flying colors. The only shortcoming is that the display is difficult to read in bright sunshine. The on-board voice makes up for that letting you know when a turn is coming up. I have a co-worker who has used this device for two years and is very satisfied. I bought it on his recommendation and do not have any regrets. User Review:  - mediocre product.. much better available nowThe maps seem out of date. I have traveled along some major freeways in Colorado, and the device thought I was in the middle of a field. Unfortunately, there are no software updates available. Also, the version of software that my device came, does not allow me to update to the latest firmware. The device takes about 1.5 minutes to aquire decent enough satelite reception to figure out where it is. And this is just after being shut off for one night. If you shut it down for longer, the start up time increases exponentially. After 1 week of being off, it took as much as 4 minutes. Otherwise, there are no complaints that I have. As long as you are traveling along old roads (2 years+), it will know where you are. One moment of caution is that it will make you take a highway exit and get right back on the highway if it thinks that the exits route is faster. It's not bad for being on the low end of the price spectrum, but there are definetly much better alternatives from Magellan and Garmin. User Review: - TomTom doesn't provide much customer supportI bought the original Tom Tom Go back in November 2004. Since then, my attempts to reach their customer service have all met in failure. My last attempt, 10 days ago, was an effort to buy updated maps for my product. Yes, their website will offer to sell you maps, but there is no way to determine the date of the maps you already own, and no way to determine the date of the maps that you would be purchasing, in some cases for a large sum of money. If you try to find a telephone number on their site that you can call, you will be disappointed. I am disappointed and would advise you to look elsewhere if you want a product that is supported. |
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