 5 Star for unit -- 1 Star for adhesive mount that comes with unit |
| Review Date: December 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dr. Albert Alba, |
I purchased the TOMTOM XXL 530-S at Staples on Black Friday after Thanksgiving for $134.00 including tax.
I feel the unit is a great deal for the price.
I tried to use the adhesive disk TOMTOM provides with the unit. The adhesive disk provided with the unit did not stick well. I then did research on monting devices. I first was told by TOMTOM to look into the [...], the Proclip init is not a good choice unless you want to spend an excessive amount of money to mount your device. The ProClip is also specific to your car model which is another joke. You get a different model car you need a new Proclip. I decided to purchase the Gilsson Universal Beanbag mount for $[...] from Amazon. I noticed it had a five star rating and the price was right. The center of the BeanBag mount has a shiney plexglass so the suction cup of your GPS will grip. The BeanBag can be placed on your dash, your seat, or in any open area in the car. The Bean Bag does not move on the dash or whereever you place it. Also, you are not sticking anything on your car. Also the Bean Bag is easily transportable, so your GPS can be used in all your cars. I placed mine in front of the gear shift where there is a recess storage area. Works Great. Obviously where you place the bean bag in a location that is best for your use is subjective.
The TOMTOM XXL530-S works great. The unit comes with a nice wide screen. The program reads out streets, interesections when needed, and has mulitple views. The unit will tell you how far you are from your destination when you are approaching and has a countdown on the unit. Therefore, it will announce you are 100 yards from your destination, then if you look at the display you can see the countdown meter. You do not have to look at your odometer. The unit also has a feature that can detect redlights that take pictures. I do not need this download option, but it is available. The unit has multiple sounds. You can download many voices free and comes preprogrammed with three voices. The loudness of the voice can be regulated. Most of the street names are clear, a few have been slightly distorted due to enunciation, although they are recognizable. The unit gives you advance notice of what lane to be in for an upcoming turn or exit and gives you ample warning to make the turn.
The unit also gives you a digital display of your speed. If you have a speedometer I guess you do not really need this feature. The unit also will tell you aloud your projected arrival time if for whatever reason there is a delay and the trip is longer than projected. You have the option of purchasing the software which will also notify you when there may be trafic jams and give you altermate routes. I have not used any of the extra features such as the alternate route program, but it is available.
I would recommend you download the software that allows you to upload your unit from the company's website as soon as you get the unit so you can download the latest map updates. You have to dowload the latest map software within the first 30 days of buying the unit. You also have the option of downloading different voices and additional features you may need. Some of the additonal voices are free of charge, and some there are a fee. If you want to download revised maps after your first 30 days I beleive there is a nominal fee.
Overall the unit works great. The display is a very good size. There is some breaking in time to entering in data to the unit however, the learning curve is fast. After you program the unit a couple of times you will master putting the information into the unit. The unit memorizes your previous trips which makes entering in repeat information a breeze. Also, the unit recognizes the first several letters of a city, state, or street. Therefore, one does not have to spell out every single word. The screen is big enough to easily touch the screen and program the unit. The screen is has just the right amount of sensitivity to the touch.
I read the one negative review for this unit and I could understand his concern about mounting the unit with the adhesive disk they provide, but I could not understand the negative review on the unit itself. For the money and the quality I feel it is a good unit. Prices for these units are going down. You may want to wait afer Christmas since I was able to get a better deal after a holiday. |
Short timer, but liked it!
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| Review Date: November 30, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Cappachino, |
| I purchased the XXL530S for $279, took it home and used it for one day. I found the screen size super, clear and easy to read, no glare. It hooked up nicely to the windshield, wobbly at first, but just needed to be tightened by turning the base. The voice was clear and loud, didn't need to use a high volume setting. Lane Assist, Advance Notice worked well, sometimes maybe too far in advance, needed to check the actual distance from a turn, or I would have turned too soon. It didn't find my home location; I live on a dirt road, but I was able to modify the Home direction and save. It did give one miss direction, but friends have told me, it just needs an update. I feel out of the box it should be accurate, but I liked it so much, that I am willing to give it another chance. The only reason I returned it was the price. Found it much cheaper somewhere else and am headed out to purchase it again. |
XXL 530 pronounces 0 as "west" on any street name - TOMTOM DOCUMENTED
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| Review Date: January 17, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Lord Marshal the 1st, long beach, CA |
The 530 picks up satellites very quickly, especially if you download gps fixes. It's satellite sensitivity is also great. The iq routes are a godsend. The only bad thing is that it's sound quality of the computer voices is horrible. It also constantly mispronounces English street names. It also as a very big defect, it mispronounces the 0 (I.e. the 105 freeway) to "west". For example it will say merge left onto the one west five east freeway instead of one o five east or four hundred five east. You can see how this would be confusing.
Tom Tom senior tech support says this is a bug that affects all their models. They will not replaced the unit for this reason. They are working on the problem and are not able to give ANY estimate on when this will be resolved.
If you choose two voices, one computer voice and bart simpson for example. It will not speak any street signs in the computer voice. So you have to make a choice between text to speech and the celebrity voices. When you choose a non computer voice, it will also ask you to choose a computer voice. NO computer voice will be heard at this point. |
5" GPS screen is a must....
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| Review Date: January 19, 2010 |
| Reviewer: E. Mutch, CA, USA |
I got this Tomtom 530s for Christmas, but I exchanged it. NOT because its a bad product, Its a great product.
The 5" screen on the 530s is great/ I don't know how anyone could use one of those crappy 3-3.5" GPS units. I have an old Tomtom 4.3", still works fine, but its nice to have a bigger screen and more updated features.
I returned the 530s and got the 540s for just a bit more. The units are the same except for two addition features. 1) Mexico maps - I have no plans to go to Mexico, definately not to drive. 2) Lane Guidance - great for LA freeways.
If you don't need Mexico map or Lane guidance(only needed for tricky highways), then get the 530s. THe money you save can go for a good case(highly recommended) and you'll get a fair amount of Megabytes free for new voices, other small maps, POI, etc.
530s and 540s are both great. |
Large screen, but several flaws
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| Review Date: November 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Roundabout57, |
I just bought this unit today from a major office supply store that had it on sale. Since there were no reviews to be found on this new model, I just took my chances and decided to try it out. I've only used it one time, and I already don't like it. I used to have a Sony GPS, which I sold due to the lack of updates by Sony. That was a Sony NV-U73T, with a 4.3" screen. This unit has a 5" screen that may be larger but somehow seems smaller compared to my Sony. I believe the reason for that is the bottom 1/4 of the screen is taken up with a black bar information area. Right off the bat, you've lost a good percentage of the added screen 'real estate'.
The first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box and trying to mount it to my dashboard was very difficult. I have a Toyota Matrix, which has a somewhat tilted/rounded top with curves, making it hard to get the adhesive disk to stay stuck in place. Also, the dash is somewhat textured, making it not want to stick at all, it kept coming loose. I would attach it to the windshield, but laws here in California prohibit this option. On the way home from the store, it came loose from the dash multiple times and nearly fell on the floor. While driving, I had to keep pressing it back down to the dash.
Since my dash is curved, I also noticed that I couldn't make the display perfectly horizontal, due to this unit having "click" notches that lock it into certain positions. It locked at an approximate 10° tilt, which didn't look too good. The unit also wobbled on its mount, so when you press the screen, you have to hold the unit with one hand while entering addresses or commands with the other hand. It was quite loose on the factory mount. It had a rubber suction cup that holds it to the plastic disk that sticks to the dash. I already mentioned the problem with the disk, it's twice as bad with the loose suction mount.
At that point, I noticed that I hadn't plugged in the power cord yet. I looked on the side for the power port, and didn't see it. Turns out, it's on the bottom of the unit, in the most inaccessable spot - right in the middle of the unit. The power cord has a 90° right angle, going to the right. However, my DC outlet in the car is on the left, so I had to drape the cord around the back of the unit and to the left so it wouldn't hang across my radio and heater controls. I think the power cord should plug in to the left side of the unit and not the bottom, where you can't get to it once you've mounted the unit to the dash. Since most cars have a DC plug (cig lighter) on the left closer to the driver, this makes some sense ergonomically. You have to wonder what they are thinking when the put the plug on the bottom of the unit.
Getting to the setup, I tried to enter my home address. I had to do this multiple times, because the screen is not touch sensitive enough, I had to press quite hard to register the inputs. It shows you an 'example' of how to enter a street address (such as 1234 Elm Street), but it doesn't tell you that you must enter the street name FIRST, then the number. When you make an error, it backs you out of the entire screen and you have to start over from the beginning with the city name, etc. You can't correct just the error you made, you have to start the process all over again.
I finally got my home address entered and selected a color scheme. Well, either I selected a bad one, or the default color is pink! Most of the backgrounds between the street names are a sickly pink color, making it hard to look at. Perhaps this can be changed in the settings, but I haven't had time to try another yet. I had a hard time understanding the voice of "Susan", the first voice in the options for calling out directions. She sounded muddy and not clearly spoken to me, and if I didn't already know the street name, I would not have guessed from what was said. I didn't try any other voices.
As for the display itself, the large size is nice, if it were not negated in the mannner I mentioned earlier. The other thing I really, really didn't like was that it is semi-glossy and reflected the sun back into my eyes! This was more than annoying and was the deal-breaker for this unit in my opinion. Not only was the screen much dimmer than the Sony I had previously, it washed out in the sun so badly I couldn't read it. That was the last straw and I decided on the way home that I'd be returning the unit to the store tomorrow. Maybe others will have a better experience than I did with this new model, for now I'll be on the hunt for something at least comparable to my old Sony unit. I'm now sorry I sold it. I hope this review helps someone before they purchase this model. |
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