TomTom XL 330S - 4.3 in. Car GPS Receiver

After spending time with a friend of mine in Florida who had a high-end GPS unit in her vehicle, I was bitten by the bug. I have a terrific sense of direction and honestly never saw the need for this. But after watching one in action, I could see the benefits, especially for other members of the family.

Our choice for a GPS unit was the TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator. I wasn’t involved in the decision, so I didn’t have the chance to check out other reviews. My friend’s unit was a Garmin and truth be told, I probably would have opted for one as well, just not as high-end as hers was. However, life is what it is and I went to work figuring out just how this GPS Navigator worked.

Out of the box it didn’t look too complicated. The unit itself is a decent size, large enough to be easily viewable and small enough to not be cumbersome. It measures 3 1/3 inches by 4 3/4 inches and is a slim inch thick at the deepest where the mounting base is. The touch-screen supports 64k color graphics and a resolution of 480x272 pixels.

Initially I was pretty doubtful about the mounting hardware. The set-up that comes with it has a mount for the windshield. Knowing how poorly other items I’ve had in my car have fared with their own windshield mounts, I was already resigned to investing in a vent mount which is sold separately. However, I decided to try it and have actually been quite surprised. This is designed to turn and lock and it actually has sealed so well I haven’t had any issues with the mount failing. The GPS Navigator goes in and out of the mounting unit fairly easily. It took a while for me to be comfortable with putting it in the base after I took it out of the car. I was worried about damaging the touch-screen as well as having to re-mount it on a cold morning when the windshield was brittle with frost or ice. However, after a few times of doing it, I found that it is easy to do once I had the feel for it and I don’t have that concern any longer.

The one complaint I have here is plugging it into the power supply in the car. The TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator comes with a Li-Ion battery that lasts about 3 hours and is rechargeable through the hook-up to the cigarette lighter, which is included with it. I’m not sure if it recharges when it is attached to the computer. Well, the jack to plug in the cord for either of these is on the bottom of the GPS Navigator. It’s pretty small and deep. I don’t have a problem lining up the plug the correct way and making the connection when I attach it to the computer, but it can be frustrating to struggle with the power cord in the car. First it involves remembering which way the plug goes, and second it means getting the plug in the slot. I have spent a significant amount of time doing this and I usually end up plugging it in first then trying to get it in the mount with the cord hanging out of the bottom.

Using it has been pretty easy. I have a few issues which likely come because of the rural area I live in. I can’t program in my home address. It shows my street but doesn’t have street numbers for my street. That’s a bit negligible because I know how to get home. However, if someone were trying to use this to get to my house, they might have something of an issue if they didn’t have some idea of exactly where I live. This is probably less of an issue in big cities, suburbs, and towns where things are more cut-and-dried and better charted.

The TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator comes loaded with maps of the US and Canada, from TeleAtlas. The maps are not entirely accurate. For instance, it shows that part of the road below my house is a part of my road when they are actually two different names. This would lead to confusion for someone trying to get to my house as there’s a house with the same number on that road and if you were going by the fact that the TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator said you were on my road, you would end up at the wrong house. It also shows a road that doesn’t exist going from my road to the main thoroughfare. Again, this would be confusing to someone who didn’t know the area. I saw this at another point on the map too where a road out of my development that existed but didn’t join up where the main thoroughfare into town was shown as having that intersection. On talking to some of the people in our development, I learned the original maps for the area did have those roads planned but they were either never built or never completed. In the case of my road, the road that doesn’t exist was actually part of an old logging road, is not drivable, and is used strictly as a hiking trail. In addition, there is a road in town by the Shaw’s supermarket as well as the mile-long road which lead to the high school which don’t show up on the map software.

There is an option on the TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator to update the maps. I can submit the updates and they are submitted to TomTom when I connect to the computer. It then takes time for the updates to be approved. I haven’t seen those updates come through just yet. In addition, adding a street that isn’t shown on the map can be quite difficult. Trying to get the positioning correct so that the road shows up where it should and doesn’t show me as being off-road when I drive down it is nearly impossible. I submitted the corrections the best I can estimate and hope they will fine-tune them when they approve the updates.

In the car, the picture is clear. The screen has terrific resolution and is easily visible in either day or night. If the sun happens to go directly across it, there can be issues, but unless this was a continuing issue I wouldn’t change where I mounted it. The touch-screen works well and makes operating it and changing destinations easy. Recently I was on a trip and had the addresses programmed in before I left. While on the road, I began running behind and simply switched things around so I made my first destination the appointment I had. It was easy and quick to do with little distractions.

The directions are given pretty clearly. When I set up my TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator I chose a male British voice to give the directions. This is soothing to me as it sounds a bit like Jeremy Irons. However, I noticed that I wasn’t getting the street names included in the directions. After checking out reviews online, I learned that audible street names only come with the default computer voice. Otherwise I just get turn by turn directions. That’s fine with me, but if you really need the street names you have to stick with the default voice. There have also been complaints about the volume level on the voices, but I haven’t had this be a factor for me. Perhaps it is with the default voice.

I’ve put my TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator to the test a number of ways. At times, I plan a route completely contradictory to how I am actually going to travel and see how it recalibrates itself to tell me how to get back to the original destination. This works pretty well and I would have a lot more confidence in being able to get around in an unfamiliar place.

Changing the specifications on the unit is easy as well. There are safety settings which I accidentally triggered when the GPS Navigator was still on and in my purse one time (I will definitely be investing in a carrying case very soon). It was very annoying when any time I hit more than 5 miles over the speed limit there was a very loud beeping. The TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator has the capability to calibrate speed and displays this while driving as well as things like the time and driving direction. When I plan a route it will calculate the distance and estimate the time as well as showing the remaining distance and approximate arrival time. I have found the estimated arrival time to be way off, showing a trip taking over 2 hours that I know usually takes about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. The distance was correct, it was just the time that was way off for some reason.

The menus on the touch screen making changing everything and anything very easy. I took the Guided Tour under the Change Preferences option and this really helped with understanding what I could change and how I could change it.

I really like the Help Me option and that combined with some of the other factors is what is pushing me toward buying my daughter who is in college in Florida one of these for Christmas. This makes it easy to figure out exactly where you are located and finding the nearest emergency services including police stations and hospitals. If you are going on a hike, this is great to take with you as there’s a function to Walk to Help which can help you walk your way out of the woods. Just don’t leave it on the entire time as the 3 hour battery life limits how long you can have the unit turned on.

The TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator works with TomTom HOME software which gets installed on a computer. I have it on my notebook to make it easy to get updates or add features while on the road. There are a host of point of interest applications which can be downloaded right to the unit. I chose to download where Cracker Barrel Restaurants and Target stores are nationwide, making it easy to find the closest ones to where I am at the current time. There are literally hundreds to thousands of these to choose from, many user-generated. Their reliability is rated right at the downloading site and the ones I chose work fine.

If you want the traffic option for the TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator that involves and additional item and a subscription to that service. If I were still living in New York, I would absolutely have that. There’s also a gas prices application that can be purchased for a one-time fee. The GPS Navigator is already loaded with icons for the nearest gas station, although I have found that to be lacking at times as well. I dutifully update the changes I note and hope they get picked up. Still, that is a helpful feature when traveling outside a familiar area, even without the gas prices option.

Overall I’m very pleased with the TomTom XL 330s GPS Navigator. It functions well and I haven’t had very many issues with the signal strength, even in the mountains. The ability to correct the maps is a huge plus and I hope I see the updates in the future. The directions are terrific and recalibrate quite well. I did notice some lag-time when I was just driving with the GPS Navigator picking up my turns, but when I had a pre-planned route there was no lag-time. It mounts on my windshield better than I expected and the visibility is good either day-time or night. It’s extremely user-friendly and I think that just about anyone could figure it out without too much trouble, The updates are very functional and it’s easy to customize points of interest. It doesn’t have all of the high-end functions that other units have, but for many of us who don’t need all of the bells and whistles, it’s fine.



© 2008 Patti Aliventi