GPS Receivers Item ID: #521TomTom XXL 540S 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS NavigatorProduct Information:
Item DescriptionThe TomTom XXL 540·S is complete navigation in a XXL widescreen device. Switch on and go right out of the box. Spoken turn-by-turn instructions including street names will guide you to any address in the US, Canada and Mexico–including more than 7 million preloaded points of interest.
Complete XXL Widescreen Navigation and Spoken Street NamesIQ Routes Advanced Lane Guidance 5-Inch Touchscreen TomTom Map Share Get Help EasyPort Mount The XXL 540·S is complete, widescreen navigation. *Feature only available in the United States and Canada What’s in the Box Item Reviews5 Responses to “TomTom XXL 540S 5-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator” |
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Positives: Great screen size and great satellite capture.
Negatives: Screen not so bright and not great choices for screen colors…had to download a couple. I’m wondering how long the tension on the spring for the mounting will last…a bit flimsy…also the lane feature does not seem to be working…maybe I have it set incorrectly???
NYC
HAD THIS FOR A FEW WEEKS AND IT WORKS GREAT. ONLY COMPLAINT IS THE SPEED LIMITS IN MY AREA OF SOUTH CENTRAL PA ARE VERY LIMITED. THIS IS MY FOURTH GPS AND BY FAR THE BEST.
Try getting help from customer service, and trust me you will need it just to get the free maps that are supposed to be included with the device
Great unit this is my 3rd GPS I have an old TomTom and a one year old Garmin, side by side they all do a great job, love the large screen
Without a comparison, the TomTom would probably appear as a fine product. Having used both Garmin and TomTom, however, I’ve notice the extraordinary details Garmin has put in its units in terms of usability. Simply put, my life was much easier when I had the Garmin. Let’s break down the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Attractive overall hardware design
- Large bright screen, very responsive to touch
- comes with USB cable
- tells you the direction of the next 2 turns at the left bottom corner
- TomTom Home software allows you to download new voices, custom map color and much more
- 30-day latest map guarantee via TomTom Home Software (even though it took me more than 90 min to download over a broadband connection)
Cons:
- The twist-lock suction cup not as secure, and not as easy as the Garmin’s lever-actuated suction cup. To avoid car break-ins, you’d be constantly taking and putting back the GPS on the windshield, Garmin’s design allows this to be done with ease. With TomTom, you’d have to do it with both hands, and you’d make windshield full of fingerprints. Also the TomTom GPS unit would be tilted unless you attacch it to the windshield at the perfect angle.
- power cord is just hard to be plugged in. On average, it will take me 20 sec whereas it takes 3 sec on the Garmin
- Both units allow the option to be shut down automatically after power cord is unplugged. However, TomTom requires press of power button even after the power cord is plugged back in, where Garmin is powered on automatically. Sure, not a big deal, but after adding quite a few other inconveniences and remember you’re gonna be going through all of them everyday… The frustration add up!
- Routing direction is wrong at certain roads. This is just weird, because it’s a major road, there’s no construction or traffic jam (the unit doesn’t have live traffic anyway), it’s not a new road, and I’ve got the latest map update, and the road appears normal (ie not disconnected) on the GPS map. And yet the GPS tells me to go around it in a big circle every time, while the destination is just on the other end in a straight line.
- No voices using metric system, they’ll only tell you the distance in miles. I know it’s a US product, but why give us 6 similar female voices, and not include 1 voice using kilometer?? The Garmin includes that and also all sorts of other languages including Mandarin and Cantonese.
- factory map colors… are just bad for both day and night colors. The included daytime colors all appear washed out in direct sunlight, and night time colors are just ugly. No worries, there’s the TomTom Home software which allow you to download custom map colors made by other users. And I loveeeee those new colors!
- GPS signal takes 3 times as long to acquire (1 min 5 sec compared to 20 sec with Garmin). What? I dont’ have the patience to wait a few seconds? I’d be on major road after 1 min and I wouldn’t know where to go because the TomTom can’t give me a direction yet!! Do you want to wait in the car for 1 min every time you try to go somewhere?
- Voice doesn’t tell you if your destination is on the left or right side of the road, you’d have to look at the screen
- “Stop routing” takes 4 steps on TomTom. It’s almost funny that on the last step the unit requires to you press on the screen that says “DONE” (there’s no other option, you have to press it), seriously who designed the software? ; and on the Garmin, it’s just one step by pressing the stop button. Stop making my life harder, TomTom! And most other functions requires more steps too!
- Menu on TomTom is just confusing to use, and not well thought out. To change anything, you have to go into the menu several layers deep every time.
On a side note, for Advanced Lane Guidance functionality, no worries, Garmin’s got it too, it’s just being called a different name.
Summary:
I’d rather take any smaller screen size Garmin than this 5 inch TomTom anytime.