Although I consider myself a slow adopter of technology despite working in an tech field, after a few frustrating road trips up and down the east coast alone with no detailed maps and only printed directions, I decided it was time to cave and get a GPS. I chose the TomTom One 130s as it was an affordable unit from one of the major manufacturers.

First off like most comparable GPS units, the TomTom One is a very reasonable size – large enough the get the job done but not obstruct vision. The unit is not super deep (less then an inch) like some older units, and it's very light. It easily fits with the suction cup attachment in the center console when not in use and even in my pocket. The suction cup attachment works great, it's easily adjustable on two axis so it should be easy to position on the windshield of any car. If preferred, there's a small plastic disk with adhesion on one side you can stick it to your dash to mount the unit a little closer.

I was able to figure out how to do everything I needed quickly and intuitively without much frustration or consulting the manual. The most basic use involves touching the screen, touching “Navigate” then “Address” then “Street and House Number”, then typing in the city, street and number with an autocomplete and previously entered memory features. There's also several other “navigate to” features including to a preprogrammed home location, a recent destination or a point on the map.

The 3 inch or so color screen with a decent resolution, makes the text and maps are easy to read. The maps aren't the prettiest but are detailed enough to be pretty accurate. The status bar across the bottom shows several helpful bits of information such as the next turn direction and distance to the next turn, current time and ETA but default, and there are about a dozen different things you can set it to display in through the preferences controls. All and all it's a solid interface and I have no major complaints.

The effectiveness of the unit is ok but not perfect; no better or worse then the few other units I've tried. In terms of ease of following the route, generally it's ok, but there can be some confusing situations – for example, when there are multiple turns in a short distance, you're sometimes left to guess where you should turn unless you can accurately estimate the difference between 100 and 150 years within a second. In addition the accuracy of the positioning is not perfect; between your position and the position of an intersection, there can easily be more then a few yards of error. Getting out of parking lots in the right direction can also be tricky. The device certainly doesn't translate to stress free navigating. When in totally unfamiliar place though, it is much easier to navigate with the GPS then with just a map or printed directions, that's for sure.

The route planning defaults to “fastest route,” but I've done a lot of testing with the unit in local areas I'm very familiar with and the effectiveness of finding the truly fastest route in suburban areas is mediocre at best. The route calculation tends to favor major roads, whether expressways (no intersections) or not. Due to traffic and amount of lights, often I cannot make the time the unit thinks I can on these roads. However, I can often make better time on windy two lane backroads with little traffic or intersections. There is some sort of traffic service but it costs extra. So basically the GPS will get you where you need to go in decent time, but don't count on it always being the fastest.

The maps are pretty accurate but I have encountered one situation where an intersection was recently redesigned to a passover with ramps, while the GPS still thought it was a simple level intersection and this caused me to miss the turn. There is one free map update you can get but beyond that you have to pay extra for updates.

Overall although I think the TomTom One 130s(and all GPS mapping devices in general) is far from a perfect device it can still be very helpful and I don't regret getting it at all. The TomTom One 130s in particular with it's low pricepoint offers a lot value compared to more expensive units which from what I can tell don't offer a whole lot more. Thus I think it's a great unit for the average Joe or Jane; even it you don't travel by car much I think you will find it coming in handy and paying off.

Update: Although I initally gave the TomTom 130S a slightly positive review, my thoughts are now more negative. After 6+ months of use, I find the user interface not that intuitive for things beyond the basic tasks - for example finding the nearest gas station or another point of interest, or finding an alternate route. The device also takes a very, very long time to start up and turn off, which is exteremly frustrating for a GPS unit. Who has time to sit in their car for minutes before or after a trip to wait for the GPS? It also flat out crashes occasionally. Overall, it just frustrates me almost every time I use it. I will most likely go with another brand next time.