TomTom XL 340S - 4.3 in. Car GPS Receiver

I absolutely hate getting lost when I'm driving. Is there anything worse than having no idea which way to go? And inevitably, I get lost when I most need to be on time, such as going to a wedding, a business appointment, or an appointment with a new doctor. And it's usually dark, raining, and I'm in a seedy neighborhood. Uggh. Like I said, I HATE it. Sure, written instructions can be helpful. However, those directions are pretty useless once I've made a couple wrong turns, or if a road is closed for construction. Plus, it's really not great to take one's eyes off the road to read the directions, is it?

About a year ago, I agreed to give an 8am talk at a hospital in an unfamiliar city, an hour from home. I made a decision .... it was time to purchase a GPS navigation device.

I headed over to my local Warehouse Club, where I picked the least expensive model that had the Voice-to-Text feature (more about that, below). I forked over $200 and that is how the TomTom XL340X GPS navigation receiver device entered my life.. Driving is now easier, and even vacations are more relaxing. It's all very good. It's already been worth every penny after only one year. If we (hopefully) get several years of use out of it, it will have been a very good investment.

I have used my TomTom XL340S GPS receiver device dozens and dozens of times over the past year. I have used it locally, to find a store, a doctor's office, and to take my kids to track meets and friends' homes. I have also used it extensively on several long-distance trips. In fact, one trip involved driving through four unfamiliar states within one week. I don't know how I would have gotten by without my TomTom on that trip! On vacation, it is indispensable! It not only gets us to the hotel, airport, and rental car location and back again, but it guides us to points of interest such as nearby restaurants, stores, parks and gas stations. At this point, when driving to an unfamiliar spot, I cannot imagine not having a GPS device with me. It makes me a more relaxed, confident driver, as well as a safer driver. I use it, my husband uses it, and we've lent it to friends. It's gotten plenty of use!

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So, let me tell you some specifics about the device and my experience with it.

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First, what comes in the box:

Open the attractive, sky blue box, and the GPS device will be sitting there, nice and pretty. In addition, find the User Manual (in English, Spanish and French), the USB port (so you can synch the device), and hardware for mounting the device on one's windshield. In addition, the car charger is included. You can read the User Manual, but frankly, use of the device, with its touch-screen, is pretty intuitive. The unit comes loaded with maps of North America.

The screen:

The TomTom XL340S GPS device boasts a 4.3" screen. That wide screen makes it a pleasure to view the map and text. Yet, it is small enough to fit into a purse. The map images on the screen are bright and clear, both in daylight and at night. At any given moment, one can see where one is on the map, and where one is heading, and see the next instruction. In addition, a certain amount of data is continuously displayed, such as one's estimated time of arrival, current speed, speed limit of the road one is driving on, number of miles and time remaining on the trip.

I particularly appreciate being able to view my Estimate Time of Arrival at all times. Great to know if I will be late, or not.

With a simple touch of the screen, one can zoom in or out, view the instructions as a list of text (instead of a map), see a demo of the route, find points of interest, or change preferences.  One can save one's frequent destinations as "Favorites". One can also easily find a list of "Recent Destinations".

The audio prompts:

The Text-to-Voice feature:

As I mentioned above, I was specifically looking for a device with Text-to-Voice prompts, and I would urge anyone to make sure they are getting this feature. With this feature, the prompt will say "In ¼ mile, turn right onto Maple Street", instead of just saying "In ¼ mile, turn right". With Text-to-Voice, specific streets are mentioned by name. Thus, you never really have to take your eyes off the road to check the map; you can just follow the audio prompts. In fact, since I mostly rely on audio prompts, I have never even bothered to mount my GPS device on the windshield. I just keep the device next to me.

The audio prompts are impressively easy to understand and helpful. I have stuck with the pleasant, female default voice, although there are several other options to choose. (and for a fee, one can pay to have celebrity voices). She manages to pronounce even tricky, complicated names of roads and cities with ease. Although oddly, she pronounces the word "Bridge" as "Branch". I have no idea why that one word trips her up. Otherwise, she pronounces 99% of words correctly, and even if it's not perfect pronunciation, it's close enough.

The device seems to always "know" when I need a prompt. It pretty much will always tell me about an upcoming turn several times before I need to make it, such as ½ mile before the turn, then again a couple more times as the turn gets closer, and then finally "Turn left at Elm Street, then stay in the right lane", when it is time to actually make the turn. It will also say things like "Stay on Interstate 287 for 15.6 miles". I really appreciate knowing how long I'll need to be on a road before the next instruction comes up.

There are numerous ways to changes preferences on the audio prompts. I like to keep "Suggested Lane Prompts" on, and the device will frequently advise me to "keep left" or "keep right", which I find very useful. It also lets me know ahead of time when the route contains a toll road, and asks me if I would like to continue, or if I would like an alternative route.

The default route:

The default is to show the "Fastest Route". However, one can change the preference to show the route with the "Shortest Route" (in terms of mileage) instead. One can also ask for alternatives that avoid certain roads.  Amazingly, I have sometimes learned new, better ways to get to places I've been driving to for years!

The computer software:

The device comes with a USB port to connect the GPS device to one's computer. It is important to synchronize the device on the TomTom.com website periodically. It only takes a minute or two to do. Doing so allows a couple very important things to happen:

~~~~~1. The TomTom device learns the predicted satellite locations:

First, the GPS device will receive information about where the orbiting satellites are expected to be located in upcoming days. Remember, the GPS device is only as good as its ability to find satellites. In fact, it needs to locate at least 4 satellites in order to properly use triangulation to find your location.  TomTom actually recommends that one synch the unit each week, for this reason. I admit, when I first got the device, I did not synch it for many months. I got away with it for a long time, but eventually learned my lesson when the device seemed to go crazy while I was vacationing in Boston. It could not find signals, and was giving me absolutely wacky directions. I then synchronized the unit promptly, and that solved the issue. Having learned that lesson the hard way, I now try to synchronize it once a month.

~~~~~2. Map corrections:

Unfortunately, the maps and directions are not completely flawless. Not only that, but roads change all the time. TomTom users are able to fix map mistakes, right on their devices. Not only that, but when one synchs the unit, map corrections reported by others will be transferred to your device (after verification by TomTom). So, it is really important to synch that device from time to time, and have the most accurate maps and prompts possible.

~~~~~3. Purchase options, accessories and new maps:

One can also purchase various options on the TomTom website. For a monthly fee, one can receive real-time Traffic Reports on one's TomTom, get alerted to upcoming traffic jams along the route, and be directed to alternative routes. Again for a fee, one can receive real-time gas prices at nearby gas stations. One can also purchase GPS device cases and additional windscreen mounts. I have not used any of these features, so I cannot comment on them.

Finally, it is recommended that occasionally one purchase new maps entirely. I haven't purchase updated maps yet, and seem to be doing just fine with the original map.

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Charge time (or walking with your TomTom):
We have used our TomTom mostly while in the car, with the charger connected. However, it is good to know that the unit can hold a charge for about 2 hours of out-of-car use. I have used it, on occasion, while walking city streets, to help me locate certain addresses. It can be useful, too, for hikers. In fact, it can be used to get walking directions to a certain street address, or the nearest police station or hospital.

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Negatives:

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Is the device perfect?

I wish I could say the device is perfect, but it is not. The device gets it right 99% of the time. However, occasionally, it will give directions that are just plain wrong. It will say "Go right", when I need to "Go left", for example. In fact, it routinely makes one such mistake very close to my house. I have no idea why. However, as mentioned above, we can modify our maps to correct errors.

Does it always have a good signal from the satellites?

In my experiences, driving in areas ranging from New York City, to rural states in the mid-west, as long as I remember to occasionally synch the device with the website, I will nearly always have a strong satellite signal. Sometimes it loses the signal for a couple seconds, but then the signal returns. If the device has not been used for some time, (and the charge has run down), it may take a couple minutes to find a signal initially.

Can the unit accept voice commands?

No, it does not respond to voice commands. Those wishing to use that particular feature will need a different model (and probably a more expensive one).

I wish it had a mute/volume control on outside.

I frequently wish to change the audio volume or mute it completely. It currently takes two touches of the screen to accomplish this. This is not bad, but I wish there was just a quick-mute button on the outside.

Points-of-interest listings could be more specific:

I appreciate having easy access to points-of-interest, from local restaurants, to local parks, while I am driving. However, some of the categories should really be broken down to sub-categories. For example, one can search for nearby restaurants, but not for specific types of restaurants. So, fast-food restaurants and elegant sit-down restaurants are all listed together. Listings under "Schools and universities" tend to be cluttered with loads of listings for daycare centers and nursery schools. In addition, some of the categories tend to be pretty skimpy. Searching under "Shopping Centers" will usually provide a very incomplete list.

Summary:

I have been more than satisfied with my experience using the TomTomXL 340S navigation device. It's made me a more relaxed, confident driver, when I'm driving into unfamiliar territory, and that's worth a lot to me. It's a handy little navigation device, and often, at the end of a busy, hectic, day, my favorite link to press on the touch screen is the one that simply says. "Navigate ... to Home".